Grade: B

It’s not often that I find an anthology where I enjoy every single one of the stories. This baby which is kind of like a cross between Desperate Housewives (Wisteria Lane, duh!) and Twin Peaks has two really good stories and two could-have-been-better stories, but ultimately, it’s quite satisfying. I guess what I enjoyed most about it is the atmosphere and the mythology that these four writers came up with. There are monsters around every corner, witchy neighbors flying on broomsticks, and all sorts of mythical things that go bump in the night, yet the writers manage to make it all seem normal. Let’s just pray that Fox Mulder never finds this town or he’d probably have a heart attack. I also thought it was impressive that four different authors could weave their stories so seamlessly into each other so that they flow together into one big story. Susan Grant’s and P.C. Cast’s stories were definitely the best of the bunch, but Gena Showalter packs a pretty sexy punch in her contribution. As for MaryJanice Davidson’s story, it was an entertaining read, but was really the most under-developed and read almost like a YA novel. Oddly enough, the couple in her story had the potential to be the most interesting in the entire anthology. All the stories are filled with humor, “sassy” (but surprisingly not annoying) heroines, yummy heroes, and sizzling sexual tension. I know I said that I was burned out on the paranormal romances genre, but this anthology really gave me hope. I’m not saying I’m gonna go to my local bookstore and load up on the suckers; I’m just saying that if one came across my desk, I’m not gonna set it on fire.

Mortal in Mysteria by Susan Grant features a minister named Harmony Faithfull and a former demon named Damon. A few hundred years ago, Damon, who was the Demon High Lord of Self-Doubt and Second Thoughts, did a very bad good thing. He felt sorry for some settlers and created a special town for them where they could live free from persecution. Damon decided from then on that he liked being good and begins to indulge his new “vice”. This pisses off Satan to no end and he punishes Damon by turning him mortal and sending him to the one place where his first “sin” occurred: Mysteria. Harmony, a woman who moves to Mysteria to create a flock of her own, finds Damon naked in her garden and because he has a nice ass she is a Good Samaritan, she automatically helps him out. Pretty soon, Damon is fixing little things for her–like taking care of her garden and painting the fence–as well as enticing the ladies of Mysteria to attend church with his hot, hot body wit and charm. It seems that Damon is adjusting quite well in his new-found mortality… too bad that Harmony doesn’t know he’s a demon and Satan still won’t leave him alone. I liked this story because even though Harmony is a little innocent and naive, she’s not a complete dumbass. I mean, she’s not a buzzkill and knows how to have fun. Damon, on the other hand, is just a yummy, yummy man. He was a servant of Satan for thousands of years, living in the shadows, so everything is new to him. The sheer pleasure he takes in drinking water was just adorable. There is not a lot of angst or drama between him and Harmony, so this story was actually a blast to read.

Alone Wolf by MaryJanice Davidson is about a werewolf named Cole Jones in search of others like him. As a child, he was adopted and raised by a human woman living in the ghetto. He grows up to be hired muscle for the local gangs–MJD kind of glosses over this–but he has grown restless over the years, so his adopted mother suggests that he buy a house somewhere and settle down, maybe find some werewolves to hang out with. Cole ends up in Mysteria and buys a house haunted by an annoyingly sassy ghost named Rae. Cole’s love interest is a woman named Charlotte Houtenan, the realtor who sells him the house. Cole is immediately attracted to Charlotte and vice-versa, but backs off when he finds out that Charlotte has a supernatural secret of her own and therefore an ulterior motive in wanting to bone him. Along with his new supernatural friends–a river goddess and Michael Wyndham included–Cole realizes that he wants to be with Charlotte no matter what and will do anything to get her back. And that’s it. Though the dialogue was snappy and amusing, there’s really not much to this story. We know next to nothing about Charlotte and since we don’t see many scenes of her and Cole just hanging out together, we don’t know why Cole wants her, either. The characters of Rae the ghost and the river goddess that Cole befriends don’t really add anything to the story and I thought they were just a waste of page. Those pages could have been used to further the development of Cole and Charlotte’s relationship. To add insult to injury, we don’t even see Cole and Charlotte having sex because Davidson pulls a “closed door” bullshit. They make out, the scene fades to black, and the next thing we see is the two of them laying on the floor saying shit like “that was great”. I’ve read MJD books in the past where the sex was pretty hot, so I was disappointed that I didn’t see any here. I also thought it was a little odd that MJD didn’t follow the Desperate Housewives theme and chose to tell the story primarily from Cole’s point of view. Like I said, I didn’t get a sense of Charlotte’s personality at all and I think that’s why this story didn’t work too well for me.

The Witches of Mysteria and the Dead who Love Them by Gena Showalter is pretty damned sexy. The woman can write sexual tension that’ll curl even stick-straight hair, I tell ya. This one is about a witch named Genevieve Tawdry who has been desperately in love with a bar owner named Hunter Knight ever since she was a teenager. She is pretty sure that Hunter wants her as well, but he has sent her so many mixed signals in the past that she’s gone past confused straight to a little crazy. She and her two sisters are powerful witches, but her baby sister Glory is known for her love potions, so Genevieve begs her for help. The way Genevieve figures it, with the help of Glory’s love potion, she can finally find out how Hunter really feels about her. As it turns out, Hunter feels the same way about her, but has pushed her away in the past because he kissed her once and found out that she will be the death of him. Literally. Hunter, who is secretly a monster hunter, doesn’t think that any woman is worth dying for and he’s not quite ready to die yet. Unfortunately, Glory’s love potion goes awry and before anyone could yell “duck” the shit pretty much hits the fan and splatters everybody. What I enjoyed about this story is that it is Genevieve who pursues Hunter. She is definitely a woman who knows what she wants and goes for it, no matter what the consequences. I admired that. Once she and Hunter talk things out and get down to business, oooh child, things get very very hot. What I didn’t understand about this story was why Hunter couldn’t have told Genevieve the truth about why he was avoiding her. Genevieve seemed like a reasonably smart lady. I’m sure she would have backed off if he’d said, “Dude, if you and I get together, I’ll die. For real.” I just couldn’t buy that the reason he wouldn’t tell her is that it would have made her go away and he was selfish enough to keep her around, so he didn’t tell her. That just smacks of… dickery. It made me think, “Man, Hunter is a dick.” Still, I really enjoyed Genevieve’s scenes with her sisters and was actually more interested in reading about them.

Candy Cox and the Big Bad (Were)Wolf by P.C. Cast is easily the best of all four. It is well-written, sensual, and was definitely the most sincere. I have never read anything by P.C. Cast that wasn’t a part of her Goddess series, so this one was definitely a treat for me. This story features an English teacher named Candace–don’t call her Candy–Cox who is sick of teaching stupid high school kids, so she is currently working on her master’s degree online so she can apply for a publishing job in Denver. Candace is no longer happy living in Mysteria and is in desperate need of something new. Her best friend, Godiva, Genevieve Tawdry’s older sister, has recently snagged a werewolf for herself and thinks the cure for whatever cures Candy is lots and lots of kinky sex with a werewolf of her own. But Candy has been married five times and is a little wary of men, supernatural or not. Without her knowlege, Godiva casts a spell that lures a werewolf named Justin to come sniffing around Candy. Justin is sexy, charming, and ohsoyummy, but he is also more than ten years younger than Candy… and oh, he was once a student in her sophomore English class. Though Candy is more than tempted to get it on with Justin, she can’t forget that he was once her student. As if that’s not enough, there are rumors around town that Justin will pretty much have sex with anything that moves and Candy is more than a little afraid that she will just be another notch on Justin’s bedpost. The best part about this story is the character of Candy. She’s forty years old–her boobs are starting to sag and she’s not feeling as hot as she used to–but she acts like she’s forty. What I mean by that is that she’s a real woman with real concerns. She’s not some wide-eyed bimbo who may be forty, but acts like she’s fourteen years old. Justin, on the other hand, is not just some brain-dead bohunk who sexes her up. He’s got real issues, too. He’s 26 years old and fears that he hasn’t accomplished anything in life, especially since he’s still living with his parents and works for his father’s restaurant. I just love the way the two of them are with each other. They not only have hot sex, they have good conversation too. This isn’t just a case of Stella getting her groove back, but it’s also about two people finding a way to better themselves for each other. But then again, I’m a fan of P.C. Cast’s work, so it didn’t really surprise me that I liked this story most of all.

Anyway, this anthology was a pretty fast read for me. All of the stories here are good, if not extremely readable. Even MaryJanice Davidson’s contribution, which proved to be the weakest of the bunch, was a pretty fun read. Sure, it could have used a little more meat and some character development, but I still squeed with glee at the mention of my favorite werewolf, Michael Wyndham, so MJD definitely got points for that. With this anthology, I also found a new author (new for me, anyway): Susan Grant. I can’t believe I’ve never read any of her books. Oh, well, I shall correct that very soon. So check out this anthology you’re looking for a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. Oh, and by the way, after reading this anthology, I just have one question on my mind: Why isn’t P.C. Cast’s name bigger on the front cover?

This entry was posted on Monday, July 10th, 2006 at 12:30 am and is filed under Books, Grade: B, Romance: Paranormal, Romance: Anthology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.