Review: Cravings
Title: Cravings
Authors: Laurell K. Hamilton, MaryJanice Davidson, Eileen Wilks, Rebecca York
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Grade: C+
Reason for Reading: Probably the MaryJanice Davidson story. I was curious about what she would do with a different sort of heroine.
This is a collection of four paranormal short stories that all tie in to ongoing series. Some of them are very much better than others.
The first story, "Blood Upon my Lips" by Laurell K. Hamilton is, according to the review at All About Romance simply an excerpt from Incubus Dreams. which I have no intention of reading. I managed to follow most of what was going on, though I think if I'd actually read any of the Anita stuff, I'd have cared. But there seems to be more whining from our protagonist about how she's got all these men, and they want her, and how can she possibly have sex with them? Nathaniel, her very femmey submissive houseboy type, seems to be the main focus here, and by the time I got done with the story, I wished he were a real person so I could beat him up and take his lunch money.
Also, it's been some time since I read this story, so it's definitely forgettable. C- for this one.
MaryJanice Davidson's "Dead Girls Don't Dance", by contrast, was pretty fun. We meet Andrea, who is a vampire considering greeting the sun and ending her existance. Then she meets Daniel, the typical college jock she had a crush on. And now that she's a vampire, Daniel thinks she's pretty hot.
I liked this story. Daniel's a bit of a goofball, and not the brightest crayon in the box, but that was definitely part of his charm. Andrea I had a harder time warming up to, because she had a lot of silly neuroses. And Betsy of Davidson's Undead series shows up here as a minor character, which was fun. But besides the fun, there just wasn't a whole lot here that sticks out. B- for this one.
"Originally Human" by Eileen Wilkes was the third story, and my favorite. I really need to read other stuff by this author. Here we meet succubus Molly, who is considering the fact that it's about time for her to move on to a new place, since she's 300 years old and it'd be bad if people discovered that she didn't age. Then she stumbles upon a naked man on the beach. She brings him back to her RV and nurses him back to health, and then becomes involved with a high stakes sort of mystery.
The plot of this book is obviously fairly forgetable, since this is yet another story I read some time ago. But I did like the characters. This story is narrated in first person, and I found Molly a sensible, practical sort of woman. Michael is mysterious, but very sweet, and like Molly I loved his wonder at the world. I liked Wilkes's voice, and she does a good job with her world-building, and I was definitely curious enough to want to try something else by her. B for this one.
The last story, "Burning Moon" by Rebecca York, was very nearly a DNF for me, and it's the one I finally made myself slog through today so I could say I finished this book. We are introduced to Antonia Delarosa, a blind tarot reader. Three guesses as to what caused me to very nearly give up, and the first two don't count.
Anyway, Antonia keeps seeing a wolf in her tarot cards, and soon it's clear that the wolf is Grant Marshall, who is on a quest for the serial killer who killed his wife and a bunch of other women. Then, because he's lost his life-mate, he plans to jump into the ocean and end his suffering.
This story was very much meh for me. Mostly, Antonia didn't annoy me, although there were a few moments when my eyebrows went up. Grant, on the other hand, was difficult to like. Mostly because my idea of an alpha man does not include one who is considering suicide up until he boinks the heroine. And the suspence plot involving the serial killer was fairly anticlimactic, although it was nice that Antonia wasn't useless in that arena.
Still, lukewarm characters, lukewarm plot, and lukewarm suspence give this a C in my book.
Recommendation? I'd read the Eileen Wilkes story and maybe the Mary Janice Davidson story, but the others really aren't worth your time.
Authors: Laurell K. Hamilton, MaryJanice Davidson, Eileen Wilks, Rebecca York
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Grade: C+
Reason for Reading: Probably the MaryJanice Davidson story. I was curious about what she would do with a different sort of heroine.
This is a collection of four paranormal short stories that all tie in to ongoing series. Some of them are very much better than others.
The first story, "Blood Upon my Lips" by Laurell K. Hamilton is, according to the review at All About Romance simply an excerpt from Incubus Dreams. which I have no intention of reading. I managed to follow most of what was going on, though I think if I'd actually read any of the Anita stuff, I'd have cared. But there seems to be more whining from our protagonist about how she's got all these men, and they want her, and how can she possibly have sex with them? Nathaniel, her very femmey submissive houseboy type, seems to be the main focus here, and by the time I got done with the story, I wished he were a real person so I could beat him up and take his lunch money.
Also, it's been some time since I read this story, so it's definitely forgettable. C- for this one.
MaryJanice Davidson's "Dead Girls Don't Dance", by contrast, was pretty fun. We meet Andrea, who is a vampire considering greeting the sun and ending her existance. Then she meets Daniel, the typical college jock she had a crush on. And now that she's a vampire, Daniel thinks she's pretty hot.
I liked this story. Daniel's a bit of a goofball, and not the brightest crayon in the box, but that was definitely part of his charm. Andrea I had a harder time warming up to, because she had a lot of silly neuroses. And Betsy of Davidson's Undead series shows up here as a minor character, which was fun. But besides the fun, there just wasn't a whole lot here that sticks out. B- for this one.
"Originally Human" by Eileen Wilkes was the third story, and my favorite. I really need to read other stuff by this author. Here we meet succubus Molly, who is considering the fact that it's about time for her to move on to a new place, since she's 300 years old and it'd be bad if people discovered that she didn't age. Then she stumbles upon a naked man on the beach. She brings him back to her RV and nurses him back to health, and then becomes involved with a high stakes sort of mystery.
The plot of this book is obviously fairly forgetable, since this is yet another story I read some time ago. But I did like the characters. This story is narrated in first person, and I found Molly a sensible, practical sort of woman. Michael is mysterious, but very sweet, and like Molly I loved his wonder at the world. I liked Wilkes's voice, and she does a good job with her world-building, and I was definitely curious enough to want to try something else by her. B for this one.
The last story, "Burning Moon" by Rebecca York, was very nearly a DNF for me, and it's the one I finally made myself slog through today so I could say I finished this book. We are introduced to Antonia Delarosa, a blind tarot reader. Three guesses as to what caused me to very nearly give up, and the first two don't count.
Anyway, Antonia keeps seeing a wolf in her tarot cards, and soon it's clear that the wolf is Grant Marshall, who is on a quest for the serial killer who killed his wife and a bunch of other women. Then, because he's lost his life-mate, he plans to jump into the ocean and end his suffering.
This story was very much meh for me. Mostly, Antonia didn't annoy me, although there were a few moments when my eyebrows went up. Grant, on the other hand, was difficult to like. Mostly because my idea of an alpha man does not include one who is considering suicide up until he boinks the heroine. And the suspence plot involving the serial killer was fairly anticlimactic, although it was nice that Antonia wasn't useless in that arena.
Still, lukewarm characters, lukewarm plot, and lukewarm suspence give this a C in my book.
Recommendation? I'd read the Eileen Wilkes story and maybe the Mary Janice Davidson story, but the others really aren't worth your time.