Loving Sarah by Madeline Baker – Loving Sarah is a sweet, tender story about two lonely people finding love and acceptance in a place neither would have expected, each other's arms. Toklanni is a somewhat tortured but sympathetic hero as a half-breed who doesn't quite fit in either the Apache or the white world, and who is very self-conscious about a scar that runs the length of his face and body. He is a very gentle hero though, who protects and provides for Sarah when she is left alone due to an Apache raid on her home. I thought Sarah was realistic as a former city-dweller who isn't fully able to provide for herself when left alone and miles from the nearest civilization, yet she exhibits a quiet strength of character through her faith and persistence after her husband is killed and her son is kidnapped. She also has a very forgiving heart to be able to love and accept Toklanni after the attack by his people in which he played a part. This story is very simple, things happen rather quickly, and it lacks some of the depth I've read in other books, but in my opinion, there was a certain beauty within it's simplicity that some full-length novels can often fail to capture. I found it to be an easy read and a refreshing change of pace from the intensely emotional romances that I usually tend to favor, a sweetly endearing story that had the feel of curling up by the fire on a cold winter's day. This is the first in a two-novella series. The sequel, Loving Devlin, can be found in the anthology, A Wilderness Christmas. Madeline Baker also writes paranormal romance as Amanda Ashley. Rating: ***1/2

A Christmas Angel by Robin Lee Hatcher - A Christmas Angel is another sweet, emotional novella in this anthology that I really enjoyed. Mick was a sympathetic hero, a man who had essentially been forced into marrying a woman he didn't love, and was now struggling to provide for his seriously injured daughter. Jennifer was a sweet, caring soul who was also a strong woman. She had gotten an education, become a nurse during a time when career choices for women were few, and lived on her own, providing for herself. I found it heartwarming that Jennifer had loved Mick since she was just a girl and had never stopped loving him. Mick's daughter, Phoebe, was an adorable child who was wise beyond her years. The only thing that was bothersome about the story was that the conflict relied heavily on the tired cliché of misunderstandings, and two people who were too afraid to just admit what they felt for each other. I suppose it was somewhat believable though, since Mick had been badly hurt by his first wife. However, it didn't all get sorted out until the very end, and the resolution seemed a tad rushed. Overall, I was happy with this novella, because it exhibited a great deal of tender emotion and pretty good sexual tension even though it was never consummated. A Christmas Angel was a quick and easy, but enjoyable tale that was a pleasure to read. It was my first story by Robin Lee Hatcher, but has definitely left me open to reading others by her in the future. Rating: ****

The Homecoming by Nora Hess – The Homecoming was an OK read, but it had quite a few weaknesses in my opinion. It started off with what was essentially a love quadrangle, which isn't something I typically like in a romance, and I initially had a hard time warming up to any of the characters. Kate seemed very naive and far too quick to marry a man who obviously didn't love her; Olive was a loathsome shrew, who in her jealously, gave Kate no end of grief; Jase was even more detestable for marrying an innocent woman simply to spite his lover, Olive, and never giving Kate the least bit of respect; and John had a pretty sordid past which also included having been Olive's lover. Luckily I did later warm up to both Kate and John. Kate finally grew up a little and saw her husband for the worthless weasel he was, and although in my opinion, John's prior relationship with Olive was a weak and unnecessary plot device, I was able to overlook it when his deep and long-standing love for Kate was revealed along with his tiring of the playboy bachelor lifestyle. Ultimately, there was enough of an emotional connection between the two characters to make me like them, but at times the plot seemed rather forced and contrived. It didn't make sense that Kate's grandmother had ever let Jase court her when she never allowed other young men to socialize with Kate, and she herself said that Jase was just trying to make Olive jealous. Also, everyone in the settlement seemed to know that Olive had slept with half the men in town, but she was never ostracized from social events as one might have expected in a tiny community of that era. In fact, some people seemed to buy into her vicious gossip. In addition, Jase made a laughable comment about not wanting John's leftovers (ie Kate), when even if Kate had slept with John (which she hadn't), she would still be far more pure than Olive could ever hope to be. There were also a couple of distracting continuity errors which a good editor should have caught. In one scene, Kate is studying John's features while he sleeps and thinking of how his lips had kissed her tenderly, but they hadn't kissed yet. The other is that the back cover blurb has little to do with the actual story and mentions a homestead in Kentucky when the settlement is actually in New York. The Homecoming did not really have as sweet a quality or tone as the first two novellas in this book either. In the end, there was just enough in this story to hold my interest, but I thought it could have been done much better. This was my first story by Norah Hess, but the jury will remain out on whether I like her writing style until I have the opportunity to read more of her works. Rating: ***

The Greatest Gift of All by Connie Mason - The Greatest Gift of All was a light, easy read that I found to be generally pleasant, but I thought it could have benefited from more depth in both plot and characterizations. Everything happened very quickly, and I had a hard time buying into the idea of Nick falling in love with Jenny based solely on his friend's descriptions of her, and Jenny in turn falling in love with Nick in only a couple of days, mainly I surmised, because he brought some Christmas spirit back into her and her children's lives. Nick was still a very nice guy though. I thought him keeping his promise to his friend, Lucas, Jenny's first husband who had been killed, was admirable, and he was also wonderful with the kids. Jenny, on the other hand, was very cold and cynical, snapping at Nick and the children almost constantly. I wanted to understand her resentfulness toward Lucas for his job choice which ultimately had led to his death, but as hard as I tried, I still kept feeling like it was a bit overblown. She had never even cried for Lucas in the year since his death even though she supposedly had been very much in love with him. Then she very suddenly was able to throw off all her anger and thaw out in the final chapter which just wasn't very believable to me. I think all my difficulties understanding her go back to the lack of character depth. I did enjoy the children, Annie and Luke. Their resilience after all that had happened and absolute conviction that Nick was really St. Nicholas was very heartwarming. If there had been a little more substance to the story and Jenny hadn't been quite so icy, I probably would have enjoyed this novella more. As written though, it just left a little something to be desired. This one also had a continuity error between the cover blurb which mentions Colorado and the actual setting of the story which was Montana. This was my first read by Connie Mason, and as with Norah Hess, I'll have to check out more of her works before I'll be able to decide if her writing style is for me or not. Rating: ***

Note: All of the novellas in this anthology are non-explicit which should make it appropriate for romance readers of all ages. Each novella has been summarized and reviewed separately. The overall rating for the book is the average of the ratings for each individual story. ( )