Hot Spell – Anthology Review

Hot Spell contains stories from Emma Holly, Lora Leigh, Shiloh Walker, and Meljean Brook. Ever since I realized that I was missing some very critical information about Brook’s vampire Colin, I’ve been watching for this one. It’s a couple of years old now, though, so I had to order it from Amazon.

The first entry is from Emma Holly. Remember when I told you that I thought the historical world needed her more than the paranormal world does? Hmmm, I think I was right. This particular story just isn’t up my alley, although the right basics are there. You have a repressed noblewoman, a sexually super-charged “peasant” guy; subtle power exchanges in both directions, lush sensual writing, a decent mini-plot wrapping up with a love-will-conquer-all interracial romance… I dunno. I think the hero just didn’t do it for me. The paranormal, other-world element gives Holly some room to play, and I can see that the layer of creativity kind of juices up the story… but for me, it just didn’t work. I think this is a case where it’s just preference on my part.

Secondly, is my second Breed short story from Lora Leigh. Question for the hard-core fans: do the men all have “eatable lips”? Or is there some kind of streak of cannibalism in the mates they choose? I ask because so far the Leigh heroes are 4 for 4 with eatable lips. Personally I think that’s kind of weird. The first time, I thought, ooo, I kinda like that...By the fourth book I was waiting for it. Which, you know, isn’t right.

Other than that though, I actually liked this little story quite a bit more than the other one, and so far it might be my favorite Lora Leigh. (I’ve read two of the SEALs books and two Breed short stories). The Tarek character was definitely more likeable than Saban but I’m still having a little trouble with the mates-for-life premise.

Blood Kiss from Shiloh Walker cracked me up with the Romeo and Juliet references. Not a subtle lady, Ms Walker, with her Roman Montgomery and Julianna Capiet. The duo bob and weave through the politics of the two powerful but feuding families, and since it's a vampire spin, there's that sort of dying-but-not-really-dying bit, too. This is a romance, so there is a happy ending, and I was a little disappointed that no one had occasion to swear a pox on both their houses, but I suppose it would be boring to follow the formula too closely. Final note: very intrigued by the character of Mikhail. Adding Shiloh Walker to my 2009 authors if for no other reason than I need to read that story.

Review for “Falling for Anthony” coming up separately….

This little collection definitely rates high on the creativity scale, so if you’re looking for something a little different, this could fit the bill. Which for me, also makes it a little hit-or-miss by individual stories. I suspect this is a big YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).

Have you reviewed Hot Spell on your blog? Feel free to post a link in comments or hit up Mr. Linky in the Antholopalooza intro post.

Lazy Post: Other People's Reviews

Some recent anthology reviews around the blogosphere:

Holiday Seduction

Homespun Regency Christmas

The Magical Christmas Cat

The Vampire Who Stole Christmas” in Holiday with a Vampire II (interview with author Lori Devoti, not a review)

Mysteria Lane

To All a Good Night

Snowy Night With a Stranger

Snowy Night With a Stranger

Thursday Thirteen, Edition 3

Thirteen Anthologies Sitting on My Shelf: 1. Dead After Dark (paranormal) – Sherrilyn Kenyon, JR Ward, Dianna Love, Susan Squires 2. Shifter (paranormal) - Angela Knight, Lora Leigh, Alyssa Day, Virginia Kantra 3. The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown (historical) – Julia Quinn, Suzanne Enoch, Karen Hawkins, Mia Ryan 4. Girls’ Night In – Many 5. Hotter than Hell (paranormal) – Kim Harrison, many others 6. Hot Spell (paranormal) – Emma Holly, Lora Leigh, Shiloh Walker, Meljean Brook 7. Snowy Night with a Stranger (historical, holiday) – Jane Feather, Sabrina Jeffries, Julia London 8. Hot Blooded (paranormal) - Christine Feehan, Maggie Shayne, Emma Holly, Angela Knight 9. Men At Work (contemporary) – Janelle Denison, Nina Bangs, MaryJanice Davidson 10. Under the Boardwalk (contemporary) – Linda Howard, Mariah Stewart, Jillian Hunter, Geralyn Dawson, Miranda Jarrett 11. The School for Heiresses (historical) – Sabrina Jeffries, Liz Carlyle, Julia London, Renee Bernard 12. A Stockingful of Joy (historical, holiday) – Mary Jo Putney, Jill Barnett, Justine Dare, Susan King 13. Wild Thing (Paranormal) – Maggie Shayne, Marjorie M. Liu, Meljean Brook, Alyssa Day.

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Hotter Than Hell – Anthology – Review

I picked this anthology up because I’ve recently been hooked by Kim Harrison’s Hollows series, and Marjorie Liu’s name on the cover sealed the deal. Interestingly, many of these authors, including editor Kim Harrison, are usually shelved in Horror or Sci-Fi/Fantasy, but you’ll probably find this anthology in the Romance section. Like their authors, the stories range from erotic horror to erotic paranormal romance to mostly just erotic. Notice the common denominator? I’m thinking that’s how the title happened.

Of the thirteen authors featured, I’d only read a few before. I looked at this smorgasbord as a way to find some new authors. Now, I can’t do a full-on review of all 13 stories or we’ll be here all day, but here are some highlights:

1. Tanya Huff – a fun, clever story about modern day Sirens and outwitting the bad guys. I love that.

2. Marjorie Liu – actually didn’t love this Minotaur story as much as I do some of her books. Like my thoughts on The Last Twilight, I had similar issues with this story – it just seemed a little too fuzzy around the edges for me. Neat premise though.

3. L.A. Banks – honestly? This one just seemed a little silly to me: Artemis wakes up and sees the current ecological devastation, and starts picking off CEOs, first turning them into stags and then hunting them.

4. Keri Arthur – I loved the writing and characterization in this little werewolf story. While I think the short story might not be Arthur’s best format, as the story seemed kind of unfinished, the stuff that was good makes me want to try a full length book.

5. Lilith Saintcrow - <shiver> - wins the prize for the creepiest story in the book. Love the writing. I suspect it might be a little too dark and cold for my taste, leaning farther into horror than I generally like to go. But I might have to read a full book first, just to make sure.

6. Harrison’s contribution had an O. Henry-like twist at the end that I had to go back and re-read before I “got” it. I’ll just say: whoa.

There are 7 other stories here to sample, but these are the ones that stood out the most for me, good and bad. Overall, if you like hot paranormal romance, this is a nice compendium for your nightstand. Harrison has a number of other anthologies out with the “Hell” theme, too, if this one hits all of your RAVE buttons.

Also reviewed by:

Literary Escapism
Amberkatz
The Good, The Bad, The Unread
TechnoMom
Urban Fantasy

Girls’ Night In – Anthology – Review

From all appearances, this should’ve been a great book. The contributors are a who’s who of 21st century chick-lit stars, featuring Jennifer Weiner, Sophie Kinsella, Meg Cabot, and Marion Keyes, all of whom I’ve read with enjoyment, plus seventeen other names of varying renown. Interestingly, it’s a charity collection, with proceeds going to the very worthy WarChild. And it’s published by Red Dress Ink, which is the hip imprint for strong, quirky women’s voices, for slightly subversive stories which refuse to follow formula (hold that thought, more later).*

The book starts out on a high note, with a hilarious contribution from Meg Cabot, told entirely through a series of emails regarding a corporate holiday party. I can hear you groaning. I have had similar reactions to the concept. I’m sure there are tons of really awful examples to be found. This one really worked though – as someone who communicates a lot electronically, both professionally and casually, I could very much appreciate the picture that unfolded for me in the dialog between the party planner and her best company pal, with color commentary provided by co-workers with questions, the manager of the event site, and the new hot CEO. I think this post-party note from Danny, the IT guy with the big crush on Charity, will give you a taste of what I loved in a nutshell:

To: Charity Webber
Fr: Daniel Carmichael
Re: Last Night
Listen, I know after the fight and the arrest and that fat lady going into shock and all, you had a few drinks, and maybe weren’t quite feeling like your normal self last night. So I just thought I’d ask one more time:

Are you SURE you don’t want to marry me? Because the offer still stands. My mom even promised to move her circular saw collection out of the basement if we do decide to tie the old knot.

Danny

Unfortunately, it was pretty much downhill from there.

It’s not that I’m the wrong demographic. Or at least, I can very clearly remember being in the Red Dress Ink target demographic: “sexy, funny stories that follow the struggles of dating, careers, and romance in the big city!”

Yeah, so it’s been a few years, but I spent quite a long time dating, careering, and romancing in Chicago, which is by all objective standards, a big city.

And yet much of the bitterness and angst and, well, just plain nastiness that seems to permeate the lives of these characters remains thankfully foreign to me, then and now. “Dating the Enemy” is a fourteen-page horror story. Really. I get that “chick lit” isn’t romance but geez:

Our pockets are full of matchboxes from bars we can’t even remember, hangouts we have been swept along to at three in the morning by groups of people we don’t know that well. It’s no so much that we think if we stay out till dawn we might finally stumble across The One, bleary-eyed and blinking, like us, in the daylight; no, we want to postpone the moment of going home alone to our single bedroom apartments until we’re too drunk or tired, or both, to be anything but grateful that there are no witnesses waiting up to see the state in which we stagger through the front door, throwing our keys clumsily at the hall table and missing.

Auuggh. One story is about a woman who was trying to get even with her ex by burning down a hedge in his yard (don’t roll your eyes like that, you’ll hurt yourself) and ends up causing an accident that basically burns someone’s face off.

I read the first two or three novels that Jennifer Weiner put out. They were OK, but by the third one, they just started feeling whiny and one-note. Would you want to finish a story that starts out:

It was three o’clock in the morning when Bruce Guberman and another half dozen liquored-up bachelors piled into the all-night World of Bagels and hatched the plan to kidnap the rat terrier known as Nifkin.

Me neither. This is what I do for you, readers; this is the sacrifice I make.

I will say if you can persist through the puerile drunk-frat-boy hijinks over the next dozen pages, I did rather like the end. So there’s that.

I expected something decent from Marian Keyes. What I got was a thoroughly insulting story “cleverly” titled “The Truth is Out There” involving a yellow squishy invisible alien with six legs, who stalks Our Heroine Ros (get it? Ros? Aliens?? haw haw haw!) and telepathically helps her realize she’s dating a douchebag:

”I can’t do it,” he finally said. “I can’t be with a woman who earns more than me.” {snip}

”Why can’t you be proud of me?” she squeezed the words out.

“Because it’s not right. And you want to come to your senses, you‘re no good on your own, you need me. Think about it!”

As if any self-respecting romance heroine would need a telepathic alien to tell her to dump that loser. Frankly, I’d rather just watch Dumbo. Same story only more interesting and hey, music:



I’ve heard really good things about Anna Maxted. This post is getting pretty long, so I’m just going to say that after reading her short story, you couldn’t prove it by me.

This was a 2004 publication, and there was at least one sequel. My advice? Send ten bucks to WarChild and borrow something by Julia Quinn or Jennifer Crusie to read.

__________________________
*So on the topic of RDI, where the hell did I get that idea? Somebody has a really good brainwashingmarketing campaign going, because Red Dress Ink is actually a Harlequin line. I don’t have anything against Harlequin, I quite like lots of their Mira authors and their NeXt line (which, it figures, appears to be defunct now) but let’s face it, Harlequin has got to be the very opposite of subversive anti-formulaic fiction. Ah well. Learn something new every day.

The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown – Anthology – Review

If you’re a fan of Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series, then you’re well-acquainted with Lady Whistledown, the anonymous society lady who writes the wildly popular gossip sheet about London’s ton.

The fun part about this anthology, unlike many others, is the fact that the four stories bump into each other around the edges, much like you might expect four actual affairs going on within, loosely, the same large social set. They don’t have too much impact on each other, but there are a couple of events that we get to see from several different vantage points, which I think is always fun. And then there’s the narration of Lady Whistledown. Her gently snarky commentary is funny, never truly kicks anyone who’s down, and serves as a wry window into the foibles of the nobility from someone who lives in the midst of it.

Briefly then –

*Suzanne Enoch leads us off with a nineteen-year-old virgin theme. Not my fave, but probably the most historically accurate for a Regency, so, you know, I’m used to it and I deal. It has a classic arranged-marriage conflict – not much in the way of word-count is needed to get us up to speed on that. We do get to see these characters come around from playing the role that’s expected of them, to really seeing each other as individuals and figuring out how to compromise. Nicely done if not especially memorable.

*Mia Ryan’s Lord Darington, has to be the most… endearing hero I’ve some across in a long time. I can’t find the right word. “Endearing” makes him sound like a puppy or a child, and that’s not what I mean. He has a serious vulnerability, and when he exposes it to the heroine, it’s really a wonderful scene, especially for a short. “A Dozen Kisses” is a nicely wrapped testament to the adage that Appearances can be Deceptive. It wins my vote for “Best Love Letter Ever,” too.

*I loved Karen Hawkins heroine, loud wardrobe and all (I did sort of wonder a bit if the character was color-blind, but that didn’t go anywhere). This is a Best Friend theme that hits all the right notes; it’s not a sudden transformation of a friendship—the whole story is really a progression where the characters realize that their friendship has been masking deeper feelings all along. My only complaint is that the hero seemed genuinely puzzled as to why the heroine would want to get married—hello, duh, sex? Anyway.

*Quinn’s “Thirty Six Valentines” is a sweet-cotton-candy melt-in-your-mouth fluff of a story. It’s almost more of a character sketch than a story, but I’m OK with that because the characters are eminently loveable, their vulnerabilities human and universal, and the sketches rendered flawlessly.

In direct contrast to Betsy’s complaint about the Foster and Phillips stories, these four all show us couples falling in love. As Betsy so eloquently put it, the relationship is the action. Plot and conflict are scaled down to novella-length, but I really felt like the characters and the chemistry still got the full, royal treatment in all four stories.

____________
p.s.: Visit Devon's blog for her latest anthology review.

Old Skool Christmas Anthologies: Santa Baby

---Here's Betsy, with Antholopalooza's first guest post---

Not only will I read anything that Jennifer Crusie writes, but I would, if it were possible, smear her writing on crackers and serve it to all of my friends with a nice wine.

Over 21 years of romance novel addiction, I've decided that anthologies are, as Nic points out, an excellent value for the money. They're also one of the ways that I find new writers ... although I think this would be more consistent if the authors were to choose their anthologizing partners, rather than having an editor decide "readers who like Jenny Crusie will like Lori Foster."

Fact: I don't. Other fact: Most of the writers whom Jennifer Crusie has warmly name-checked on her blog have ended up on my bookshelves, too. Writers know who can write. Editors? Meh, mixed bag.

Which brings us to Santa Baby, an extremely uneven three-novella anthology that nonetheless isn't leaving my shelves anytime soon.

And here's why: "Hot Toy," which is Jenny Crusie's contribution, is a 104-page writing workshop in how to quickly develop primary and secondary characters, believable relationships and a fun plot. The jacket copy: "Mayhem ensues under the mistletoe as a determined shopper grabs the very last hot toy action figure off the shelf, only to find herself plunged into the middle of a real-life spy game -- in the arms of a sexy secret agent."

Frankly, the acknowledgements page hooked me harder: "Thank you to Jennifer Enderlin, who asked me to write a Christmas romance novella and then didn't blink when the guns and the gin showed up; Meg Ruley, who turned the birthday paper into Christmas paper; ... and Bob Mayer, who said, "You know, toys are made in China ..." Guns, gin, crafts and Chinese toys? Kapow.

We start with the heroine, who is urgently toy shopping for a gift that her deadbeat ex-brother-in-law promised to get for her sweet nephew. Like most of Crusie's hilarious heroines, she's slightly snarly and is close to the end of her extremely long rope. And then she meets our hero, and it's not cute, but it is funny, and of course you know he's the hero, but you believe the work he's going to have to do to get what he wants (which, in this case, is the toy that our heroine's holding). (For the record, one of the most gratifying parts of this story is that the outcome of that battle is not a foregone conclusion.)

There are also guns, gin, a really lame manicure set, poorly excecuted gingerbread house decorations and a hot kiss or two. Well worth the buy.

And that was a good thing, because Lori Foster and Carly Phillips? Mmm, not so much. I know they have huge followings (and I have at least one Carly Phillips book on the shelf), but they should have taken Ms. Crusie's course in the short-form love story. Instead, they commit a number of sins that make their stories clunk:

1. What do you mean, I don't get to read the first chapter?

In both Foster's "Christmas Bonus" and Phillips' "Naughty Under the Mistletoe," we're dumped into the middle of the action. In romance novels, of course, the relationship is the action; I think readers are shortchanged when many of the fun bits -- the attraction, the WHY of the attraction -- is chopped out. But here we are, in two stories where we are assured that at least half of each couple is already on a slow simmer, warm for the forms of the other half. And, we're told, the other half is absolutely deserving of this regard. (Ahem. I like to be persuaded.)

2. There is no tension.

It's hard to create, develop and resolve a romantic conflict in a short-form story. In this case, it translates into "Oh, goodness, I WONDER if Eric and Maggie will be able to overcome the fact that she's his boss?!?" and "Uh-oh, if Antonia and Maxwell finally get it on after years of raging sexual tension, will he turn out to be her boss at the new branch of the office where she'll be transferred after Christmas?" If you have trouble answering either of those questions, you should definitely pick up the anthology.

If, however, you know where either of those is headed, why don't you join me for a moment in the sad contemplation of the idea that office crush is apparently the last frontier of sexual tension and romance plots?

3. In order to move the plot along, the characters make weird and incredible choices.

F'rex, here's a bit of thought process from "Naughty or Nice":

"The ailing Mr. Corbin had been thrilled when he'd named her the senior associate to work with the as-of-yet unnamed partner who'd run the new office. ... Being naughty had no place on the ladder to success. Neither had coming on to a man she worked alongside.

But having earned her position, she felt free to act on other, impulsive desires. ... If the (Cosmo) article were to be trusted, the cliched adage was true and nice girls finished last. So Toni would just have to be bad."

Does this sound like lawyer logic to anyone? And, OK, lord knows that most romance novels (except, of course, Jenny Crusie's) put a conveniently high gloss on most professions, but this reads like a teenage girl's plot, not an adult woman's.

And that, of course, takes us back to my initial point. It seems strange to pair up Jenny Crusie's screwball, 1940s-snappy-dialogue-and-disaster comedies with two sweet but patently insincere workplace romances.

Kid, I dunno. It's a head scratcher.