A Shifter Christmas by Emilia Hartley
This is a three book anthology. They aren’t linked. And can be read in any order.
Book 1: A Dragon’s Christmas
Description…..
Frankie Peters can’t wait to get home for Christmas even if her mom will insist on calling her Francine. She’d be even more excited if she weren’t worried about how the new beast inside her will react to the close quarters and tons of people. She needs her family, but she’s afraid of the monster she’s become.
When she gets buried in a snowdrift during the blizzard on the way, a stranger comes to her rescue—a gorgeous, dragon shifter. Atticus gets her car back on the road and teaches her a little about how to tame her beast. He seems at loose ends, and says he’ll keep mentoring her, so she invites him home.
The trouble is, she wants Atticus for much more than a mentor and doesn’t know how to tell him. Is it too much to hope for a Christmas miracle that puts all the messed-up parts of her life together?
My Review…..
Francine or Frankie as she prefers to be called was bitten by a strange dog over a year ago, and now she’s always angry, frustrated and scared. The beast inside her wants out, and Frankie is tired of having to keep it in and quiet. She’s hoping visiting her family for Christmas will help, otherwise she sees herself alone…..
Atticus is a dragon shifter, his beast is too big for this world, the dragon is too bossy and dominant to live around anyone, so it went to sleep, intending to sleep the years away. But something woke both Atticus and his dragon. Digging out of the cave they were in, the dragon searches for the reason it woke…..
Atticus and Frankie meet in a snow drift, Frankie isn’t scared of a naked man in the snow. And she smells like a shifter, so Atticus assumes she’s a shifter, but she’s scared of the power inside herself, why?
Together they rescue people stuck in an accident, it’s all going great, until an idiot calls them freaks. This sends Frankie back into her shell.
We meet quite a few characters, so hoping they would all get a book.
Both Frankie and Atticus have trust issues, both need to be part of a family, but unsure of their welcome.
We have the bad guy, we have the dysfunctional family and we have a couple just waiting for someone.
It’s a short story, but it’s full of action.
🦋
Book 2: A Polar Bear Christmas
Description…..
As the only human in a long line of beautiful and proud reindeer shifters, Holly Carter has borne contempt and abuse from her family for years. She avoids the cutesy Christmas enclave they’ve built whenever she can, but somehow her mother always convinces her to come home for the holidays.
This year, though, she meets Claus, a polar bear shifter from a crime conglomerate looking to shake down one of her cousins. When Holly and Claus concoct a fake relationship that will get Holly protection and Claus access to his target, they don’t expect it to go anywhere. But the relationship soon feels more real than fake. It would be perfect if only Holly weren’t convinced she’s not worthy to mate a shifter and Claus weren’t convinced that he’s got too much blood on his hands to mate to any woman.
Can Holly and Claus convince each other of their true value in time to salvage their bond?
My Review……
Poor Holly always being bullied, she can’t anything right. Total failure!! Being a human in a shifter family is hard, but being a non shifter in the Carter clan is a nightmare, she’s always been found wanting, and all because she can’t shift into a reindeer. No wonder she hates coming home.
Maybe this year might be different!
Claus needs to collect something, and he’s found out who has it, getting into the Carter household might prove a problem. They are a very close knit family. No outsiders, they are very cautious. How will he get in?
Holly and Claus meet at a bar. They strike up a bargain, she gets a date and possibly a buffer from the family. He gets to nab the stolen item. Sounds like both are onto a winning solution. But you get the notion that it won’t be that simple.
Spending time with Holly has Claus looking at his own life, his job is everything to him, he owes his alpha and intends not to let him down. But watching her with her family, Claus just wants to protect her, but that can’t happen, once he has what he came for, he’s gone.
I liked this one, we have a big, bad bear and a non shifting reindeer. The way Claus stands up for Holly is good. How he views family as something that isn’t the same for everyone. How Holly finally stands up for herself had me smiling to myself.
Will he want to stick around and be there for Holly? Or will he go once he has what he has come for?
🦋
Book 3: A Snow Leopard’s Christmas
Description…..
Ellie was just looking for a normal holiday.
She had planned to spend it with her family. Her mother, father and her baby boy, Casper.
When Nolan showed up, things took a turn for the worst.
She couldn’t believe him. Why would he return after all these years? She didn’t need him then, and she doesn’t need him now. Though, she had to admit. Casper and Nolan seemed to get along together really well…
My Review……
Not my favourite if I’m being honest.
Ellie is a single mum, she loves her little boy so very much. She works from home as a wedding chef (doesn’t actually say what she does) But he’s a live wire, he’s into everything.
Her parents are here for Christmas. And I have to admit, I find Ellie’s mum really hard work, she was always putting her down, always finding faults with her and her parenting techniques, wanting her to find a “proper job”
All Ellie wanted was her family around her over Christmas.
Nolan has spent the last four years travelling, and now he’s back in this tiny village, the one thing drawing him back was a passionate night with a woman he’s tried to forget.
But the meeting didn’t go as he had planned. She didn’t seem to be pleased to see him, in fact she’s really angry.
When Nolan finds out he’s a father to a four year old, at first he’s angry, how dare she keep this a secret. But later having time to think, he realises she didn’t have any way of reaching him. But all that is about to change. She is his mate, and they have a child, he’s not going anywhere. But convincing Ellie is proving harder than he imagined.
We have a couple who are fighting their feelings for one another, we also have Ellie fighting to convince her parents she’s a good mother. We have a stalker, so we have the blocks for a good story. But it was sadly lacking on content.
🦋
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