Man Of My Dreams

Rating:
Summary: Painfully boring at best...
Review: Both Kenyon and Shayne are authors I enjoy. This book was a great disappointment as their stories were woefully inadequate. The other authors, Suzanne Forster and Virginia Kantra, were not known to me.

Kenyon's "Fire and Ice", a futuristic story, had a lot of potential. It seemed as if it had been cut and pasted from a full manuscript into a short story - which did not work. Livia is an abused princess with special healing abilities. Adron is a former assassin whose body was destroyed in the line of duty. Basically, the story evolves around the perpetual healing of Adron and the toll it takes on Livia. Sweet story if only it had been allowed to develop.

Shayne's "Daydream Believer", is a story of a psychic, Megan, who is cast into a tragedy queen role. Introduce detective Sam, who is known for his "one night stands". Bring in the chief - Sam's father figure/mentor who tells Sam to do whatever it takes to get her to tell them about a serial killer. Their lack of belief in psychics is played on too heavily. Add to that too many psychic trances and too little real depth and it just gets boring after about ten minutes of reading. The best part really is the end where Shayne's skill shines through - oh so briefly.

Suzanne Forster's "Shocking Lucy", is shockingly bad. You have Lucy, one emotionally traumatized and unbalanced female lead, who is a very successful businesswoman - though reading the story you don't see how that is possible. Add a mother with a hot beverage fetish. Bring in her fiancee who is basically described as a stuffed shirt. Add an electrician who seems to literally shock Lucy all the time. Throw in a bunch of "fluffed up silliness" and, voila, you have "Shocking Lucy". It is one of the worst pieces of drivel I have read in a long time. I did finish it so I could get to the last story...

Which brings me to Virginia Kantra's "Midsummer Night's Magic". This is supposed to be a modern retelling of the old British tale "Tam Lin". I think not. You have Janet, a small town librarian with no character development whatsoever and Ross, a mechanic cum sidhe, who abandoned her fourteen years prior. Add in Puck and the usual jealous queen of the fair folk. They meet during the solstices at an old abandoned farm when the sidhe visit our realm. They do the usual things and then go their merry way until the next solstice. Janet is supposed to save Ross from his enslavement to the sidhe. If only she could have saved this book.

Rating:
Summary: Not A Book Of My Dreams!!!
Review: I can't tell you how much this pains me, but I found this book wholly uninspiring and a very large letdown. A few of these stories have potential but fall short of the mark on being...well, even good. This might have something to do with lenghth of each story. What saves this book from being rated even lower is my love of Ms. Kenyon's ability to tell a story, and even hers was a bit of a let down.

In short these are stories that would have probably been better in full lenghth versions as I feel that all the authors tried to do too much with too little time. Let's face it...these are all very talented authors that I read frequently and as a result expected more than I probably should have. I suggest picking the book up but doing so with lowered expectations.

Official Reviewer for www.romancedesigns.com

Rating:
Summary: Short But Sweet!!!!
Review: I have to admit I love short stories but sometimes I wish the authors could develop the characters better. Well these authors do just that. Each story is different with a twist that makes you keep reading and characters to fall in love with. I am not going to discuss these stories because I am sure some other reviewers will spoil them for you, but at least I'll know it wasn't me. Just remember I told you the stories are great, the romance wonderful, the sex terrific and the mysteries intriguing. When you finish the book you won't be able to stop thinking about what you just read.

Rating:
Summary: Another 5 Star review
Review: Sherrilyn Kenyon's story is the one that earns the 5 star review. Without it, the others are mediocre at best. Lovely as her story is, it left me a bit frustrated, wanting to know more. Several characters were introduced who seemed to need their own stories told. the hero's father told the heroine she should ask about how he and his wife met. She didn't, so now I'll never know. His older sister had disappeared, never to be heard from again. If this were a full book instead of a short story,I'd still be looking for a sequel.

Maggie Shane's story was a disappointment because I usually enjoy her stories. This one wasn't bad, but nothing to get excited about.

The other two authors I knew nothing about. Based on these stories, I won't be searching out more from them.

Still, the book is worth buying just for the first story.

Rating:
Summary: four exciting paranormal novellas
Review: Sherrilyn Kenyon. After five years, Adron still regrets his actions and drowns his sorrow at the Golden Crona rejecting all company. Princess Livia sneaks out of her father's castle seeking a male to deflower her so she would be unfit to marry her sire's choice Clypper. She chooses Adron who surprises himself as she lights a fire inside him.

Maggie Shayne. In Pinedale, bakery owner Megan has a vision of the missing woman so she calls Police Chief Skinner. When she is proven right he sends Detective Sam to investigate Megan.

Suzanne Forster. In Blanchard's Department Store customer Lucy tries to buy an attaché case for her finicky fiancé Frederick, but someone else beats her to it. Afterward the stranger gives her the case as a wedding present. Not long afterward, she meets him again as Noah owner of Hightower Electric works on her building. When her appliances go batty she asks Noah to help her although she thinks she needs an electrical exorcist instead.

Virginia Kantra. Wade County librarian Janet travels a remote area in a North Carolina forest when she runs into Rod. He looks just like her beloved Ross who vanished without a word, but shows no aging or physical changes from the man she last saw fourteen years ago.

These four paranormal novellas share in common the mystic, terrific protagonists, and delightful magical romantic story lines that readers will have trouble putting down once a tale is started.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: Very Good Book
Review: Short stories are not one of my favorites. Somehow you feel they need just alittle more information. These four stories are somewhat unique in the fact that they don't leave you feeling empty, in fact the first one by Sherrilyn Kenyon only takes 68 pages. But the story is wonderful. The paranormal influence in each makes for a fantastic read.

In the Sherrilyn Kenyon story Livia must loose her virginity or be wed to an 82 year old lech. How she overcomes her problems and finds the man of her dreams is touching and delightful.

Maggie Shayne gives us a psychic who need someone to believe in her, The man of her dreams is a detective who finally fulfills her needs, but not before she saves him from a curse.

Suzanne Forester gives us a heroine who really doesn't know who the man of her dreams is. But someone or fate has placed him in her path a few weeks before her wedding. Will her eyes be opened or not? It is amazing who gives fate a hand.

Virginia Kantra tells us about a woman who lost her love 14 years ago. Now on a dark night she finds the man of her dreams is caught in the net of a fairy queen. But if he is the man of her dreams does that mean she is the woman of his dreams?

A very entertaining read. I enjoyed it very much.

Rating:
Summary: Fire and ice
Review: To Patricia,

You may want to know that FIre and Ice is actually a sequel to the book Born of Night. You wonder about the mom and dad and in Born of Night it tells their story.


MM


Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and fun - no commitment required!
Review: Very short stories by very creative writers. they don't take a ot of commitment to read them and provide a nice taste of each author. I liked all of the stories and found myself wanting to read more like them by the authors. A great way to test drive authors you don't know and see who suits you. This book had so much creativity and fun!
I did find myself somewhat embarrassed about carrying it around with the cover art - but I got over it! pick it up!

Rating:
Summary: Found the Title Misleading
Review: Well, enough has been written about each story that you get the plot overview, and that isn't the purpose of my review anyway. The only reason I rated this a three star is because I love Sherrilyn Kenyon, and no one writes a tortured hero like she does. Even here. My gripe is with the publishers -- with the title of this book, I somehow expected the story of Adron (which I thought maybe was a typo and should be A'dron or something) to be a Dream-Hunter story. "Man of My Dreams"........Sherrilyn Kenyon.....Dream-Hunter.....not too much of a stretch, right? But this story is apparently a sequel to another of her earlier stories, as another reviewer kindly stated. Too bad I didn't see that review before I bought the book. Fire and Ice isn't a bad story, I enjoyed it actually, but I wouldn't have bought this book (with three other lousy stories in it, and darn it, I love Maggie Shayne) because anthologies usually short change the reader. However, I thought this story was a continuation in the Hunter world, and so I bought the anthology, not wanting to miss anything. And instead got "short changed." Love Sherrilyn, love Maggie, didn't love the book, or the title. Sherrilyn's story is a 4, Maggie a 3ish, Suzanne Forster and Virginia Kantra (sorry ladies) a 1. You decide if that is worth your $6.99