The Perfect Present

September 4, 2017
Windows of opportunity lead to romance and second chances in these three tales of yuletide layovers, lust, and love. In Alers’s heartwarming “A Christmas Layover,” fourth-grade teacher Sierra Nelson saves charming and mysterious Navy captain Noah Crawford from being stranded at the Chicago airport by bringing him home for Christmas. A sweet and humorous charade ensues when Sierra’s family assumes he is her boyfriend. The story is bogged down a bit by overexplaining, preachy dialogue, and a clunky conclusion, but Alers effectively captures the warmth (and awkwardness) of the close-knit family and the growing attraction between the two protagonists as their pretend relationship becomes a reality. “The Christmas Lesson” is Hodges’s touching story about divorced 20-something Kayla Matthews, who gets a second chance to confess her romantic feelings for her high school best friend, handsome DeShawn Carter, who is the story’s most likable, down-to-earth, and well-rounded character. In Yaye’s “Christmas with You,” successful and smooth-talking Marc Cunningham falls for beautiful celebrity stylist Maya Malone. Humor and tension ensue when Maya and Marc discover a big obstacle to their relationship: Maya’s overprotective brother. Love and lust requited make this anthology easy reading.

October 15, 2017

Three couples take center stage in this holiday-infused anthology by three of Dafina's best-known authors. When their plane is grounded during a storm, a schoolteacher invites a soldier she met on board to stay with her family--who assume they are a couple--in Alers's engaging "A Christmas Layover"; high school friends who went their separate ways reconnect ten years later with romantic results in Cheris Hodges's "The Christmas Lesson"; and a sports agent and a stylist for a music group find the road to love is rockier than they'd thought in Pamela Yaye's "Christmas with You." VERDICT Sassy, seductive, and modern, this collection will please readers who like their seasonal romances with flair. Alers, Hodges, and Yaye live on New York's Long Island; Charlotte, NC; and Alberta, Canada, respectively.

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