Christmas delivery [Paperback]

From the back cover:

There's always room for one more--especially at Christmas!

"A Christmas Marriage" by Dallas Schulze
They'd had a Christmas wedding and a Halloween divorce. But even after five years, Tess knows she still loves him. So she allows herself one night in his arms. But that one night only makes her want Nick more. As a lover--and now as the father of their baby!

"Dear Santa" by Margaret St. George
Amy and Flash know that parents are supposed to live together. Theirs don't. Even though it's almost Christmas, even though mom is about to have a baby. So the children decide to take matters to a higher court--they write a letter to Santa!

"Three Waifs and a Daddy" by Margot Dalton
Dr. Sarah Burnard has seduced Jameson Kirkland Fleming IV. Now she's pregnant--according to plan. But she's not going to marry him. Then Sarah and Jim stumble upon three orphans, and Sarah discovers that Ellie, Billy and Arthur have plans of their own. The kids want a mother and a father. By Christmas!

And my review:

I was really excited to buy this book. While all of these stories are reissues, I had never read any of them before. This collection includes two of my favorite authors - Dallas Schulze and Margaret St. George aka Maggie Osborne. Also, this book is almost 650 pages long, which means that each story is much longer than the usual novella length you find in anthologies. But I was disappointed.

"A Christmas Marriage" was just an average, if somewhat annoying read. I felt that the reasons that Tess left were weak. And the fact that she left him without any explanation was terribly childish. If you have fears, then you should discuss them with your husband, not just run out on them. And then, she refused to tell him about the baby - he had to find out himself. I could understand her wanting to know that he came back to her because he loved her, but still, the man had a right to hear that he was going to be a father from the mother of his child. I wouldn't bother re-reading this one. Three stars.

"Dear Santa" had many of the elements you like to see in a story, but they just didn't feel very well pulled together. I found the heroine's negative attitude towards her pregnancy to be kind of a downer. Yes, I know some women feel fat and awkward, but did the author really have to dwell on that so much? The children were pretty much flat plot devices, not well-rounded characters. Though the reasons that they were getting divorced were valid, I felt that it took the heroine forever to get her head screwed on right. And I wanted to scream at the heroine to stop drinking alcohol during pregnancy! I know this story was written in 1989, but I still find that inexcusable. People knew the dangers, even back then. All in all, this story just dragged, and it was hard to push myself to finish it. Three stars.

"Three Waifs and a Daddy" I skimmed and skipped. From reading the back cover description, I thought I would find it offensive, and I was right. I don't find relationships built on lies, manipulation, or trickery to be at all romantic. How on earth could I like a woman who tricks a man into fathering her baby? Disgusting! Funny, but if a man was the one tricking a woman into becoming pregnant with his child, women everywhere would be screaming for his blood! How is it okay when a woman is doing it? No stars for this piece of trash.

I love Christmas romance anthologies, but this one was not worth my time or money. If you want a good anthology, I recommend "A Country Christmas" released by Signet, with authors Emily Bradshaw, Jodi Thomas and Karen Harper, amoung others, available used at Amazon.com

***** A Christmas Marriage by Dallas Schulze.

An excellent example of why I enjoy Dallas's books so much. She writes straightforward romance, takes the cliches and tilts them, just a bit, to make them fresh. A reunion story, one of my favorite types. A divorced couple reunites. She'd asked for the divorce because she was afraid of losing her identity, and has to learn to balance a relationship with being her own person.


**** Dear Santa by Margaret St. George.

Perfect example of "never say never". I still maintain that in general, kids do not belong in romance novels. But this one works. A separated couple with two kids and one on the way, with seemingly irreconcilable differences. He's a workaholic investment banker, and so was she, until they had children. Now they have plenty of money, and she wants to move back to her hometown to give the kids a more relaxed life. He wants things to stay the same in Los Angeles. He takes a long-overdue vacation and comes to stay with them in hopes of a reconciliation, while she's fallen into the workaholic trap in her new job. The role reversal causes both of them to reevaluate. The characters are very, very real.


**** Three Waifs and a Daddy by Margot Dalton.

This one gets docked a bit because I kept being concerned about the legality--I'm not sure how plausible the scenario was. Also, the title made me cringe. But aside from that, it's another excellent story. A scientist (I love brainy heroines!) wants a baby and has chosen the perfect father--an ex-football player. They have a one-night stand on a night when she's determined her chances for conception were greatest, and on the way back from the motel, they're mugged by a kid who's trying to take care of his younger siblings. She wants to avoid further involvement with him, fearing he &/or his family will try to claim her baby, but can't resist the kids who he's taken under his wing. Lots about family dynamics and loneliness.

› Go to Amazon U.S. to see both reviews  4.0 out of 5 stars