cover image Silver Bells

Silver Bells

JoAnn Ross, Fern Michaels, Mary Burton, . . Zebra, $7.99 (393pp) ISBN 978-1-4201-0363-2

Seven well-known authors contribute to two holiday romance anthologies.

Silver Bells Fern Michaels , JoAnn Ross , Mary Burton and Judy Duarte . Zebra , $7.99 (448p) ISBN 978-1-4201-0363-2

Bestseller Michaels (Hokus Pokus ) headlines a quartet of heartwarming Christmas romances. In both Duarte's “A Mulberry Park Christmas” (which shares a setting with Mulberry Park ) and Michaels's title tale, childhood sweethearts are reunited despite the pressures of adult life. In “Dear Santa...,” Ross (Impulse ) strands mystery novelist Holly Berry in a blizzard-swept town, where she meets hunky hotelier Gabe O'Halloran and finds his five-year-old daughter is a determined matchmaker. Burton (I'm Watching You ) contributes “Christmas Past,” in which widowed homicide sergeant David Ayden helps talented photographer Nicole Piper cope with the legacy of her late, violently abusive husband. It's a close fit, but each short story contains a full-fledged romance from first kiss to happy ending, both satisfying readers and encouraging them to seek out the authors' longer works. (Nov.)