How the Dukes Stole Christmas

A Holiday Romance Anthology

By: Tessa Dare, Sarah MacLean, Sophie Jordan, Joanna Shupe

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Christmas magic is in the air.... From the ballrooms of London, to abandoned Scottish castles, to the snowy streets of Gilded Age New York, four best-selling authors whip up some unforgettable romance...with a little help from some enchanted shortbread.

"Meet Me in Mayfair" by Tessa Dare

Louisa Ward needs a Christmas miracle. Unless she catches a wealthy husband at the ball tonight, the horrid, heartless Duke of Thorndale will evict her family from their beloved Mayfair home. But when her friend begs to switch dance cards, Louisa finds herself waltzing with the enemy: the horrid, heartless - and unexpectedly handsome - Thorndale himself. Now the duke's holding her future in his hands...and he's not letting go.

"The Duke of Christmas Present" by Sarah MacLean

Rich and ruthless, Eben, Duke of Allryd, has no time for holidays. Holidays are for whimsy and charm - the only two things his money cannot buy. Lady Jacqueline Mosby is full of both, even now, 12 years after she left to see the world. When Jacqueline returns for a single Christmas, Eben can't resist the woman he never stopped loving...or the future that had once been in reach. It will take a miracle to convince her to stay...but if ever there were a time for miracles, it's Christmas....

"Heiress Alone" by Sophie Jordan

When Annis Bannister's family leaves her behind in the rush to escape an impending snowstorm, she finds herself stranded in the Highlands, left to fend off brigands terrorizing the countryside, robbing homes locked up for winter. Her only hope falls on her neighbor, a surly hermit duke who unravels her with a look, then a kiss...until she fears the danger to her heart outweighs the danger of brigands and snowstorms. 

"Christmas in Central Park" by Joanna Shupe

Women all over America devour Mrs. Walker's weekly column for recipes and advice. No one knows Rose, the column's author, can't even boil water. When the paper's owner, Duke Havemeyer, insists she host a Christmas party, Rose must scramble to find a husband, an empty mansion, and a cook. But Duke is not a man easily fooled and she fears her perfect plan is failing - especially when Duke's attentions make her feel anything but professional. To save her career will she give up her chance at love?

©2018 Eve Ortega, Sarah Trabucchi, Sharie Kohler, and Joanna Rotondo (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

Only one story worth the credit.

I was disappointed in this anthology, particularly the second story, which was so tedious. The only story that earned an A was the one by Joanna Shupe.

A Delicious Taste of Christmas

The continuing thread of shortbread cookies will make your mouth water. Okay, the magic cookies sound vile but the results are positive. I enjoyed each unique story of finding unexpected love during the holidays. Christmas is a time of romance and magic, add in strong characters and you have a recipe that will delight. You don’t have to wait until next Christmas to enjoy these holiday stories.

4 Fun Christmas Novellas

Each of these 4 short stories still felt like full novels due to the details & character development where I felt immersed. So fun to have 4-in-1! Three ongoing themes throughout all 4 stories are: Dukes, Christmastime, and Shortbread (hilarious descriptions of Shortbread in each + a recipe at the end).
All four read like regency novels, but the third story for whatever reason the narrator does not have an accent.
Loved the first story, enemies to lovers and so sweet how they come together, some found family. The banter!
The second story was a little more depressing in that bone deep long-lost intense love with some Notebook vibes (but happier ending), past and present, and some comedic relief. 12 years apart is rough!
The third story is sweet, a great plot resulting in found family and change of plans, with a little danger along the way. Funny characters in this one!
The fourth story was another great plot resulting in found family as well. Super funny at how she accepts she cannot cook/bake. Intriguing deception & ruses!
All in all, all four were great plots and I enjoyed them. Note: Open door bedroom scenes in all but the first story.

Disappointing narration

I hate to speak ill of Justine Eyre’s narration, but it was painful at times to listen to. Her voicing of the male leads, in particular, was distracting and disappointing. And the attempt at annunciating every word (i.e.- “I do not wish...”) made the interaction feel unnatural.
The stories were “ok”.

Good

I like this grouping of fun Christmas stories. The 1st and last stories where the best. The middle 2 stories were good. The third story was sort of a Home Alone take off. My biggest issue with it was the sudden ending. I was hoping for some epilogue where her family comes back for her and her sisters realize she won the elusive Duke. Bit disappointing that it just ended with no real wrap up. The fourth story was a direct steal from a 1940s Christmas movie "Christmas in Connecticut"...one of my favorites. I don't mind a "redo" and this one was first rate. Justine Eyre was good, her male voice was good. Overall I would recommend. It was a fun Christmas compilation.

Charming

Four stories, four Dukes and some questionable shortbread.
Magical or not, shortbread is normally tasty, but somehow this magical shortbread is not very good.
From Mayfair to America, we find Louisa trying to save her family home from a Duke, but finding she is thrust into his company.
Eben and Jaqe cross the span of separation to come back to each other.
Annie is left behind in Scotland by her family to be rescued by the local Duke.
Then there is newspaper term oil for Rose walker.
Will magical shortbread bring them together, or is that all a myth?
Enjoyable stories and worth the listen.

Sweet and easy read

I enjoyed every story in this anthology. May even try the shortbread recipe for some of my friends :)

beautiful holiday stories

love the stories in this book especially the way it puts you in the midst of this beautiful season and the beauty christmas romance definitely will be reading again.

A Fun Anthology

How the Dukes Stole Christmas
I don’t read much historical, but I read Tessa Dare a few months ago and fell in love, so I thought this would be fun.

MEET ME IN MAYFAIR by Tessa Dare
Louisa’s family is being evicted. She is hoping to find a wealthy husband at her friend’s party, but her friend has her own plans, and convinces Louisa to fill all the dances on her dance card while she runs away and elopes. One of those dances turns out to be with the Duke of Thorndale, the very man who plans on evicting her family. James never wanted to be a Duke, and he is just in town to see to some financial matters on his properties. He hates the women who fall over themselves for a Duke, so when Louisa was just the opposite, he was intrigued.

The two of them spent an extremely unconventional (and very inappropriate for the times) night about town falling in love. It was a fun, christmassy historical novella, I enjoyed it a lot, but didn’t wow me as I hoped like her last book did.
4 Stars

THE DUKE OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT by Sarah MacLean
Even and Jacqueline “Jack” were childhood friends, then a couple who planned to marry. They were neighbors who had a secret passage between them and he was beautifully romantic. But when he became the Duke his work absolutely consumed him, so much that he barely realized that Jack left to travel the world with her aunt. 12 years later, on Christmas Eve, she is back, and still in love. And he is still working.

I felt like this one was a little hard to follow in audio format. Past and present were a little difficult for me to distinguish, and I think I would have loved it if I read it rather than listened because it was a beautiful and a bit emotional story.
3 Stars

HEIRESS ALONE by Sophie Jordan
Annis is on vacation with her large family in Scotland. Her sisters and mother are loud and obnoxious, and her mom is obsessed with one of her girls marrying a Duke. After a disastrous first meeting with the Duke, he came off rude (with good reason) and she was embarrassed by her family. When her family packed up and hurriedly left their vacation home due to impending snow, they forgot the quiet sister, and left her behind with the two servants. With the weather just beginning, it looks like Annis will be staying the entire winter. When danger lurks, the Duke steps in to save the day and passion follows.

I enjoyed this one a lot. Some of it was crazy inappropriate and maybe even a little weird for the time, but it made for some sexy reading. I loved the servants pushing them together. This was like Home Alone for an Heiress and Duke. Cute story that I enjoyed the whole way through.
4.5 Stars

CHRISTMAS IN CENTRAL PARK by Joanna Shupe
Rose Walker has always wanted to be a reporter, but in those days women just didn’t do that, so she was forced to take a job as an advice/Martha Stewart-type columnist. But a young, unmarried woman wouldn’t work, so they made up a fake persona of a very private older married woman who has traveled the world, and her column has become the paper’s crowning glory. The owner of the paper, Duke Havermeyer (he is the “Duke” in this story) worries because his newspaper has just suffered a scandal, and he needs to earn back his board members' trust. He decides his most famous columnist MUST host a Christmas dinner party at her home in a few days time and show off the amazing tips she gives in her column. Rose is just a maid’s daughter, and because Rose REALLY needs this job, they have to find a way to fake it.

Even though Rose is supposedly married, Duke first fell for her reading her column, but when he met her and she was so young and beautiful and charming, he was gone for her despite her “husband”.

This was a cute story I enjoyed even though there was some super inappropriate stuff happening for the times (that’s what made it good!). I liked that it was different and showed a career woman when women didn’t really have careers.
4 Stars


The Narration:
Justine Eyre was good for most of it, but I had a hard time understanding some of the Scottish accented parts.

The Down & Dirty:
If you like historical romance and can suspend belief for the holidays, you will enjoy this anthology. I loved how each worked in the Scottish Shortbread Cookie despite being unrelated stories. I feel like these four stories went well together, they were all very different, but the theme of Dukes, Christmas and Shortbread ran through all of them. In an anthology I usually complain about the stories being too short, but I felt like they were all just right here, at about 100 pages each, or just over 3 hours each. I wanted to totally fall in love with this anthology and I didn’t get quite that far, but I did enjoy it.

Rating: 4 Stars, 4 Heat, 4 Narration

4 Short Christmas Stories

I enjoyed these stories, although they were too short for my liking. To be fair, I knew that going in, but our book club wanted to read a few Christmas tales during the holiday season. I'd recommend them to anyone looking for a short holiday novella to brighten your day. Some a bit steamy, are basically unrealistic, but all have a happy ending.