A Christmas Courting

I loved last year's book Christmas Grace and really looked forward to another collection of Christmas stories. LOVE AND JOY COME TO YOU by Jennifer Moore--Lord Covington is looking forward to a quiet holiday with his mother when he finds out that she's invited a family of four orphaned children and their Aunt to spend Christmas at Firwood Hall. At first he's not at all happy with the idea but then he asks Cassie (the oldest) to work with him so they can plan Christmas for both their families. Such a sweet story of Lord Covington and Cassie making Christmas happy for her three younger siblings and his mother who still grieved for her husband even after seven years. I loved reading about them finding a tree and chopping a tree for the yule log and the other activities. A CHRISTMAS COURTING by Chalon Linton--Keturah Hensley and her family will have to stay in London this Christmas and she's not happy to be missing her best friend, Christopher Shepherd. When she finds out he's also in London and invited for Christmas she's elated until she finds out he's in Town to court a young lady, but no one knows who it is. Keturah has been friends with Christopher since she was very young and she's been in love with him for a long time, but she's afraid she's lost him too this young woman he's in Town to court. I love childhood/long-time friends who fall in love stories. This one has a little bit of a twist (for lack of a better word) to it. MISTLETOE MEMORIES by Jen Geigle Johnson--Patrick, Duke of Montrose was all set to marry Lady Alice Tarrington and their parents thought it best that they wait two years before doing so. Before he comes back to England he finds out that Alice is going to marry someone else. Thinking that Alice has married, Patrick sets out to find a wife. Another friends who marry story but not the usual-friends-who-finally-realize-they-love-each-other trope. Patrick and Alice planned to marry each other but things happened that kept them apart and when they eventually met up again neither one of them knew the entire story of what had happened to the other. SECOND CHANCE CHRISTMAS by Heidi Kimball--Francie and Gerard have been friends since they were children. When Gerard proposes to Francie she turns him down because "she'd never felt anything beyond a sisterly affection for him." Since then, they haven't really been friends until his mother has a houseparty. Francie is invited to certain activities of the houseparty and while watching Gerard's interactions with some of the guests, Francie unexpectedly discovers feelings for Gerard that are more than "sister affection". While this is yet another long-time friends turned to love story, it's different than the other two because one of the friends doesn't realize they're in love until much later. I liked that it was Gerard who knew he loved Francie first. Lots of times it's the girl who's in love with the guy, and he's the one who doesn't have a clue. All of these are sweet Christmas love stories. I love collections because I can read one story at a time if I only have a small amount of time to read and it enables me to try works by new authors. I already love Jennifer Moore and Jen Geigle Johnson and I'm becoming more familiar with Chalon Linton's books, but Heidi Kimball is brand new to me. I offered to review this book for Netgalley but have my own personal copy.

Short and sweet stories. I love how they were long time friends first, discovering or rediscovering their love for each other.

A wonderful collection of sweet romantic tales. This is a very talented group of authors and I love what they have created together.

I loved this collection of regency Christmas romances! Each one was a great read. I liked that if I only had a little time to read I could read one story. Each story is shorter than a regular story but long enough that the story is told. I wanted to read more just because I loved the stories not because I felt like I was left with only part of the story. Each one is well written with good character development. I highly recommend this collection!

The problem with collections of novellas is that you have to rate them together. To be truthful, I enjoyed a couple of the stories in here and rolled my eyes at the others. While a couple were fun, romantic, and lighthearted, and I really enjoyed them, the others came across as stilted, and kind of...trying too hard.

Some stories were better than others. I didn't really like Jen Johnson's. I thought it needed more fleshing out. But the other three were cute.

Every story was quick to grab me with both the settings and characters. Each author found a way to weave a story that felt fully told within a concise period making each story completely satisfying. I think there may have been happy tears for the hea at some point in every story as well!

Usually with anthologies there are one or two 3 stars and the rest 5 stars, but in this collection of four short stories every single one was exceptionally 5 stars! If you are looking for quick, encompassing, romantic Christmas stories here is the book for you! Embrace the cliche and curl up with this book next to a fire and hot cocoa. Thank me later Clean romance