HOW THE DUKE STOLE CHRISTMAS is one of the best Christmas present ever! It could hardly fail, with such stellar authors, but it's even better than I hoped! There are four stories, which can be read in any order as they are not interconnected, and they run the gamut of emotions.

In MEET ME IN MAYFAIR by Tessa Dare, Miss Louisa must find a wealthy husband at the last ball before Christmas, or else she and her family lose their home by New Year's Day. James Standish, the Duke of Thorndale, is the villain who wants to evict them, and to her dismay, Louisa must waltz with the enemy. This is such a delightful tale with beautiful descriptions of Mayfair at Christmastime. It is delightfully romantic, cleverly plotted, and brilliant dialogues highlight this most charming, and very Christmassy romance which I read with a smile plastered on my face the entire time.

THE DUKE OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT by Sarah MacLean is the longest novella and a most ingenious retelling of A Christmas Carol. The Duke of Allryd, our Scrooge, Eben, meets his ghost of Christmas past: Lady Jacqueline Mosby who left him to his ledgers twelve years ago. I love Ms. MacLean's take on the ghosts because there was not a spirit in sight, but rather ghosts of loss and regret. This is a very emotional story that had me sniffling copiously, and the characters are so wonderfully drawn, that I'm hoping that Charles Lawton, Eben's business partner, will have his story one day; he is so charismatic!

HEIRESS ALONE by Sophie Jordan is the author's sexy spin on Home Alone as Annis Ballister is entirely forgotten by her family when a snowstorm derails their Christmas plans and she is left to fend for herself. But their neighbor Calder, the Duke of Sinclair, will not leave a damsel in distress alone, even if he doubts of her good intentions. A little warning here: the blistering attraction between Annis and Calder could be hazardous to your e-reader! This is a steamy yet very sweet and lovely story, while our couple faces all sorts of dangers -- great and small -- for a magical Highland romance.

Then off to New York with Joanna Shupe's A CHRISTMAS IN CENTRAL PARK as Miss Rose Walker fights to keep her job as an advice columnist: Mrs. Walker, the Martha Graham of the Gilded Age, is partly a fraud. No one must know, especially not the publisher Duke Havermeyer; a real Scrooge albeit a sexy one. Rose is a spunky one indeed, and I was surprised at how bold she was. This novella is extremely fast-paced, as Rose and Duke battle misunderstandings, secrets, and their undeniable attraction.

Sarah MacLean even includes a special gift for us: her family's recipe for shortbread! What I appreciated the most about this anthology is that the novellas are all really Christmas stories, imbued with an undeniable historical Yuletide feel. HOW THE DUKE STOLE CHRISTMAS is a new holiday classic that is sure to be cherished for years to come by historical romance fans!