Stranded with a Hero (Anthology) – a Review

Stranded with a Hero (Anthology)
Authors:Karen Erickson, Coleen Kwan, Cindi Madsen, Roxanne Snopek
Release Date: November 11, 2013
Links to order Stranded with a Hero:
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Description:
“Getting snowed in never felt so good as boundaries are crossed, opposites attract, and friends discovering more, promise a Christmas no one will ever forget.”


Reviews;

This was a very nice anthology of short and sweet romance stories.  It’s the kind of book you can take and make a nice Sunday afternoon out of, while snuggled up by a roaring fire and glass of wine in hand.  I enjoyed all four stories, all were short, fun reads.  All the characters are easy to like and make you want to see them wind up with their HEA in the end.  Each and every story has it’s own flare and flavour to it, and had me getting more and more into the holiday mood, and made me want to bake up a batch of gingerbread cookies myself, and trim my tree all over again.  For anyone who’s looking for quick, fun reads, with sweet holiday romances thrown in, then this anthology is definitely for you.

Here’s a little recap on all four stories. 

Loving Mindy, By Karen Erickson
“Mindy can’t believe she’s stuck with her ex–best friend—and the man whose heart she broke years ago—for the holidays, though the tension between them is more than enough to keep them warm. Josh Powers never forgot Mindy, but he can’t risk his heart a second time.”

This is a short, sweet, and endearing read.  It’s about two friends who had grown apart over the years, loosing their special friendship, only to finally find love during the year’s worst snowstorm.  The story picks up a number of years later and Josh is still hung up on Mindy, but now Mindy’s divorced and raising her kids.  Josh has tried to keep away from Mindy as much as possible since returning home, but thanks to Mindy’s wandering cat, poor Josh winds up crashing his truck into a snowbank outside Mindy’s house. Thanks to Mother Nature, the weather is so bad he can’t get a tow truck.  Josh and Mindy wind up getting snowed in for a few days, and over the course of those days, rekindle their friendship and realize there’s more then meets the eye in regards to the two of them.  It’s fun to see them reunite, become friends again and realize they do have real feelings for each other and that they were meant to be.  Their scenes together are fun and flirty and having it take place around the holidays is just the perfect touch.  Both characters are likeable and their conversations are heartfelt and warm. The emotion in this one hits all the high spots and had me grinning along and wishing I were stranded in a snowstorm with Mr. Right.  

White-Hot Holiday, By Coleen Kwan
“Naomi’s sworn off men like Aaron—rich, cocky, and dismissive of holiday traditions. Aaron decided to spend Christmas in sunny Australia to avoid snowy New York, not to fall for the woman his best friend warned him away from. But when a volcano grounds him, Aaron and Naomi’s relationship becomes eruptive.”

This is another short, fun and flirty read.  Being a Northern Canadian, and being used to being surrounded by snow at least 5 months out of the year had me wondering what it would be like to be someplace like Australia at Christmas time with no snow.  I found myself sympathizing with Aaron whenever he’d be missing the snow and cold from back home.  Who knew it would take being halfway around the world and in balmy Australia for our hero Aaron to realize just what he has back home during the holidays.  It was fun to see his interactions with Naomi, and watch him go from a Ba-Humbug as she calls him, to Jolly ol’ St. Nick over a matter of days. I really liked this story, and enjoyed Naomi and Aaron. I felt they were well suited for each other and the sparks between flew from their first scene.  Their interations and conversations are real and charming and watching him do things he otherwise would never have considered doing before were quite fun.  The scene where they went to find a new Christmas tree, and then when he actually went and helped her at work(selling Christmas gifts) were priceless, yet charming. Oh the things a man will do to impress the girl he’s attracted to. Aaron is definitely a keeper and Naomi realizes this, but can she let go of her past breakup and take the plunge once again.  Thankfully Aaron is very persuasive, and in the end they both get what they are looking for in their HEA.

An Officer and a Rebel, Cindi Madsen
“  The last person police officer Nate Walsh expected to discover in a snowstorm is his brother’s ex and former town rebel, Kelsey Cooper. She’s his complete opposite and totally off-limits, but as they wait out the storm together, all he can think is how he wishes she’d stay forever.”

To keep the flow of fun, flirty and quirky going in this anthology Ms. Madsen hits all the high spots in this one.  You can’t help but love Nate and Kelsey, two polar opposites pretty much, but there’s no denying the chemistry between the two of them. Even though Nate is trying to do the right thing and keep things light between the two of them because she used to date his brother Derek, Nate can’t help his feelings. I felt so bad for Nate, that at one point I started talking to my Kobo telling Nate;”to hell with your brother, go for it already”.  You see Nate was always the golden boy of his family, and town, you know the boy next door, never gets into trouble kinda guy.  So here he is trying to do the right thing till he talks to his brother, but Kelsey’s not having any of it. She’s attracted to Nate, and knows he’s attracted to her, plus he’s pretty much let the cat out of the bag by kissing her and flat out telling her he’s always had a thing for her since highschool. Oh Nate what a tangled web you’ve woven for yourself.  😉   Watching Nate deal with his feelings and with Kelsey is comical at times. I especially enjoyed their snowmobiling scene, poor Nate trying to keep his mind off his feelings for Kelsey while waiting for his brother to text him back, but Kelsey has other plans.  She’s holding on tight, pinching his butt, basically torturing him.  I was LOL at that scene and couldn’t have agreed more with her tactics.  This story had me LOL at times, and other times wanting to slap Nate silly for being the well behaved, good mannered boy next door. All in all, this was a quick, and quirky read. I really enjoyed both characters, and any man who would beg his friend to fly him in his helicopter on New Years Eve to get the woman he wants definitely has my vote for Mr. Right. 

Saving the Sheriff, By Roxanne Snopek
“Frankie Sylva was determined to free the reindeer cruelly held for a holiday roadshow, even if it meant risking her own life. Deputy Sheriff Red LeClair set out to save a stranger in a snowstorm, never expecting he’d be the one to be rescued.”

Once again we have another fun and quirky read with this one.  I found myself smiling and laughing most of the time thanks to Frankie and her sense of humour, antics and ability to just break out into song for almost anything. I’ve never before seen or heard of someone confessing to a crime by breaking out in song.  LOL!!  Well, maybe only in musicals 😉  Frankie is such a quirky character you can’t help but love her.  She is the perfect woman for Red, especially after the hand he’s been dealt by his ex.  Thanks to his ex, poor Red is miserable and pretty much sworn off women, so when he happens upon the whirl wind that his Francesca(Frankie) Slyva, his life gets expectantly turned upside down.  Since Red is currently divorced and not in a Christmas mood, he decides to play housekeeper for his friends and look after their Wild Mustang Santuary, and winds up meeting Frankie. She’s taken a trailer of Caribou and decided to rescue them from a meat packing plant and set them free on the Mustang Santuary property without anyone being the wiser.  However, as luck would have it, Mother Nature has other ideas.  Thanks to a nasty storm that’s moved in, the trailer gets stuck and she has nowhere to go, enter our Sheriff Red LeClair.  While they are waiting out the storm, Red finally learns the truth behind Frankie’s actions, and can’t blame her for what she did.  As they try and work out a plan, to help her, things begin to heat up between the two, and before you know it, they both realize they’ve fallen for the other.  It’s a rather sweet story, with some rather humourous moments, but at other times serious and endearing.  It’s a well balance story with well written characters who just compliment each other to a ‘t’.  I really enjoyed this one, it had me laughing and at other times had me swooning.  Frankie and Red are two wonderful characters who you can’t help but come to love and want to see make it to their HEA.  Along with Frankie and Red, we also meet some secondary characters who wind up adding a little more spice and fun to the story.  I really enjoyed these characters, and now want to go back and read their stories.

All in all this anthology is a winner in my books. I enjoyed each story.  They all had their own special moments and had me rooting for each couple.  Every single one of our hero’s is very swoon-worthy and makes me want to get stranded in a snowstorm and find my Mr. Right.  As for our heroine’s each one is different, but has her own quirks and fun little personalities that bring a nice balance to the relationship.  Like I said earlier, this anthology is perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon curled up by the fire with a glass of wine. 

Until next time, Happy Reading everyone! 

Reviews by Marcie

Copy provided by Publisher