Friday, January 14, 2005

Charmed (Paranormal Anthology)



I'm back...
I finally finished the Krinard book but it took forever and a day to get through the book. Don't get me wrong, if we look at the book as a whole it was good but Krinard just went on and on and on...

It was way to wordy. Like Jessy, my sister, would say, they thought too much. It seemed as if Rowena, the heroine, was constantly thinking about everything. Tomás, the hero, was the same way. The book had a lot of potential but it kept adding too much narrative. The book had action but the narrative didn't give it a chance to grow. So I had to give the book a C. Nothing could save it. It actually put me off from reading the rest of the series. I'm going to have to take a break from Krinard and move on, which is what I did.

Could not find Slightly Shady by Amanda Quick at the library or the UBS. So I looked into Jayne Ann Krentz and found that she writes paranormal stuff under the pseudonym of Jayne Castle. I discovered that she actually has a series based on a planet called Harmony that has specters and energy beings... It sounded interesting so for my yahoo group I read the first in the series. The story is in an anthology called Charmed. I picked up the book in half.com and already read the first two stories in the book.

Here are my thoughts:
Charmed (Anthology):
Jayne Castle - Bridal Jitters: (B) The story takes place on the planet of Harmony where specters and psychological phenomenon is something of everyday occurrences. Para-Archeologist Virginia Burch is entering into a Marriage of Convenience (MC for short) with her landlord, ghost hunter Sam Gage. MC's are a legal way of living together and sharing all marital privileges for a 2 year period when they can then decide to renew, cancel or move to a more permanent contract called a Covenant of Marriage. Sam proposes an MC as a way to merge their businesses but in truth he actually wants Virginia. Virginia on the other hand is ready to back out of the agreement because she is in love with Sam and doesn't think her heart can take the disappointment after the 2 years are over. The story is about their first assignment as a merged company and how they fall into a competitor's trap. It was nice smooth and had a bit of suspense. To get all that in an 86 page story, is quite an achievement. Kudos to Krentz!

Julie Beard - Man in the Mirror: (C+) This was an interesting tale. The heroine seems to develop a dependency on men who save her. She is always the damsel in distress. She lives over an antiquities store and the owner, Lillian, gifts her beautiful mirror. It is said that if you peel an apple in front of the mirror it will show you the man of your dreams. It's Halloween and she has been experiencing all sorts of disasters all day yet she sits in front of the mirror to peel her apple. After seeing a wounded knight call her from the mirror she crosses into the mirror with hopes of saving this man. Of course she falls in love with Tristan of Ilchester, who is one of King Arthur's knights, but she isn't there to stay, just to save. The story was passive and everything was very rushed. The characters were interesting but other than Katherine we didn't really get to know any of them. When she leaves Tristan behind we don't feel for them because there is no attachment to the couple. When she finds her own 'Tristan' in modern day, we feel no sense of happiness or sighing love. It's just there.

Next story in the book is by Lori Foster and the critics have deemed it the Gem of the book so I'm looking forward to it.

BTW: If you are wondering what happened to Stephanie Plum in Hot Six? She had to hunt down her mentor, Ranger. She had men showing up at her house at all hours in the night but none where her "boyfriend" Joe Morelli. Well, at the end of this book Joe admits he loves Stephanie and proposes. We'll have to wait to pick up the seventh book in the series, Seven Up, to find out if she accepts!!

See you next time with more on my reading!

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