Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Men Under the Mistletoe a Carina Press Anthology

Summary courtesy of Goodreads:

Baby it's Cold Outside
A man receives the gift of pleasure at the hands of two expert lovers. Boyhood sweethearts get a second chance at romance. Two very proper gentlemen indulge their forbidden desires. And a Christmas tree farmer has an epiphany. It may be cold outside but these four holiday novellas will warm you up.
 
Anthology includes:
My True Love Gave to Me by Ava March
Winter Knights by Harper Fox
Lone Star by Josh Lanyon
The Christmas Proposition by K.A. Mitchell
 
Stories also available for purchase separately.

This anthology of M/M romances started out with a bang with My True Love Gave to Me by Ava March.  I will admit to being a bit of an Ava March fangirl.  In My True Love Gave to Me set in London in 1817, Alexander is still dealing with the fallout of the breakup of his friendship and affair with Thomas Bennett five years later.  When Alexander wanted to take their physicial relationship further, Thomas freaked out and moved to New York with no word to Alexander.  Now, Thomas is back and wants to make up his precipitous flight to Alexander.  This novella has a nice build up of the story between Thomas' betrayal and his return and subsequent attempts to make up to Alexander. 

The second entry is Winter Knights by Harper Fox.  This is my first story by Harper Fox and even though I found this retelling of the Arthurian legend a bit muddy and unclear in places, I will definitely be picking up other books by this author.  The main character Gavin leapt off the page for me.  Unfortuntely Gavin was the only character that I had any real attachment to.  I could have taken or left Piers, Lance and Artie.

Next up is Lone Star by Josh Lanyon another new author to me.  I felt the sensitive portrayal of the motivations of both Web and Mitchell could easily have been too gentle, but the romance and tension were so compelling that this story worked in every way imaginable.  The back story of Web and Mitchell's friendship and romance is concisely parsed out through the story and heightens the anticipation througout and the ending is perfect.  The characters really resonated with me.  I will definitely be seeking out some of Josh's backlist.

The final entry is The Christmas Proposition by K.A. Mitchell.  I have already read several of this author's works and enjoyed all of them to some degree.  This novella is the weakest of the four in my opinion.  The characters weren't clearly portrayed.  The backstory was really muddy which killed any understanding of the motivations of the main characters.  The main character Mel just came off as a whiny little boy.

ARC provided by Carina Press for review through NetGalley

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