** spoiler alert ** Like a lot of anthologies I'm coming across at the moment, this was carried by two out of the four stories.

This Time Next Year - Alison Kent

I liked this one, although I thought it was a little unreal towards the end. I would have liked the heroine to have stayed instead of going overseas. It's romantic and all, but I certainly wouldn't be waiting for someone for a year.

Still, I did enjoy it for the most part, so it gets a 4/5.

A Rare Gift - Jaci Burton

I wasn't all that hot on this one, if only for the fact that the hero is the heroine's ex-brother-in-law. As my mother says, if you're sleeping with someone that's slept with another member of your family, it's a little too close to incest for my tastes.

I persevered however, and it ended up alright in the end. I thought the hero ran so hot and cold he could be a jerk at times . The heroine was definitely a little pushy, and while I'm sure the author was going for "sexually confident", to me she sometimes just seemed plain old slutty.

I have to admit however, that I love when the hero is faced with a choice between slender and blonde, and curvy and brunette.

In the end, this was a 3/5.

It's Not Christmas Without You - HelenKay Dimon

I didn't like this one at all.

The whole premise was irritating and unbelievable from the beginning for me. If the town where she'd lived, and the place where she's moving to were only a two hour drive apart, I don't see a problem. I fully believe that if the heroine actually WANTED to make the relationship work, she would have, instead of just breaking it off. Quite frankly, lots of people travel two or more hours just to get to work everyday and then have to commute home again at the end of the day.

Because, at least for me, there wasn't a problem to begin with, the characters behaved liked complete idiots in my opinion. To make matters worse, when the hero finally stopped being an ass and listened to what the heroine was saying and left, she got all pissy because she'd decided she didn't want that freedom anymore. It was ridiculous. These two were much better off apart.

For that reason I would rate this a 2/5. It was saved from a 1 because at the end, I actually felt sympathy for the hero because the heroine ended up being a lunatic.

Mistletoe and Margaritas - Shannon Stacey

This was the other novella that I enjoyed.

I was fully invested in the hero and heroine's emotions and want for each other...right up til the end when the heroine turned into a child.

She acted really dumb in my opinion and I was just left thinking, 'Huh?'.

Things did work out in the end, but that small window of TSTL kept this from being a full five stars, so this too, is rated 4/5.

Overall, despite the fact that the two novellas I did like dipped a bit, I would rate the anthology as a 4/5 and recommend it to anyone who loves holiday romances.