Review: A Vampire for Christmas - Anthology

’Tis the season…for these darkly sexy tales.

All they want for Christmas is you…

It’s the time of year for twinkling lights on trees and kisses under the mistletoe. Yet the passing of another year means nothing to the stunning immortals who lurk in the shadows of the new-fallen snow.

And they don’t care if you’ve been naughty or nice.

Let four fanged lovers open your eyes to a passion you never dared to imagine. After all, there’s no place like home for the holidays—and these dazzling vampires can’t wait for an invitation.

The A Vampire for Christmas anthology contains the following short stories (links will take you to the authors websites):
Enchanted by Blood - Laurie London
Monsters Don't Do Christmas - Michele Hauf
When Herald Angels Sing - Caridad Pineiro
All I Want For Christmas - Alexis Morgan

Review:
I have been enjoying reading Christmas themed anthologies over the last few days so A Vampire for Christmas was just the kind of thing I was looking for.  Anthologies can be a great way of trying new authors and I have definitely added a couple of authors to my to read pile thanks to this one.  Although there were a couple of stories that I didn't enjoy as much as the others I'd say this anthology was well worth buying just for Alexis Morgan and Laurie London's contributions.

Enchanted by Blood by Laurie London

Sweetblood Series:
Bonded by Blood
Hidden by Blood (Ebook Novella)
Embraced by Blood
Enchanted by Blood (Novella in the A Vampire for Christmas anthology)
Tempted by Blood (2012)

I've not read any of the books in the Sweetblood series but after reading this novella I'll definitely be picking up the first book in the series (Bonded by Blood).  Enchanted by Blood is the story of Trace a vampire who is about to take his place on the governing council but is torn between his family duty and his love for the human Charlotte.  Although I did find a couple of things confusing because I've not read the first few books in the series I enjoyed this novella and it reminded me a little of Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed series and J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood books.  My one irritation was that Charlotte forgave Trace a bit too easily for wiping her memory, it would have taken a lot longer for him to win me around after pulling a stunt like that but I can forgive it since this was a novella not a full length book.  I really liked both of the main characters and I'm looking forward to reading more of this series.

Monsters Don't Do Christmas by Michele Hauf

This story was OK but nothing special and I'd started to get bored by the end of it.  Daniel was transformed into a vampire against his will and has believed himself to be a monster unworthy of happiness ever since.  He is drawn to Olivia but with her life in the public eye it isn't going to be easy for him to keep the fact he is a vampire a secret.  I felt that Olivia accepted the fact that Daniel was a vampire far too easily and I was surprised that she wasn't even slightly afraid of him in the beginning.  I was also annoyed that she kept referring to herself as a monster when there was no reason for her to.  Like I said this story was OK and I will try something else by this author in the future (I have a couple of her books on my to read pile), hopefully I'd be able to connect to the characters better in a full length novel.

When Herald Angels Sing by Caridad Pineiro

I'm not going to spend much time talking about this one.  I found the constant switching between the past and the present confusing.  I didn't connect to either of the characters and didn't even bother to finish reading the story.  I was worried that I hadn't given this one a fair chance because I had a really bad headache when I first picked it up so I tried to give it a second chance and had exactly the same problem.  I've heard really good things about this author so will probably try something else by her in the future, unfortunately When Herald Angels Sing just didn't work for me.

All I Want for Christmas by Alexis Morgan

This was definitely my favourite story in the anthology and I'm really looking forward to reading more by Alexis Morgan in the future.  Vampire Eagan works as an undercover policeman and is investigating the murders of several teenagers.  He needs a cover story for being in the area where the teens have been disappearing from and Della's diner is the perfect location for him to observe what is going on.  Della loves to look after everyone and the customers who spend time at the diner are more like family, she is quick to welcome Eagan into her world but Eagan is used to spending his time alone and it isn't so easy for him to get used to his growing feelings for Della.  This was such a sweet story, it has a great Christmas feel good factor and I enjoyed every minute of it.  The A Vampire for Christmas anthology is worth buying for this story alone & I would highly recommend it.

Source: Received from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.