A few months ago, HotKey Books launched a new e-book only imprint called HotKey Unlocked. E-books will be released in groups, the first being sexy, romantic Christmas stories. With each group comes a competition for professional and amateur writers to submit stories based on HotKey’s briefs. Each e-book is priced at a maximum of £1.99.
It’s a fantastic imprint and
I’m excited to see where it heads in the future, but for now, mini-reviews of
the ones published!
All I Want For Christmas, Esme
Taylor
Pages:
73
Release
Date: 31st
October 2013
Synopsis
Ella is dreading Christmas. She
vowed to change her life this year, and although breaking up with her boring
boyfriend was the first step, she’s been too scared to take the next, and her
life has become small.
But then, when working at a
Christmas party, Ella meets Joe. The attraction is instant and convenient:
neither is interested in more than a fling. While Ella’s been stuck, Joe’s been
running. He’s been travelling for a year and has no plans to stop, but he’s
home to spend Christmas with his huge, loud family. His father wants him to
stay and join the family business, but Joe’s not yet ready for that kind of
commitment and isn’t sure he’ll ever be. But as the snow and the presents pile
up – and Ella and Joe’s clothes come off – Ella realises she needs to start
living again. And that maybe all she wants for Christmas is Joe...
Mini-review
All
I Want for Christmas began
with a Dirty Dancing reference so
really I was sold from the very beginning! My first taste of HotKey Unlocked
went down a treat.
In a rather short number of
pages I really became involved with Ella and I completely understood what she
was feeling, a little too acutely sometimes. Then again, it was a really nice
undertone to Ella’s burgeoning relationship with Joe which was fun and sexy,
but not off-puttingly graphic. Go Esme!
Last Christmas, Harriet
Reuter Hapgood
Pages: -
Release Date: 2nd December 2013
Synopsis
What’s
better than a Christmas sweater? Taking it off...
It’s
the end of a disastrous first term at Cambridge University for shy, incurable
romantic 19-year-old Candy, and the ache of missing her ex-boyfriend has her acting out of
character – arguing with fellow student Griffin, giving sexy Scottish Jamie her
number.
Then
there’s this Film Studies essay... Desperate to do well, she seeks an online
lesson in “being cynical” from the mysterious @LetterBoy. A weekend of
Anti-Christmas party mix-ups, Festive Film Fest misunderstandings, and sexy
make-out sessions ensues. Until Candy realises Jamie and @LetterBoy aren’t the
same guy- and she has to choose who she really loves: fate-believing Jamie, who
she mistakenly believe to be a cynic, or @LetterBoy – aka Griffin, a real cynic
who’ll only admit to loving rom-coms when he’s anonymous.
Confused,
she turns to her dormmates for pizza, advice, and a Christmas singalong. When
Candy explores her own body, she realises exactly who she wants – and how to
ace her essay. She knocks on her chosen boy’s door just as snow starts to
fall...
Mini-review
Definitely
my favourite novella of the collection, Harriet Reuter Hapgood has leaped to
the top of my ‘writers to watch out for’ list! Candy is nineteen, peppy,
optimistic and in love with Christmas, but that attitude doesn’t really fit in
with her new uni surroundings. I love that the desire to be one of the hoard
made an appearance in the story; she felt like a proper nineteen year old girl
thrown into an unfamiliar environment!
Throw in
some brilliant pop culture references, witty and snappy dialogue,
misunderstandings, boy drama, essay woes and a beginning and end that tie the
story together in a very cool way and you have the perfect short story. I loved
it.
Santa Baby, Ali
Cronin
Pages:
76
Release
Date: 17th
November 2013
Synopsis
It’s Christmas, and also the
end of Annie’s first few weeks as a chalet girl up in the Swiss mountains. Her
boyfriend back home has gone off travelling, and Annie’s not exactly feeling
full of festive spirit. She really isn’t in the mood for the stag party of
posh-boys who’ve just arrived...
And sure enough, it isn’t long
enough before one of the party – alpha male George – is coming on a little too
strong, and making it clear he’d relish getting Annie under the mistletoe, and
into his bed. She’s almost tempted. George is funny, in a loud, arrogant kind
of way, and he’s certainly attractive. But Annie is more interested in someone
else...the shy, quiet one of the group, who doesn’t quite seem to fit in with
the rest of the public school boys. Pity he’s got a girlfriend – according to
George, that is.
But the days roll on, and
despite the freezing temperatures on the slopes, it’s hotting up in the chalet,
and Annie is close to boiling point. The question is, does a certain person
feel the same way...
Mini-review
I thoroughly enjoyed Santa Baby! Not having read anything by
Ali Cronin before I was sure what to expect in terms of writing, characters,
plot etc, but I’m definitely going to see out more from her.
I’m a big fan of the chalet
girl idea (I’d love to give it a shot for a season or so, if I wasn’t terrified
of falling over and breaking every bone in my body, that is...). Come on,
you’ve seen the Ed Westwick film, right? But anyway. The setting gave a nice
contrast between the characters and it made the growing attraction between
Annie and Sam all the more sizzling. They had a slow, seductive burn which was
addictive to read about. I’d really like to read more about this group!
Under the
Mistletoe, Kate Kingsley
Pages: 78
Release Date: 17th November 2013
Synopsis
Ness is
looking forward to hanging out in Brooklyn with her girlfriends over Christmas,
while also deciding what to do with her life, and getting over her split with
Jay the jerk.
She’s
not thrilled then, when her mum tells her that she’s bought her a ticket to
England to spend some time with her dad in the countryside. Spending the
festive period with a bunch of sheep and cows is not Ness’s idea of a good
time. And though her arrival does nothing to change that, she soon has a major
distraction in the form of Dominic Dumont, whose parents own the massive
stately home where her dad is a caretaker.
Despite
being upper class, arrogant, selfish and reckless, Dominic soon starts to work
his charm and Ness begins to find it difficult to ignore him. A game of ‘Seven
Minutes in Heaven’ results in the hottest kiss Ness has ever had in a cupboard
full of coats, and when the two of them get lost in the mist out in the
grounds, they cling to each other – with and without their clothes on...
Mini-review
Set over
the Christmas holidays in snowy, rural Norfolk, Under the Mistletoe went full-throttle on the English Christmas
vibe. I loved the setting of the huge manor house on the hill and the help’s
cottage at the bottom; the rich-boy-poor-girl Cinderella tale is always a
winner for me!
With a
snowstorm, a ball, a bitchy rich girl and a snobby stepmother, you have the
perfect recipe for a sexy, high society Christmas.
Baby, It’s Cold Outside, Catherine
Cooper
Pages:
Release
Date: 2nd
December 2013
Synopsis
Who will keep you warm this
Christmas?
Clara is feeling lonely at the
end of her first term at university after splitting up with her boyfriend. At a
Christmas party, her housemate Jesse starts coming onto her, but there is
something holding Clara back. Things get confusing when Clara shares a drunken
kiss with Jess’s sexy, outspoken sister, Lia, who is visiting for the weekend
and Clara spends the days leading up to Christmas trying to figure out what she
wants. And then her ex turns up...
In this steamy Christmas
novella, Clara has to decide who can really keep her from feeling the cold
outside.
Mini-review
Another setting in the dorms of
uni first years and I felt right at home again. I love the chaotic mix of
characters and the tension when everything changes, but most of all I loved the
open attitude to sexuality of the writer. In a subtle, but effective, way,
Catherine Cooper made the point of being a gay non-point for the most part, and
yet retained the confusion, fear and occasional adverse reaction to the pairing
from surprised friends and relations. I was really impressed.
I think this is the kind of
novella someone would download from pure curiosity and end in a startled ‘oh,
she’s right’ kind of reaction, either about themselves or someone else
experiencing what Clara was. Brilliantly done.
What
do I think of HotKey Unlocked?
Double thumbs up! So far, this
imprint has delivered what I wanted from new adult: sexy, intelligent and
well-written stories about being a brand new adult in a whole new world. And they
totally got me in a snugly Christmas mood. Bring on the fantasy round early
next year! Submissions page here.
Will you be reading these on
cold, winter nights? Thinking of submitting a story to the next round? Any
genres you’re hoping they’ll tackle in the future?
Sophie
Ah, these all look so cool and adorable! Definitely something to get in the mood for Christmas :)
ReplyDeleteOooh I thought there were only 3 of these! I've read All I Want For Christmas which I really enjoyed; and I think Last Christmas appeals to me most out of the rest, so might go with that one first :) (also Chalet Girl; LOVE that movie, NGL, mostly cause of Ed Westwick...)
ReplyDeleteCait x