Member Reviews
On The Naughty List is a holiday anthology that was released by St. Martin's Paperbacks in 2014. There are four books in this collection each with their own characters, chemistry, and holiday spirit. They were each enjoyable to read and introduced me to some new authors as well.
Christmas Bonus by Lori Foster is a holiday work place romance where the two main characters are planning the annual Christmas party together. There is a strong chemistry between the two characters. It is obvious that they have known each other for a long while before actually acting on their feelings.
Naughty Under The Mistletoe by Carly Phillips is another holiday work place romance with a twist. In this case, the main character intends on finally making a move on her boss but kisses his twin brother instead. There is an immediate attraction between the two characters which quickly blossoms into more as they spend time together.
Some Kind of Wonderful by Beth Ciotta was likely my favorite in this anthology. It is a life long friends to lovers troupe which is played perfectly. The two characters find themselves stranded in a cabin together and must decide if they are going to act on the tension that has been simmering between them for a while now. There is also a touch of the three ghosts from A Christmas Carol in there too.
Have Yourself a Curvy Little Christmas by Sugar Jamison is the final story in the anthology. This is a story of a single mother who is trying to connect with the father of her child in order to convince him to take responsibility for him. When she encounters his brother, she finds out that the father of her son is dead, and the wealthy man who she detests now wants to be a father figure for her child. This is an opposites attract type of story with a holiday spin. The dynamic between the two characters and the baby was very sweet.
Each of the stories in On The Naughty List were different and helped capture my attention. There were some sweet moments, some sexy moments, and some laugh out loud moments in all of them. Each of them also had a different approach the holidays which I also enjoyed. I look forward to checking out these authors other works in the future.
I never downloaded this one. It's stuck in my profile, hurting my ranking. I have tried to get it removed since I never downloaded it (or requested it) to no avail.
ON THE NAUGHTY LIST has four novellas by three of my favorite authors, and one author, Sugar Jamison, who has been on my TBR list for far too long and needed to be brought to the top of the pile. I enjoy books written by authors Lori Foster, Carly Phillips and Beth Ciotta. I had previously read Ciotta's SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL, book 3.5 in her CUPCAKE LOVERS SERIES, as a standalone book.
CHRISTMAS BONUS by Lori Foster
CHRISTMAS BONUS has Eric and Maggie and the company she now runs after her father's death, front and center. Eric now works for Maggie, but he always thought he'd be the one running it since he thought he was heir apparent. They are each fighting their attraction since they have to work together. But their feelings get the best of them. It was interesting to watch their one-step-forward and two-steps-back approach, yet they were each what the other needed. Seeing them work through their issues and get where they want to be took a lot of doing but ultimately seems right. There is also quite a bit of naughtiness that worked well in the story. Foster ended the story with the requisite happily ever after and a nice twist.
http://lorifoster.com/
NAUGHTY UNDER THE MISTLETOE by Carly Phillips
NAUGHTY UNDER THE MISTLETOE has Toni and Max meeting unexpectedly with a case of mistaken identity. She thought he was his twin, Stephan, whom she was fighting an attraction to, and decided to have a one night fling with. Boy do things go wrong--or do they go right? Toni and Max have instant chemistry, but through miscommunication they seem to be always taking a step back even when neither one wanted to. There was a lot of loving and some mistletoe that played a part. The happily ever after satisfied me, though I felt the story ended too quickly.
http://www.carlyphillips.com/
SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL by Beth Ciotta
SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL is part of the CUPCAKE LOVERS SERIES. I have read some of the books in the series as well as this one previously. It was nice to reconnect with characters we've met before, but it was heartbreaking to see Maya and Zach handling each other so carefully since they had been childhood best friends. Maya was trying to get her business partner, Giselle, and Zach interested in each other by having them become pen pals while he's still stationed overseas (as a sniper with the Marines.) The plan backfires for so many reasons, especially when they unexpectedly meet in person. It was sad to watch Maya's emotions get the best of her while Zach is trying to put the pieces together. Some of the story was based on the movie, A CHRISTMAS CAROL. The story ended with a happily ever after but ended too fast for me.
http://www.bethciotta.com/
HAVE YOURSELF A CURVY LITTLE CHRISTMAS by Sugar Jamison
HAVE YOURSELF A CURVY LITTLE CHRISTMAS has single mom, Dina, and her baby boy, Dash, at its core. She's been unlucky in love and when she decides to confront the baby's daddy, she's in for one heck of a surprise. His brother Ben turns out to be not what she had expected at all after meeting him previously. There are twists and turns to the story as they get more deeply involved. It ended perfectly, and since this is book 1.5 in her PERFECT FIT series, I hope to meet up with the couple again.
http://www.sugarjamison.com/
I rated the book 3.5 stars but rounded to 5 on this site and others.
On the Naughty List is a book of novellas by some amazing authors, but I'm only here for Lori Foster and as normal she didn't let me down with this delicious little office romance! and its a bit of a role reversal, with the bosses daughter becoming the boss, and her love for the star employee, and his love for hers... and I not going to tell you any more, except to recommend this book for more than just Lori Foster, but also for the amazing Carly Phillips, Sugar Jamison, and Beth Ciotta! which made it more than I could have imagined!
"He went to sleep thinking about her and woke up wanting her."
What I love about anthologies is that it's an opportunity to dip your toe in the water without jumping all the way in with a new author. All the authors featured in On The Naughty List are new to me and I loved meeting them through these short and sweet holiday stories.
Yes, of course, there is insta-love and insta-lust involved. Yes, some scenarios are highly unlikely. But, this is holiday fiction and that's exactly what I wanted and expected when I started reading. Actually, I have to admit that it was better than I expected. I really enjoyed these stories and it made me want to read more books by these authors.
Another thing I expected and was fully delivered was the naughty aspect. These tales tantalized and teased and didn't fail to leave me with a smile on my face. I'll be having some delicious fantasies at even the mention of mistletoe thanks to these talented authors.
This was a nice enough read. I have had a review copy of this book for a couple of years but somehow missed reading it and it ended up buried on my Kindle. I decided to dust off as I was trying to get into the holiday spirit this year. I don't know that it had any impact on my readiness for the holiday but I did find the book to be an okay read. I enjoyed all four of the stories pretty equally with nothing really standing out.
Christmas Bonus by Lori Foster
I am not always a fan of office romances but I thought this one worked. The couple in the story have known each other for a long time. They really did seem to work well together and I liked the chemistry between them.
Naughty Under the Mistletoe by Carly Philips
This one starts off at an office holiday party. Intending to finally make a move on her boss, the main character ends up kissing his twin instead. The couple has a lot of chemistry. I liked the twist on the office romance since she worked for his family but not him directly.
Have Yourself a Curvy Little Christmas by Sugar Jamison
This was another story featuring brothers. Dina decides to reach out to her baby's father but finds his older brother instead. This was a fun opposites attract kind of story and I liked how the baby, Dash, played an important role in it.
Some Kind of Wonderful by Beth Ciotta
This was a fun friends to lovers story. The couple has known each other for years but they haven't seen each other lately. They find themselves stranded in a cabin and realize that they both might feel more for each other than they realized.
I thought that this was a worthwhile anthology. I would give each of the individual stories 3 stars and really liked how different they were. I had fun sampling the writing of a few new to me authors and would definitely try their work again in the future.
I received an advance reader copy of this book from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley.
On the Naughty List is a book filled with short stories from my favorite authors. Each story was different, yet they were all great! Some books were HOT while others were more tame. It was a nice balance that worked well for this anthology. As with all novella's, they were fast paced but not so much that it took away from the story. Great read from start to finish.