Christmas at Blackhaven Castle - Sophia James - ⭐
Lawd, but this story was terrible. Not only was it shallow and silly, but what, exactly, was the point of setting it in the 1810s? If you're not going to play within the societal bounds of your chosen time period, then why choose it at all?

That was bad enough, but this story contained a lot of my squicks, including a major power imbalance and a creepy age difference. The heroine spends half the story thinking that the hero was once her mother's lover, and the other half wanting him to be her lover. Ugh, gross! That, plus the employer/employee power differential, was too much. Do not want!

Governess to Christmas Bride - Annie Burrows - ⭐⭐⭐
Ms. Burrows is one of my auto-read authors, and for the most part, I really enjoyed this story. The hero and heroine had known each other since they were children (the heroine is the hero's sister's BFF), though they hadn't always gotten along. The heroine is very prickly (for good reason, mind), and for some reason, this time, the hero is turned on by it instead of off. He takes advantage of her position as the household governess and with his kisses his compromises her reputation, managing to get her thrown out into a storm before Christmas. He runs off gallantly after her, but he doesn't really take 'no' or any of her protestations seriously, which was my major problem with this story. I don't like a hero who takes 'no' to mean 'yes', even when he has the best of intentions towards his heroine. She is her own person, after all, and deserves to have a say in her future. I think the truncated nature of the novella hurts this story, because everything happens so fast that it's hard to feel the love that both main characters proclaim.

Duchess by Christmas - Marguerite Kaye - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The best of the bunch by a far margin, though not without some niggles. The heroine and the hero are childhood friends who grew up together; heroine as the steward's daughter, hero as the heir to a ducal estate. When her father died, her family moved away, and the pair lost touch. 12 years later, the hero contacts the heroine and asks for her help to select an appropriate bride, one who will be a good mother to his future children. His own childhood was abject misery and he's determined that his children when have more than he did. The heroine, with her 3 half-siblings, present the perfect ready-made 'family' of distant cousins on which to try out the potential brides. Meanwhile, the hero and the heroine are reconnecting and remembering their childhood friendship, along with a very adult attraction that has now sprung up between them, and each agonize over their attraction, given that he is supposed to be choosing a different bride.

This story definitely had the most developed characters (both main and supporting cast), and it was the most entertaining to read. The children were adorable; the potential brides each had distinct personalities and weren't all horrible harpies to the children (or the heroine, who was posing as her siblings' governess). I like it when characters have some depth and shades of gray to them.

The ending is predictable, but sweet. I thought the sex scene was extraneous and actually spoiled the romance with lust, and made it seem like they had to marry, even though that's not how it played out in the end. I'm glad there was not Grand Romantic Gesture, though the dialogue during the marriage proposal scene was a bit OTT.

Either way, it was a very pleasant way to spend Christmas afternoon, and I'm always happy to add another story by Ms. Kaye to my 'read' pile! ( )