Reviews for Tis the Season

The average rating for Tis the Season based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-10-26 00:00:00 Bruce Lupin �Tis the Season (2001, Harlequin) includes three Christmas romances, each by a different author. Each novella is a standalone romance, set in England in various time periods. I made the assumption that since it was a Harlequin historical, the stories would be clean. I was wrong, so I need to look into Harlequin�s classifications. Needless to say, I was disappointed when I realized this, but I always finish the books I read and did enjoy two of the stories very much. Overall rating: 4 stars ------------------------------------------------ A Promise to Keep by Susan Spencer Paul 4 1/2 stars This first novella is a Regency-era (London, December, 1815) story, clean except for a (declined) invitation to go to bed together. The story opens with Captain Collin Mattison returning to London after six years of being away at war. He goes to The Lamb and Wig, an inn where six years ago, he spent �the happiest month of his life.� He�s looking for Rose Benham, to whom �years ago he�d made his promise to return, to come back to her, and he intended to keep that promise - regardless of the letter she�d sent releasing him of it.� While Collin was at war, Rose�s father died, the inn went to a cousin, and Rose had to leave. She is currently employed as a housekeeper, and feels that she is now ineligible to marry him for more than one reason. Collin wishes to convince her otherwise. What I liked: *I was glad this was basically a clean story. *I liked Rose and Colin as upright, hard-working characters. *I love reunification stories (such as Jane Austen�s Persuasion ). *This isn�t a Christian novella, but as a novel set around Christmas time, I was pleased when Collin says, �Just as God gave us a gift on a Christmas long ago?� What I didn�t like: *The invitation to bed, as previously mentioned. In addition to it being outside of my preference, I didn�t even feel that it fit the characters of the hero and heroine, anyway. ------------------------------------------------ Christmas at Wayfarer Inn by Shari Anton 3 stars The second story in this collection is a medieval tale. Grace Brewer is the daughter of an innkeeper. (Sound familiar?) Their inn is struggling, and Grace has to take on too many chores due to her parents� physical limitations. She feels that they need to sell out. Enter Alaine, �minstrel of some renown.� His horse is injured, and he needs a place to stay, but he has no money. He offers to do chores and repairs in exchange for room and board. What I liked: *The heroine is hard-working, and the hero is hardworking and kind. *There was some humor, which I always enjoy. *As a musician, I found the minstrel aspect interesting. What I didn�t like: *This story is definitely NOT clean. I read a LOT of reviews to vet my books so that I don�t accidentally read stories like this one. In this case, there weren�t enough reviews to make the content plain to me. I decided to read it based on the fact that the cover didn�t have half-naked people on it. Well, that sure backfired on me! (I�m thinking that in the future I can look at the author�s other books to try to get a clue. Lesson learned�) *Related, I found it ridiculous that �she and her parents would attend Mass, visit with the parish priest and the other villagers� considering what is coming later in the story. And again, later, �The Lord will provide. He sent Allaine to us, did he not?� It feels inconsistent. Is the character a Christian woman or a loose one? I understand it can be argued that Christianity and sex outside of marriage can happen simultaneously, because everyone sins. But it still feels inconsistent to me within a story. A hero/heroine can have a flaw, but I believe their character still needs to be consistent. *I felt that the plot was more about the sex than Alaine being the Christmas miracle Grace�s family needs. Maybe my rating is unfair. I can�t claim to be completely unbiased. It does seem logical to me however, that if you have a novella and it has sex in it, the plot has to revolve around the sex - leading up to, culminating in, and the ramifications of it. And I just don�t think that makes a good story. I can�t bring myself to give it more than a 3 star rating, even though the writing and setting were very good. ------------------------------------------------ Twelfth Knight by Tori Phillips 4 � stars The third novella is a Tudor story, set in Northumberland, England in 1553, which was such fun to read! This one had some sexual content, fortunately off screen, unfortunately between unmarried people. Between that and an overly steamy kissing scene, I cannot classify this as a clean story. It comes close, and this is one story that I really think is worthy of a clean re-release. (Usually, I�d just as soon authors not bother with this. I avoid authors who write both steamy and sweet romances, as I don�t like wading through their books to determine which is which.) This story, minus the steam, is a gem! What I liked: *This story was inspired by �The Twelve Days of Christmas,� and the parallels are awesomely clever. *I love how the hero so very wisely puts a chink in the armor of the selfish and spoiled heroine to humanize her. It made for a unique and entertaining tale of redemption. It was great to see how he could understand her hurts and see her potential. A true hero. What I didn�t like: *I�m so disappointed in the behind closed doors intimacy. It was completely unnecessary. I liked this third story so well otherwise, that I considered keeping this paperback. But I�ll be donating this paperback back to my library book sale because of my own preferences for a clean read, and because I have six children in the house with easy access to my books. ------------------------------------------------ I will not seek out more books by these authors. While the writing is good, and I was absolutely fascinated by the third one, I like to stick with clean reads. Even the first one, which was basically clean, contained an invitation to bed. Not what I�m looking for. I�d recommend this book only to fans of historical novels set in England, who prefer �spice� in their romances.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-08-24 00:00:00 Louise C Bergevin Susan Spencer Paul- A Promise to Keep After six long years as a Captain in the army, Collin returns to find why is beloved Rose had wrote and told him she released him from the betrothal. He went to the Inn her family owned to find that a distant relative now owned it after the death of her father and brother. Collin traces Rose to a Manor that is falling apart under the disgruntled Lady Dilbeck. Collin brings back Christmas and repairs as the new Steward of Dilbeck as he tries to win his Rose back. A great story of forgiveness and what barriers love can break down. Shari Anton- Christmas at Wayfarer Inn Alaine is a noble traveling all around as a Minstrel. He gave up tournaments for his this dream. Alaine arrives a Wayfarer Inn without coin as he travels to his Uncle's castle in Darby. Grace is trying to keep up at the Inn but with her dad and mom getting older it is a tough road. The good looking man arriving with the beautiful white limping horse is in need of charity that she can not afford to give. Until Alaine notices things like broken latches and the wood pile that Grace was struggling to chop. A bargain is made, his physical labor for room and food. His lute and song brings in extra coin for the Inn and all is well until Grace overhears that he is a noble, someone beyond her reach. Tori Phillips - Twelfth Knight. Sir Robert Maxwell is thirty and seems a bit bored with his life as a rogue. When is friend Nate tells him about the horrible Alyssa Cavendish and how her father has upped the money for someone to take her as a bride, Max sees a challenge. They wager on if Max can make Alyssa lose her heart to him, not for marriage just for the sport of it. He goes in not as a suitor but as Sir Hoodwink the Lord Misrule. Alyssa sees all these men who are after money not her. Being an identical twin, and the worst of the twin. She feels neglected and in the shadow of Gillian. She does not participate in the Christmas festivities but this year Sir Hoodwink keeps pushing until she does. When she starts receiving gifts from the mysterious Twelfth Knight she enjoys the attention that is focused on her and Gillian's envy over the gifts. It was a good story and overall a good book.