"A Yuletide Kiss", a book featuring three novellas written by Sabrina Jeffries, Madeline Hunter and Mary Jo Putney, was included in my audible subscription.

The three novellas take place simultaneously over Christmas in a coaching inn. The roads are blocked because of snow and some weary travellers are stranded and have to spend Christmas together.

When We Finally Kiss Goodnight by Sabrina Jeffries
Flora Younger and Konrad Juncker have met seven years ago in Bath and Konrad had courted her, but then disappeared, crashing her hope of finding a suitable match. Now she works as a lady's companion. When they suddenly run into each other in the inn, it is instant love again - but Konrad, now a famous playwright, has a secret that keeps him from opening up to Flora.
I did not enjoy this story very much because I just wanted Flora to run away. I simply could not condone or understand Konrad's actions and the love scenes were cringeworthy.

An Unexpected Christmas Gift by Madeline Hunter
Jenna Waverly, the owner of the inn, has bought it with her inheritance in order to be independent. She works hard, but the inn can hardly survive, and her brother's lifestyle is not helping. When she finds an injured stranger in the woods, she nurses him and falls in love with him - but what was his true purpose to visit the inn?
This was my favourite story. Jenna and Lucas are both likable characters, the love story felt authentic and I rooted for them.

When Strangers Meet by Mary Jo Putney
Years ago in India, Daniel Faringdon rescued Kate McLeod when her despicable uncle auctioned her off to marry the highest bidder. As the ceremony was performed by a drunkard, Daniel believed the marriage to be invalid, and they lost contact after Kate relocated to England to live with her extended family. When they meet each other at the inn, she informs him that the marriage was valid after all, but she wishes to annul it because she is about to be betrothed to another man - but Daniel realizes that he wants her for a real wife.
This story was exceedingly boring to listen to because it mostly consists of long dialogues - as Daniel and Kate try to get to know each other in order to decide if they want to be married, they muse endlessly about the past, their current situation and the possible future. I could not feel any chemistry between them and the plot only picked up pace towards the end. The only advantage of this story was that it featured a cat!

I initially liked the idea of three stories taking place at the same time, but the concept lost its appeal to me rather quickly because while the love stories were different, the underlying action was, of course, the same and I got tired of that. It was still ok to listen to this in anticipation of Christmas, but I am not rushing to read anything else by these authors. ( )

Really enjoyed the intertwined stories about a group of people stranded at an inn just before Christmas. ( )

I received an advance review copy from NetGalley, but my opinions are entirely truthful and my own. I had read multiple books from each of these authors previously and enjoyed them, so this book was a good fit for me.

Sabrina Jeffries- I've liked the previous books in the Duke Dynasty series average or better, but this one didn't work for me. Often holiday novellas require a little more slack cut to them, allowing them to be extra convenient due to their short length, and a bit sappier due to the holiday, but this seemed even a bit more flimsy than that. I didn't buy the events as plausible, and I didn't grow all that fond of the characters, AND I wasn't that very engaged by the rest. It wasn't absolute rubbish, but it was below average enough (for me) that I couldn't justify rounding up. 2 stars.

Madeline Hunter- This had a fairly slow start between rehashing some scene-setting events we already learned in the previous story (the story should be able to stand decently on its own, so I understand why these were repeated, it just contributed to the feeling of waiting for things to get going), and an illness that takes up quite a bit of page time in the beginning and obviously limits the potential of the chapters from that point of view. After that though it had pretty good pacing, and hooked my interest in the characters. The steam isn't 'fade to black', but it does stay pretty short and vague. So it felt a bit like a missed opportunity to me, who enjoys steam, but is probably fairly inoffensive to those put off by it. Overall I liked the characters and things wrapped up well. 4 stars.

Mary Jo Putney- I have read 6 prior books by this author, and enjoyed every one of them above average. But for whatever reason, I thought this one was terrible. I rarely give single stars, and all throughout the last half I was hoping I would be able to at least round up to a 2, but I just can't. I was bored, annoyed, AND disbelieving. I'm really kind of astonished. Not much happens, it's nearly entirely a series of conversations broken up by some menial tasks, and then some lines or a scene we've already seen earlier (some of them twice by this point) sprinkled in here and there. I actually don't mind conversation-heavy stories, but the dialogue was so stilted and basic that I felt like rolling my eyes. It seemed kind of like the dialogue in a less than mediocre play. Tons of things were spelled out to a simpleton degree in case the reader was incapable of putting two pieces of information together. And I usually enjoy animals in stories, but this one was so anthropomorphized that I would almost sooner believe a human somehow traded bodies with the cat than I would that this is reasonable animal behavior. lol. And then, to add insult to injury, there's hardly even a romance (vague spoiler) when one character basically sits on the fence til the 11th hour when there's a miraculous change of heart. I don't buy it. I really am very disappointed. This won't stop me from ever reading other stories by this author, because I quite enjoyed those previous ones, but if this had been my first from her I would have a low opinion of her writing potential. If you are in that boat, do consider giving her work another shot. 6 books to 1 makes this the anomaly rather than the norm.

For the collection as a whole, 2.5 stars rounded up. ( )

I am voluntarily posting an honest review after reading an advance readers copy of this story.

A Yuletide Kiss is a collaboration between 3 authors with all 3 stories taking place at the same time in the same inn. An Ice storm brings out the best in the stranded strangers. But not all of them are strangers. The beauty of this book is that we're finding out what happened to a couple of secondary characters from each of the authors books. I liked all 3 and was very pleased when I realized I was getting a kind of epilog of characters I'd wondered about. Fabulous. If you're a fan then you already know these 3 ladies can write good stories so if you're curious then dive in for a pleasant journey.

#MadelineHunter #SabrinaJeffries #MaryJoPutney #AYuletideKiss #KensingtonPress #historicalromance #romance ( )

A Yuletide Kiss

Three historical holiday romances that occur at an inn when unexpected guests are snowed in and must spend time together see three couples find their happily ever afters.

There were surprises, kisses, Christmas trees, mistletoe, baking, cooking, meals enjoyed, songs written then sung, secrets exposed, second chances for some and new love for others. This was a varied and fun holiday collection.

THE UNEXPECTED GIFT by Madeline Hunter
Jenna is a lovely woman dedicated to her inn and unwilling to see anyone turned away during a snowstorm. I enjoyed watching her and Lucas find one another as Lucas searched for the scoundrel and made things right.

WHEN WE FINALLY KISS GOOD NIGHT by Sabrina Jeffries
What a tangled web this story had to untangle. I enjoyed watching Flora get to the bottom of what happened eight years before and seeing how she and Konrad were able to find a way to be together.

WHEN STRANGERS MEET by Mary Jo Putney
Kate and Daniel had a very interesting story. How they met, what happened afterward and whether or not they might have a future together was fun reading. I am glad it worked out as it eventually did.

Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I read more by these authors? Yes

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4 Stars ( )