Sandra

ARC from Carina Press on NetGalley

Crime Wave in a Corset (Stacy Gail) 3 stars - I went back and forth on this one a lot. On the one hand, it made me tear up on SEVERAL occasions, mostly do to the depth of Cornelia's inability to love herself and feeling unworthy of anyone elses love. On the other hand, I tend to like subtlety, and instead of this coming out in hints and little emotional reveals... it tended to come out in lengthy out-bursts that seemed like a plot-device to get the information out there. I enjoyed it, but it would have been better as a longer story where the author had more time to develop the characters relationship and connection. And although I knew Roderick was going to end up loving her because this was a romance, I would have preferred more from his POV so we could really see his line of thinking and watch him develop feelings for her.

This Winter Heart (PG Forte) 4 stars Holy Crap this whole anthology is a tearjerker! This was a ridiculously sweet love story about an automaton woman and her husband who had to come to terms with what that meant (or didn't mean), even though I wanted to strangle him most of the time.

Wanted: One Scoundrel (Jenny Schwartz) 4 stars Really cute story about a suffragette and a scoundrel, and I actually liked both the main characters as people the whole time! So although this didn't bring me to tears, it was nice to have a break from the overly emotional and get back to a basic romance (with a little intrigue of course). But I feel I should mention, this one really wasn't Christmasy at all.

Far From Broken (JK Coi) - I started this one but either wasn't in the mood, or just couldn't get into it. I think it's more a result of it being last than a reflection on the story itself.