Review: All I Want For Christmas by Liliana Hart

Author - Liliana Hart
Genre - Contemporary
Series - N/A
Format - Ebook (105p.)
Rating - 1/5 stars

Naughty or Nice
A blizzard leaves Kate Carson stranded in Chicago on Christmas Eve. When she finds she’s without a place to stay for the night, billionaire Derek Worth tempts her with an offer she can’t refuse, and she finds out it’s a lot easier to stay warm being naughty instead of nice.

A MacKenzie Christmas
Grant MacKenzie is ready to settle down and start a family. The only problem is the one woman he’s interested in doesn’t seem to be ready for the long haul. But fate lends Grant a helping hand in getting exactly what he wants under his Christmas tree.

• Review •
Since this book had two short stories in it, I'll review each seperately, then the book as a whole. First up is NAUGHTY OR NICE. While it started out great with good writing and decent descriptions, it quickly went downhill. Kate and Derek meet and it was at that point I should have cut my losses and walked away. But I didn't… The plot was weak and lame, the characters were TSTL, the dialog was okay though. There was spelling and editing errors. And I find it hard to believe no one caught the name mistake…

The twist at the end infuriated me. And, unfortunately, it's not the first time I've seen it. And then after that epicfail the story gets dragged on longer. I'm upset with myself for reading this one…

★

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The second story up is A MACKENZIE CHRISTMAS. This one was just slightly better than the first. The only point that made it more enjoyable was the humorous moments. The characters were okay aside from Annabeth and Grant who were TSTL. But Annabeth has the added bonus of being depressing. Yay me.

The ending was so unbelievably lame, cheesy and corny. Like with the first story, I should have walked away. *Headdesk*

★½

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Overall, I was highly disappointed with myself for reading ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS, even though there was HEA's all around, I wasn't happy at all. I felt the best points in both stories was the pacing and dialog. But it's not good enough to recommend based on that, this book is a waste of time, even if it is short.

★

Review: Ecstasy by Bella Andre

Author - Bella Andre
Genre - Erotica
Series - N/A
Format - eBook (158p.)
Rating - 1/5 stars

Candace, a newcomer to writing erotica, is thrilled when Charlie, a veteran of the industry, agrees to be her mentor. But neither of them ever expected that Charlie's lessons on new positions, using toys, varying locations and role playing would spiral from verbal instruction into hot, hands on education. Unfortunately, Candace's deception about the new erotic romance she's writing—where Charlie plays the starring role—is about to threaten their one chance at true love.

• Review •
This book was disappointing. I had heard so many great things about this author, but I really struggled with Ecstasy. Not in the writing sense but with plot and characters. Although, the writing did delve into the cheesy category too. Especially during the sex scenes. Which, being an erotic novella, there was a lot of. No, the writing flowed well enough, even though it tended to be exaggerated and over-the-top. Actually, some of the cheesy cliches were silly enough to make me laugh.

I felt the story was lacking, for the most part. I thought the plot was weak, the sex was ho-hum, the characters were a joke. Outside of the mediocre sex, nothing was believable. Character development is another weak link, I have no clue who these people are, and why they do what they do. Or, in the case of falling in love, why they feel the way they feel.

As for the conflict… it was elementary level at best in predictability. Which made me feel like my intelligence was being insulted. I don't think I will give this author another shot in the future for that reason. That and the fact that not a lot of thought went into character creation when one of them is named after one of the most famous news anchors in American history… I can understand not watching much TV… but, hello? Charlie Gibson?! Overall, this book just did not work for me at all. I finished it because it was short and I had never read anything that cliched before. By the time I was done though, the novelty had worn off.

★