It’s nice to see Harlequin continuing the tradition of the Regency Christmas anthology, even if only one of the stories was really worth reading.
A Regency Christmas by Lyn Stone, Carla Kelly and Gail Ranstrom
(2009, Regency) 12/28/09
Grade: 2, 4 and DNF
Three Christmas stories by Lyn Stone, Carla Kelly and Gail Ranstrom. The Lyn Stone story is about a wounded captain who is thrown together with an equally troubled woman. Carla Kelly revists Navy captains with a story about a navy captain reviving a romance with an old love, now widowed. And Gail Ranstrom’s story is about the reading of a will.
The Lyn Stone story had promise, but it seemed like enough story for a book (or two) was crammed into 90 pages, and in the end, the story fell apart under its own weight. The Gail Ranstrom story felt very mannered and didn’t appeal, so I gave up after 20 pages. But the Carla Kelly story, Christmas Promise, made this book worthwhile. It was a lovely story of a Navy captain, left at loose ends when the war ends, rediscovering the woman he grew up with, who married his best friend, and who is now widowed. Somehow Carla Kelly can fit a story like this into 90 pages without it seeming rushed or incomplete (although I would have loved more). Her hero, Jeremiah Falk, was wonderful – somehow Kelly can write heroes who can be vulnerable but still very strong. The heroine was less well characterized (she was one of Kelly’s trademark strong-and-virtuous heroines) but she had her moments. Despite the short length, it left me with warm fuzzies, and it was a perfect compliment to her recent books about Naval heroes. A 4+ for that story (and alas, a 2 for the others).
I was looking through my Christmas anthologies from Mary Balogh and Mary Jo Putney, and Carla Kelly definitely needs an anthology of her own. (I saw in an interview that her publishers were considering it. Please, pretty please!) The interview (at Word Wenches) also said that the original title for this story was While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks, which is a great title, but I think Christmas Promise works well with the story.
Karen Wheless
Latest posts by Karen Wheless (see all)
- Love Irresistibly by Julie James - June 18, 2013
- Vacation Reading - June 17, 2013
- The Way Home by Megan Chance - June 1, 2013