Moon Shadows

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Summary: four excellent romantic speculative fiction stories
Review: "Wolf Moon" by Nora Roberts. Simone hikes Italian mountains when a feral beast bites her. Eleven years later in Maine, recluse Simone takes her canine to her vet only to find out that his nephew Gabe has taken over the practice. She knows he is her mate, but retreats to her isolated home before he realizes the truth about her.

"Moon Winter" by Jill Gregory. Sorceress Ondrea the Terrible places an evil spell on Queen Lise. Her sister Princess Gwynna needs to travel to the Valley of Org where the sorceress lives to find a counter-spell. Only her family enemy Keir of Blackthorne has successfully ventured in and out of Org. She needs him as a guide, but would he risk his life for his enemy?

"Blood on the Moon" by Ruth Ryan Langan. Laird Rothwick's brutal warriors kill and rape Highlanders, leaving behind many orphaned children. Alana Lament provides a home to the orphans while only the Dark Angel defies Rothwick. In a final confrontation with Rothwick's minion, the Dark Angel needs special help against an invincible foe.

"West of the Moon" by Marianne Willman. Phoebe Sutton heads to Thorne Court when she reaches a fork. As the faerie know if she chooses the wrong path she will die. Arriving at her destination she meets her childhood companion Gordon Tremaine who she believes is the ugliest man on the planet. She is the only person who can save him, but free will can lead to danger and love.

These four romantic speculative fiction stories are prime tales from this talented quartet. They hook the audience from the first novella until the last.

Harriet Klausner


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Summary: Nora does it again
Review: After reading the previous reviews here...i decided to only read the NR story. I wasn't disappointed in the least. I loved Simone and Gabriel. The story was too short for my liking, it left me wanting more!

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Summary: Magic has never been so mystical...
Review: I am one of those people obsessed with magic and all things mystical so naturally when I came across this book I was extatic. Inside this book are four relatively short stories.

The first story was without doubt my favorite. A werewolf..excuse me,lycan..infected a woman in the Italian mountians between Italy and France and now the woman is trying to cure herself. First, Roberts describes her solitude in a heartbreakingly perfect way, a way in which it seems she is all alone with no one but her dog for comfort. She falls in love with a vet, how perfect, and together they try to cure her. It's a wonderful love story with just enough mystical forces to keep you wanting more.

The other stories were just as great though now I cannot remember the order. The one with the Dark Angel whose family was slayed in the begining, oh my heart. So sad yet sweepingly romantic and rugishly barbaric. The princess has such a big heart and her Dark Angel is the kind of man you want on a winters night...I loved it.
The land on Org sounds like a horrible place doesn't it...but white magic endures, as does love of course...His family was killed by the evil witch, then he was turned down by the queen...and when her beauty and life is stolen, her sister steals his heart...how cute. I love how one minute they hate each other and the next they are in love, even in that horrible place..it's great.
I didn't like the last one so much but it was kind of sweet...I won't go into it since I have more bad things than good to say...but hey, 3 out of 4 were good to me, that earns my stamp of approval.
BW~

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Summary: Lover of books
Review: I have read the other review entries, and I have to disagree with some of them. I am an avid fan of Nora Roberts, and the other authors she coincides with. I have read all of their short story collections, and have loved every one of them! When I saw this book, I grabbed it off the shelf, and haven't thought twice about it. I do agree with the others that Nora's story was the best, but 'Moon Shadows' wouldn't be the same without the stories from Gregory, Ryan-Langan, and Willman. They are all great others in their own rite. I am looking forward for the next book in this short story series!

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Summary: Nora Roberts great,the others.....ok
Review: I must agree with one of the previous reviewers that if you are buying this book, know what you are getting in advance. The Nora Roberts story, Wolf Moon, is head and shoulders above the others both writing and plot twists. I really enjoy stories with a paranormal flare, and I knew Nora Roberts would deliver, I just didn't expect it to be the only really good offering.

While the three other tales are ok, they don't have the twists and turns and character development that Robert's story does. I admit I am fairly easily entertained, I don't like to work hard to understand a plot and I want the story to be an escape, but The Moon Witch and Blood on the Moon just seemed as though there was so much more that could have been done and very little angst or conflict thrown in that kept you guessing.Moon Witch was just plain boring but I will say the Blood on the Moon started out very promising, though the way the hero came about was predictable; I wasn't surprised who it was. The ending did make me tear a little so yes, I think it was better than The Moon Witch in making me care about the characters. The final offering, West of the Moon, was probably the best of the 3, as I found it had more conflict to it and better character development and the heroine was strong and intelligent throughout the entire story.

There wasn't much sensuality in the stories other than Robert's tale, so if you're looking for that, you may want to pass this over for a full length Roberts novel. This is not to say this isn't worth reading, but consider all your choices out there when buying and if its between this and something else, choose the other and get this at the library.

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Summary: What a disappointment!
Review: I was very excited when I found this book at the store. I am a huge fan of paranormal and absolutely adore Nora Roberts. Well, Nora's story was the only one that held my interest, and that was even kind of pushing it. The main problem with these books that have multiple stories and authors is that you never get a chance to really get into it when the story is only 70-100 pages. The three other authors were huge disappointments and I can say honestly that I will not be looking for their books in the future. I would definitely not reccomend this book to anyone, and would suggest that you not waste your time.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I wish that I had read the reviews before I purchased this book. I bought it on the basis of the Nora Roberts story and it turned out to be the only one worth reading in the collection. I totally applaud Ms. Roberts efforts to help new authors but surely the bar should be a bit more equal? I felt ripped-off, so I'll donate the book to the library so people can read it without buying it.

Rating:
Summary: Nora's great, the rest not so
Review: If you plan on buying this book, know that you're getting one terrific short story and three others that are so-so at best. I recently read a review of a Nora Roberts' book in which the reviewer hypothesized that the reader gets more (and better) Nora as the price of the book goes up. If that's the case, her short story in this book should be bottom of the barrel -- but it's one of the best romance short stories I've read. As for the others...well, there's fantasy and then there's silly, and the three other stories (with the exception of the last) fall more on the silly side of the line.