Wednesday, December 1

Book Review: Thankfully in Love: A Thanksgiving Anthology



Author: Anna J. Stewart, Kayla Perrin, Melinda Curtis, Cari Lynn Webb
Title: Thankfully in Love: A Thanksgiving Anthology
Genre: Anthology, Romance, Holiday, Contemporary
Format: ebook
Published: October 27th, 2020
Where I Got It: My shelf (Amazon)


Summary: 
Four USA Today bestselling romance authors come together for Thanksgiving, telling the stories of four woman who have not had the best experiences with the men they have dated in their pasts. With the help of family and loved ones this holiday season, can they learn to open their hearts one more time? If they can dare to make the leap, they could find themselves finally, thankfully in love…

There's no place like home, especially during Thanksgiving. After spending ten years as an officer and analyst with a special division in a federal cyber-investigation, Tripp Atsilla is on the brink of burnout. Then he meets Parker Rutledge. Two years ago she changed her name and moved to a small town, hoping to leave the damage her ex-husband caused behind. Someone's found her; someone who wants to make her pay for her ex-husband's crimes. But can she trust Tripp? Can she trust anyone?

Miranda Cox isn’t looking forward to heading home for Thanksgiving. She’d raved to everyone that Matthew was the one; now she has yet another failed relationship under her belt. Despite working as a translator in Ottawa, and loving travelling abroad, she’s thirty-four and still single. When Miranda arrives at Union Station in Toronto, she’s surprised to see Taz, her childhood friend. Years earlier, they’d drifted apart. Miranda was so hurt over the loss of their friendship. She’s also shocked to learn that he’s divorced. Miranda finds herself inviting him and his sick mother for Thanksgiving dinner at her parents’ place. It is finally their time?

Chef Drew Barnett has been hired to create the perfect Thanksgiving for a potential restaurant investor, but a power outage has him scrambling to find a working kitchen. Jilted bride and food critic Claire Rothchild is pet-sitting a friend’s St. Bernard named Snowflake. She wants to hibernate for the holidays, but it turns out the guest house she’s staying in has power when the main house does not. Feeling uncomfortable for invading the privacy of his potential investor's guest, Drew doesn’t know what to make of a food critic in his kitchen, just as Claire doesn’t know how to stop interfering with his dishes and passing tidbits to a mooching pooch. Is this a recipe for a Dog-Gone Holiday? Or for love?

Born with a degenerative eye disease, photographer Kelsey Thomas knows two things: she will be legally blind within five years and her family wants to see her married and settled first. Then Kelsey's boyfriend breaks up with her one week before she planned to introduce him to her family at her grandmother's island commitment ceremony. At the resort bar, she meets Dr. Noah Lawson. He spends his life inside his lab developing cutting-edge techniques to slow the progression of vision loss. When he’s offered funding with strings—save the eyesight of the granddaughter of a wealthy investor—he’s reluctant to agree. Noah is smitten by Kelsey—so much so that he agrees to be her fake wedding date for the Thanksgiving holidays. Too late, he realizes her connection to his potential investor. Is this a set-up? Or fate?


Review:
Seen this went on sale and couldn't help myself! T-Day books are a rare and I was super intrigued. I really should read more anthologies. 

Story 1 - No Place Like Home by Anna J Stewart

I struggled really bad with this one. I couldn't tell you why. It has everything I love. Good characters. Drama. Food. Small town. A bad ex. I just couldn't connect and I found myself skimming this one. Gah. Not a great way to start these stories.

Story 2 - Second Chance by Kayla Perrin

Love me some good second chances! These two really deserved love. I loved them and watching them fall in love. It took a min for the stars to align, but it was perfect. I loved it. I think this was my favorite. So yayy! 

Story 3 - Dog-Gone Holiday by Melinda Curtis

This one had me chuckling. Chef Drew is desperate to find a function kitchen so he can cook his butt off. His only hope is Claire....who is a former food critic. What a great TDay romance!! Nom!!! And that puppers was adorable. 

Story 4 - Love Guides the Way by Cari Lynn Webb

I really liked this one. I do think that this needed to be longer. Maybe a full book? The two have a lot to deal with it and it all happened SO quickly. Too quickly I feel. I get it's a shorter story, but there is a lot of baggage these two have. Especially when she realizes that he is a Doctor and she told her family NO MORE DOCTORS. She wants to just live her life and she has accepted her eye disease is rare and there is little to be done. This needed more, but I liked what I had. 


Overall
This was a pretty good TDay collection. Some good....some I was a little meh about, but I'm glad I bought this. Maybe I'll reread it for next year since TDay books are rare. I'll overall stamp this with 3 stars. 















6 comments:

Melliane said...

I'm not that much into short stories...

Carole Rae said...

I'm pretty picky when it comes to short stories.

Blodeuedd said...

I still do not have my romance not xmas bingo

Carole Rae said...

Still got some time mah dear!

Sophia Rose said...

I remember getting excited when this one came out for the same reason. It was a good one for me, too. I can't remember which one I liked the best.

Carole Rae said...

It's perfect for the fall!