2 out of 5 stars. DNF. I gave this novel 2 stars because I got so bored with the novel by chapter 10 that I had to give it up. If I read it when it first arrived on my TBR pile it might have been different but alas I can't turn back time. Also, I gave this novel 2 stars because it has some fun quirky characters making me see that it has lots of potential.

I recommend it to those who'd enjoy reading a contemporary holiday romance. ( )

Really 3.75 Stars
Reviewed at http://scorchingbookreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/a-nix-arc-review-hunk-for-hol...

Life for Cassie involves going to work and going home; there is very little room for anything in-between! Since her Father had a heart attack, it’s gotten so bad she has taken to hiring men to take her to functions to keeper match-making family at bay. When it comes to the latest function, it seems that the escort agency has outdone themselves. He’s suave, gorgeous and very charming.... he’s even putting her “no-sleeping with the escort” rule to the test. He really does seem too good to be true....

James Sutton is due to meet a legend in his business, Al McPhereson. When he arrives for his meeting he sees no sign of the man, but a gorgeous brunette approaches him, assuming he is escort. Fascinated as to where this is going, and realising that she is the daughter of the man he is there to meet, he decides to pretend that he is exactly who she thinks he is and see where the evening takes them.

Sparks start to fly within minutes but only one of them knows who the other really is. What will Cassie think when she realises the competition she is so attracted to is the man she blames for putting her father in the hospital with a stress related heart attack? And once they give in to the heat between them, will it be easy to wash away any feelings as she realises what a mistake she has made.

I love Katie Lane’s books so I immediately requested this book on netgalley. It wasn’t what I expected and, although I enjoyed it overall, there were problems that stopped me giving this four stars. It didn’t have the comical characters that I loved with the other books in the series but it did have a comical setup with the mistaken identity trope. I loved the set-up, loved the main characters but the side characters took away from the main plot and dampened my excitement for this book.

When I think of Katie Lane books, I think of sweet love stories with a lot of heat. This one certainly fits that bill! The main love story was so cute but you could see the crap hitting the fan from a mile away. Cassie has had a downer on men since the last man she had a serious relationship with and since then has paraded an endless assortment of young escorts to her family’s shin-digs. James is definitely the best of the bunch but, as cute as he is, there is no way she will carry on their liaison when she finds out who he is. The initial party scenes are the funniest in the entire book. With an elderly aunt who tries to put James through his paces to see if he is worthy of her niece to the scenes where a very drunk Cassie tries to convince James he wants to sleep with her, I chuckled with every page turn.

As they grew closer, I couldn’t understand why he didn’t tell her who he was. It was obvious that they were going past the initial feelings of lust and it would have been the ideal time to fess up but he didn’t. I knew it was going to be bad when he did find out...it was like a car crash waiting to happen and I couldn’t look away. You’ll have to read it to see what happens, but I liked it!

The side story with Amy and Rory was pretty interesting up until its resolution. I enjoyed the tension and the back story between the two of them and it had the potential to be one of the best part of the story. Unfortunately, the resolution really didn’t work for me as I found it rushed and a little bit twee. I was a little disappointed and its probably for this reason that it didn’t quite make 4 stars.

Overall, this is a sweet book with some genuine comedy moments and a steamy love story at its core. With crazy aunties, mistaken identities and the holiday blues all around, it’s clear this will be a crazy ride. ( )

This was a really fun book. Cassie is a workaholic who doesn't have time to date. Because she's tired of her family constantly trying to fix her up she has resorted to hiring escorts to go with her to social functions. She is surprised by the man who shows up as her date for the Christmas party.. He's older than the ones she's had before and a lot better looking. He's perfectly charming at the party and afterwards when they continue with their own private party. James is totally hooked on her and wants to get to know her even better. Unfortunately, he's pretty sure the feeling won't be mutual when she discovers he's not the escort she thought he was but her family's detested business rival.

I really liked both Cassie and James. Cassie is pretty much running the company since her father's heart attack. She's not real happy that she's stuck in an office job because she the girl in the family, but she's doing it anyway. When she sees the man in the office lobby she assumes he's her escort for the evening and starts letting him know what she expects. I loved her assertiveness, but it sure came back to bite her when she wouldn't give him the chance to correct her assumption. There was a definite chemistry between the two that was obvious from the beginning. Cassie wasn't going to do anything about it, but then decided that since she had "paid" for it, why not? Over the next couple days they spend time together and she discovers a lot to like about him. But before she can really wrap her mind about what that means the cat is out of the bag. She is angry, hurt, humiliated and in love. Cassie definitely has some control issues that come out in her dealings with James. Those and her aggressiveness are a result of having to deal with her father and four older brothers. I enjoyed seeing the way that James brought out the more feminine and softer side of Cassie. The final chapters are a comedy of errors with them and lots of fun to read. I loved seeing Cassie finally stand up to her dad.

James is at M & M to meet with Cassie's father, who isn't there. He is surprised and amused to be mistaken for an escort by Cassie. With his immediate attraction to her he's more than willing to go along with it to spend some time with her. He has a great time with Cassie at the Christmas party and has high hopes for the rest of the night - until she has too much to drink. He's all ready to come clean just before she passes out. I loved the way they spent the rest of the weekend together. He is really a nice guy and obviously really into her. He's really trying to figure out how to tell her who he is when she finds out. From there he is dealing with her reactions to the news and has his own hurt to deal with when she has some things to say to him. I really enjoyed his immediate fascination with Cassie. He obviously was trying to do everything right while attempting to figure out how to save himself and the relationship he wants with her.

I loved all the humor in this story. Besides some of the interactions between Cassie and James, the family members were great. Cassie's brothers had some great "older protective brothers" lines but also some wonderful times of their own. I especially liked Rory's dealings with his own romance and Matt's obvious enjoyment of stirring things up when he found out James's identity. My absolute favorite character (other than Cassie and James) was Aunt Wheezie. She was really quite the schemer and an absolute hoot. I sure hope there will be stories for Matt snd Patrick. I'm sure Wheezie will have her fingers in their business too. ( )

Well, ‘tis the season for sampling some more ‘new’ to me authors, and today Ms. Katie Lane is giving me a taste of ‘Hunk for the Holidays’.

Have you ever read a book where you had a permanent [get your minds out of the gutter, my bookworms!] grin? If you’ve never experienced the sensation, then you need to read this book. There wasn’t a page I read that it didn’t make me grin, smile or straight out laugh out loud. That’s how funny the writing is.

Cassie McPherson is smart, gorgeous and very funny yet she doesn’t come across as such to the people closest to her. To her brothers she’s the sister they are protective of, even though she’s as tough as they are. To her father, she’s the ‘glorified accountant’ in his company; to her mother she’s someone to be fussed over; and to the rest of her family she’s someone that they’re determined to ‘fix up’ with any and all available bachelors.

But to her own self, she’s become someone even she isn’t happy with lately. As much as she adores her family and working for her father’s construction company, she feels that she would be better suited and much happier outside the office and on the designing end of the projects. That dream however is yet again postponed as she’s in charge of the company and working along her brothers, as her dad’s recovering from a heart attack. Her work schedule has tripled and not just her love life is suffering, but it seems that the new man in town with his own construction company is poised to take over most of their clients.

Oh yeah, and there’s a company Christmas Party she dreads getting ready for.

Since she doesn’t have that ‘significant other’ and she doesn’t want her family to know as they would jump to find her one, she does what she’s been doing lately for those occasions: she gets an escort for the evening. In walks the ‘escort’ and our Cassie can feel it in her bones that [and other places too] that this ‘escort’ is nothing she had expected …Yeah, you guessed it…

James Sutton.

Let me stop here and get your attention to the cover of this book. Whoever chose it needs to be thanked and congratulated. This is One. Damn. Good. Locking. Man. He IS who will be in your head, no doubt about it! With that said, let me tell you a bit more about our hero.

In order to succeed, he sacrificed a lot, primarily his relationship with his father. After his mother’s passing, he builds a wall of protection around him and dedicates himself to school and then to achieving his goals never really wanting to dig deeper into why he neglects his relationships with not just family but friends as well. He doesn’t do commitments well and would rather stay out of the way of his neighbors just so he wouldn’t get attached or obligated to them in some way.

Here’s the excerpt where these two meet… James shows up and Cassie mistakes him for her ‘escort’ and off they go…

“A man stood by the Christmas tree in the foyer. Not a man really, more like a vision. The clear lights that twinkled around his dark head made him look like something straight out of a dream. Man, Elite Escorts had outdone themselves this time. This was no gangly college boy in an ill-fitting rental tux, but a mature man in a tuxedo that looked made-to-order for his tall, muscular frame.

Like James Bond right before he bopped a shapely beauty, his bow tie was undone and lay flat against the front pleats of the crisp white shirt that was unbuttoned at his tanned throat. He stood looking at Cassie with a slight smile on his firm lips and one brown brow arched over an eye that was the exact color of her Aunt Wheezie’s favorite Scotch.

Cassie forgot to breathe.

“Hi.” The smile deepened, along with two dimples. “I didn’t mean to spook you.” When Cassie still didn’t say anything, the smile dropped and both brows lifted. “Are you okay?”.....Thanks for coming over to b2b to read the rest of my review & excerpt at

http://bookworm2bookworm.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/hunk-for-the-holidays-by-katie...

Book provided by NetGalley ( )

I really enjoyed Hunk for the Holidays by Katie Lane. This is the first book I have read by Katie Lane but I will sure be on the look out for more of her books

Cassie McPherson is a workaholic just like the her father. All she has time for is work. So when it come times for the company Christmas party she does what she always does when she needs a date. She hires herself and escort. When her escort for the night arrives she thinks she has hit the escort jackpot, this guy is a HUNK! There has been a little misunderstanding though and James isn't there to escort her for the evening, but when presented with this beautiful woman he plays along with the plan. Sparks fly and they find they have a lot more in common then Cassie knows. You see James is really James Sutton their companies biggest competition. James keeps trying to tell Cassie but the timing is never quite right. Will he get his secret told and still get to keep the girl. Can these two workaholics take enough time to play to make a happily ever after?

This is a great Holiday Romance and I would recommend it highly if you are looking for a Holiday love story. ( )