Scenes From A Holiday

The Eight Dates Of Hanukkah\Carrie Pilby's New Year's Resolution\Emma Townsend Saves Christmas (Red Dress Ink Novels)The Barnes & Noble ReviewNo matter which holidays you celebrate -- Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year's, or all three -- this contemporary anthology has a little holiday romance for everyone. In Laurie Graff's "The Eight Dates of Hanukkah," singles events planner Nicki Heller suffers a blow to the head and sinks into an unconscious hell -- eight days of Hanukkah, where she gets the world's worst date each night. In Caren Lissner's "Carrie Pilby's New Year's Resolution," the appealing Carrie, an agoraphobic genius, decides to fashion a new life for herself -- if only she can leave her apartment. In Melanie Murray's "Emma Townsend Saves Christmas," Emma, country bumpkin-turned-New Yorker, would do anything to avoid another day in flannels and work boots; yet here she is back in Vermont for a hometown holiday. In each case, the success formulas these women think are surefire turn out to be the impediment to their holiday dreams. Ginger Curwen