Susan Grant (1)Critiques

MYSTERIA LANE is a paranormal romance anthology, though I would add humor to that description as all the stories in the collection are sure make you chuckle occasionally. MYSTERIA LANE, like its predecessor MYSTERIA, is set in a mystical town called Mysteria where it's not unusual to see a lady dressed in the latest fashions beheading some wicked demon from another plane of existence.

The fun of MYSTERIA LANE is that the four authors—MaryJanice Davidson, Susan Grant, Gena Showalter and P.C. Cast, four recognizable authors of the paranormal genre—have created an endless resource for which they can make stories about. There are enough secondary characters and characters with the briefest introduction to create several more stories. For instance, the Desdaine triplets from MJD's story, Disdaining Trouble, are familiar pranksters from the first anthology and are mentioned in the other three stories as well.

The only trouble I had was time relativity from one story to the next. The stories aren't told in Story A first, Story B second, etc., but from various times scattered about. This can get confusing. especially when the events of Disdaining Trouble, the first story of the anthology, aren't referenced in the other stories. As something rather big happens to the characters therein, this was surprising. I'm not sure if this was intentional to avoid giving away details of each individual author's story, or if it was merely overlooked for the grander picture.

However you look at it, the anthology is an enjoyable read. Fun, witty characters make Mysteria a town everybody would want for their own—even with temperamental wishing wells and horny ghosts.

“Dark Descent” by Christine Feehan

In book 9.5 of the Dark/Carpathian series, ancient warrior Traian Trigovise is going home to the Carpathian Mountains at the behest of the prince after countless centuries away. While en route, he runs across four vampires in an extensive ice cave and attacks them. Unfortunately, he’s injured, and the vampires take him captive.
Joie Sanders is a telepathic human bodyguard and is damn good at her job. Joie, her brother Jubal, and her sister Gabrielle go spelunking in some ice caves in order to find the mysterious man Joie has been psychically talking with. After she and her siblings free Traian, they soon realize vampires are very real and that there’s something not quite right about the caves.
Joie and Traian are kickass characters. They’ve been mentally communicating for weeks, so they already know each other before they officially met. Romance blooms fast between them, but it’s believable.
I love the introduction of the mages. The ice caves are beautifully described, but since this is a novella, the rest of the scenery and the subplots aren’t over the top as in other books.
Jubal and Gabrielle are great additions to the series. Gary returns as the prince’s emissary, and there’s definitely a romantic spark between him and Gabrielle (too bad that doesn’t play out later in the series).
Since this story is so short, the writing is tighter and the characters, especially the women, are stronger than usual.
4.5 Stars

“The Star Queen” by Susan Grant

Three generations ago, warlords decimated the planet of Sienna. The survivors sought refuge underground and are now living in caves, fighting back and struggle to survive as best they can.
Taj Sai lives her life around work and has forsaken the typical duties of women. As the rebels’ bombmaker, she creates bombs with exact precision and has never had a device malfunction. The rebel commander, Romjha B’kah, once lived a careless life of apathy but changed his ways and now leads his people in successful raids. A foreign ship then crashes on the planet and a group of outsiders bring hope and idealistic views to the people of Sienna. Romjha wants to join them and fight a large-scale war for peace, but Taj fears all-out war will lead to slaughter.
I found this story confusing, but midway through, I finally understood what was going on. Romjha and Taj have secretly wanted one another for years, but never acted on their desire until the outsiders came and Romjha planned to leave. This story ends with a HEA, but it took ten years to reach it and the H/h were separated for most of that time. I liked the characters, but not the long-term separation, that was of course off-page.
3 Stars

“Sacrilege” by Susan Squires

For almost two centuries, vampire Madga Ravel has repented her sins and learned abstinence at the Mirso Monastery. Though she wants to takes her Vow and live there forever, her friend and mentor, Brother Pietr, insist she rejoin the human world. She believes she’s evil and unworthy, and doesn’t want to give in to her blood addiction and start killing again. Her sire and former lover, Julien, takes responsibility of her, but she doesn’t feel like she belongs in the modern world.
Pietr Vladamiroff has loved Magda for years, but his Vow forbids strong emotions, so he lets her go. But when a vampire elder targets Magda for death, Pietr must go against a thousand years of scripture and beliefs in order to save her life.
I haven’t read the other books in the series, so I felt a little lost with this novella. Apparently, Magda was the villain in the previous books, but now is a reformed heroine getting her own love story. I like that twist, but I wish I knew more about her villainous character.
Magda was often vulnerable and unsure of the people trying to help her, but I liked her for the most part. Pietr was strong and stoic, but full of so much passion, more than to be expected from a vampire monk. The scene when Magda is driving a car for the first time was hilarious, and the Buffyfest was great too. I liked this story, but I think reading the series in order is best.
3.5 Stars

Book Overall – 4 Stars

Love the original when it came out years ago and it has not lost its charm.

A Tawdry Affair by Gena Showalter
I adored this contribution about a chubby witch named Glory who has been devastated by Falon's rejection. She is insecure and hurt and thinks she is unattractive. Falon is actually really hot for her but uncomfortable with his feelings so he pushes her away. This had my favored elements of a chubby insecure heroine, and a hero that rejects and hurts the heroine (a foil for a plot revolving around the hero soothing the angst and convincing the heroine of her beauty and his love). On top of this, it is my favorite genre! A definite win, going on my recurring reads shelf. Loved it. (4.5 stars)

I'll come back to the other stories.




Disdaining Trouble by MaryJanice Davidson

Nanny from Hell by Susan Grant.

It's in His Kiss by P. C. Cast

I adore Susan Grant's novels. I've always had a fondness for the SF romances, since reading Johanna Lindsey at an impressionable age. The romance in her stories plays a more central role than that of Linnea Sinclair, for example, but she has the same level of ridiculously detailed alien cultures and worlds, and I am forever in awe of them. If you liked Sherrilyn Kenyon's League novels you will ADORE Susan Grant.

This novel did not disappoint AT ALL. I would have liked a family tree/book chart, as I'm pretty sure this book was linked to others of hers, but it was still completely stand alone.

read as two smaller books

I am a huge fan of sci fi romance. There is so little of it and it's really the best of both worlds for me. I hate to give this one such a mediocre review. The story idea was really interesting and appealing. It was the writing that failed it.

There seemed to be more showing than telling involved. In the parts where there was actual action, it was interesting, not intense, but okay. But there were places where in order to get the story on to the next point the author sort of told "and this happened then this happened". Maybe the story should have been trimmed here and there. It seemed that the main part of the story was them getting the clans to act together so maybe the first part of the story should have been shorter and the second part longer. I can't really put my finger on why I wasn't more drawn in. I guess the actual details that make you feel the cold of the deck under your feet and hear the hiss of the air escaping just weren't clear or realistic enough.

The sci fi element wasn't great. I think it was a bit too Star Trekkie (easy) for me. (Don't get me wrong, I'm a long time ST fan.) But the actions and capabilities of the ships seemed too simplistic. There was one mention of an engine, no mention of star drives, or FTL, etc. You were left wondering how the ships operated. Could the big ships land on planets? How? What sort of space dock facilities did they have? The ships didn't act like space ships truly would. They showed up in a system, the crew was on planet a few minutes later. Where was the time lag? Why were the ships so unrealistically quick? Why were the pirates able to sneak up on ships time and again and latch on to the hulls and not be noticed? Did they have no outside scans/cameras? If pirates are a problem in space, why do none of the ships have any kind of ship to ship weapon? One torpedo does not a defense system make. Why was there mention that communication was instantaneous between systems (and how did that work?), yet there was no ship to ship communications? How far apart were these systems that you could just ring up the neighbors? The guns that they had, were they lasers or what?

The people on the pirate planets do not have an agricultural system capable of supporting the populace. Why? How did these people get there ages ago? What is their history? Why were the colonies so small? Why did they need to pirate for money? Who did they trade their ill gotten gains with? There was a vague mention of a black market. Where was it? Who ran it?

As to the romance part. They were together about 4 days total. There was a part at the end where the author told us basically "they went from planet to planet convincing the other pirate bands to join with them." That was only a paragraph which in building a relationship doesn't count for me. They fell in love easy, they were separated (and he's right, she should have called) there was intense hatred on her part but with one explanation she forgave him and poofta! Happy ever after. There wasn't much heat or tension. I just wasn't sold on the romance.

The actions of the pirates were fairly unrealistic. The reacted like children and any detail however vague, and most of the details of the plots and machinations were vague, swayed them like the wind. They didn't seem like real people.

This lack of world building and traditional/realistic feeling sci fi elements slants this novel more towards "futuristic romance" rather than "sci fi romance." It also kept it from being a more satisfying read.

An okay read, but ...

A couple (or three if you count the 'dog') of interesting characters, but I found it difficult to believe in the situations into which the author threw her characters. Heavily weighted towards romance readers rather than sci-fi aficionados.

A Tawdry Affair by Gena Showalter - 2
Far fetched, witch attempts to take revenge for being slighted with a magical pen. He doesn't want her, then he does, then she doesn't want him… bleh

A collection of three love stories featuring paranormal/scifi themes.

A Dark Descent by Christine Feehan was the best in the collection. I really enjoyed this one. A vampire love story with lots of action

The Star Queen by Susan Grant was my least favorite. Set on a distant planet, I found it boring, and the characters irritating.

Sacrilege by Susan Squire was ok. I found the main characters annoying, but the secondary characters very interesting. I would try another book by this author.

Unsurprisingly, I love Gena Showalter's contribution. A Tawdry Affair is about a chubby witch named Glory who has been devastated by Falon's rejection. She is insecure and hurt and thinks she is unattractive. Falon is actually really hot for her but uncomfortable with his feelings so he pushes her away. This had my favored elements of a chubby insecure heroine, and a hero that rejects and hurts the heroine (a foil for a plot revolving around the hero soothing the angst and convincing the heroine of her beauty and his love). On top of this, it is my favorite genre! A definite win. Loved it. (5 stars)

I'll come back to the other stories.

Didn't really care too much for this. It's meant as a prequel to the Star Series. I do like SF romance as a genre so I'm hoping the rest of the series is better. The prose in this one was prosaic and the story was so-so. Not too interesting but, I suppose, as a prequel it had to have some limitations of depth and action.

Christine Feehan continues her Dark Series with Dark Descent. Traian, one of the ancient Carpathians is coming home to meet his Prince before facing the dawn when he runs into a pack of vampires, wounded he has gone to ground. Joie, bodyguard extrordinare, is also wounded, performing an astral projection to escape her pain, floats in to Traian resting place, sees Traian and wow colors and fireworks ensue. I have been a big fan of Christine Feehans "Dark Carpathian' series since I first read "Dark Prince" many moons ago. I only picked up this book because it was the only way I could read "Dark Decent". This is an absolute must read for all the Carpathian fans.

Just returning to work after the death of her mother and loss of her unborn child, the heroine finds herself in a nasty storm and her plane crashes into the ocean. There, she's rescued and brought aboard an honest to God pirate ship. Thinking there's no way she actually traveled through time, she thinks they're all play acting-rich boys having fun. The captain informs her that she's being kidnapped and held for ransom from her betrothal a duke of England and the hero's arch enemy. Born as a bastard to the Duke's brother, the hero made a grave error in her young and challenged the man for the title. This resulted in his mother and brother dying and the hero being stripped of his naval achievements and forced to live as an outlaw. Now, he has the beautiful heroine as leverage in his war for revenge against the man but it's becoming harder and harder to keep his hands off the cargo. Though it's said this Lady Amanda is young with dark hair, the hero ignores these facts in his pursuit of his goals. The heroine tries to tell her she's not this other woman but rather a time traveler, but he thinks she insane. As the months go on, they become closer and closer. Flirty, and growing a friendship becoming more than captor and prisoner. When it becomes clear that he can no longer deny she is who she says she is, he's cast into a swirl of conflicted emotions. On one hand, he's now risked his life and the life of his crew for nothing and the duke will think him a fool. But on the other hand, he's free to have her as his own. The heroine was very quick to become content with her situation. As she had very little to live for in her own time, she's more than happy to spend her life on the ship surrounded by friends, the crew becoming something of a family to her. And she's willing to fight to keep it that way. I loved this heroine because she was feisty without being obnoxious. She just calmly states that she's not who they think she is and when it's clear she has no idea how to return to her own time, she strives to make it in this new world the best she can. She was kind and smart and capable. She brings out the best in the hero, though at times he makes it difficult as he can be stubborn. They had a very lovely relationship that took some time to develop. It wasn't an overnight affair, the heroine spent months on the ship as they danced around each other, getting to know one another. I liked that the hero was a pirate and was a good guy yes, but his profession made him handle business when he needed to and he was no push over. And my goodness the robe...read this book and let me know how you feel about robes afterwards!

Returning from war as a the hero of his people and a threat to the throne of his King, the hero wants nothing more than to retire to an easy life without bloodshed or politics. In fact, the legionary war hero dreams of being a farmer of all things which is a great insight into his character. But instantly, he’s arrested for treason and tossed into prison to die. The heroine’s people are likened to the Jews of 1940’s Germany and are hated, feared and tossed into the ghetto if not killed outright. They’ve kept their religion and their knowledge of healing arts though they are unwanted outside of their small society. She’s part of a secret rebellion that seeks to kill the current king and crown the much loved general, he’s the enemy but he’s the much better alternative. She sneaks inside the prison and frees the hero from his cage but in the process of escaping, he’s severely injured. The heroine is forced to bring the large man back to her home until he’s well enough to lead the rebellion. She doesn’t trust the man for a second but she must admit that he’s nice enough though completely ignorant. She begins to teach him about her people and they learn to look past their own prejudices. This was far from a smut novel and it isn’t littered with sex scenes as is the case with most romance novels but instead it was more of a romantic friendship that developed between the two. It was a nice story and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Living under the abusive and terror of his battlelord father, the hero had dedicated his life to doing everything in his power to destroy his father and the Warlord. Gaining popularity with the tyrant, the hero won favor and is offered the hand of the warlords daughter as reward. Now, all those years of planning had come to a head and the hero has managed to wipe out the Drakken power and kill the warlord. All the hero lives for now is his search for his bride. The heroine knew a similar torturous childhood under the abuse of her father. She's lived in a shelter world, oppressed by her extremely pour eyesight. Now, the universe is in chaos and everyone is searching for the warlords daughter to complete to extermination. She's forced to cut her hair, hide in a refugee ship- alone and frightened. But she is strong enough to realize that her shelter world has made her weak and she makes strives to survive in a place where she is marked for death. Possessing her mothers necklace and being told by her guardian just before her death that it's a key to a treasure, the heroine knows that she must make atonement for her fathers deeds and she her ignorance as well. It's in that camp where the hero finds his wife. The heroine remembers the man whom she had been promised to all those years ago but always thought him to be repulsed by her. That couldn't be further from the truth. In fact the hero has lived solely for her, thinking of nothing but protecting her and having her for his own. But she never imagined that they would already be married in a ceremony by proxy. The heroine thinks marriage to be a cage but even she can't deny the hope of possessing such a strong man who could love her in the ways she imagined. Together they go on the run to seek out this treasure along the way learning each other and discovering that true love is possible after all. I was horribly torn with this book. On one hand I adored the passion between the two main characters but on the other I found it to be extremely rushed and monotone. Lets start with the fact that they don't actually reunite until almost half way through the book. Then there's the fact that this actually an equal story about 3 love affairs all compressed into a books that's under 320 pages. Lastly the idea that they fall so madly and passionately in love with one another despite the fact that they only glimpsed each other years ago and have had no contact since. It was just one thing after another that muddled the story I felt this could have been. I wanted a more in depth tale between the battlelord and the warlords daughter that I felt was lacking sadly. I also would have preferred the brothers love story to be it's own book as I felt that neither he nor the hero truly had a chance to shine. I was torn mainly because what little there was between the hero and heroine was great and so sweet. It's just that it had way too much going on in such a short book. So sad because I thought it could have really been a knockout.

Four authors known for their Paranormal Romances writing four different romance stories about one town filled w/ different paranormal beings. For the most part, the characters do not know each other from story to story, so there is very little overlapping, but the town is the same as is the "wishing well" fountain in the center of town.

Disdaining Trouble by Davidson: Triplets w/ magical powers getting in trouble harassing the town, teaming up to make their powers stronger. One falls into the fountain and when she comes out (much to the dismay of her sisters) she has become the Supreme Lord of Demons in another world. More to the dismay of her sisters she falls in love w/ the local Pizza Man......

The Nanny From Hell by Grant: Shay is a demon, her specialty is to have people (especially men) fall in love with her & then destroy them. She is sent by Satan back to Mysteria to kill the child who will grow up to become the Slayer of Demons & Satan himself. The local Demon hunter, Quel, can smell her coming miles away, however when she falls into the fountain in an unplanned car accident things go awry for Shay.

A Tawdry Affair by Showalter: Evie, Godiva, & Glory are sisters living in Mysteria...... Evie is involved w/ a vampire & Godiva is involved w/ a werewolf. Most everyone in Mysteria has a love interest, except Glory. What makes things worse for Glory she is the Witch of Love and her sisters are not...... but Glory has been wronged and she is about to make the man who hurt her pay by making him fall in hot desire for her & denying him as he denied her. This was kind of stupid.......

It's In His Kiss by Cast: Summer is taking over teaching her sister Candy Cox's High School class.... What is odd about Summer is her magic is that of Opposites.... any magic worked around her has exactly the opposite effect of the desired outcome. Summer is in love w/ the Kenny, a Faerie with whom she grew up, however once puberty set in they drifted apart. It was ok, I really didn't like Summer too much, she was way too wishy-washy.

A compilation of Mysteria and Mysteria Lane, the latter being the second half of the two books (which of course, being a ROO, I read first). I only read the four I had not previously read, had I read them first I'm pretty sure I'd not have read the sequel.

Mortal in Mysteria, Cast

A demon lord begins doing good deeds for people he is supposed to torture (maim, kill, send to hell) and he likes it so very much that he continues to do good deeds. Of course Satan catches up with him and is sent to Mysteria (the place of his first evil deeds) as a human, where he meets the local minister (a seer who has denied her sight). Up until his appearance on her farm her church was empty.... he brings in all the local women, and in turn their men follow.....

In this first story he has a Scots accent that rings really phony and is dropped in the sequel..... I really didn't like this story it was very contrived, but I did like the sequel.

Alone Wolf, Davidson

A werewolf buys a house that is haunted by a very ornery ghost. The ghost being that of the former inhabitant & handy woman who still makes all need repairs. Attached to the house is also Queen of the Naiads who is about to return to her watery realm, and the love struck Realtor.....

The Witches of Mysteria and the Dead Who Love Them, Showalter

Three witch sisters are living together and one in particular is having man problems..... She is hot for the local bartender, who is seemingly hot (off & on) for her.... So she sets a trap for him.... It isn't that he doesn't love her (growing up as her best friend) but every time he gets near her he hears a voice telling him that to love her is to die and he simply wants to continue living.....

When they finally get together All Hell Breaks Loose and he dies......... The sisters decide to revive him, but when they go to the grave to get his body & revive him, his body is gone.....

Candy Cox and the Big Bad Werewolf, Cast

Candy Cox is the local h.s. English teacher, she has given up on love until one of the witch sisters convinces her to try dating and helps her along w/ a spell. The spell snags a werewolf who will be her true love, but given his promiscuous past things go awry.

See my review of [b:Dark Descent|6147527|Dark Descent (Carpathians, #11)|Christine Feehan|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61T7+1-xPuL._SL75_.jpg|6326568].

I love paranormal romances but on this set of stories I have to admit I skipped Gina Showalters story because the entire beginning was sex. I like a story...any one can throw up a sex scene. Disappointed.

I was antsy to get past the setup description of the intergalactic storyline which I remembered from previous book in series but once the action between a prince having his last fling on Earth before arranged marriage and an LA film maker began I was into it and the ending was exciting ... my rating 3.5*

Recently discovered Susan Grant and I am enjoying her books. This is a fun time-travel book back to 1821 pirates. First time I read an ending like this one. I've enjoyed her futuristic books too. I like how she uses her Air Force and 747 pilot knowledge in her books.

Enjoyable futuristic story with good mix of reality and fantasy. Jet fighter Jasimine is shot down over desert and in half-dream meets Rom who is also injured in battle but in a very different world. 19 years later their paths cross again. I read this series out of sequence, reading this first book last and it stands out on its own.

This story has a nice blend of sci-fi and romance. It captured my interest from the beginning a maintained it throughout. Now that the war is over, starship caption Admiral Brit is forced to take Finn, from the race she has been fighting for years, as her second in command.

This story is one of my favorites about earthling Evie Jasper maker of chocolate treats who is housing alien hit man Reef. I've recently discovered Susan Grant. She has a good mix of action, humor and sex.