Title: Kissing Santa

Author: Kylie Gilmore

Series: Clover Park

Published by: Extra Fancy Books

Date published: Oct. 3, 2014

Genres: Contemporary

Book Length: 131 pages

Steam Rating: Steamy

Main Characters: Rico & Samantha

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“This book left me laughing, crying, cringing and just about ready to throw my kindle at character’s heads! Needless to say…I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT!” ~Becca

Each book in the Clover Park Series can be read as a stand-alone novel, or for more fun read them in order. Characters you’ve loved from past books frequently pop up in other books.

Samantha Dixon is about to confess her most secret, romantic Christmas wish to Santa. Heck, what’s she got to lose with her disastrous romantic history? Like that player from her horrible blind date last week arranged by her mother. Only guess who’s Santa?

Rico del Toro loves women. So one bad date with the beautiful Samantha in a string of many, ahem, successful evenings is no big deal. But when a friendly favor playing Santa unexpectedly lands Samantha on his lap for a romantic confessional, he’s intrigued. He’s never heard a woman open her heart like that before.

But if this Santa wants a second chance, he’ll have to rethink his womanizing ways and convince her that he is the perfect package.

I’ve liked all of the Clover Park books, there is just something so natural about Kylie’s writing style that leaves me ready for more. I have to say that I believe Kissing Santa has been my favorite of them all!

This book left me laughing, crying, cringing and just about ready to throw my kindle at character’s heads!

Needless to say…I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT!

Samantha isn’t having the best of luck with love…or so says her pushy mother! So of course her mom sets her up on a date…with none other than the player of all players!

Poor, poor Rico…

He sure isn’t your typical romance novel hero huh?

He has no freaking clue what he is doing! One second he is happy with his player ways and then his mom guilt trips him into going on this blind date…but she wasn’t at all what he was expecting! Once he meets Samantha he decides that maybe, just maybe, he should change his ways and try to be exactly what she wants!

After screwing up MASSIVELY (I won’t tell you how…but just know that I was amazed at his stupidity on this one…) on the first date, Rico lucks out and ends up with none other than Samantha sitting on his lap (while dressed as Santa of course) blurting out exactly what she is looking for!

Rico’s poorly executed attempts at romance are hilarious and sweet. I mean come on…what man does that?

(Not sure what I’m talking about…go buy the book…read a few chapters then come back!! I’ll wait right here…..

la..lala…lalalala….la…lala…lalalalala (picture elevator music or some such…)

Back?? Yep…see what I mean about the mailbox and such?? Uh huh! Who does that????)

Okay so now that we are back and I’m off my ramble…where was I?

Oh yeah, my adoration for Rico and his romantic attempts to woo Samantha. Hehe…Rico is such a sweet guy. He seriously puts forth more effort in this book than I have seen in a romance in a very long time!

Kylie’s writing style is just as awesome as the other 2 books! The characters are well developed, especially for a novella. The romance flows amazingly well and the humor mixed in is just perfect! I couldn’t have asked for more!

I am so very happy that I read this book and cannot get over how quickly I fell in love with Rico! I honestly wish that this was a full length novel instead of a novella. I could have kept reading his crazy antics forever!

So head on over to Amazon and pick up your copy! You won’t be disappointed!

Kylie Gilmore was lucky enough to discover romance novels at a young age as they were strewn all over the house (thanks, Mom!). She writes quirky, tender romance with a solid dose of humor. Her Clover Park series features the O’Hare brothers, three guys you’d definitely have a drink with and maybe a little more. The Clover Park STUDS series unleashes three adorable studs into the world—Barry, Dave, and Will. Look out, ladies!

Kylie lives in New York with her family, two cats, and a nutso dog. When she’s not writing, wrangling kids, or dutifully taking notes at writing conferences, you can find her flexing her muscles all the way to the high cabinet for her secret chocolate stash.

Find out more about Kylie and upcoming books at www.kyliegilmore.com. Sign up for my newsletter to hear about new releases, exclusive excerpts, and subscriber-only giveaways.

How would you react if you realized that the Santa you just confessed your dreams to was the same player you ran from the night before?

Title: Checking Him Out For the Holidays

Author: Debbie McGowan

Series: Checking Him Out

Published by: Beaten Track Pub.

Date published: Dec. 21, 2014

Genres: Contemporary, LGBT

Book Length: 75 pages

Steam Rating: Steamy

Main Characters: Sol & Adam

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“I enjoyed the easy going plot line (which had a few small and quickly resolved twists thrown in), the steamy and sweet romance and the holiday fun that mixed together in this story. Thanks for giving me a chance to fall in love with Sol and Adam Debbie!!” ~Becca

Freelance engineer Sol Brooks doesn’t do the festive season. He thinks it’s boring and overly sentimental. With the rest of the household laid up with ‘the flu’, Sol’s planned on using the time to crack on with some work.

His mother, however, has other ideas.

And so does Sol’s husband, Adam.

A stand-alone holiday special featuring Sol and Adam from Checking Him Out.

Woohoo…Sol and Adam are back…and like I said in my last review, I’m willing to give them a fighting chance to win me over!

I’m excited to say that I didn’t have to cringe and bite my tongue in this one….there is NO CHEATING! Yay for that!

Another really awesome thing is that Elise is finally not being a massive bitch! From the looks of things she is actually being a pretty decent human being and a relatively good friend. I was very happy to see this. I loved that she got a small part in this book and we got to see that maybe she isn’t as bad as we originally thought her to be. Fingers crossed she gets her own book soon and we can find out just what makes her tick and hopefully I will fully adore her instead of standing on the edge.

So on to the main characters…our sexy alpha men: Sol and Adam!

Again, you wouldn’t think that this would work. Two alpha guys together? Umm…that’s a recipe for disaster! But somehow these two make it work. Yep, the butt heads and have issues…but overall they have a solid relationship.

Both guys really stepped it up a notch in Checking Him Out For the Holidays. Neither is overly whiny or needy, even when they are sick! There is a decent amount going on in this relatively short novella, however, at the same time…nothing really happens. lol

This isn’t exactly a bad thing…just a relatively non-eventful book. I read it in about an hour or so and actually enjoyed it quite a bit. I liked that the book wasn’t over flowing with action and suspense. I got to focus on the characters and who they are. It really helped me to understand more about book one in the series and get a better handle on why they behave the way that they do. I liked that the story focused solely on their romance and not on so many different struggles. The only real ‘issue’ that pops up is that Sol doesn’t ‘do’ celebrations and his and Adam’s families are coming down for Christmas/Hanukkah.

The sex in this book is pretty steamy! There were a few scenes that left me with my jaw on the floor with my Kindle in my hand wondering what in the world I just read (I guess it’s just me but there is one part that honestly I just couldn’t ever imagine doing or having done to me…but everyone has their thing right?) and then there were scenes that were so sweet and perfect that I couldn’t put it down! Trust me…no matter what your preference sex wise…there is something in here that you will enjoy reading! Sol and Adam pretty much cover it ALL in this one!

I thought it was a really sweet story and thoroughly enjoyed learning more about Matty. I honestly have my fingers crossed for a book that focuses on him as well. I think he could make for an extremely intense and interesting story if written properly.

Overall, this book is a solid 4 deep breaths for me. I enjoyed the easy going plot line (which had a few small and quickly resolved twists thrown in), the steamy and sweet romance and the holiday fun that mixed together in this story. Thanks for giving me a chance to fall in love with Sol and Adam Debbie!!

So there you have it…head on over to Amazon and check it out!

Author, publisher, social scientist. Debbie’s academic specialism is gender and sexual politics and identity, so you can expect this to crop up now and then in her writing too! Not in an “in your face” kind of way – subtlety wins hearts and minds.

She lives in Lancashire, UK, with family and rescued dogs. It’s green and pleasant, and they get long, long, lovely perfumed days in late spring / early summer. Her favourite place in the world is Watergate Bay, Cornwall, but she hasn’t traveled much. The most amazing thing she has ever experienced is the call to prayer at 11 p.m. on a terrace in Istanbul. Goosebumps+ and she’s an atheist!

She writes character-based/driven fiction – mostly general/contemporary, some (M/M & F/M) romance and a bit of sci-fi fantasy (light). Basically, she writes about life. She’s written a few stand alone novels and short stories, but her main work is the Hiding Behind The Couch series, which these days she referring to as a literary soap opera. Each novel/novella concludes, but there are always a few loose ends to be picked up and threaded on to the next instalment. There are longer threads and shorter threads.

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How do you feel about holiday books? Love them or hate them…or just plain addicted?