Kissing Santa Claus Book

Lock, Stock, and Jinglebells
Donna Kauffman
2 stars

I could not wait for this story to be over. It was mind-numbingly boring. I couldn't drum up any enthusiasm about the romance, and the plot about the Christmas shop Holly inherited from her mother was anything but compelling. The subplot about the journal Holly discovers in an antique roll-top desk felt completely out of place in the story. I consider 2 stars a generous rating.

Bah, Handsome!
Jill Shalvis
3.5 stars

Very cute! This is actually the first thing I've read by Jill Shalvis, and I really enjoyed it. The humor is great. The romance plot advances quickly due to the length restrictions of a novella, but it didn't feel overly rushed. I plan to read more by this author soon.

It's Hotter at Christmas
HelenKay Dimon
2 stars

Reading this story felt like watching a train wreck in slow motion. It was agonizing, yet morbidly fascinating.

There was so much wrong with this plot, but I'm going to start with the writing. Dimon's writing is abysmal. Her sentences are poorly constructed and her word choices are often bizarre. Take for example her description of Ted as dominating his environment with "a knowing hand." Hands have no cognative ability. They don't know anything. Besides, I'm not sure I want to know how Ted dominates his environment with his hand. That sounds either violent, or creepy.

As for the plot, I can not imagine any law enforcement officer acting the way Ted does. I'm pretty sure there are rules against officers sleeping with people involved in their assigned cases. The term "conflict of interest" comes to mind. But when Ted asks Kane, his superior officer, to take him off Marissa's case so that he can sleep with her, Kane gives Ted his blessing to screw the alleged crime victim to his heart's content but refuses to take Ted off the case.

Finally, what on earth does Marissa see in Ted? Not only does he have no manners and not even a hint of charm, but he doesn't even know what the word "obtuse" means, so he's ignorant and uneducated into the bargain. Wow, what a catch. I wanted to scream at her, "You're leaving your career, your family, your ENTIRE LIFE behind in Philadelphia for THIS guy?"

So clearly, I did not like this story. So why did I give it two stars instead of one? Because I thoroughly enjoyed how much I disliked it. I cackled with malevolent glee as I took notes on everything I disliked about it. I figure the entertainment value is worth an extra star.