Victoria Vale hates Valentine’s Day.  After a couple of boyfriends who mocked the holiday, she soured on the whole idea.  Still, when her mother asks her to appear in a Valentine’s Day fashion show, she agrees.  Vicky doesn’t count on meeting her new stepbrother, Kirk Magnuson, or on being attracted to him.  Can a girl who hates Valentine’s Day manage to turn the day into something good at last?

Valentine Wishes had several things going for it right from the beginning.  Vicky is a refreshingly average woman: full-figured, easily flustered at times, and sometimes unsure.  I liked the idea of her hating Valentine’s Day, as well as her participation in a wedding-themed fashion show.  Mlyn Hurn shows a real knack for secondary characters as well, and Valentina Vale (Vicky’s mom) and Mark Magnuson (Kirk’s dad) provided several fun scenes.  All of those things seemed like the set-up for a great holiday story.  As I read, however, I began to get frustrated with the hero and heroine.  Uneven characterization made Kirk initially come off as kind of a jerk, and throughout the book his character wavered between being a slightly alpha but very tender lover and being wishy-washy.  There were several places in the story where characters thought about or spoke about seemingly major events that had happened off-screen, which made following their changes of heart or mind difficult.  Some of the dialogue was very unrealistic, especially during the erotic scenes.  If you really love holiday stories, or stories in which a once-bitten-twice-shy heroine learns to love again, you might like Valentine Wishes.  If not, pass this one by.