These were some cute and romantic stories, but I must confess that I’m not crazy about short stories. They are just enough of a taste to make the reader wish that there was a deeper story. With that being said for the most parti enjoyed the characters. This is a great book for Christmas romance.

Three of these four stories revolve around people who were, to all effect, childhood sweethearts who had grown apart for various reasons. Each has a different reason, and each has a different way of reconnecting. Each story is satisfying in its own way. I was somewhat frustrated by “Mistletoe Memories” and the reason why Alice and Patrick were distanced from each other, particularly all the social implications of what happened to Alice. The surprise in “A Christmas Courting” was really no surprise at all, and I’m a little disappointed in Keturah for not catching on sooner. The odd one out in this collection is “Love and Joy Come to You”, which was probably my favorite of the three. Another one with cute kids to further the plot!

Totally clean. Chaste kisses are all you get here.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book also reviewed at https://biblioquacious.blogspot.com/2021/11/cuddle-up-with-holiday-romances.html

I did really enjoy this book. I loved the era and the language. Christmas romance just has a place in my heart.

This book is full of 4 novellas from 4 amazing authors. I read it this month July to help me beat the heat! It is a great Christmas in July read! I love each and everyone of the Novellas in this book.

In the past I have not enjoyed short stories- I prefer to spend more time with the characters I love and hate to part with them. A Christmas Courting is an exception and has taught me that I greatly enjoy these short and sweet period romances! I thoroughly enjoyed each tale included in A Christmas Courting and am thrilled to seek out more of the like.

A lovely holiday anthology by talented writers. I personally always want more from anthologies, more grit and danger, more plot and more Christmas pudding, alas that is the way with the nature of the books. They cut to the chase and tease us with a glimpse of the collective authors' talents and leave us wanting more so we scurry to our computers and order full length novels by the contributors. That being said I found A Christmas Courting to be well crafted and enjoyable to read, each author brought a unique voice to the book and I thoroughly enjoyed them all.

This novella collection sounded very cute. I started reading it, and I think it absolutely delivers on the heartwarming, romantic, festive Christmas read that many people are looking for that time of year. I unintentionally set it aside in favor of other reads, but I'd recommend it to readers of cute, romancey Christmas stories!

Love and Joy Come to You By Jennifer Moore

This was a sweet story The lord of the manor is fatigued by his grasping relatives returns to the family seat to have a quiet uneventful Christmas with his mother whom he is trying to shield from undue distress at the loss of a husband and daughter in tragic circumstances. Into his seeming yuletide idyll comes a Young woman and her three young siblings recovering from their own loss. They contrive to create a nice Christmas for their relations not realising that they need the spirit of the season to pour balm on their own loss and grief.

The science boffin little sister is an inspired addition, I loved the character of Annie, a child retreating into Science and definitive answers to protect herself from further hurts. Rounded out with, scheming matriarchs, Dogs, Trees, Logs and the good old fashioned Wassail , the Christmas setting is traditional and thoroughly immersive. The inevitable sweetness is tempered by a heroine and Hero with common sense and a very likable cast of background characters . No swooning here.



A Christmas Courting By Chalon Linton

Considering that this was the title story for this collection, I found it the least enjoyable as it was obvious from the very start that the story would go exactly as it did. There was little narrative development and the Characters were fairly one dimensional. A nice story, but nothing out of the ordinary

Mistletoe Memories By Jen Geigle Johnson

This one has it all, a woman of good birth jilted at the altar, scandal and intrigue follow her wherever she goes in polite society. Was she caught in a compromising position, was it a shotgun wedding?, Pride and, yes Prejudice too are at play as childhood sweethearts are brought together again after an enforced period apart. Parliamentary reformers, and confidantes can they overcome Social Stigma and the adopted duty of a serving member of the peerage to be blemish- less in the eye of a judgemental society?

The Christmas Setting allows for friends to scheme and foes to pit themselves against the pair as they spend time together at a Christmas house party and rekindle old feelings. Yule Logs, Forgiveness and Crossed wires and a totally appalling postal system create the dramatic tension and the resolution is sweetly satisfying, The light social commentary surrounding class and social strata acted as light seasoning to this tale.

Second Chance Christmas By Heidi Kimball

A man returns after a failed proposal determined to maintain the friendship that had grown into love. She naively believes her affections for him are purely platonic. Across the span of a Winter storm, unwelcome House Guests , a calamitous accident that creates a melting Pot of false belief and misunderstandings, thank fully this all ends happily. There was more scope here to see how this pair might have saved a lot of hassle if they had just been honest with themselves, as their camaraderie and competitiveness barely covers their mutual regard.

I liked the faithful female friend aspect and kind of hope Maria might get her own seasonal outing soon.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love collections of novellas because if you don’t have much time you can enjoy reading them individually, or sit down and just delight yourself by indulging in the entire collection in one go.

This charming selection contains four sweet Regency romances, where, once the hero and heroine have overcome misunderstandings etc their relationships are resolved with HEA’s. I enjoyed all four novellas and found that the Christmas setting enhanced the storylines.

Simply delightful!

A Christmas Courting includes four recency novellas for the holiday season. Each author had a different approach, yet the stories were similar. In every story, the characters were loveable and charming. Each story had a heart warming plot to make you smile. It's a nice holiday collection. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Four Regency-period novellas, all set during the December holiday season. The first, "Love and Joy Come to You" by Jennifer Moore, was my favorite, focusing on the difficulties of reconciling grief with celebration. Graham Montagu, Lord Covington, hopes that his mother will not fall into melancholy over the family members they have lost, as she tends to do during Christmas.But he's not at all pleased by how his mother has decided to cheer herself up: by inviting a family of four recently orphaned young people to stay at the estate over the holidays. But the three children and their pets make everything more cheerful, as does their eldest sister, Cassie Weatherby, whom Graham finds occupying more and more of his thoughts despite knowing his mother is playing matchmaker. Helping each other help their respective family members not to despair, and sharing their own ways of coping with loss, brings the two together.

In Chalon Linton's "A Christmas Courting," Keturah has to watch as the young man whom she's long loved comes to stay in London, purportedly to court a bride. Why, though, is he spending so much time at Keturah's house? The pleasure here is in knowing far more than the rather clueless Keturah does, a pleasure in which I didn't take much joy in indulging.

Alice, the heroine of Jen Geigle Johnson's "Mistletoe Memories," has long known she would marry Patrick, a duke. And when she is compromised by another man while Patrick is away in India, she believes that Patrick will come and rescue her. But he doesn't; only being jilted saves her from a horrible marriage. And Patrick isn't at all happy with her newly scandalous reputation. Bad writing, lots of well-intentioned but rather empty references to wanting to help the working classes through reform, and annoying protagonists made this a no-go for me.

In the final story, Heidi Kimball's "Second-Chance Christmas," Frances Lockhart encounters the man whose proposal she refused four months earlier, the "best friend" toward who she only feels "sisterly affection." But when visitors, including a pretty young lady, come to visit Gerard's family for the holidays, Frances suddenly realizes that she might not have understood her own feelings as clearly as she thought.

Very innocent heroines and only a little kissing make this a collection for those who prefer their holiday historicals sweet as plum pudding.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher, Covenant Communications through NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

A Christmas Courting includes four charming regency novellas that are packed with intriguige and romance. Each author did a wonderful job developing her characters and storyline in such few pages. Novellas usually fall short on this point but these did not disappoint, I didn’t want them to end.
They each are delightfully entertaining and will have you in the Christmas spirit no matter the time of year.
Review posted on both Goodreads and Amazon.

The trouble with short stories is they often leave you wanting more. In the case of "A Christmas Courting" I mean that in the best possible way. Each story was engaging with fun and likable characters. You wanted more time with them, which is not a bad thing! Definitely a fun run of romances to read over the holidays while you snuggle up with a blanket by the fire.

**I received a copy of this book in exchange for my review. The opinions expressed are my own.**

If you’re looking for an amazing, cute, Christmas-time read, look no further!

Each of the stories in this collection put me in the holiday spirit. I, personally, found the first two very cute, if a little slow. The final two, however, caught my heart. I truly am a sucker for dramatic misunderstandings with happy endings.

This book is exactly what you’d think it’d be: a collection of cozy, Christmas-time romances.

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of stories. Each one was a sweet read that helped get me into the Christmas spirit. The stories were just long enough to enjoy, yet short enough to read during this busy time of year. I am always looking for new authors, so this was a great way to sample 4 different authors works with one book. I will definitely be looking for more books by these authors.

I loved last year's book [book: Christmas Grace] and really looked forward to another collection of Christmas stories.

LOVE AND JOY COME TO YOU by Jennifer Moore--Lord Covington is looking forward to a quiet holiday with his mother when he finds out that she's invited a family of four orphaned children and their Aunt to spend Christmas at Firwood Hall. At first he's not at all happy with the idea but then he asks Cassie (the oldest) to work with him so they can plan Christmas for both their families.

Such a sweet story of Lord Covington and Cassie making Christmas happy for her three younger siblings and his mother who still grieved for her husband even after seven years. I loved reading about them finding a tree and chopping a tree for the yule log and the other activities.

A CHRISTMAS COURTING by Chalon Linton--Keturah Hensley and her family will have to stay in London this Christmas and she's not happy to be missing her best friend, Christopher Shepherd. When she finds out he's also in London and invited for Christmas she's elated until she finds out he's in Town to court a young lady, but no one knows who it is. Keturah has been friends with Christopher since she was very young and she's been in love with him for a long time, but she's afraid she's lost him too this young woman he's in Town to court.

I love childhood/long-time friends who fall in love stories. This one has a little bit of a twist (for lack of a better word) to it.

MISTLETOE MEMORIES by Jen Geigle Johnson--Patrick, Duke of Montrose was all set to marry Lady Alice Tarrington and their parents thought it best that they wait two years before doing so. Before he comes back to England he finds out that Alice is going to marry someone else. Thinking that Alice has married, Patrick sets out to find a wife.

Another friends who marry story but not the usual-friends-who-finally-realize-they-love-each-other trope. Patrick and Alice planned to marry each other but things happened that kept them apart and when they eventually met up again neither one of them knew the entire story of what had happened to the other.

SECOND CHANCE CHRISTMAS by Heidi Kimball--Francie and Gerard have been friends since they were children. When Gerard proposes to Francie she turns him down because "she'd never felt anything beyond a sisterly affection for him." Since then, they haven't really been friends until his mother has a houseparty. Francie is invited to certain activities of the houseparty and while watching Gerard's interactions with some of the guests, Francie unexpectedly discovers feelings for Gerard that are more than "sister affection".

While this is yet another long-time friends turned to love story, it's different than the other two because one of the friends doesn't realize they're in love until much later. I liked that it was Gerard who knew he loved Francie first. Lots of times it's the girl who's in love with the guy, and he's the one who doesn't have a clue.

All of these are sweet Christmas love stories. I love collections because I can read one story at a time if I only have a small amount of time to read and it enables me to try works by new authors. I already love Jennifer Moore and Jen Geigle Johnson and I'm becoming more familiar with Chalon Linton's books, but Heidi Kimball is brand new to me.

I offered to review this book for Netgalley but I also have my own personal copy.

A Christmas Courting is a good, sweet and clean read. I give it four and a half stars and recommend it.

A book of four lovely novellas taking place around Christmas time. Wonderful stories that fit the Christmas season. Nice short stories perfect for when you don't have time to read a long book. These are sweet holiday Regencies.
Pub Date 01 Oct 2018
I was given a complimentary copy of this book from Covenant Communications through NetGalley. Thank you. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is a collection of four sweet romance Regency Christmas novellas by collected authors. As is usual when I review collections, I’ll give brief impressions and star rating for each of the books before giving an average overall rating for the collection as a whole.

Love And Joy Come To You by Jennifer Moore
Christmas can be a difficult time of year for those who’ve lost loved ones. So when Lord Covington arrives home anticipating a quiet holiday with his mother, he’s not best pleased to discover his home has been invaded by three young children. On meeting their older sister Cassie, however, he discovers they are spending their first Christmas after the loss of their parents, and finds it in himself to open his home to the children - and his heart to Cassie.
This is very sweet, and Covington and Cassie did seem very well-suited to each other. Both thinking of others’ happiness before their own, they reminded me rather of Jane Bennet and Mr Bingley. Five stars for a charming romance.

A Christmas Courting by Chalon Linton
Keturah has been in love with family friend Christopher her whole life. Hearing that he is spending Christmas in London to court a lady devastates her… but then Christopher seems to be spending all his time at her house!
Keturah is very naive and honestly I had the feeling everyone in the story was laughing behind her back, which was rather cruel considering how hurt she was feeling. Three stars.

Mistletoe Memories by Jen Geigle Johnson
Compromised by an unscrupulous fortune hunter, Lady Alice's reputation is smashed to pieces. Her childhood love Patrick's return from India is months too late.
I felt so sorry for Alice and so angry with Patrick, who acted like a complete judgemental a**. I wanted her to marry someone who didn't care about her past, not have Patrick discover her innocence so he could magnanimously decide she was good enough for him after all.
This one hit too many of my hot trigger buttons. Two stars.

Second-Chance Christmas by Heidi Kimball
Taken by surprise when her lifelong best friends confesses his love and proposes, Frances declined. Now Gerard is back and possibly courting another, Frances must examine her true feelings.
Friends to lovers isn't a favorite trope of mine by any means because so often one party seems to be quilted into the relationship, but this is a really rather good take on it, with Frances just naive and surrounded by Gerard's declaration. Enjoyable and well written, I'll give this story five stars.

As a collection overall, what stood out was the extreme youth and naivety of the heroines. Sweet and clean romance shouldn't necessarily mean naivety and I'd have liked to see at least one older heroine finding love here. Though there were two stories here I enjoyed, both the other two hit hot buttons and annoyed me. Overall, I'd give this three stars.

Four stories with two of my favourite tropes: friends to lovers and second chance romance.

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Sweet caring hero + Strong cinnamon roll heroine.

Cassie is celebrating Christmas with her little brothers and sister at Graham's house (he's an earl) and it was really adorable to watch this two fall in love. I loved Cassie's little brothers and her sister Annie.
Graham was an amazing hero, he looked after those he love. He was really connected with his feelings and he doesn't feel ashamed for it. He helped Cassie to heal because she's still grieving for her parent's death and Graham wants to be there for here and he wants to ease her pain. He's a sweetheart.


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I liked the heroine and I thought the story was sweet but the hero made her suffer unnecessarily.


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I liked that he was nobility and that he wanted to do something to help the working class. I like a socially conscious hero. And the heroine too, I think in the end I liked her more than him. I understand the reasons why he was angry at her at the beginning but if he only talked with her first . . .


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Friends to lovers story. I liked the hero but her not so much.