Welcome to my stop on the Baby, It's Cold Outside blog tour hosted by InkSlingerPR!

Today I am excited to share my review, as well as a giveaway with you all!

Baby, it's Cold Outside
   by: Jennifer Probst, Emma Chase, Kristen Proby, Kate Meader, and Melody Anne

Publication Date: Oct. 28, 2014
Publisher: Pocket Books
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age Group: Adult
Source: e-ARC received via InkSlingerPR in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Page Count: 544 pages
Order Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | BAM | IndieBound | Simon & Schuster
My Rating: 4/5 stars

Outside it may be frosty, so turn the heat way up with these stories of desire!

Can a determined woman executive and a playboy billionaire survive being stranded together in a snowstorm? Jennifer Probst depicts an encounter almost too hot to handle…

Drew and Kate play an encore to Tangled in this sexy take on a “Christmas Carol” by Emma Chase. When a Christmas Eve argument condemns Drew to a troubled night, three dream women teach him that no gift could be more tantalizing than Kate…

With Kristen Proby, ski slopes are quite delightful. Grace Douglas is sure she’ll never learn to ski, but instructor Jacob Baxter could teach her lessons of a different kind…

Can a southern California transplant survive Montana’s deep snows? Melody Anne, author of the bestselling Andersons series, melts the icy drifts completely away with the heat between sexy Hawk Winchester and brand-new teacher Natalie Duncan…

What could be hotter than a firefighter? Kate Meader shows how hot it can get as Beck Rivera and heiress-turned-tattoo-artist Darcy Cochrane discover that nothing ignites holiday flames like rekindling a lost love…

 

 

 

 

It might be starting to get cold outside, but this set of sexy novellas will heat things right up! I was super psyched to see some of my favorite romance authors contributing to this anthology! I adore Jennifer Probst and Emma Chase, and am familiar with their works, so it was great to read their stories and see some of my favorite characters again! Kate Meader, Melody Anne, and Kristen Proby also share their own novellas, which were fun and heartwarming to read as well.

 

At first I thought Jennifer Probst's novella would be about Kate and Kennedy (from the Searching For series) so we could see how their relationships were faring. Instead, we are introduced to two new characters- Dylan and Riley, who have both enlisted Kinnections help to find them a potential match. Their computer program shows them as a perfect match for one another and set them up on a blind date, but unbeknownst to them, they are already familiar with one another. I liked Riley and Dylan together and I enjoy stories where the main characters knew each other previously and are now reigniting the flame between them. Probst writes some delicious, sexy scenes and I really like that even though this is a novella, things felt natural with them together.

 

Once again we are back in the infamous Drew Evans' head for Emma Chase's novella. I love seeing Drew and Kate together, and we got some great moments with little James too. This story is both sexy and sweet at the same time. Drew and Kate have a great sex life, despite having a five year old son. They are so in love with one another it just warms your heart! I really like the Christmas Carol take, because it really makes Drew really stop and appreciate what he has in his life and how he wouldn't give it up for the world.

 

Kristen Proby and Melody Anne's stories were cute reads that both made me chuckle, even though they were a bit too insta-love for my tastes. Kristen Proby introduces us to a sexy billionaire and a klutzy woman who is staying at his resort in order to learn how to ski... and maybe have a sexy affair while she's at it! Melody Anne gives us a sexy, kind hearted man by the name of Hawk and a sweet schoolteacher who is new to town. Add in a few meddling old ladies who like to play matchmaker and you've got yourself the makings of a small town romance!

 

I also enjoyed Kate Meader's story because I just love second chance romances. Coming back to Chicago and being reunited with the boy that shattered her heart so many years ago, Darcy is determined not to make the same mistakes twice. However, Beck Rivera isn't someone who she can easily dismiss. Their sexual tension oozes off the pages and I love that these two have so much chemistry even after being separated for so long.

 

Overall, this was definitely a cute anthology and I'm so ready for the winter season to begin!

 

 

 

 

Jennifer Probst’s New York Times and USA Today bestselling novels, novellas, and ebooks include the acclaimed Marriage to a Billionaire series, as well as Searching for Someday and Searching for Perfect. She lives in upstate New York. Visit her at www.jenniferprobst.com.

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Emma Chase is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Tangles, Twisted, Tamed, and Tied. She lives in a small town in rural New Jersey with her husband and children. Follow Emma on Twitter and Facebook, or visit her at www.emmachase.net.

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Kristen Proby is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Loving Cara and Seducing Lauren, as well as the popular With Me in Seattle series. Kristen spends her days with her muse in the Pacific Northwest. Visit her at kristenproby.com.

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Melody Anne is the New York Times bestselling author of the indie published Billionaire Bachelors series, the Baby for the Billionaire series, and the Surrender series, and she has a new series coming soon from Pocket Books. She lives in the Pacific Northwest. Visit her at www.melodyanne.com.

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Kate Meader is the author of the sexy new series Hot in Chicago, coming soon from Pocket Books. When not writing she works in an academic library in Chicago. Visit her at www.katemeader.com.

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All Fired Up (Hot in the Kitchen #2)
   by: Kate Meader

Publication Date: Nov. 5, 2013
Publisher: Forever
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age Group: Adult
Source: e-ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Page Count: 333 pages
Order Links: Amazon | B&N
My Rating: 3/5 stars

Her sweetest mistake . . .

Cool as a Chicago winter, private events planner Cara DeLuca is a model of self-control . . . until she meets the one temptation she can't resist: Shane Doyle. The sexy, Irish pastry chef is too hot, too sure, too young, and after a crazy night in Vegas-her new husband. While at first Cara wants nothing more than a way out of her sham marriage to Shane, she soon finds that beneath his farm boy demeanor lies a man who can match her drive, both in and out of the bedroom. How can the wrong guy feel so deliciously right?

. . . Tastes so, so good

Shane has carefully structured his career and life around one goal: connecting with the family that doesn't know he exists. Marrying a woman with more issues than a magazine stand wasn't part of the plan, but melting Cara's icy exterior is so worth the detour. Now as the annulment date nears and long-buried secrets are revealed, Shane will have to fight for the one thing guaranteeing the perfect life he craves . . . the current Mrs. Shane Doyle.

 

This sounded like such a cute read, so naturally I had to pick it up! While I ended up enjoying this one, I really struggled to get into it. I can't quite pinpoint what exactly gave me so much trouble- this book can be read as a stand-alone, but when characters from previous novels show up and there is history- I just felt a bit out of the loop. I also felt like I was on information overload. Meader does a great job with her descriptions, but I think I felt it was a bit much too fast. I also struggled with the back and forth between Shane and Cara's voice. One minute we would have Shane's thoughts and then I felt we would abruptly switch to Cara's. As a result, I just found I had a hard time losing myself in the books' pages like I usually do.

 

However, as the story progressed, things started clicking for me and I began to understand the history and family background of the novel. I also got used to the alternating POV's, and I felt I wasn't as overloaded with information. I began enjoying the romance and the story surrounding it.

 

Cara and Shane were a great couple and they had me laughing at them quite often. Cara and Shane are complete opposites. Cara is obsessed with control, can be uptight, and has been nicknamed Lemon Tart at the restaurant she works at. However, when you learn Cara's reasons for control, it absolutely breaks your heart. She has not confided in anyone about what she has gone through, suffered, and eventually overcome. With all this in mind- it'd be pure craziness that this control freak of a woman would get hitched to a stranger in Vegas, right? Mm, maybe not so crazy...

 

Shane Doyle is the new pastry chef at the restaurant Cara works for. He is immensely talented and successful, which begs the question- why work for a restaurant in Chicago when we could own his own? Shane has secrets that he keeps close as well, and while his motivations for coming to Chicago might not have been the most positive, meeting Cara, her family and friends, has brought new revelations to his life. Saying yes to a strange woman asking him to marry her is also pretty crazy. While Cara talks of annulment, Shane really starts to question if that's what he wants- the two clearly have some killer chemistry. Shane is fun-loving, adorkable, and completely irresistible. He won't give up on his new wife just yet. He wants to get to know her and the more he pushes himself into her life, the more he realizes he doesn't want to ever leave it.

 

I liked how hard Cara fought against Shane. It was cute, but that girl didn't have a chance in hell at resisting the Irish ginger who could make orgasmic desserts. Letting him in and confessing her deepest, darkest secret was a huge deal for her and Shane handled it amazingly. He didn't pity her, didn't look at her differently, he simply saw her for what she was: beautiful.

 

The characters that were introduced in Meader's first book of the series, Feel the Heat, play a significant role in this story. Lili is Cara's younger sister, who is engaged to Jack Kilroy, owner of the restaurant Cara party plans for. Jules, Jack's sister, is important to the plot as well, considering the next book will be about her. She has an infant, Evan, but is also a single mom. There is some definite interest between her and Lili and Cara's cousin Tad, and I am very curious to see how their story will play out.

 

Cara's family has overcome some pretty big obstacles. Her mother is a survivor of cancer and instead of helping out and being there for her mom, Cara was the one to hide away in her work, unsure of how to deal. This is part of the reason, the family doesn't expect Cara to be nurturing or good with kids. However, the opposite couldn't be more true. Cara secretly yearns for a husband and a family to call her own. She brushes off their remarks and acts the part of the successful career woman.

 

Shane can see right through her, however, and he can see how vulnerable she really is. He wants her to confide in him, yet he can't bring himself to do the same with her. This hurts her deeply, especially since she's shared things with him she has with no one else. Shane eventually comes clean to her about his past, but he doesn't divulge the true reason he has come to Chicago. However, the real reason just may threaten his and Cara's new relationship, as well as some of the friendships he's made along the way. Shane had no idea coming to Chicago would bring so much into his life and he really begins to feel guilty about deceiving the people he's coming to love and cherish.

 

As I said, I ended up really enjoying this one and I really liked watching Shane and Cara's relationship develop into something deeper. What may have started as a crazy night in Vegas, certainly ended in something much more.