The Secret Life Of Mrs. Claus by Carly Alexander
Wendy: Christmas is a time of year when, as a nation, a culture, a people, we willingly and gleefully suspend our disbelief. A credible tale really isn’t even required. Take for example that man in red who lives in the most inhospitable place in the world, surrounded by toy-making halflings, who chooses as his mode of transportation a flying reindeer powered ragtop. If those circumstances are dismissible, then his ability to cover the world in a single night is ten steps beyond implausible, and his shimmying down chimneys actionable. And yet, we don’t simply believe, we fight to believe.
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HelenKay: In contemporary romance novels a hero often holds a law enforcement job. Whether he works for the DEA, CIA, FBI, police or any branch of the military, many times the hero is honest, strong and carrying a gun. Like its contemporary counterpart, the historical hero is often based on a factual job - The Pinkerton Man. Allan Pinkerton, considered the first private detective and a man of the utmost integrity, ran the Pinkerton Detective Agency. He sent his men out across the country to solve crimes, hunt down the bad guys and sometimes take on the unfavorable role of squashing union activities. The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year focuses on one of these upstanding men. One who is lying to protect his cover.
Sometimes I have the strangest luck – this month, I applied my usual careful consideration to a range of titles to review*, only to end up with two books so eerily similar that my first draft of this review would have worked for either one.
Wendy:From Wal-Mart to the White House this Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/New Year’s season has been marked by the “Happy Holidays” v. “Merry Christmas” debate. Red Dress Ink’s seasonal offering, Scenes from a Holiday neatly sidesteps the issue by presenting an anthology that is not solely devoted to any one celebration. Rather, each novella focuses on a particular holiday, hopping from Hanukkah, to New Year’s Eve, to Christmas. The concept is fresh and exciting. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for much of the execution.
HelenKay: 
Wendy: 