A trio of short stories with winter settings - easy to read and utterly forgettable.

Snow Angel - 2 stars
Trope: forced proximity

Celia Dearing decides to go for a walk one day to get away from her unbearable uncle, and winds up walking straight into a blizzard. She seeks shelter at the first place she comes upon, stumbling into a cozy cottage, only to find a half-naked man with an amused grin on his face. He is Nicholas Newland, and unbeknownst to her (until he tells her himself), he is a notorious rake. So notorious that even a hint of their being together alone will ruin her reputation. Considering they are caught in one hell of a snowstorm, she basically has no chance to escape this little episode with her reputation intact. So, he proposes, why not do exactly what everyone will inevitably accuse her of doing while they wait for the snow to melt?

This story was completely devoid of emotion. It was a bit odd to read, in fact. The characters were very flat, and the author's outline was showing. This is one of my favorite tropes, so I was quite disappointed in the result.

Sealed with a Kiss - 3 stars
Trope: mistaken identity

Felicia Cartwright has an understanding with the Honorable Benjamin Little. They were childhood sweethearts, and she is desperate to move forward with their marriage, but he's dragging his feet. Determined to force his hand, she arranges to meet him in the conservatory of Hereford House, where they will just happen to be caught in a torrid embrace. Everything is working perfectly according to her plan - with the bonus of her staid beau being extra amorous - until they are caught, and Felicia realizes she's not netted her prey, but a very big fish instead: the Earl of Kettering.

She is distraught by the idea of marrying a stranger, but has no other choice. The two are married and move to his estate, where he leaves her on his wedding day to attend business in London. Felicia has her new mother-in-law, the Dowager Countess, for company, and the Dowager has Certain Ideas for how Felicia must now behave as the new Countess Kettering, including a surefire way to insure that her womb is fruitful - an awful concoction that "tastes like onion soup with dirt thrown in."

Felicia sees her former beau at a ball being thrown at his house, and overhears the Honorable Benjamin Little expressing his joy at the way things have turned out, as he never had any intention of asking her to marry him at all. This realization makes Felicia look at her heretofore unwanted husband in a new light, and suddenly being the Countess isn't such a bad lot in life.

This story was delightfully written, with characters exuding a bit of depth and some actual emotions on the page. The Dowager was hilarious. The dialogue was fairly witty, and there was enough oomph in the drama of the betrayal (and the consummation scene) to make this worth reading. The ending was on the cheesy side, but at least I cared about what happened to the characters.

To Love a Scandalous Lord - 2 stars
Lady Hannah Sedgewick overhears a conversation between her sister Alice and Alice's husband, George, discussing obviously terrible news they wish to keep from her. She gets it into her head that she's dying, and once she gets over the shock of this leap of logic, decides that there's no way she's going to die a virgin. She heads out that very evening to the home of James Beaumont, another notorious London rake, and tells him of her fate, and of her fervent wish to know the pleasures of passion before her time is up. As he'd previously proposed to her (only for her to turn him down), he's more than happy to assist her with doing away with her virginity.

The next morning, Hannah awakes, and Alice finally dredges up the courage to tell her the truth: Hannah is not the one on death's door - it's their ancient cat, Fluffy. This suddenly changes everything, and Hannah seeks out James to give him this imperative update, and to decide what to do next.

This was an interesting premise for a story, but there was something lacking in the execution. Both Hannah and James are prone to strident monologues that struck me as out of character (rather amazing, considering we are given just the barest character sketches to work with). The denouement and the ending were quite "meh" - this story might have benefited from a fully fleshed out novel to deliver its intended impact.

All in all, this is something of a letdown from the permafree summer collection Summer Passions. ( )