“The Curiosity Shoppe” by Rayne Forrest

Looking for a Christmas gift to take home to his sister, space traveler Zebediah LaCroy finds a rare gift for himself. 

“The Curiosity Shoppe” is an interesting and mysterious sci-fi story that leads Zeb to Semele, an alien being that offers him visions of more than sugar plums, so very much more.

“The Nutcracker Returns” by Lizzie T. Leaf

Diane, now a mother of twins, finds herself reliving a childhood fantasy of a treasured Nutcracker soldier that comes to life.  The fantasy she has now is very much for adult audiences only.

“The Nutcracker Returns” is a hot and sexy twist to a classic story.  It left me hoping that all of Diane’s Christmas wishes will come true.

“All I Want” by Jefferson Dane

Anne has been a client of Copper’s, a heavily sought after male escort, for over nine months.  The feelings between them have grown and evolved from client and paid escort to lovers.  As a Christmas gift and to show Copper how much she cares, Anne offers to help her young lover find his birth parents, when he declines her offer she decides to find them against his wishes.

“All I Want” is quite heavy for a holiday story. I didn’t get a happy Christmas feeling from this story.  Anne has issues about her past and she’s projecting them onto Copper and creating a need to find his real parents that simply wasn’t there.  In her search she finds out information that I found to be quite disturbing.  “All I Want” has a Christmas surprise that does not leave me in a holiday spirit.

“In Winterland” by Brenda Williamson

Rescued from a car wreck by the very same man who broke her heart years ago, Crystal’s feels her return to her hometown of Winterland was proving to be a bad idea.  

“In Winterland” Christmas miracles do still happen.  I liked this story a lot.  Evan and Crystal are fantastic together and seeing each other again melted away the lost years.  This is a great story for any holiday or time of the year.

“The Christmas Card” by Diane Charles Linford

Sienna Rose a thirty-seven-year old divorcée with a quirky sense of humor, finds her holiday season perking up rather nicely.  She goes from having no man in her life to juggling two.

The concept of “The Christmas Card” is a good one, but I found it difficult to connect with it mainly because of Sienna.  She came across as fickle and I didn’t find her to be a likable character.  I did like Brick; he’s a little less uptight.  I wasn’t captivated by this story, but there were a few passages I found to be funny and entertaining.

“Boytoys” by J.M. Snyder

Recently dumped by his boyfriend, Jason is dragged out of the house to a Christmas/toy party given by his friend Barry.  Jason agrees to go in hope it gets back to his ex that he’s not sitting around moping over him.  Much to Jason’s surprise attending Barry’s party was the best thing for a broken heart.

“Boytoys” is sweet.  Jason learned the best way to get over a lost love is to find a new one.  Santa was really good to him and brought not only a new one, but also a better model with plenty of accessories. 

Babes in Toyland has some really good stories. Although not all of the stories appealed to me there are a few I very much enjoyed and know I will read again.  I’m certain other readers will find a few favorites within this very merry and erotically hot Christmas anthology.