Mischief and Mistletoe

Dreaming of a white Christmas -- or even of a brief respite from holiday preparations? There is hope.

Each of these short stories, written by well-known romance writers collectively known as the Word Wenches, is set during the Christmas season, although in some cases that fact is barely noted and irrelevant to the story. The stories mention, even if just in passing, a tavern or inn with "wench" in its name, such as the Willing Wench, the Silent Wench, and my favorite, the Wench and Haggis.

Collections of short stories are nearly always uneven, and I'd forgotten many of the stories from the beginning of the book by the time I reached the end. The authors all know their business, however, so all the stories were decent reads. Usually, I buy such a collection on the strength of the few names I recognize among the authors. And most of the time, I am disappointed in the stories I bought the book to read but I find gems by authors who were new to me. That was true with this collection.

My favorites were all in the latter half of the book: Patricia Rice's tale of a harried single father, Anne Gracie's story of a man hoping to wed a dying woman--any dying woman, and Susan King's wild Highland woman and serious Lowland man who share a love of Sir Walter Scott's literature. If I'd read a synopsis of the stories, I'd have been sure I wouldn't like them. The charm of the stories lies in the way they are told.

Most readers will find some stories to admire in the collection. And probably none of them will agree on which stories those are.

Mischief and Mistletoe is the wondrous collaboration of eight women known as the "Word Wenches", a group of highly talented authors who often can be found on the New York Times and USA Today bestsellers lists. These fine women have come together to bring forth their own flair for storytelling with a Christmas twist. Mary Jo Putney, Jo Beverly, Joanna Bourne, Patricia Rice, Nicola Cornick, Cara Elliott, Anne Gracie and Susan King will capture your hearts with their stories of the holiday most celebrated in Regency England. As the title states, there is mischief afoot (and romance as well!), from first story to the last, each will leave you wanting more. While each is set during the well-loved holiday, these are not your average Christmas stories! A disguise donned to learn the truth behind the pain and sorrow wracking a returned soldier; in Mary Jo Putney's "She Stoops to Wenchdom", an unexpected invitation for a holiday visit and the chance to kindle the flame of a one and only love; in Jo Beverly's "Miss Brockhurst's Christmas Campaign". A major snowstorm three days before Christmas aids the secret investigation as the stranded coach patrons find themselves forced into the crowded quarters, where assuredly there is a spy among them in; Joanna Bourne's "Intrigue and Mistletoe". A chance for escape to capture true love and case of mistaken identity surrounds the tale as told by Patricia Rice in; "Wench in Wonderland". The chance discovery of a lost love hidden away in an old country inn and the people who will resort to nefarious means to keep their village alive sets the scene in Nicola Cornick's "On a Wicked Winter's Night". A harrowing voyage in storm-tossed seas to reach home in time for Christmas is the setting for Cara Elliott's "Weathering the Storm". Where a deathbed promise and a desperate scheme to fulfill a promise to marry, twine together with surprising results neither party anticipated is the basis for the fine piece of writing in Anne Gracie's "The Mistletoe Bride". Cristina Heron-Shaw has sworn to protect her brother even if it means she must hold up a coach to do it. It worked once for her great-great-grandmother so she was confident it could work for her, for if Cristina were not to succeed the result would prove lethal for her brother. However, Cristina fear the new Sherriff may have something to say about it; a Highland adventure to be sure is Susan King's "A Wilder Wench". Danger and deceit, hopes for lost love and chance encounters, and promises made; each will entice you with a flavor all their own like a basket filled with Christmas sweets!

It used to be a publisher would take 2 or 3 novellas & bring them out for Christmas. You'd have stories that were short, but somewhat satisfying in character developement & content. Now you have EIGHT very short stories stuffed into ONE book!! Not very satisfying at all. I give this book 3 stars for the 3 or 4 stories I most liked.

Mary Jo Putney - 3 stars. interesting story, but TOO short!

Jo Beverley - 4 stars. She finds it very difficult to write a boring story! You never know what Ross is thinking in this story. Will he go for our heroine whom he's know all his life, or the boring self rightous prig? She wraps it up nicely at the end.

Joanna Bourne - 2 stars I guess. It was unbelieveable to me that a young woman thrown out on the street in London would find a job in Whitechapel -- SCRUBBING FLOORS? Is that a euphemism for being a prostitute, or did the author really think saavy readers would swallow it? I didn't actually & plus the villian was obvious.

Patricia Rice - 3 stars The mistaken identity with a little amnesia (short lived) has been done to death, but it could have been a better story if it wasn't so SHORT!

Nicola Cornick - 2 stars. I couldn't really get into this story. It just didn't ring true to me.

Cara Elliott - 1 star. A waste of pages that could have been given to the other authors to make their stories longer. Totally unbelieveable & ends so abruptly I got whiplash!

Annie Grace - 4 stars. Now THIS story is the story that the author should have saved for a full lengthed novel! I enjoyed it, but was frustrated by how SHORT it is. Too bad, because I really liked it.

Susan King - 3 stars. Another too short story. I appreciated that author didn't make her hero & heroine stupid. I actually liked them. I just wished they had more story developement. it was TOO short!!!

Another irritating thing is the fact that this supposed to be a collection of Christmas stories. For almost all the stories in this book, Christmas is just kind of tacked on.

As with most anthologies, there were some stories I liked and some I didn't. And although I've enjoyed books by most of these authors, I'm not sure they're all particularly good at writing short stories.

Mary Jo Putney's story was pretty fun, although the heroine, a vicar's daughter, dressing up and helping at the tavern seemed a bit dumb. It would only take one person recognizing her for her reputation to be in ruins, and wigs can fall off, especially if you're moving around a lot (as she was).

Jo Beverley's was okay, but it was all from the heroine's perspective, and I had absolutely no idea what the hero was thinking. They didn't really interact very much at all, and the hero hardly said anything, which certainly didn't help. So at the end, the hero claimed he'd been in love with her, but there was absolutely nothing to show it.

I liked Joanna Bourne's, although it seemed to go off on tangents sometimes. It was also all from the heroine's perspective, but at least the hero and heroine interacted enough that the hero made sense. (And I liked the heroine's method of supporting herself.)

Patricia Rice's story was fun, too. The hero was cute. Definitely one of my favorites in the anthology.

I didn't really like Nicola Cornick's story much. There seemed to be information missing in places, and things were alluded to that were never explained. And the premise was a tad confusing. I mean, I thought the point of seducing dukes' daughters was usually to force them to marry you so you can get their family influence and dowry.

In Cara Elliott's story, I didn't feel the connection between the hero and heroine at all. I was also somewhat confused by the events in the story, as many of them didn't seem to make sense. I felt at sea. (I'm sorry, I had to.) The language seemed as if it was trying too hard to sound "period", resulting in just sounding awkward. (And the hero was kind of lame.)

Anne Gracie's story was rather cute, if wildly improbable. Really, what are the chances that 1) some guy wants to marry a dying woman, 2) she takes the same stagecoach as the heroine when the hero gave her money for a chaise, 3) the woman and the heroine have nearly the same name, 4) the woman dies, after entrusting everything she has to the heroine, 5) she just so happened to be going to the same town as the heroine, 6) the heroine's uncle fails to pick her up, so she is mistaken for the dead woman, and 7) she marries the guy. Very, very small. Also, is that actually legal? I suppose it's Scotland, so it works, but in England at the time, having the wrong birth date on the marriage certificate was enough to invalidate a marriage, even decades after. (But I do believe the Wench and Haggis Inn is my favorite name among all the Wenchly taverns.) I did like it, though.

Susan King's story was okay, but nothing special.

So in all, it was an okay Christmas read, but I really would have preferred if some of them were longer, and some of the stories I just didn't like at all. Joanna Bourne, Patricia Rice, and Anne Gracie's stories were my favorites.

This was an excellent book filled with wonderful stories and the most amazing heroes and wonderful women who love them. I savored each story and was sorry when it ended. The only story where I did find the hero questionable was "Weathering the Storm". For this reader, the author presented him as a bit of a fool, and this is the impression that stayed. However, I highly recommend this book for those who love to curl up and transport themselves to a world where warmth, love, laughs and magic and happy endings exist.[[ASIN:1420124862 Mischief and Mistletoe]]

I ordered a new book and received a used one.

Charming romantic short stories set at Christmastime. Recommended for fans of romances and Christmas.

Always like Jo Beverley stories, and the other stories were also good Christmas stories. Some collections have stories that are set during the Christmas season but really have not Christmas related activities, not this collection.

An interesting collection of holiday stories - some definitely stronger than others but all worth reading. Ms. Putney and Ms. Beverly are as entertaining as ever.

I like to read stories by authors I have not rad before. I did enjoy all these stories and will read more.