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Title: Gifts of the Season by Miranda Jarrett, Lyn Stone, Annie Gracie ISBN: 0-373-29231-7 Publisher: Harlequin Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.25

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Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (2 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Two winners out of three isn't bad!
Comment: Two of these stories (the one by Miranda Jarrett and the one by Anne Gracie) are both real winners. Set in Regency times, these Christmas tales capture the charm of an old-fashioned English yule. Both writers weave love through their holiday stories, and create excellent characters. If you keep your Christmas books from year to year, these two stories will put you in the spirit each time you take them out with the decorations. They both earn five stars.
Unfortunately, by comparison the Lynne Stone story is so poor thatI wondered if she were a substitute for a different writer who'd cancelled at the last minute.Emotions ring false and the heroine in particular is very annoying. NO stars for this story.
But please check this collection out for the first two writers. They are worth the effort.

Rating: 2
Summary: Very disappointing except for Anne Gracie
Comment: I read this book ...and struggle now to recall the Jarrett and Stone stories - they simply made no impact and they did not capture my attention. I had read the Gracie story elsewhere so this volume was very unsatisfactory for me.

In Jarrett's story, Sara Blake, brought up in India, has been reduced to being the governess to an eight year old child (Clarissa) who is an incredulous character to say the least! She behaves neither like an eight year old nor like a child of the early 19th century. Yeech! Lord Revell Claremont, younger son of a Duke, had the Great Misunderstanding with Sara many years ago and, over a Christmas house party, everything is sorted out. Sorry - I could not bring myself to care about the characters or their dilemma; they did not attract me at all and the story line was tired and not especially interesting.

Lyn Stone's story of a marraige of convenience, mystery children, mistaken identities, etc (every trite and well used theme you can think of) was played out in a stiff and what appeared to me to be a hastily written format. The prose never seemed to lift or sparkle as one might reasonably expect in a Regency Christmas story. Again, Bethany and Jack are not people I could get interested in; too one-dimensional for me.

Anne Gracie's story was at least better written. Again, a case of mistaken identity through the means of amnesia, this is the story of a man set upon and near death rescued by a penurious widow and her small daughter. Although the story was simplistic and credulous at times, at least Gracie has the manifest talent of writing prose that holds one's attention. I didn't think this was her best effort but at least one could care about the characters and one can at least be cheered when poor Ellie snags her Lord Rothbury.

I think Harlequin failed with this anthology. I love Christmas Regency short stories but this volume was flat, sometimes turgid and sadly filled with uninteresting characters trapped in uninspiring stories. Don't bother.