Review: Fantasy Anthology

Book Details:
Fantasy
By Christine Feehan, Sabrina Jeffries, Emma Holly, and Elda Minger
Genre: Romance
Published April 2002, Jove
Paperback, 373 pages
ISBN: 0515132764


Synopsis:

          In these four new novellas by today's hottest romance writers, a Victorian widow auctions off her most prized possession: herself...a beautiful jungle explorer discovers her own wild side...a bloodthirsty beauty gives in to her darkest desires...and a young woman turns an all-male academy into a school for seduction.

The fantasy theme was heavy with all four of the stories in the book. The first story is The Widow's Auction by Sabrina Jeffries. In this novella, a young widow is convinced that it is in her favor to auction off one night with her in return for a large sum of money that she can use to benefit her work with a all-boys' school. Of course, she secretly just wants to know what it's like to actually enjoy the bedtime act. In the realm of make-believe, this was quite the enjoyable mix of lust and romance with no negative consequences.
The second story is Luisa's Desire by Emma Holly. In this fascinating read, an immortal woman seeks an alternative to her need for blood to survive in a remote lamasery buried in the Himalayan mountains of Tibet. While she assumes that the answer is a particular form of meditation, what she instead gets is an aspiring monk who possesses a much more fleshly solution to her problem. Reincarnation takes on a whole new meaning in this short story, and I found the different take on vampires in fiction to be well-written.
The third story is Mr. Speedy by Elda Minger. In this plot, an ambitious young woman decides to make herself over into a man in order to sneak into and cover a male-only conference entirely about getting a woman to go to bed with the man. Her genius plan takes a left-turn when she discovers she is rooming with the city's most eligible bachelor coming off of a horrid divorce - whom she is overwhelmingly attracted to. The irony of this story is that the bachelor becomes increasingly interested in her before he is even aware she is in disguise. The humor of this story made it quite charming in a sexy sort of way.
The final story is The Awakening by Christine Feehan. The story begins her series, the Leopard People, with the tale of a young veterinarian lured deep into the jungle to track down her inheritance. Heavy lust and desire take over quite early in the story as the reader discovers that her presence there has been manipulated by a man of the leopard people who has already claimed her for his mate. The intensity and over-dramatization in the writing made this story less enjoyable for me than the others. I was also put off by the man's extreme obsession with the woman and his reluctance to tell her what was happening to her right from the beginning.

The Cover: The cover seems to only be a generic sexy image that could possibly apply to any one of the stories, though legs are not specifically focused on in any of them.

First Lines: "Isobel Lamberton, Lady Kingsley, could hardly believe her ears. The longer she listened to Justin Antony, the Marquess of Warbrooke, the more horrified she became. This was his 'brilliant' new plan for the Lamberton Boys' School? This... this outrageous proposal?"
Despite the fancy titles in this opening, I really had no idea what this story was specifically about from this opening.

Favorite Quote: "Damn it, she'd ended her sentence with a question. Men made statements, they didn't ask questions. At least that's what Jim had told her."

Read For: Strong Heroine Challenge

Review: River Marked by Patricia Briggs

Book Details:
River Marked (Mercy Thompson, Book 6)
By Patricia Briggs
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Published March 2011, Penguin Group
Hardback, 326 pages
ISBN: 9780441019731


Synopsis:

          Car mechanic Mercy Thompson has always known there was something different about her, and not just the way she can make a VW engine sit up and beg. Mercy is a shapeshifter, a talent she inherited from her long-gone father. She's never known any others of her kind. Until now.
An evil is stirring in the depths of the Columbia River-one that her father's people may know something about. And to have any hope of surviving, Mercy and her mate, the Alpha werewolf Adam, will need their help...

This book takes a different direction than previous books in the series, because Mercy is doing something that I think is quite rare in the typical Urban Fantasy heroine -- she is getting married. As a married woman, I quite like this turn and the extra confidence and sense of permanence it gives Mercy, but I don't think this is something that every reader will fully appreciate. Still, it feels fresh and new to me, and I think it has the potential to "breathe new life" into the series.
The loose ends of Stefan's mess from the previous book are quickly tied up, and the plot swiftly moves on to a "surprise" wedding for Mercy. The set-up of the wedding was quite endearing, and I even teared up a bit over it. These two sub-plots take place rather quickly, though, as the main focus of the book is what occurs during Mercy and Adam's honeymoon.
Mercy figures out quickly that they have been set up by certain fairy acquaintances for reasons that no one really knows. I was laughing at this, as it feels like a bumper sticker motto: If the world needs saving - send Mercy! So of course, Urban Fantasy heroine Mercy does not get a typical honeymoon, but one fraught with peril and impending doom.
While it may seem on the surface to be a random way to introduce new characters and magical elements into the series, I think that the events that happened at the Columbia River were a great way to focus on Mercy's native heritage and answer many of the questions that I have been harboring through the series about her ability to transform into a coyote. She makes some new friends of native descent that are able to help her tackle her looming battle with the river monster, and she discovers that she is not the only native who can become another animal. She also learns more about her father and his relationship with her mother. The walking stick also plays a major part, though I hope this is not the last we've seen of it. That stick has too many quirks to just let it go.
The river monster itself was quite a creation - as much fantasy as I have read, I've never come across anything quite like it, though some creatures of Greek mythology comes close. Abominations like that remind me why I avoid watching horror movies. The behavior of the otterkin also reminded me of the way members of a cult exalt their leader - creepy. I can't wait for the next book!

The Cover: I like the direct view of Mercedes without all of the usual distractions, but I kind of wish the cover had shown the actual mark on her leg. The background also references the cliff art that she learns about in the book - a nice touch without overwhelming the cover design.

First Line: "Under the glare of streetlights, I could see that the grass of Stefan's front lawn was dried to yellow by the high summer heat."
While not exceptionally engrossing, this opening does remind me of some of the ending details of the previous book in the Mercy Thompson series using the good writing technique of "showing, not telling."

Favorite Quote: "Take a note: it usually works better if you wait until I do something stupid before getting mad at me."

Read For: Off the Shelf Challenge, Strong Heroine Challenge, Twenty-Eleven Challenge

*I received this book free of charge from the publisher for review purposes.*

National Library Week 2011

This week is National Library Week in the U.S. (April 10-16), and the American Library Association listed its 10 most frequently challenged books of 2010, which I will list here for the curious:


1. And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson Reasons
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
3. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
4. Crank by Ellen Hopkins
5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
6. Lush by Natasha Friend
7. What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones
8. Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
9. Revolutionary Voices, edited by Amy Sonnie
10. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

While I have only read two of these titles, I am familiar with most of them, and now I am especially interested in number 8, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. This book gives a realistic portrayal of trying to live off of low-income jobs in America - why try to ban that? The ALA also reported 348 challenges to books in 2010 and at least 53 outright bans. I suppose that censorship will always go hand-in-hand with freedom of speech.

On a more positive note, in honor of National Library Week, librarians in Holyoke, Mass., put on a freeze flash mob at the local mall in which about 75 people froze while reading for about 5 minutes. Check it out!