KIRKUS REVIEW
Two Christmas-themed novellas explore college romances.
In the title story, college junior Jessica is so determined to stick to her planned future that she impulsively flies to Ireland to visit her boyfriend, Brennan, for Christmas. Intent on making a good impression and getting Brennan to commit to her, Jessica tries too hard with his family—it's only when she's with Grady, the family's farmhand, that she feels like herself. A secret about Brennan's high school love and her own soul-searching leave Jessica wondering whether her plan matters more than love. Taking place a year later, Sleigh Bells and Second Chances follows Jessica's sorority roommate, Christina, as she travels to London for a holiday-break internship. She's doing PR for the hot band Pursuant—whose lead singer, Cary White, was Christina's summer romance four years ago. But Cary regrets walking away from Christina and wants to try again. Their chemistry is even more sizzling now than ever, but when Christina discovers why Cary broke up with her before, she doubts everything that's happened between them. Although both protagonists' voices become interchangeable, and each scenario is something of a fairy tale, these young women are college students, with everything that implies.
These fluffy yet sexy romances will wrap readers in warm blankets. (Romance. 16-20)