Making Spirits Bright

By: Fern Michaels, Elizabeth Bass, Rosalind Noonan, Nan Rossiter

Narrated by: Laural Merlington

Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's Summary

"Making Spirits Bright" by Fern Michaels

Melanie McLaughlin desperately wants to adopt two orphaned siblings and give them a real home for Christmas. A just-for-the-holiday marriage to Bryce Landry fits her plan perfectly...until unexpected sparks have Melanie dreaming of forever by his side....

"Runaway Christmas" by Elizabeth Bass

A glass of wine, lounging in pajamas, and catching up on movies - that's Heidi Bogue's idea of a perfect Christmas. Until her thirteen-year-old niece makes a surprise visit - and a snowstorm turns Heidi's café into a community refuge. Now one handsome cop is giving Heidi plenty more reasons to celebrate....

"Home for Christmas" by Rosalind Noonan

Jo Truman needs a replacement Santa for her gift shop's Christmas Eve party. She'll do whatever it takes to convince lonely soldier Sam Norwood that he's perfect for the part...and that the season for love is always....

"Christmas on Cape Cod" by Nan Rossiter

Maddie Carlson would do anything for her best friend. And helping Asa Coleman babysit a rambunctious puppy Christmas Eve night is her one chance to help the troubled teacher put his past to rest...and give the sweetest gift of all.

©2011 Kensington Publishing Corporation. (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved. Making Spirits Bright © 2011 by MRK Productions. Fern Michaels is a registered trademark of First Draft, Inc. Runaway Christmas © 2011 by Elizabeth Bass. Home for Christmas © 2011 by Rosalind Noonan. Christmas on Cape Cod © 2011 by Nan Rossiter.

Decent

I liked all of the stories, besides the first one, "Making Spirits Bright." It was fine until it got into the romance part of the book, then it was far too cringey. I can appreciate a good romance with a little bit of unrealistic, but NO SANE PERSON marries someone that they've dated for a week and then goes out and immediately adopts two kids with them. It doesn't feel like happily ever after, it feels like two unstable people making poor life choices.

As for the second book, "Runaway Christmas," I really liked it. It involved a little girl who took a trip by herself on Christmas Eve to see her Aunt. It had its corny and unrealistic moments for sure, but overall I thought it was sweet, charming, and the perfect pace and tone for a Christmas book. It really put me in the Christmas spirit and I thought it was well written and enjoyable. It was by far my favorite of all the short stories.

The third book was "Home for Christmas" which was about a man, Sam, who returned home from duty injured and his best friend's (who had died) fiance. They had grown up together and secretly liked each other. Overall I really enjoyed the book and would read it again. I thought it was well written, but I found Sam to be waaaaay too perfect. lol but it wasn't a huge deal.

The last book was short, sweet and simple. I liked that it was just a nice, little story about a man and a woman's first Christmas together. It didn't have a ton of subplot twisted in there to complicate the simple and sweet story that it tells. I really appreciated the simplicity of it and quite enjoyed just simply listening to a Christmas story without worrying about following a ton of issues that the characters need to work through or hurdles that they have to jump over. Yeah it did have a little bit of subplot as far as this being the boy's first Christmas with his biological father, but other than that it was pure and simple. I liked that there wasn't any arguments between characters or falling out, it was just a nice Christmas.

One last note, I liked the narrator's chipper voice and it made me smile when she read about the various happy moments cause she did a sweet little laugh that made me feel like my mother was reading me a story.