Unwrapped - Erin McCarthy, Donna Kauffman, Kate Angell (Kensington - Oct 2012)

From the streets of Chicago to the back roads of Kentucky to the wild dunes of a Scottish isle, mistletoe and mischief are this season's hottest gifts...

Blue Christmas - Erin McCarthy
While a blizzard blankets the world outside, Blue Farrow burrows into the arms of her highway hunk at the No Tell Motel. The road might be closed for dangerous conditions, but the couple navigates their own Kentucky Christmas curves. Nice and oh-so-naughty, Blue and her man open up to each other as they keep the Yule log burning.

Definitely a fun story.  Blue is on the way to Miami for a cruise when she gets caught in a blizzard.  She is rescued by Christian and they get snowed in.  Blue is a slightly snarky free spirit who hates Christmas because of a crappy childhood.  Christian is a laid back, cheerful toy engineer who loves Christmas and everything to do with it.   Blue finds herself opening up to Christian in ways she never had with anyone else, but really expects that things will end badly the way they always do for her.  Christian finds her immensely amusing and appealing and would really like to get to know her even better.  I loved the way that he listened to her when she talked about her past and didn't try to blow her off as whiney.  He had a lot of fun fulfilling some of the dreams she'd had as a kid.  By the time the blizzard was over Blue had to decide if she was willing to take a chance on Christian and a future.  I really loved the ending of the story.




Santa in a Kilt - Donna Kauffman
The wind-whipped December sands of the isle of Kinloch invigorate Kira McLeod as she sets out to tame rugged Shay Callaghan, a Scottish bachelor as wary of a wedding ring as a snowman is of the hot sun. It'll take all the wiles of the canny islanders to weave a perfect Celtic Christmas for all....

Good story.  Shay is a lawyer who specializes in divorce cases.  As a result he sees the worst of what can happen to a relationship and has sworn that he will not succumb to one himself.  The difficulty is that he has been attracted to Kira for awhile and knows that she isn't the fling type of woman.  When the attraction becomes mutual and overwhelming Shay's thoughts begin to contemplate the future but he is still scared of what could happen.  I loved Kira's acceptance of his feelings and the way she was able to wait so patiently for him to come to terms with his love for her and what it means to him.




Snow Angel - Kate Angell
Snowed under in Chicago, free spirit Allie is trapped in Dutton's department store on Christmas Eve when the lights go off and the holiday romance heats up. Our snow angel finds herself face to face with the dashing Aiden, the heir to the retail riches and her host for a night of winter wonder...

Trapped in Dutton's department store by a Christmas Eve blizzard, Allie came face to face with Aiden, the man she'd had one incredible night with three years earlier.  Scared by the intensity of her feelings for him, she left while he was sleeping and before she found out his name.  Now he wants to know why and to get to know her better.  He still hasn't told her who he is, as he likes the idea of her learning about the real man, not the store owner.  Allie is trying to cope with her feelings and overcome the issues that sent her running in the first place.  I loved the other people who were trapped in the store with them and the way that Aiden took care of them all.  

Royal Rescue - Lisa Childs (HI #1417 - Apr 2013)

Series: Royal Bodyguards (Book 3)

AN AGENT, AN HEIRESS AND A DEADLY RESCUE MISSION...

Media heiress Josie Jessup and her son have spent the past several years in witness protection, yet they are anything but safe. When her father is attacked, Josie decides it's time to return home...and walks right into a deadly trap.

Despite their tumultuous history, FBI agent Brendan O'Hannigan-Josie's former lover and the last man she wants to see-comes to her rescue. As the main reason Josie had to go into hiding in the first place, Brendan knows he has a lot to prove in order to earn her trust. But to reveal his real motive for taking on this case will destroy everything he's worked for. Josie has no idea just how important this mission is...or just how far Brendan will go to ensure their reunion remains permanent. 

Very good book, action packed from start to finish.  When Josie hears about her father's injury and heart attack she feels that she must go see him.  She hasn't seen him in more than three years and he has no idea she is still alive.  When she gets to the hospital she and her son are attacked, then Brendan comes to their rescue.  Josie was involved with him years ago when she was investigating him as the son of a mobster.  Now she has no idea whether to trust him.

I liked both Brendan and Josie.  Josie had been a very intense investigative reporter who showed a real talent for getting deep into a story.  Several years ago she had purposely gotten close to Brendan in order to snoop around into his life and try to prove the rumors about him.  She didn't expect to fall for him.  When she started receiving threats the Marshals Service faked her death and put her in Witness Protection, sure that he was trying to kill her because of things she may have found out.  Now she is desperate to see her father and make sure he is all right.  When she is attacked as soon as she tries to see him she is stunned to see Brendan coming to her rescue.  She is grateful for his help but she still doesn't know if she can trust him.  She does start to feel guilty about keeping his son's existence from him, especially when she sees the instant love between the two.  As they have to work together to escape whoever is after them, Josie begins to see that she may have misjudged Brendan, but he still has secrets that eat away at her trust.  I liked her love of her son and how hard she worked to protect him.  I also liked the fact that she didn't try to keep Brendan away from him once they were together.  I also liked the way that she kept her cool at the end and helped make things come out right. I also liked the way that becoming a mother also caused a maturing of the way she looked at things like the way she went after her stories.

Brendan was great.  I really liked the way that he was so determined to make his mission successful.  When he got involved with Josie he didn't realize at first what her job was.  Even when he did he couldn't bring himself to break things off with her and blamed himself when he thought he had caused her death.  He was stunned to see that she was alive and more so when he saw her son.  He knew that he needed to protect them and to do that he needed to be able to regain her trust.  I loved the way that his love for his son was so immediate.  Just seeing him take care of CJ and do things with him showed Josie that maybe there was more to Brendan than she had thought.  I felt so bad for Brendan because he knew he could gain Josie's trust if he could just tell her the truth but he was still worried about whether he could trust her with the information.  I loved his actions at the end and how he realized that she was all he could ever want.

The constant action in this book kept me turning the pages to see what was going to happen next.  I had my suspicions about part of the conclusion but another part was a complete surprise to me.

Caroselli's Baby Chase - Michelle Celmer (HD #2226 - Apr 2013)

Series: Caroselli Inheritance (Book 2)

You can't start the New Year without a kiss."

When those words lead to a delicious one-night stand, consultant Caroline Taylor's fate is sealed. Because she soon finds out her seducer is Caroselli Chocolate's marketing director-and her new job is to overhaul his division. It leaves a bad taste in her mouth-and what if she's pregnant with Robert Caroselli's baby?

If necessary, Rob will do right and make his dreamy corporate nemesis his wife. He might even inherit millions if he produces a male heir. But his marriage plan will never succeed without the secret ingredient-true love. 

Good book.  It starts out with Rob getting talked into going out on New Year's Eve with a woman he'd been casually dating, and who ended up leaving with someone else.  He wasn't in a great mood anyway.  As marketing director for the family business he had just found out that an outside consultant had been hired to come in and make changes.  When he's approached by a gorgeous woman he decides to stick around a little while and ends up sleeping with her.   He was not too happy to find out later that she was the new consultant.  I liked both Rob and Carrie but they certainly had some issues to deal with.  

Carrie was a strong, independent career woman.  After one bad experience she has made it a rule to not get personally involved with any of her clients.  When she finds out her New Year's fling is Rob Caroselli she is not happy.  When he tries to convince her, then intimidate her, into not taking the job she stands up to him.  She makes it clear to him that it won't happen again.  At this point she doesn't like him very much but is still incredibly attracted to him.  She blames it on the fact that she always seems to go for the jerks in relationships. But as the days go on she discovers that he's not the jerk she thought he was, and that he's actually pretty darn nice.  She also found herself giving in to the attraction as she and Rob work together during the day and explore their growing feelings after work hours.  I also liked the way that she enjoyed getting to know the other members of the family.  It gave her a taste of something she had not been a part of before.  I also liked her friendship with Alice and how they were there for each other. 

Rob definitely started out looking like a jerk.  Between his sneaking out on Carrie without so much as a note, then his attitude when he saw her again, I wasn't sure I was going to like him much.  But after that first bump, especially when we find out why he's been so grouchy, his attitude definitely improves.  He still is attracted to Carrie, but he's willing to try to play by her rules.  When they finally decide to quit fighting the attraction he treats her pretty well.  I like the way he admits to his growing feelings for her and starts thinking about a future with her.  I loved his two conversations with Nick (from Caroselli's Christmas Baby) at the end.

There is also a secondary story dealing with a possible ghost in the house where Carrie was living that has not been resolved.  I hope there's more about it in the next book.