Reviewed by JenBook provided by the author for reviewReview originally posted at Romancing the BookThere is just something irresistible about Christmas anthologies during the holiday season. So when I saw a copy of Holiday Magic, I just had to pick it up. Too bad it just wasn’t as magical as I’d hoped.The title of the anthology comes from Fern Michael’s contribution, “Holiday Magic”. This story was about a single mom and her boss. Stephanie is a store manager at a ski resort and Patrick is the resort manager. They had dated in the past, but Patrick doesn’t want to get serious, especially with someone with kids. Now, I loved Stephanie. She was strong and had her priorities straight and her history just broke my heart. But Patrick on the other hand was harder to like. In typical romance fashion, we have a typical bachelor who acts like an idiot and in the end redeems himself and gets his happily ever after. I liked the story, but nothing really stood out for me. It was, however, one of the stronger and more enjoyable stories in this anthology.Up next was Cathy Lamb’s “A Very Merry Christmas”. This story is about Meredith and Logan and is set in a small Montana town. Meredith runs a B&B, is taking care of her niece and nephew and gets roped into directing the town’s holiday program. And she’s being courted by Logan, a rich, alpha male, rancher. Something about this story didn’t work for me. I think part of it may have been the overabundance of characters stuffed into 100 pages. And there was so much going on with all those characters. It was just overwhelming and often times I just wanted to get to the romance.The third novella is “A Very Maui Christmas” by Mary Carter. This story features Tara, a chef, who goes to Hawaii for the holidays and ends up spending an interesting vacation with her family and sexy handyman Darren. I just didn’t “get” this story. I think it was just not really to my tastes. I couldn’t really connect with Tara or Darren, and that makes it hard for me to really enjoy a story.And the anthology wraps up with Terri Dulong’s “A Cedar Key Christmas”. This story is part of her Cedar Key series but even though I’ve never read the series, this does stand on its own. And I think it was my favorite story of the bunch, even if it was a little light on the romance. This story pairs single mother Josie and Ben together. However, the romance isn’t all that developed, but rather hinted at. The story is more about Christmas spirit and community pulling together to help on of their own… and it was a great feel good story. I would have loved to have gotten to know more about Ben since most of the story focused on Josie and her daughter Orli. But in the end, I was satisfied with the tale, if still wanting a little more.The stories were a little hit and miss for me. But overall, it was a solid if somewhat forgettable read. However, it is worth a little time to brighten your holiday with a little cheer. A great holiday book by four outstanding women! This is a must read if you are in the mood for a nice little winter read. Three of the four stories deal with single mothers (or one with an aunt raising her niece and nephew while single) and their struggle to find balance between family, jobs, and self. They are all great, inspiring stories to get you in the 'Christmas spirit'.Holiday Magic, by Fern Michaels, tugged at your heart strings and had your emotions going up and down like the ski slopes in the story. You really felt for the main character and what she was going through. This was a 'softy' romance, so no steamy sex scenes, but was a touching love story instead. I especially like that in the end, girl gets promise of a possibility of something with guy; it is not a given that they get married and live happily ever after.A Very Merry Christmas, by Cathy Lamb, was a hilariously good read. I love that the story practically starts with a bar fight. And the fact that Meredith constantly talked to herself- or thought to herself, loudly- really drew me to her (I too am a self talker). The main theme was about a tough-as-nails girl dealing with learning to trust and depend on someone else to stay with them no matter what.A Very Maui Christmas, by Mary Carter, deals with a lot of family 'secrets' that would be better told than kept. An overbearing "Holiday Hitler" sister, the loss of employment, and losing your two main friends all in the same day...topped off with getting bit by a reindeer- who wouldn't need a vacation after that?! Then the poor girl's get-away (literally) is turned into the new family gathering place and is more or less taken over by the handy man as well. It was fun reading about what all can happen when you are trying to deal with family, not have a life, and keep your problems to yourself.A Cedar Key Christmas, by Terri DuLong, was a great story about yet another single mother who made the choice to quit college to raise her daughter and is now having to face the consequences of that decision. Twelve years after the fact, outside forces combine to make the main character face her life and the decisions that must now be made for her and her daughter. The daughter was a great character, in and of herself, taking action and making decisions to help a neighbor when the adults didn't know what to do. This story was a great end to the book. I liked that it wasn't until the end that the guy and girl don't even make plans to see each other or date until the end. It leaves the possibility to have another story for them later as well.
What do You think about Holiday Magic (2013)?
The Cathy Lamb and Mary Carter stories were good and deserved 3 stars, but the others deserved none.
—kaleb
