***copies provided by publisher through NetGalley***

CHRISTMAS SPIRIT by Rebecca York
Chelsea Caldwell is right back where she started, seeing ghosts and being the talk of the town. Yet there's something sinister happening in the small town of Jenkins Cove, and Chelsea might just be the person to uncover it.


It felt like this book couldn't decide what it wanted to be. Romantic suspense, paranormal romance? Each separate classification would've worked, unfortunately, mixed together created an unfortunate mess.

The characters were bland and dull, the plot got lost in the suspense/paranormal/killer/ghosts mess, and the romance left me utterly cold.


CHRISTMAS AWAKENING by Ann Voss Peterson
After ten years, Marie Leonard is back in Jenkins Cove determined to discover why her father's been murdered...But she'll have to deal with skepticism by the local chief of police, the man who broke her heard ten years ago, and a killer determined to silence her forever.


Though this one also had some paranormal elements, it was a much more straightforward romantic suspense story than its predecessor.

Unfortunately, the suspense aspect was the only thing I enjoyed about this one, even though the villain's motive left much to be desired.
The characters were bland (the hero was a self-pitying fool and I simply couldn't stand his moaning toward the end), and the romance tepid.


CHRISTMAS DELIVERY by Patricia Rosemoor
Lexi thought Simon, the father of her preteen daughter, dead for thirteen years, but instead of dead, he's merely been through hell, thanks to human traffickers operating in the small town of Jenkins Cove.
But now, Simon is back, determined to make whoever the culprit is pay...


This second-chance quasi-romance left me utterly cold. The characters were dull and bland, I didn't care about their relationship in the past (since we never got to see it) or in the now (because they simply weren't that compatible).

The main suspense arc of this "series" was never that interesting, so the resolution (rather predictable in all ways) didn't bring much satisfaction.

I was in the mood for some Christmas spirit, so I downloaded a bunch of free books off Amazon. We all know that can be a huge hit or miss. I found this novella cute, and a quick little read. There were some things that didn't sit well with me, as I am not a fan of insta love and that is exactly what this story is.

This story is totally cheesy, and I mean no disrespect to the author. There is good cheesy and then there is bad cheesy. This one is good "Hallmark" type of cheesy. Perfect for this season when you want to get lost in a feel good story.

A family story that is appropriate for young and old. Freebies usually end up being erotica, nothing against it, but I was happy this was just some good, clean fun. I do think this would have been better as a longer length novel, with the characters more fleshed out and the love being more realistic. Sure, there is magic involved and maybe destiny, but insta love is still not my cup of tea in most cases.

I liked the idea behind the naughty elf who brought some mischief to the story. I would have liked to see that part more in detail.

Overall, I think it is written well and it flows decently, but it does feel like chunks of the story is missing.

Not sure on romantic ghost stories, but Galen wasn't quite a ghost. Kerri has the ability to see, hear, and communicate with ghosts. She has a whole system setup for helping them. It's actually kinda interesting how she goes about doing that (with help of course). Galen is a healthy firefighter who suddenly becomes comatose. His soul (or whatever you want to call it) wonders and finds Kerri. They connect. The ending was a bit convenient, but hey, I wanted a happy ending. Good shower scene.

I believe I've been a good teddy bear last year, so I think I'll go with the Nice Books package under my tree.

Love,

Mečka the Bear