Gifts of Love by Kay Hooper, Lisa Kleypas
Published by Avon on October 31, 2006
Genres: Historical
Pages: 326
Goodreads

This is an anthology of two unrelated novellas.

HOLIDAY SPIRIT by Kay Hooper: Lady Antonia Wingate and Richard Allerton, Duke of Lyonshall were engaged and seemingly in love when Antonia abruptly broke off their engagement. Several years later, Antonia’s grandmother has invited Richard to a “house party” where he is the only non-family guest. While her grandmother attempts to rekindle Antonia and Richard’s romance, the two are privy to the ghostly romance of prior inhabitants of the castle. I really enjoyed this story. The romance plot is pretty standard, but the addition of the ghost story and the interfering grandmother gave this story some extra interest. Rating: 4 stars.

SURRENDER by Lisa Kleypas: Jason and Laura Moran are newly married but not happily. Jason believes that Laura is contemptuous of him because of his humble beginnings. Laura fears Jason’s coldness. The two have the chance to save their new marriage if they can speak their hearts to one another. I really like stories about married couples. This one, however, was just okay for me. Perhaps their problems needed more pages to be explored and solved or perhaps I didn’t feel that the characters were complex enough to explore the problems presented. For whatever reason, I liked the story but didn’t find it particularly memorable or remarkable. Rating: 3 stars.