'Twas The Night

Author: Sandra Hill, Kate Holmes, Trish Jensen
Publisher: Kindle edition, Bell Bridge Books

“Christmas or Bust!”What do a Blue Angels pilot, a bounty hunter and an ex-NFL football player have in common? The three bad-boy bachelors of Snowdon, Maine have to make a friend’s Christmas Eve wedding on time or die trying! They’re willing to risk anything to make that happen—even dashing through the snow in the goofiest bus on Earth, bright red and filled with a bunch of merry, meddling senior citizens known as the Santa Brigade. All too soon, these men will have met their matches in three special women: a woman from their past, a forest ranger so hot she ought to be declared a fire hazard, and a woman on the run. Ho, ho, OH!While serving up holiday cheer with the Santa Brigade, the guys will discover ‘tis the season for good will and folly. Wise men or not, they are well and truly caught, which means these roguish St. Nicks are willing to jingle a few bells along the way if that’s what it takes to find what they truly want for Christmas nestled in their beds after the stockings are stuffed and the gifts placed under the tree.

This was actually first published in 2001 as "Here Come Santa Claus" by Leisure Books. It has been re-released recently under the new name, 'Twas the night. This is not an ordinary anthology. The authors tried a different approach. Each author took one of the three men and told his point of view in the story; each taking place at the same time. Of the three couples in the book, the only one that I really bought into was Sam and Reba's relationship. They had a history and I could really buy into their reunion and subsequent love story. The other two couples, having only just met, seemed more like lust than the makings for long term love. Especially, Dana who had been infatuated with Stan during his football career and had posters of him in her bedroom. I would think that would creep out most guys. I can usually buy into the "love at first sight" story line, but this just didn't do it for me. Overall, however, I did enjoy the story as a whole. The peripheral characters are amusing and add a lot of life to book. I would recommend for a good, fast holiday read. I gave it 3 stars.

--Kari