The Christmas Visit- Harlequin Historical Romance Anthology

The Christmas Visit consists of three stories by Historical Romance authors, Margaret Moore, Terri Brisbin and Gail Ranstrom. The three stories follow the common theme of a visit over Christmas that leads to true love, but other than that are not interconnected in any way. The stories are well written and compelling, pulling the reader into a story that only takes an hour at most to read due to the length, yet still leaves the reader quite satisfied.

Comfort and Joy, by Margaret Moore follows almost the Beauty and the Beast idea with the brave heroine willing to face the beast in his lair in order to get the help she needs. In this case the beast is an Earl who has been left scarred by an accident in earlier years. His body and face marked, his heart hardened. Beauty is an ex nurse, and now manages an orphanage. Money is tight and when Gwen braves the winter weather to face the beast in his lair, she and the Earl are thrown together and face their own fears in the name of helping an injured boy. The sparks flying between the Earl and Gwen were compelling. I enjoyed the novella and it made a good start to the anthology.

Love at First Step, by Terri Brisbin was actually my favorite story in the anthology. When Gavin MacLeod spends the Christmas season with an old friend three years after the death of his wife, he isn't expecting to meet a woman who commands his attention or one that holds the answer to a mystery. But Elizabeth is something special. Forced, by circumstances, into the position of a whore, she knows that any man can lift her skirts for a price. But no man can touch her heart. No man can touch her. Until Gavin makes a deal to discover her secrets and pry them out of Elizabeth. Love at First Step combined two character types I enjoy reading about set against the background of Scottish pride. I truly enjoyed reading this story, watching Elizabeth try to keep her heart protected, as Gavin chipped away at her defenses.

A Christmas Secret, by Gail Ranstrom was a story I read through, didn't dislike, but neither did it pull me in the same way the other two did. It wasn't the author, or her writing, but rather the heroine, Charity. She set my teeth on edge. She was blind to what one man was leading up to, she didn't want to see what he was really like, so remained blind until Andrew forced her to see things clearly. Now whilst that worked very well for the story the personal dislike of such characters made it very difficult for me to enjoy the story. Again this is not any fault of the authors, as the story is beautiful, well written and engaging, it's a personal issue with how I see things.

All in all The Christmas Visit is a lovely collection of stories for those looking for a romantic read in the coming months.

ISBN0-373-29327-5