Christmas in May

I picked this one up at Christmas time, but never got around to reading it.

Christmas Keepsakes (Anthology)
containing "A Handful of Gold" by Mary Balogh,
"The Three Gifts" by Julia Justiss and
"The Season for Suitors" by Nicola Cornick
(2005, Regency Anthology) 5/13/06
Grade: 3

Balogh: Verity has been forced to become an opera dancer, and plans to spend the holidays with a wealthy Earl. But Christmas brings more innocent pleasures. Justiss: After Miles is injured in Spain, he must make a marriage of convenience. Cornick: Clara needs some advice that only a rake can give - but will she lose her heart as well?

Three short stories, none of them really outstanding. The Balogh story is the best of the three, but even it’s overly sweet, without the sparkle of Balogh’s best stories. But it’s charming enough, and the characters are well written and interesting. The Justiss story started out well, but soon dissolved into misunderstandings. The Cornick story felt rushed, and I felt like I’d started a book in the middle - evidently the characters came from her previous books, which I haven’t read. All in all, not a terrible anthology (none of the stories were bad) but nothing really outstanding, either.

Nothing Balogh writes can ever be called "bad", but I prefer her stories with a little more bite to them. I found "No Room At The Inn", which is very similar, more touching than this one.