SEDUCTION ON A SNOWY NIGHT is a collection of winter historical romance novellas by some pretty heavy historical romance hitters. Unfortunately, for me, this collection fell flat. It did, however, make me long for cold weather and some snow!

"A Christmas Abduction" by Madeline Hunter involves a sister who abducts a man in order to force him to marry her sister. While she's holding him captive, however, she decides to kiss him herself. Repeatedly. It was very frustrating to see her do this over and over. Even in this day and age, that would be frowned upon. And it absolutely would be in Regency England, where people were so irrationally concerned with rules of propriety. This prevented me from enjoying the rest of the story. 

In "A Perfect Match" by Sabrina Jeffries, the shoe is on the other foot. This time its the man who is canoodling with the cousin of the woman he plans to marry. But even in a different story, it was still frustrating and hard to swallow. Many authors seem to struggle with making a novella into a robust story, even if it is short in length and "A Perfect Match" didn't feel fully fleshed out. The author also uses the literary conceit of using lines from Christmas carols smattered throughout the story. It’s supposed to be charming, but was jarring and pulled me out of the story each time.

"One Wicked Winter Night" by Mary Jo Putney is the best of the bunch for me. It featured long-separated lovers, so the rapid progression of their mutual interest is believable. I always like when the characters are older; it's nice to see that romance novels are becoming more inclusive of heroines and heroes!

While I had high hopes of this holiday collection by authors who have written some of my favorite historical romances over the years, SEDUCTION ON A SNOWY NIGHT did not meet my expectations. Christmas tales always make me long for cold nights and hot chocolate, and these stories did bring me the feel of chilly wintery nights (a welcome change form the subtropical locale where I'm sweltering now)! So I'm grateful for the illusion of snow and mistletoe, and I will still look forward to new offerings from these authors in the future.

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