Santa Baby (anthology)
Jennifer Crusie, Lori Foster, Carly Phillips
St. Martins
Reviewed by Jenna Bayley-Burke

Hectic holiday season getting you down? Exhausted from toy shopping, decking the halls, and holiday parties? This collection of three novellas will definitely put a new sassy spin on your seasonal drudgery.

Santa Baby by Jennifer Crusie

All Trudy Maxwell needs is a machine gun toting, ooze spewing doll, sorry, action figure, to prove to her nephew there is a Santa Claus. No problem, except Major MacGuffin dolls have been sold out for months. At the last store she can think of, she is surprised to actually find last years version, minus the ooze. All would be well, except the jerk who took her out and then stopped calling is shopping in the same store, and as a collector he wants the old version. Riding to the rescue is her father's research assistant, who promises he knows a place she can get the latest MacGuffin.

Why all the interest in the doll? Trudy doesn't want to find out, but she's pulled through, Chinese spies, double agents, brutish thugs. A lot to go through just to get to prove there is a Santa. Even worse, she doesn't know who to trust, Mr. ‘Don't call me, I'll call you' and his kisses, or the handsome scholar ten years her junior. Santa Baby lives up to the high expectations readers have of Cruisie's stories – fun, sassy, and leaves a smile on your face.

Christmas Bonus by Lori Foster

For far too long Eric and Maggie have been waiting for their chance. He wanted her to grow up so their ten-year age difference wasn't so prominent, but then when her father died suddenly, leaving her controlling interesting the company, she became not just Eric's fantasy, but his boss! Maggie has hidden her crush on Eric since her teens. When their secrets are revealed, the sparks really fly!

Naughty Under the Mistletoe by Carly Phillips

All Toni Larson wanted was one wild night of passion with her handsome former boss. No strings, no promises, just scratching the itch she'd had for him now that they wouldn't be working in the same office anymore. But when she has a mistletoe moment with a man she thinks is co-worker, she quickly discovers he has a twin with sinfully seductive ways. The passion between the two singes the pages, keeping them turning to the very end and making this the perfect way to end a fantastic compilation of hot holiday stories.

5 Kisses