Lovely Christmas Romance Anthology by eight great authors

The Last Chance Christmas Ball

By: Mary Jo Putney, Jo Beverley, Joanna Bourne, Patricia Rice, Nicola Cornick, Cara Elliott, Anne Gracie, Susan King

Rating: 5 of 5

“The Last Chance Christmas Ball” is a collection of short stories which are tied together by way of both the relationships of the various characters (brothers here, neighbors there, etc.) as well as by their invitations to an annual Christmas ball.

The eight authors are all stars in historical romance and each shines in their various stories in this book. It was really interesting to see that their style was so evident in a short story as well as a longer novel. If you are at all interested in one of these authors (Mary Jo Putney, Jo Beverley, Joanna Bourne, Patricia Rice, Nicola Cornick, Cara Elliott, Anne Gracie, Susan King), this book will give you a good foretaste of the type of book that they write. Some are quite serious and others have a little more fun with their writing.

I am very familiar with both Nicola Cornick and Mary Jo Putney and have read many of their books. I have read books by each of the authors and enjoyed them but these two are two of my favorite historical romance novelists and the main reason why I choose to read this book.

I love Christmas anthologies and this was a really good one. Usually anthologies are merely a collection of short stories. As these tied together, it had the feel of a longer novel while presenting eight distinctly different romances.

I received a digital ARC copy of this book from the publisher, Kensington, via Netgalley.