How do things fall apart so easily?Kate:As a former teacher, my mission is to keep the disadvantaged youth of our city engaged with school. My non-profit has been wildly successful with the kids, but now I’m forty mentors short for the Christmas season. It didn’t look like we would be able to find enough help, until Jim Adelson got involved. He may have solved my mentor problem, but he’s created … solved my mentor problem, but he’s created another: I can’t concentrate with this panty melting God around.
Jim:
The community has been good to me. I’d built my successful security business with hard work and determination, and when I got approached to help Kate Monroe’s non-profit, it seemed a fitting way to give back. I’d offer to spend time with some kids, but it’s Kate that I find myself wanting to spend time with. With beauty obvious to everyone, and a compassionate heart she wears on her sleeve, she has me reevaluating my priorities.
When the children’s Christmas gifts go missing, Jim and Kate are forced together in the hunt.
Can true love fight through the drama to find a happy ending?
Gifted is the first book in the holiday series Clear Security Holidays. This is a standalone holiday romance suspense novel, but characters from the Venture Capital series and from Tech Billionaires can be known to make appearances.
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This was an awesome read that I enjoyed reading. The story and characters grabbed me form the beginning and I couldn’t stop reading. It was a fun romance set during the Holidays. The main characters Jim and Kate were well written and went well together they had an awesome chemistry. It’s an endearing story that will give you a Christmas good feeling a must read for any fan. I can’t wait to read more from this author!!!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This book was so excellent. It was an endearing story right from the get-go. Let me not forget, it was also filled with intrigue. It was truly the perfect blend. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book in exchange for a free copy.
I enjoyed reading this story from start to finish. The characters are well developed and engaging and plenty of chemistry from beginning to the end. Storyline flowed smoothly.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I really enjoyed this book it was a really good well written really sweet romance and it had me hooked. Jim and Kate were great characters and so good together they had lots of chemistry and I really enjoyed their story this is another great read from a super author.
It was great to see some well-loved characters from Ainsley St Claire’s other series and get to meet new ones. The selfless duo featured in this book are great with their charity work, their complex pasts and their sizzling chemistry with each other.
I greatly enjoyed following their budding romance as well as the mystery of the stolen gifts as they grow closer to each other while they work to “save Christmas” for the unfortunate youths of San Francisco.
I received a copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is a really fun romance that takes place during the holidays and the main character is from the last series – Venture Capitalists, Jim and puts him together with a brand new character, Kate and we also get a great cast of supporting characters from the last series the author wrote in the Venture Capitalist series.
This is a whole new series and it was pretty wonderful and perfect if you are looking for a holiday romance. There are no exes and no jealousy or cheating and its purely a story on finding that special someone during the holidays and giving back.
Kate runs a non profit where she works to keep kids in school and rewards them at Christmas with a shopping spree and an adult to go shopping with. It is her 2nd year running the program and her problem is that she is short volunteers and money for some 40 kids. She asks for help and that is how an email reaches Jim and he is very excited to help.
When the two meet, its instalust and so starts a wonderful story with some wonderful characters and we get to watch them fall in love. But there is also a bit of drama in the story and I am not spoiling that for you.
This is a standalone story that is well written and has characters you will grow to love. It revolves around Kate and Jim and their friends. Its a wonderful story I am sure I will re-read again because its really romantic.
I received a review copy before release for an honest review.
Drama and steamy romance when holiday charity gets hijacked
I enjoyed this mixture of holiday drama with a new, hot romance for altruistic former teacher Kate and ripped security CEO Jim. They meet through Kate’s big charity project and sparks fly immediately. Kate’s problems when thieves threaten her good works end up providing plenty of excuses for the two to spend time together. It turns out wealthy Jim can easily compete with Kate in the generous, heart of gold sweepstakes!
There are so many positive, happy, giving adults and kids in this story that the sweet, good will to men attitude competes with the steamy, whirlwind romance (but in a good way). With a deliciously, neatly-packaged ending on Christmas Day, this was a quick, fun read with minor angst (it sure helps to run in the same circle with Angel donors). The only thing missing was an adorable pet or two!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
If you are a fan of Ainsley St. Claire’s “Venture Capitalist” series, then you will love Gifted! (If you are new to St. Claire, then this is a great place to start!) Some of you may remember Jim Adelson, the head of the security firm that SHN used in the “Venture Capitalist” series. Well, he’s back and hotter than ever. Jim gets an email from a friend asking him to help woman (a former school teacher) who has started a non-profit called Brighter Future. Its goal is to keep at risk kids in school through a monetary motivation process. Jim thinks back to his own childhood and realizes that he could have benefited from a program like this; so, he calls his friends – aka the Venture Capitalists – and they all agree to help with this wonderful cause. Everything is going perfectly – too well – Kate soon realizes as she discovers that all of the Christmas gifts that are the “reward” for the hard working students have been stolen. Kate calls Jim for help and soon they discover that they may have more in common than just finding the stolen presents.
St. Claire’s writing is always well done. Her character development, her descriptive scenes, her plot line, all lead to a story that flows beautifully from beginning to end. This is a stand alone, but she always makes you wanting the next installment in the series!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
A nice feel-good novel. This is a very pleasant, escapist and engaging book. Well edited with good-looking, many, very rich characters who all have a good heart towards the less fortunate. The magnetism between Jim and Kate is intensive with steamy, sexy scenes. The book is hard to put down, there is such a moral and humanitarian message. There is a bit of suspense included in the storyline which I thought wasn’t quite dramatic enough but it is a Christmas book, so I suppose it was important to concentrate on the good in human nature. I enjoyed this book, which wasn’t the first I read from this author. The characters from other books have been weaved into this story very well. All the new and our main characters have been well developed and described. The book is of adequate length and has cute, disadvantaged kids, steamy sex and true love between our heroes with an HEA and many well-meaning billionaires who are prepared to pull out all stops for a good cause.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Jim is not new to Ainsley St. Claire’s readers, but we see a new side to him in Gifted. The CEO of Clear Security, Jim has featured in many of the Venture Capitalist series, but this is his own story. When he gets an email asking for volunteers for a holiday project that rewards hard-working and dedicated schoolkids, his interest is piqued, and his involvement sweeps Kate Monroe, the lead on that project, off her feet. The blurb has the gist of the story, and I’m not repeating it, but rest assured, you won’t be disappointed in this story. Ainsley St. Claire has a gift for writing characters that are real, people that you want to meet and get to know, and whose lives connect and intersect. So many of the SHN characters are in here too, and, after reading this, you’ll approach the holidays with a lighter heart and much more hope. I have never been disappointed in an Ainsley St. Claire book, and this is no exception to that rule. It is like a reunion with good friends.
I received a free copy of this book. This review was posted voluntarily.
Nicely Christmas-y
Mostly nice, sometimes great, feels, with very low angst, gentle lust-to-love, and a happy for all Christmas story.
I’ve liked Jim since we first met him in the Venture Capitalist Series but now that I’ve read his story I absolutely love him!!
Jim is the CEO of Clear Security which handles a bunch of high profile clients like SHN. When he gets an email from one of his clients that’s looking for some volunteers he can’t help but be interested in the cause but when things take a turn and he has to spend more time with the gorgeous Kate lines will be crossed and once they are there is no going back.
I absolutely love the whole idea of this story, I mean how could I not?? I personally enjoy helping people out especially kids when I can, they are our future after all. So to say this story touch my heart is a bit of an understatement. I’m definitely looking forward to every word Ainsley St. Claire gives us in the future. She is truly an amazing author and person in my opinion.
Happy Reading
St Claire’s Holiday Gift to Her Readers
Once more, Ainsley St Claire offers her readers the gift of her storytelling in her holiday novel, Gifted: A Clear Security Holiday. Katherine (Kate) Monroe, a former middle school teacher, nurtured students for five years before she left the classroom. Like many of her students, she had experienced the fact that there were many factors that stand between a student and success which as teacher, she could not control no matter how many hours she worked to meet the child’s academic needs. She knows the challenges for children when the adults in their lives, because of drugs, mental illness, and under-employment, need as much support as their children. And, she knows that the consequences of those adults’ actions can trickle down to the children. She knows because she has been one of the children who has had the poor decisions of adults trickle down on her and her sister.
With an understanding of what a child needs to have the freedom to learn, she began Brighter Future, an organization focused on removing a few of the barriers that had stood between Kate’s students and success. One tool used by Brighter Future, Kate’s social outreach NPO, was to “pay” her students—as all employees are paid go to work/school, be on time, and to produce/pass—and, if the students accomplished their “contract”, their “pay” would be a $200.00 shopping trip to the local Bullseye. And the program is a success—so much of a success that she has 200 students who have met the expectations of their “contract” and who now need to be “paid.” Happily overwhelmed by the success of the students in the program, but also overwhelmed by the deficit of funds needed to “pay” the successful students, she turns to her Board of Directors for help. One friend of a board member is Jim Adelson who heads an international security company an who now calls on his employees, friends and his company’s clients to help meet Brighter Future’s needs for additional funds and sponsors. SHN, one of San Francisco’s hottest financiers of startups, answers the call for help. Jim’s efforts and contacts provide sponsors for the additional 40 achievers.
At the sponsored shopping trip Kate meets Jim Adelson, the “friend of a friend” who stepped in to help bridge the gap of donors needed to help provide sponsorship for the successful achievers. Like Kate, he is where he is today because someone helped steer him in the right direction when his disrupted home life did not provide the discipline he badly needed. Luckily, he found himself in court with a judge who gave him the choice—jail or military service. Jim knows that the Marines gave him discipline and focus, and a commanding officer provided the final push that led to him founding his security career which cemented Jim’s future.
But, bad luck visits Kate’s office when one of the gangs, resentful that Kate’s successful motivational program undercuts its recruitment of foot soldiers from among the middle school children, breaks into her offices where the gifts are stored until the time of the scheduled holiday party. All of the gifts and Christmas joy intended to reward the sponsored students’ achievements are stolen. Kate and Jim must join forces to recover the gifts, providing the new acquaintances who share similar backgrounds and tastes, the opportunity to explore friendship, and ultimately, love.
What makes a St Claire novel such an engaging, powerful and emotional reading experience is her masterful plot construction, connecting the lives of interesting, realistic characters in contemporary events of social and cultural concern. Love is always the ultimate result, but as a reader, the experience is so enjoyable as St Claire lures the reader both intellectually and emotionally to consider the actions and choices of really good people trying to make a difference in our world.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.