A Novel with Thoughts and Ponderings

HOLIDAY HIDEOUT

Author: Vicki Lewis Thompson, Jill Shalvis, Julie Kenner ISBN: 9780373837625 11/2011 ANTHOLOGY Publisher: HARLEQUIN

Holiday Hideout by Vicki Lewis Thompson, Jill Shalvis, Julie Kenner
The Thanksgiving Fix by Vicki Lewis Thompson

Finding Mr. Right is the furthest thing from Beth Davis's mind when the Reno professor takes Thanksgiving break at a colleague's Lake Tahoe cabin. Until Coinneach McFarland arrives to fix a suspicious leak. It looks like somebody's playing matchmaker for two people sworn to stay single. But as things heat up, Beth is astonished to find she has discovered her soul mate just as she'd given up looking.

The Christmas Set-Up by Jill Shalvis

Competing architects Zoe and Jason have two weeks to come up with the design to win a coveted new project. But when a snowstorm strands them together at a secluded cabin, Zoe sees her chance to show Jason how she really feels. With romance blooming under the mistletoe, can she get the gorgeous Scrooge into the true Christmas spirit?

The New Year's Deal by Julie Kenner

Five years ago, Cleo Daire and Josh Goodson said goodbye and went their separate ways. But first they made a promise to reunite. Now the ex-lovers are spending New Year's Eve in a romantic cabin, where passion takes them by surprise and long-wished-for dreams can sometimes come true.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Believing there’s a magic to their cabin that causes couples to fall in love, Ken and Jillian set up three couples over the holidays for an experiment.  Each story revolves around a weekend stay in the cabin during one of the big three winter holidays.

The first holiday is Thanksgiving, where two strangers who are constantly being set up on dates by their families connect over what seems to be a mutual desire for their loved ones to realize they are happy being single.  Beth has chosen to stay alone in Lake Tahoe for the express purpose of preparing a list for her family of the benefits of her non-married state.  Sent over by Jillian, Mac seems to be of a similar mind, until he starts to realize that Beth is exactly the kind of woman he’s been waiting for.  Vicki Lewis Thompson’s opener was easily my favorite of the three stories.  The two decide to indulge their attraction without any emotional attachments, but it becomes unavoidable as they spend time together outside of the bedroom.

Next up was Jill Shalvis’ The Christmas Set-Up, and the author lived up to her previous works with this hot novella.  Jason and Zoe, office rivals, had the most passion of the three couples.  If the love scene lacked a bit of the genuine caring evidenced in the first, it made up for it with the scorching love scenes.  Rounding out the holiday stories was Julie Kenner’s tale of two exes who promise to meet up five years after their break-up and find that their old feelings are still there.  I thought this one was missing the sweetness of the first and the chemistry of the second.  But the overall collection is a nice holiday diversion.

Christina Baker

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