A Pirate for Christmas

author: Anna Campbell

I’m generally meh on Christmas romance because I’m kind of meh on Christmas itself. It’s a really busy, stressful time of year for me and at some point during our family Christmas celebration, I inevitably wind up in tears. Plus Christmas romance tends to be treacly sweet. When I saw A Pirate for Christmas I decided to take a risk on it because Scottish pirate! Plus–shit, it was 99 cents!

This Regency novella takes place in the town of Penton Wyck. Rory Beaton has just moved in and assumed the role of Earl after his brother’s death. He is Scottish, but a former naval captain — and not a pirate, despite the village gossip. Rory immediately locks horns with Bess Farrar, the vicar’s daughter. Bess is used to running Penton Wyck. Her father is well-meaning but absent minded. The previous Earl was in poor health. She immediately reminds Rory of his duty to the villagers.

This novella has a big case of insta-love going on, which was okay because it’s a novella: we don’t have a lot of time. In fact, the whole thing spans about a week. Bess shows up at Rory’s place to borrow his donkey for the Christmas nativity (like you do) and comments on the fact that his house is in disrepair and he has no staff. Rory puts Bess in charge of putting the house to rights and getting it ready for the annual village Christmas party–sort of, “Put your money where your mouth is, lady.”

Shennanigans ensue. There is a snowed in scene where Rory and Bess have to shelter in a cottage, alone, overnight. Daisy, the Christmas donkey, refuses to cooperate unless she’s being serenaded. The villagers act as matchmakers. My only complaint is that there’s really no conflict other than a couple of misunderstandings and Daisy eating the bishop’s hat.

This novella was short and sweet, but not too sweet, and it was a really fun read. It’s less about Christmas than set during the holiday, which I appreciated. No one suddenly realizes the true meaning of the holiday or anything like that. Overall it’s bright and warm, not overly sugary, like a cup of hot apple cider around the holidays.

– Elyse

Historical: European, Novella, Romance

At Home: A Short History of Private Life

author: Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson’s book At Home is a great holiday gift, possibly for yourself, and it’s available as an eBook, hardback, paperback, or audio (read by the author). So you can decide whether this is a lavish gift or more of a stocking stuffer. Whatever option you choose, the book is a delight.

The reliably funny and intelligent Bryson was inspired to write At Home by the Victorian parsonage that he and his family live in. In At Home, he tours his house room by room, tracing history through habitation. It’s completely fascinating and, because Bryson is so funny and personable, it’s never dry. Bryson focuses on the year 1851, the year that the house was built, but he gives himself some latitude to talk about developments before and after that period. Topics include, but are not limited to, hygiene (“The Bathroom”), food (“The Kitchen”), work (“The Scullery and Larder”), children (“The Nursery”), and pests (“The Study”).

Romance readers might be especially interested in “The Dressing Room,” which is about clothing and fashion. They will also will no doubt be intrigued by “The Bedroom,” which discusses hygiene, pests again, comfort, sleep, sex, medicine, and death. It contains this quote from a Victorian author for us to cherish,

Romance-reading by young girls will, by this excitement of the bodily organs, tend to create their premature development, and the child becomes physically a woman months or even years before she should.

People who already study history will probably not find much new stuff in this book, but it’s a great overview of the Victorian Era and why our domestic lives today are the way they are. Bryson has a talent for conveying a lot of information in an entertaining, accessible way, as seen in A Walk in the Woods and A Short History of Nearly Everything. This is a fun book with a lot of details on Victorian life. You will not want to time travel after you read this, but you will want to go see his house.

– Carrie S

Nonfiction

Playing with Fire

author: Kate Meader

Playing with Fire is the second book in Kate Meader’s Hot in Chicago series, and you don’t really need prior knowledge to jump right into this one, though it would probably help keep the large cast of characters straight in your head.

Alex, our heroine, is a female firefighter who has an antagonistic relationship with Chicago’s mayor, Eli. He’s made some comments about the difference between men and women in a job like firefighting, which have hurt his hopes of re-election. One night, Alex recues the mayor from a fire because it’s her job, despite the urge to just let him rot for his douchey comments since Alex has a temper.

Months earlier, Alex went HAM (hard as a motherfucker) on some rich asshole’s car after he crashed it and then made some very awful comments about Alex and her family when she went to rescue him. Eli uses this to goad Alex into helping out with his campaign: play nice for the cameras to show that they’re becoming friends (or more) and he’ll make sure she doesn’t get sued to shit.

So it’s nearly a fake relationship plot.

The book does some things that I thought were pretty kickass. I loved that the heroine was the firefighter for a change and that she’s the one rescuing the hero. For those who like an age difference, there’s that too. And Alex and Eli have such great banter back and forth.

However, the book started to slog for me as that’s all Alex and Eli seemed to be doing. Talking/arguing without any progression. Oh, and

I really loved the characters and how Meader reversed the typical hero/heroine roles, but I just wished the rest of the book had the same fire (heh) as the first hundred pages.

– Amanda

Contemporary Romance, Romance