REVIEW: Mistletoe Not Required by Anne Oliver

Mistletoe Not Required by Anne Oliver: Olivia Wishart is juggling a lot of things during her holiday season. Most of them involve carrying out plans she’d made with her mother, who passed away earlier in the year. As head of the Pink Snowflake foundation, she needs to raise enough money to build a retreat for cancer survivors and their families. Having grown up sailing, that seems to be the natural course to take. Publicity taken from being an all-girl crew helps to raise at least a little bit of the cash she’ll need to get the ball rolling. Before they can set sail, Olivia needs to attend the Christmas party being thrown for all those invited to sail in the race.

Jett Davies had plans for his holidays, and they didn’t include is long-lost half sister, Brie. But to be fair, she wasn’t the person he should be mad at, she was just a baby when his father shunned him and sent him off to live in a dozen foster homes. Now that the old man had passed away, Breanna Black was given the information that she had a sibling, and she was determined to get to know him. Now that his Christmas plans had fallen through, he figured he should man-up and go to meet the woman to get things over with.

Olivia doesn’t really want to be at the party, but figures it’s a good enough time to have a carefree night – and if she can find some trouble to get into, all the better. That plan hadn’t really come to fruition a few hours in, and Brie had even blown the party off to leave Olivia there alone. Just as she’s about to chuck it all in and leave, she sees *him*. Or well, at least the bottom half of him, descending the stairs in front of her. Now if the top half’s anywhere near as good… and wow, it sure is.

Jett and Olivia have an encounter right there – but neither of them want to know names or details about the other. Until Jett is left holding her shoes and in a state he definitely wasn’t prepared to deal with. As Olivia runs off to meet her friend, he realizes that “Brie” is the woman he’s come to meet, and that Olivia is her BFF. Someone he’ll be seeing the next day over a holiday meal.

Jett has obligations that come with his notoriety, but the more he learns about Olivia, the more he wants to ignore them – or use them to help her. Olivia can’t get close to Jett because with closeness comes honesty, and honesty – in her case – might not be very pretty. Too bad fate has something more in store for them.

I liked Brie as well, and it looks like she’s getting her own story very soon. I’m looking forward to hearing more about her – there were quite a few tantalizing passages that make her very interesting indeed.

Olivia’s backstory was sketchy and I felt like it had a Deux Ex Machina-type resolution, where things resolved very quickly, but seeing Jett change to get there was satisfying. This wasn’t my favorite KISS of all time, but it was fun and flirty – and it held my attention just fine through the entire story.

Book Info:

Published October 22nd 2013 by Harlequin KISS  (Book 37)

‘Tis the season to be daring!

This Christmas Olivia Wishart is determined to throw off the shackles of her past and have fun. And nothing says fun like a glamorous Christmas party! So, wearing a brand-new red dress and some seriously high stilettos, nervously clutching a glass of champagne, she’s finally ready to start living life to the max….

Olivia had thought that pre-party nerves would be the only thing to get her heart racing…until a view even more spectacular than the glow of Sydney Harbor catches her eye. The drop-dead-gorgeous man with the steely black eyes is everything Olivia has ever wanted—and this Christmas she’s not going to wait meekly under the mistletoe!