Ravings of the Semi-Lucid

Title: Sword of Ice
Author: Mercedes Lackey, various
Genre: Fantasy
Grade: C
Reason for Reading: This was 1 on my librarything suggester, and an anthology was pretty much perfect for me during these last few weeks, since I could stop to read a short story when I needed a break.

A couple of years ago, I decided I needed to go on a rereading bender, revisiting the Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey. I didn't make it through the series because shiny things distracted me, but I've always had a soft spot for the Valdemar books, since they were perfect for my dreamy teenage self, all full of romance and adventure and empathic animals and life bonds. Unfortunately, time has made me jaded and the gloss has worn off of Valdemar. But it's still very much a place I would like to visit, so I thought reading a collection of Valdemar short stories would be fun.

Since these stories are significantly shorter than, say, the offerings in a romance anthology, I'll keep my summaries to a minimum.

Also, there'll be spoilers for the rest of the Valdemar books interspersed, so you might not want to read this if you're sensitive about that.
( This ran long, so I'm cutting it )

Title: Fascinated
Authors: Bertrice Small, Susan Johnson, Thea Devine, Robin Schoen
Genre: erotic romance
Reason for Reading: I wanted uncomplicated porn. This looked like uncomplicated porn, so I went for it.

Overall Grade: C
I like anthologies. They allow me to try new authors, and often I'm intrigued enough to read their full-length works after reading their short stories. I am definitely intrigued enough that I'd probably read three out of these four authors again, if only for the lulz.

( continued after the cut )

I read a lot while I was gone, since I didn't have the Internet to distract me during my downtime. I'll see if I can remember everything.
( Click for the list )

I think those are all the books I actually finished. At the moment, I'm in the middle of several other books.

Oh, and I have to mention that a couple of ebook authors made it onto my never read list again:

• Jordan Summers: Her stories are about five close female friends who all stupidly go off to the jungle for haut smexing. I never made it to the hot smexing part, because I couldn't get past the fact that the heroine of the first book freely admitted she knew nothing about the outdoors, yet was happily galavanting around the jungle.
  
  
• Charlotte Boyett Compo: In the book of hers I tried, her male character refers to a woman's secretions as tasting like boiled potatoes... which took me out of the story and made me collapse into hysterical laughter for a long time. Seriously... WTF, boiled potatoes? Not romantic.

Lovescape an anthology by Anne Avery, Phoebe Conn, Sandra Hill,and Dara Joy.

This is a collection of four romance stories, and for the most part I liked them.

"A Dance on the Edge" by Anne Avery was my favorite, because it dealt with a couple's developing relationship through a series of emails back and forth. Both have secrets that bring them a lot of pain, and I thought Avery dealt with the issues present in online relationships wonderfully.

"Toss the Bouquet" by Phoebe Conn was my least favorite story. Regan is a florist whose fiance has canceled his vacation with her at the last minute. Arriving at the beach house where she is to spend the week, she accidentally runs into Marco Tomasi, an Italian bicycle racer. Sparks fly, and Regan has the most wonderful week of her life. Unfortunately, Regan's a shrewish, braindead heroine archetype, and Marco was just too good to be true and I honestly didn't see the chemistry at all.

"Heart Cravings" by Sandra Hill is the longest story in the book. Nick DiCello is finally being served a divorce from his wife, Paula. Determined to win her back, he goes out of his way to fulfill a number of sexual fantasies he suspects she has, thanks to the advice of a fortune teller. This story is hillariously funny in places, and it becomes obvious that Nick and Paula's problem isn't their sex life, it's their lack of communication with each other.

"My One" by Dara Joy is a reworking of the tale of Tristan and Isolda. Trystan is an interstellar patroller. Lois Ed has just been dumped by her predictably jerky boyfriend who cleaned out her bank account. She sends out a call to the cosmos for help, and Trystan answers. Given the shortness of this story, there wasn't time for me to get really annoyed with either Trystan or Lois. In fact, Trystan is, in typical Dara Joy fashion, an utter dreamboat.

Next up, I'm making my way through Christine Feehan's Dark Prince . Even though I am assured it's not at all my thing, which it isn't. Oh, well... At least there will be snark.

Edited for grades: This is the gold standard by which I judge all romance anthologies, since it was my first. Given that I liked three out of the four stories, we'll give this a B.