Mistletoe Christmas: An Anthology

Eloisa James · Christi Caldwell · Janna MacGregor · Erica Ridley

Sep 2021 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

From four beloved writers—Eloisa James, Christi Caldwell, Janna MacGregor, and Erica Ridley—come four original stories that tell a hilarious tale of a Christmas house party that serves up love and scandal in equal measure!

The Duke of Greystoke’s Christmas Revelry is famous throughout the British Isles for its plays, dancing, magical grotto… not to mention scandals leading to the marriage licenses he hands out like confetti.

But not everyone welcomes a visit from Cupid.

Lady Cressida, the duke’s daughter, is too busy managing the entertainments—and besides, her own father has called her dowdy. Her cousin, Lady Isabelle Wilkshire, is directing Cinderella and has no interest in marriage. Lady Caroline Whitmore is already (unhappily) married; the fact that she and her estranged husband have to pretend to be together just makes her dread the party all the more.  But not as much as Miss Louisa Harcourt, whose mother bluntly tells her that this is her last chance to escape the horrors of being an old maid.

A house party so large that mothers lose track of their charges leads to a delightful, seductive quartet of stories that you will savor for the Season!

Ratings and reviews

I loved reading each of the four stories in the anthology Christmas Mistletoe, written by the amazing historical romance Eloisa James, Christie Caldwell, Janna MacGregor, and Erica Ridley. Each story celebrates Christmas features a separate couple, with overlapping supporting characters, the setting is the same for all the stories, and all the stories occurring concurrently. Each story brings together two people who never thought that they would find love or that a couple that is given a second chance at finally getting that HEA. These flow seamlessly from one into the next, and are connected to a Christmas house party thrown by a dying Duke. Lady Cressida, the duke’s daughter, is too busy managing the entertainments and organizing the entire party believing she is plain and dowdy, as her father often tells her. Her cousin, Lady Isabelle Wilkshire, is directing Cinderella and has no interest in marriage after a broken engagement. Lady Caroline Whitmore is already, unhappily, married; the fact that she and her estranged husband have to pretend to be together just makes her dread the party all the more. Lastly, Miss Louisa Harcourt, whose mother bluntly tells her that this is her last chance to escape the horrors of being an old maid, and wishes she was anywhere else, writing poetry. Needless to say it, but I would very much enjoy each author expanding their story. I fell in love with each of the characters and loved that everyone got their HEA. Eloisa James, Christi Caldwell, Janna MacGregor, and Erica Ridley wrote beautiful love stories that are not to be missed. These tales are rich with kindness, magnetic attraction, off the charts chemistry, clever banter, and endearing characters giving these characters a chance at finding their forever love. I highly recommend the stories in Christmas Mistletoe anthology to other readers. I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this story.

“Mistletoe Christmas: An Anthology” by four great authors was entertaining and a tear-jerker. The more the novellas in an anthology intertwine, the more the more I love the book, and this book did it for me. I did not feel the stories were rushed. There was compromise, different perspectives, love, support, and working aristocratic women to name a few things I love reading about. I felt very satisfied reading well-written work about four couples who found/rekindled love at the Duke of Greystoke’s Christmas Revelry house party! In “A Mistletoe Kiss” by Eloisa James, Lady Cressida’s ailing father’s reveals his daughter’s dowry was reissued. The future duke asked one of his oldest friends to consider Cressie as his wife because he needs one eventually. I love the message that beauty is really in the eye of the beholder, we got a mini history lesson of Arthur and Guinevere, and ideas for our personal holiday parties. In “Wishing Under the Mistletoe” By Christi Caldwell, after a ten-year separation, the duke’s granddaughter, Isabelle, and her Scrooge-like, ex-fiancé Mr. Cyrus Hill were requested to attend the party. I absolutely love how the story came full-circle, how Isabelle rewrote their past, and how the grand gesture was written. In “Compromise Under the Mistletoe” by Janna MacGregor, the duke’s niece, Caroline, and her husband she left a year ago, Lord Stephan Whitmore, needed to prove they were in love for her to receive her trust fund early. I loved their chemistry, how they were interrupted at the right moments, and how hidden mistletoe both did and did not help their mission. In “Mischief and Mistletoe” by Erica Ridley, Louisa Harcourt’s marriage-minded mama wanted her engaged by the end of the house party. However, her squirrel fur eyes kept staring at the faux-Poe(t), Mr. Ewan Reid. This one was juicy and I loved it! Of course she falls in love the man who’s words ruined her years ago. Thank you to Net Galley, Avon Books, and Harper Voyager US for the ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Welcome to this year's Revelry! The Duke of Greystoke’s Revelry is a two-week-long Christmas festival with the most sought-after invitations in town. This year, even though the duke is on his deathbed, he still manages to inflict his own kind of holiday spirit on those in his family. Each of the four novella-length romances in this collection is set at the Revelry and involves several of the duke’s relatives as both major and minor characters. I was amazed at how seamlessly the stories played off each other, with several characters and events crossing over into more than one of the stories without missing a single step despite the different authors. Each story has its own delightful HEA, though one of my favorite secondary characters is still single and hopefully will be featured in a future book by one of these talented writers. The first story is “A Mistletoe Kiss” by Eloisa James, which finds the duke’s youngest daughter, Cressie, frustrated that her father seems determined to keep her from marrying so she can continue to run the Revelry that he takes all the credit for. Her next-door neighbor suddenly expresses an interest in her, but she can’t trust that Elias is motivated by true affection and not some other ulterior motive. Elias is honestly seeing Cressie for who she really is, finally taking the time to look past her efforts to fade into the woodwork, and he’s instantly determined to win her hand. I really enjoyed the way Elias and Cressie played off each other, her pride was always just enough without ever being arrogant, while his dogged determination never crossed into being pushy or demanding. It was a sweet tale of a man falling in love with a woman who has to learn to trust her heart. This was my favorite of the set, with the sweetest HEA. The second story is “Wishing Under the Mistletoe” by Christi Caldwell. Cyrus and Isabelle meet again at the Revelry, years after their broken engagement. Their attraction is still as strong as ever, and the celebration gives them the time necessary to recognize the changes in each other as well as to take an honest look at the differences that separated them long ago. Theirs is a sweet second-chance story, a little poignant for all the years they lost. Up next is “Compromise Under the Mistletoe” by Janna MacGregor. Caroline and Stephen are a young married couple who separated after their first year due to misunderstandings about what they each expected of the marriage. Now a year later, her uncle, the duke, insists on their proving the stability of their marriage before he releases the funds from her trust. Thinking they’d just pretend they’ve worked everything out long enough to collect and share the money, Caro and Stephen actually embark on an honest examination of their marriage and whether there’s a chance of really making it work. Compromise is the order of the day, and I really enjoyed the way they found to make each other’s dreams come true. “Mischief & Mistletoe” by Erica Ridley is the final story of the set. Louisa and Ewan are star-crossed from the start with a huge secret weighing between them. She’s resigned herself to accepting the less-than-ideal proposal from a womanizing viscount, if only so that she can be free to spend her time pursuing her passion for writing poetry. He’s trying to keep his grandfather’s newspaper going, even though it means publishing the kind of news that has far-reaching repercussions, the extent of which he’s only just beginning to understand. I loved the way the author used poetry to reveal both of their hearts. Their writer’s retreat was one of my favorite parts of the entire collection. These two work so well together, despite their differences, that it was truly heartbreaking when the truth comes out and nearly destroys their fragile alliance. Ewan’s scandalous all-or-nothing grand gesture at the end was absolutely sublime and I loved every bit of it. Their HEA was sweetly satisfying. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

About the author

Eloisa James is a USA Today and New York Times bestselling author and professor of English literature, who lives with her family in New York, but can sometimes be found in Paris or Italy. She is the mother of two and, in a particularly delicious irony for a romance writer, is married to a genuine Italian knight.

USA Today bestselling, RITA-nominated author Christi Caldwell believes the most perfect heroes and heroines have imperfections, and she rather enjoys torturing them before crafting them a well-deserved happily ever after!

Janna MacGregor writes stories where compelling and powerful heroines meet and fall in love with their equally matched heroes. She is the mother of triplets and lives in Kansas City with her very own dashing rogue, and two smug, but not surprisingly, perfect pugs.

Erica Ridley is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of witty, feel-good historical romance novels. When not reading or writing romances, Erica can be found riding camels in Africa, zip-lining through rainforests in Costa Rica, or getting hopelessly lost in the middle of Budapest.