This time out, I'm taking you back to the holidays for a brief and very enjoyable visit with Susan Meier's Kisses on Her Christmas List (Harlequin Romance, received from author). Shannon Raleigh loves the holiday season. Rory Wallace and his young daughter Finley do not. Rory and Finley get stuck at Shannon's during a snowstorm for a whole weekend, and, while Shannon knows she shouldn't, she can't help falling a little for the pair. Rory is there to investigate possibly buying her store, not to find a new wife or mother to his bratty daughter. But he can't help thinking a whole lot of truly inappropriate things he'd like to do to Shannon. Except Shannon can't do the one thing he'd want if he were to marry again, which should make it easier for her to keep her hands and heart to herself. If only. Rory's daughter is a fright sometimes, though watching Shannon maneuver her when Rory can't manage to is a whole lot of fun. Rory honestly didn't come to Pennsylvania looking for anything but a business deal, though getting stranded with Shannon is an unexpected bonus. Susan Meier is absolutely terrific at creating characters who make you believe. I find it hard to believe any reader could make her way through this story and not laugh and cry along with Shannon and Rory as I did. Heck, as I do every time I pick up a book from Ms. Meier. Add in the holiday season, where readers and characters alike come to expect miracles, and you have just about the perfect story. I'm borrowing four and a half of Cupid's five arrows for this one. And I think it's going to get a reread way before the holiday season rolls around again.
Until next time, happy reading!
