Review: Holiday Outing by Astrid Amara

My review of Astrid Amara's Hanukkah novella, Holiday Outing, is up today over at AAR. After reading Jessica's review over at Racy Romance Reviews, I decided to add this one to my holiday reading extravaganza. I found it funny and heartwarming, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Click here to read my full review. I also read this book as part of the 2009 Holiday Reading Challenge.

Disclosure: I purchased this book myself.

Review: Better Naughty Than Nice Anthology

Every year from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day it's my unofficial Anthology Season. I gorge myself on holiday stories -- Christmas, Hanukkah, whatever -- and most tend to come in anthology format. This year's Blaze Christmas anthology, Better Naughty Than Nice, by Vicki Lewis Thompson, Jill Shalvis, and Rhonda Nelson provided the most solid of the new anthologies I've read this year. None of the stories wowed me, but I found all three to be pretty enjoyable. Click here to read my full review at AAR. I also read this book as part of the 2009 Holiday Reading Challenge.

Disclosure: I purchased this book myself.

Review: Under the Covers Anthology

My review of the Under the Covers anthology by Crystal Jordan, Lorie O'Clare, and P.J. Mellor is up today over at AAR. I really enjoyed the Jordan and Mellor contributions -- Naughty or Nice and Escaping Christmas, respectively -- but O'Clare's Nativity Island didn't work for me at all. Despite one of the stories ranking pretty low, I'm happy to have discovered two new-to-me authors to read in the future. Click here to read my full review. I also read this book as part of the 2009 Holiday Reading Challenge.

Disclosure: I received this book free as an AAR reviewer.

Review: Kissing Santa Claus Anthology

My review of the Kissing Santa Claus anthology by Donna Kauffman, Jill Shalvis, and HelenKay Dimon is up over at AAR. I had high hopes for this Christmas collection, but two of the stories turned out to be meh. I did, however, really like the Jill Shalvis entry, Bah Handsome!, so I'll keep the anthology just so I can re-read that one next year. Click here to read my full review.

Disclosure: I received this book free as an AAR reviewer.

2009 Holiday Reading Challenge

Yeah, I'm a sucker. And a joiner. And maybe a bit of an overachiever. This is the second reading challenge I've signed up for this week. I heard about this holiday reading challenge via Anna at Good Gone Girl, and I'm pretty excited about it. I try to read  holiday books exclusively from the day after Thanksgiving through New Year's. This year I'll have to throw in some non-holiday books that I'm reviewing for AAR, but I'm still planning on making it a Big Freaking Holiday Extravaganza.

The challenge starts November 20th and ends December 31st. I decided to really go all out and commit to a minimum of 5 books for this reading challenge. The nominees are:

A Very Merry Christmas* by Foster, Maynard, and Bruce
Christmas Knight* by Carin Rafferty
A Blazing Little Christmas by D'Alessandro, Rock, and O'Reilly
A Snowball's Chance by Nikki Rivers 
A Christmas Carol by Kathleen O'Reilly
Home for the Holidays by Sarah Mayberry
To All A Goodnight by Kauffman, Shalvis, and Dimon
Kissing Santa Claus by Kauffman, Shalvis, and Dimon
When He Was Bad* by Jane Sullivan
"Turning Up the Heat"* by Susan Donovan
"Nutcracker Sweet"* by Nancy Warren
High Heels and Holidays by Kasey Michaels
Titles marked with an asterisk (*) are re-reads.

Last year a list this size wouldn't have even made me blink, but this year I've got a lot more on my plate and a lot less reading time. But I'm sure I can read at least 5 of these suckers by New Year's Eve. 

To learn more about the reading challenge, check out Nely's post at All About {n}.