Customer Reviews

Romancing the Holidays, Vol. 1

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Romancing the Holidays Vol. 1 is a joy from start to finish. Each story holds a different theme, therefore offering a variety of reads for any mood.

The contributing authors display a wealth of talent with each of their stories, and it is most enjoyable to experience so many writing styles and unique voices.

This is a must for any collector of romance!

If you're looking for a good read with some funny situations and interesting holidays - get this book. Each story is unique and a fast read. I disagree with the reviewer who said the stories were cliche. I thought the characters were interesting and quirky with the only cliche being that they each found "true love" in different settings and that really isn't cliche - it's a romance novel. Sit back with your cup of tea or coffee, a snack and enjoy this novel. You won't be sorry.

As in all anthologies, writers are faced with pacing their stories faster and to the point. Authors must keep those stories flowing. Stories like these are often much more difficult to write than standard, romance-length publications. But I found the stories in "Romancing the Holidays" greatly enjoyable, light-hearted and extremely imaginative. I went from one story to the next without putting the book down. And what a wonderful premise! It's highly unusual to find a series of short romances based upon different holiday themes. Any lover of the romance genre will happily embrace these stories. Whimsical, fantasy-filled, fun and original, if you like stories about holidays, filled with romance and happiness, "Romancing the Holidays" is a great read! This isn't just your typical over-done, one-holiday anthology. There's everything from romances in the Jewish holiday tradition, to Halloween and everything in between. Very original!

I read this series of short stories on the recomendation of my boss and couldn't be more pleased. The stories were nicely handled and were short enough that I could read them one at a time and not get bogged down. The variety of holiday themes was especially enjoyable. Who would have thought anyone would consider Arbor Day romantic? All of these stories were worth reading!

As in many anthologies, they are often more difficult to write than standard length publications. The writing must be fast in order to keep the flow and continuity from one story to the next. I thoroughly enjoyed "Romancing the Holidays". This isn't your standard, one-holiday anthology. There's everything from Jewish holiday traditions to Halloween. What a surprise and quite refreshing! If you'd like a fun-filled, whimsical, fantasy anthology, this is the one for you. I kept on reading until the last story was over!

The concept of this anthology was pretty neat -- each story had to involve a holiday. Any holiday, including Arbor Day and even Bosses Day. Interesting... Well, not really. Of course most romances are "boy-mets-girl", the two potential lovers face a few crises, and voila, end up living happily ever after. The trick for the author is to take this outline and make it interesting. It's hard to do that in a couple of pages and these stories were VERY short and therefore very rushed and included little detail and no charactor-building. However, even in a short story a good author can at least stir some interest. Most of the stories here do not do that. In fact a couple of them were so trivial that you really wonder why they were included at all. The story about St. Patrick's Day consisted of a parade-organizer falling for a cop in a kilt because he showed her how to turn her megaphone on. In several anothers the theme was "boy-returns-to-hometown-to claim-girl." A tired theme to begin with and in this book, it was deadly. One civil war soldier shows up -- on New Years Eve --after disappearing with no goodbyes, to claim he wrote the girl a letter which wasn't delivered because of the war. She, of course, forgave him for years of neglect almost instantly. Another adventurer turns up on Arbor Day after spending years in Alaska to claim the girl he left behind -- after ignoring her existence for years. Again, she forgives him and they live happily ever after. As in all anthologies, some stories are better than others. But none of them were good enough to justify the price of this oversized paperback.