A Fantasy Christmas by Cindy C. Bennett, Stephanie Fowers and Sherry Gammon

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 1996 KB
• Print Length: 284 pages
• Publisher: Prose by Design (21 Nov 2013)

A Fantasy Christmas is an exciting collection of romantic stories by best selling authors Cindy C Bennett, Stephanie Fowers, and Sherry Gammon. You'll find Elves, Greek gods and witches! 

*Halfling by Cindy C Bennett
Banished from the South Pole, Kara tries to carve out a new life among the elves of the North. It’s not easy with a secret to protect—a secret she's cursed with by the unusual circumstances of her heritage: half-elf, half-fairy. In the North, she’s assigned to work with Seb on a special project. He's the most gorgeous elf she’s ever seen - and the orneriest. 
As if being banished wasn’t punishment enough. 
Seb introduces her to Trystin, a fairy from the nearby fairy forest. Trystin discerns her secret right away and promises to teach her how to use the powers given to her by the very thing she’s fighting to keep hidden.

*Aphrodite by Stephanie Fowers
Nothing is simple for Aphrodite’s daughter, especially love. 
Scorned by society in regency England, Affry longs for romance. Upon encountering a dashing nobleman at her aunty's Christmas' ball, Affry gets caught in a lovely intrigue with disastrous results. Worse, she wins the interest of the gods. Now the furies of the underworld and Hades himself are after her. 
When all is fair in war, Affry must use love as her weapon—but only for the one who’s
stolen her heart.

*Loving Marigold by Sherry Gammon
Young Marigold Yarrow has a secret. She’s also in love with Jack Mahoney. In the middle of her ninth grade year, Jack's family up and moves to Port Fare, New York, leaving the small town of Sugar Maple, West Virginia - and Marigold - far behind.
Nine years later Jack and Marigold meet again. They join forces to weed out the shady Abbott boys. The unscrupulous brothers are illegally selling moonshine near her home on Sugar Maple Ridge. And they'll do anything to get Marigold to leave the ridge. Anything.
But this time it could be magic that tears Jack and Marigold apart.

Cover: A pretty little cover.

I found myself super excited to read this one, because it contained stories from two of my favourite authors- Cindy C. Bennett of Heart on a Chain and Geek Girl and Sherry Gammon of Unlovable.  I was also in the market for a Christmas themed book, because I won't ever buy a book to read this time of year just because it's Christmas themed, I felt I was lucky because it was authors I loved plus the bonus of being a Christmas book.

Anyway.  I was really disappointed with this one.

Halfing I feel could have had premise if it had been fleshed out into a full novel, but I don't think it had the time to really make sense.  I found the idea of an elf and fairy hybrid to be a great one, but the romance element between Kara and Seb?  I didn't feel it- when did he fall in love with her?  His grumpiness and mood swings didn't do it for me.

Aphrodite- I seriously disliked this one.  Mixing regency and Greek mythology just didn't work for me.  I didn't connect to either protagonists.  The romance just wasn't believable, and the whole world building fell totally flat for me.

Loving Marigold- this was definitely the best, and my favourite, of the bunch.  It was a really cute, sweet little read.  I liked the characters, rooted for them.  It was simple, but it worked.  Not as great as Sherry's Port Fare series, but I still enjoyed it.

2/5 stars.