*I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

“Heating Up the Holidays” is a collection of three novellas, each written by a different author:

“Play with Me” by Lisa Renee Jones - Kali Miller moved to Las Vegas for the job of her dreams. But when the job doesn't come through, she’s forced to seek a temporary job agency and ends up as the executive secretary of Damion Ward, a casino CEO. Damion is arrogant and very demanding, but Kali is not intimidated and pushes back. The attraction between them is immediate and intense but, besides the fact that they are boss and employee, there is still a mystery surrounding Damion and that Kali, as the good journalist she is, can’t help investigating. There’s clearly more than meets the eye in regards to Damion but is that a good or a bad thing? I really liked this story, the relationship between Kali and Damion is funny to follow because neither one backs off, and it’s very hot but unfortunately it takes place around Thanksgiving so there’s nothing christmassy about it.

“Snowfall” by Mary Ann Rivers - Jenny Wright is a young scientist who has moved to another town to pursue her career, only to find out she has a degenerative disease that will eventually leave her blind. To try to delay the sickness' progress, Jenny starts doing occupational therapy and divides her days between the consultations and her work at the lab, while her nights are spent having cybersex with the man who used to live on the house she is currently living in, but that she’s never met. Eventually she also gets involved with Evan Ford, the therapist that is treating her. And, although that was the author’s intention, I never really felt she was torn between them. I couldn't relate to Jenny, she bored me to death and I honestly couldn't tell what Evan saw in her. I liked him a lot better, but I seriously question his taste in women. Honestly, I understand that Jenny sees the world differently from the common of mortals but, to me, that didn't make her special, it made her boring. It got to the point where I started to wonder that maybe if she did go blind, she would become more interesting. This story had so much potential... Sadly the way it is told made her boring and it got to a point where I didn’t even care how it ended any more. I just wanted it to finish.

“After Midnight” by Serena Bell – This was my favorite story of the three and, curiously, it’s also the most christmassy. Nora Hart and Miles Shephard meet at a party on New Year’s Eve only a few minutes away from midnight. And the connection between them is so strong they can’t even wait for the clock strikes to kiss. But right after the kiss Miles has to leave the party running and, having had no time to even introduce each other, they lose track. After almost a year, a friend of Miles gets in touch with Nora (who, in the meanwhile, had tried everything she could to try to find her mystery man) and convinces her to call Miles. Nora does and they resume the relationship right where they had left it, although only on the phone, since Miles lives in another town. But it’s not only the distance that separates them. They’ve both been burned before in previous relationships and they have issues to overcome. Will their relationship be strong enough to surpass midnight this time?

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Heating up the Holiday s Lisa Renee Jones/ Mary Ann Rivers/Serena Bell

Heating up the Holidays is not the usual compilation of holiday themed romantic stories. The sensual heat level enhances the romance. There are elements of forbidden love and risk in all three stories which increase the sexual tension between the heroine and hero.

'Play with Me' by Lisa Renee Jones is my favourite.

Dynamic characters Damion and Kali are both damaged from previous relationships. Damion is a sexy, dominant alpha male who meets his match in Kali, a strong-minded intelligent woman able to meet and exceed his expectations in every way.

Essentially a work based romance set around Thanksgiving the fast paced plot full of intrigue, conflict and twists is a great read.

The dialogue is witty. The love scenes are hot, realistic and emotional and their love story fraught with conflicts which make the happy ever after ending satisfying.

'Snowfall' by Mary Ann Rivers is the most unusual of the stories.

Jenny is an intellectual woman with a degenerative eye condition. Evan is an Occupational Therapist who helps her come to terms with her illness. Jenny is lonely and frightened and serendipity leads her to form an online liaison which involves more than conversation.

The main plot twist has dramatic irony because most readers will guess the true identity of her online lover before Jenny does.

Detailed the story's pace is slow in parts.

Atmospheric the story portrays the naivety of Jenny and Evan and the love scenes and their emotional reaction to them appear more teenage than adult.

A distinctive voice makes this story an overall interesting read.

'After Midnight' by Serena Bell is lovely romantic tale

A reverse Cinderella where the hero Miles leaves just after midnight and Nora the heroine has no contact details for him.

Miles is under suspicion and has lost his fiancee. Nora has been deceived big time by a deceitful ex. Both attend a New Year's Eve party under duress but find each other just before midnight. The kiss they share is memorable even after almost a year of separation.

The love scenes start on the phone when Nora discovers Miles's identity and conclude when she pays him a surprise visit. Despite their physical insatiability lack of trust and self-awareness leads to broken hearts. Can they save their love at the next New Year's Eve party?

This book is a quick, fun read.

I received an ARC from Random House Publishing Group - Loveswept via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Three short/novella contemporary romances. For what is it, good reads. (Play With Me definitely being the better of the 3.) ( )

This is a great book to get you in the mood for the Christmas season. I think my favorite and the one that touched me the most was the second story, Snowfall. As you read through the story and it sinks in that this really smart woman is gradually going blind and like any human being, is resistant to that fact. All three stories involve hot men, but they each have their own personality. Just a lovely, touching story and I am so glad I got a chance to read. ( )

4.5 stars. If you like sizzling stories, this is a happy holiday collection. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, so some details may have changed in the final version.


Play With Me by Lisa Renee Jones - 3 stars

There were many lovely, smexy details, but several things bugged me. Names: Kali (unusual but very pretty - yet NOBODY remarks on the connection to the goddess Kali? Wasted opportunity); Damion, Terrance (the alternate spellings because...?), Dehlia. Call me bitchy, but as a reader it irritates me to have to stop reading to puzzle out how a name might be pronounced.

I liked that Kali was as much an alpha female as Damion was an alpha male, BUT - the whole getting bundled into lockdown at the hotel because of a security breach, after only a few days on the job, and then falling into sexplay with the man who is basically your kidnapper is a little too Stockholm Syndrome creepy for me. I'm also not a big fan of erotic fiction told in present tense (yes, I know 21-y.o. virgin Ana does it in 50 Shades). As far as this being a holiday story, there's no interwoven holiday theme, just something stapled in at the end. Still, the heat level is intense, and the hero and heroine are both likable, slightly flawed characters who fit together perfectly.


Snow Fall by Mary Ann Rivers - 5 stars

This story is also told in present tense, but it's more literary fiction with erotica woven in. It begins with a gorgeous analogy about hanging Christmas lights: "It's to get some light in front of the darkness, to tell the whole world that we've made it, and that these lights, way up here? That's what we think of the New Year, what's coming - it's all going to be light and joy and flame in the blackness and none of us have any reason to be afraid." Jenny Wright is a microbiologist (a really refreshingly unusual profession for a romance heroine), and the themes of narrowing visual focus, and snowflakes, are woven brilliantly throughout. She comes to have two love interests, a macro-photographer, "C," with whom she engages in cyber-chat, and later, cyber-sex, and later realizes a growing attraction to Evan, her Occupational Therapist. The build may be slow for some readers, one snowflake at a time, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and the ending felt satisfactory and sweet as well as hot.


After Midnight by Serena Bell - 5 stars

This story is set around the New Year's Eve ritual of a kiss at midnight; Cleveland native and suspected embezzler Miles Shepard is at a party in Boston, and spots a woman who lights him up from the inside. She's beautiful and sexy, yes, but more than that, she seems to be overflowing with joie de vivre. Their New Year's kiss is about to lead to much more, but fate intervenes, before they can even exchange names, let alone phone numbers. After nearly a year, Nora manages to track down Sad-Eyed Guy, Miles, and when they connect... blow-the-roof-off-hot sex, via phone and in person. Both these characters felt very real and believable to me.

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