A Cradle-Robbing Christmas by Veronica Wilde

TITLE: A Cradle-Robbing Christmas
AUTHOR: Veronica Wilde
PUBLISHER: Liquid Silver Books
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 27k)
GENRE: Contemporary erotic romance
COST: $4.75

Divorcee Gillian McKutcheon just wants to make her son’s Christmas just like every other one before it – even though she’s strapped for cash because of her jerk ex-husband, everyone in town feels sorry for her for getting dumped, and she’s lonely for some genuine affection. Then Santa drops Logan Chase, her son’s slightly older friend with a secret crush that’s not so secret anymore, under her Christmas tree…

I had a pleasant enough experience with this author the first time I read her, so I thought I’d try her again, even though I wondered what new territory she might explore since she’s written the younger/older dynamic so much before. I have to admit, though, I hate the title. It doesn’t have either a sexy or a romantic connotation for me. Since I’d hope for either one or the other in an erotic romance, it didn’t bode well as a start.

The story does manage to rise a little above its unsatisfying title, but not by much. The sweetness and sexiness I found in Wilde’s earlier work was missing, which is more than a little odd considering this is a Christmas story and those practically beg for sweetness. The sex scenes felt very by the number, with some word choices pulling me out of them. I also never really connected to either character very much. Logan is excessively somber and mature for his twenty-one years, while Gillian’s focus on material things – an accusation that gets leveled at her by her ex-husband, too – rubs me the wrong way. I know intellectually she’s merely compensating for a lack of emotional ties within her life, but on a reactive level, it grated. Her need to buy an expensive gift for her son for Christmas is fairly indicative of the way she treats the rest of her life.

There’s also a lot of dancing around more serious issues that never really get followed through on. For instance, Gillian’s ex is a functional alcoholic and there are hints that her son is starting to follow in his father’s footsteps. Logan briefly touches on his abandonment issues, but only as a justification to show her how self-aware he is. These contribute to a sense of drama that always lingers in the wings. You know it’s there, and you keep waiting for it to come onstage, but the curtains open and close and it never steps out. It doesn’t necessarily make this a bad read. It does, however, make it a forgettable one.

Readability	7/10 – Mostly smooth, just a few lines pull me out of the fantasy and into the unsexy
Hero	5/10 – Sweet enough, but too serious
Heroine	5/10 – A little too one-note and a shade too materialistic for my liking
Entertainment value	6/10 – Diverting but not memorable
World building	7/10 – Solid enough for what’s there
TOTAL:	30/50

That Dangerous Age by Veronica Wilde

TITLE: That Dangerous Age
AUTHOR: Veronica Wilde
PUBLISHER: Liquid Silver Books
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 42k)
GENRE: Contemporary erotic romance
COST: $5.75

When her married sister needs her emotional support, Whitney VanHaren spends six weeks with her and her family at Cape Cod, determined to make the last few months before her thirtieth birthday memorable. She doesn’t expect the startling attraction she has for one of the counselors at her niece and nephew’s summer camp, however. But in spite of the fact that he’s younger than she is, she agrees to meet with him, then to go out. The only problem is…he’s even younger than she thinks. Convinced Whitney will never agree to go out with him, Liam Dashwood tells her he’s twenty-five when in actuality, he’s only nineteen. In social circles where her sister’s status is everything, Whitney has no choice but to stop seeing him. There’s no future there, she tells herself. Except what if there is…?

I waffled on buying this particular book. While I like older woman/younger man stories, nineteen seemed just a little bit too young for me to really enjoy. In the end, however, I decided to give it a shot. The excerpt on the website was smooth and engaging (I love that Liquid Silver does whole first chapters; it’s easily the best site out there for giving a reader a real sample of the story), so I thought, What the hell.

I’ve heard good things about this particular author before, though I’ve never actually been enticed enough to try her. That’s likely to change in the future. She has a very easy voice to get sucked into. Her prose is neither complicated nor overtly simple, and I found myself halfway through the story with barely batting an eyelash. She doesn’t cheat on detail; there’s enough there to paint a picture for the reader without getting lost in too much. However, she’s not big on a lot of metaphors or difficult constructions, so in many ways, I became very detached that I was reading at all. Some authors have such distinctive voices that it’s impossible not to see the artistry, but here, it was so easy and yet evocative that I felt more like I was experiencing the story rather than reading it.

Part of that is helped in that the perspective stays completely in Whitney’s head. It’s much easier to immerse yourself in the story when that happens. Everything experienced here is through her POV, which ultimately, might lend more reason to some of my problems with it.

My biggest one is – unsurprisingly – Liam. In order for Whitney to get over the age differential, the author has painted Liam in a very perfect palette. He’s the perfect lover, the perfect friend. He backs off as soon as Whitney says to, doesn’t press too hard, does exactly what she asks of him, even when he wants to go public with their affair. Whitney herself admits they have very little – if anything – in common, other than this amazing physical attraction for each other. Because of all this, and because we got a good chunk of the story with Whitney driving all this home, I never really believed that this had any hope for lasting for long.

That’s not to say it isn’t sweet and charming while it lasts, however. Because of the author’s voice, I was sucked into the emotion and passion of this pair. Whitney constantly refers to Liam as sweet, but ultimately, that’s the word that best describes both of them. Sometimes, that’s a very good thing.

Readability	9/10 – Smooth, very engaging prose. An easy read without being simple.
Hero	6/10 – Lovely, but the too-good-to-be-true factor never goes away.
Heroine	7/10 – Intelligent but bordering on wishy-washy
Entertainment value	7/10 – Sweet and charming, though that’s more a reflection on the author’s voice than any true belief that the romance will last
World building	7/10 – A nice set-up of a posh world
TOTAL:	36/50