How to sum it up...

 

Strike one - heroine. Doormat for comic relief I think. While married to her now ex, she did things like oh, put toothpaste on his toothbrush for him. Oh, and measure out his cereal, milk, and sugar, *and mix them for him*. Successful writer on how to be the Perfect Wife. Should have just gotten a job at assisted living or daycare center instead since she liked doing pretty much everything up to and presumably including wiping others' asses.

 

Strike two - Hero. From future where sex is a spectator sport. You know, I've read my share...ok, more than my share... of books where the H was a sexual performer of some sort prior to meeting the heroine. I generally like it better when he feels some sense that his chosen profession isn't exactly ah...bragworthy. Boasting that you were voted the MVP (most valuable penis) doesn't really...no. Just doesn't work for me. There has to be some sense of self-disgust or introspection BEFORE the h raises an eyebrow and says "you're a WHAT?!"

 

Strike three - interfering/manipulative friend/relative. By now, anyone following my reviews already knows my feelings about this. Tante Lulu barely gets by with it mostly because she's half cracked. Everyone else, nah; sorry. Not nearly as charming. Katy, in this case, is an impulsive and v. judgmental great-aunt who takes off on hair brained and ill-advised jaunts, yet criticizes heroine for not jumping into quicksand with both feet. Uh... Right.

 

Two balls - uh...self explanatory

 

Assortment of fouls out of play - increasing cast of characters, including an ancient alien shapeshifter (the team owner), an owner for a competing team, an agent, a trainer, a ghost, and a somewhat psychotic would-be girlfriend of heroine's ex (couldn't handle being compared to Ms Doormat so she's trying to kill her)

 

Plot - Hero wants vacation, daft relative drags heroine on wild goose chase to see magical Irish beings (yet, ironically, manages to miss every one of them - maybe they avoid lunatics). Their paths intersect. Attraction occurs in spite of themselves, mayhem occurs because of daft relative and psycho chick, etc. etc. He ends up staying but he's apparently his own ancestor...unless as I suspect, his father WAS the priest and his mother a time traveler herself. Whatever. Really don't like the Grandfather Paradox being implied in my time travels.

Eh. May just not have been in the mood. Or maybe I didn't really see the humor. Whatever...

 

Early in Ms Bangs' writing career, she had an idea; she just didn't quite know how to implement it. That idea was a reformed cosmic troublemaker named Ganymede who played matchmaker and arranged time travel. We meet him for the first time here - as a toy robot who spouts seemingly random movie quotes. The next book - Original Sin - he's a cat, and we first see what turns out to be The Big Boss. The third book, he'd vanished and been replaced by some sort of mystical white deer that travel the galaxy. The fourth, he's in human form, and Sparkle is seen. So is the first of the MacKenzie vampires. She figured it shortly after that.

 

Right now, in this book, she's still fumbling. Oh, there's humor to be had - the h rescuing the H from the clutches of some dominatrix while wielding a toy light saber. And at least the h is wary enough to not just fall straight into the H's bed (a relief since he's a professional seducer). Still... It was missing something.

 

Maybe what it's really missing is closure. I've only got one more of Ms Bangs' backlist to read and I *know* that the H's brother isn't in it. In fact, this book pretty much leaves *2* loose ends - Neil (one of H's brothers) and Coco (lawyer). The two were indulging in phone sex (don't ask) and seemed to be hitting it off but he remains behind when the H/h go back to her time.

Wanna a little bit of everything Paranormal to light your jack-o-lantern? Here are some really wonderful Paranormal Romance Anthologies. 

 

1. Everlasting Bad Boys by Noelle Mack, Shelly Laurenston and Cynthia Eden

2. Must Love Hellhounds by Nalini Singh, Charlaine Harris, Ilona Andrews and Meljean Brook

3. Lover Beware by Katherine Sutcliffe, Christine Feehan,Eileen Wilks and Fiona Brand

4. Bitten By Cupid  by Lynsay Sands, Jaime Rush and Pamela Palmer

5. Predatory by Alexandra Ivy, Nina Bangs, Hannah Jayne and Dianne Duvall

6. Angels of Darkness by Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook and Sharon Shinn

7. Supernatural by Larissa Ione, Jacquelyn Frank and Alexandra Ivy

8. Burning Up by Angela Knight, Nalini Singh, Virginia Kantra and Meljean Brook

9. Heart of Darkness by Gena Showalter, Maggie Shayne and Susan Krinard

10. My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding by P. N. Elrod,Sherrilyn Kenyon, Charlaine Harris and L. A. Banks

 

 

To vote for the best of the best, go to my Goodreads list: A Bag of Tricks: Best Paranormal Romance Anthology.

Typical. Purchased because it contained a vampire tale by Nina Bangs With that thought...

 

The first tale is by Alexandra Ivy. Ok, can we please call a moratorium on series entitled "Sentinels"? It's confusing. Thank you. The best way to explain this is to picture the X-Men, with sex. Add in the fact that PNR authors can't help themselves; they must add the whole mating impulse even when the person(s) in question are just humans who by bad luck happen to be psychic or something. Yeah...no. No, this just didn't work for me.

 

The second, by Nina Bangs, is NOT part of her Mackenzie/WooWoo series. It seems just...totally...random. Naturally, I was confused by this, because to a certain point, the descriptions of the vampires are identical, but then they veer off. So it's possible it IS part of the series, or ties in, or...but who knows. It reads almost like the set-up for a new series.

 

The third tale, by Dianne Duvall, I'm tempted to see if it is part of a series. Technically, both parties are vampires - they're infected by the same virus - but some humans are in possession of a unique gene that allows them to remain in control mentally.

 

The fourth tale, by Hannah Jayne, is part of a series but frankly, I didn't find it that interesting. I guess I've read too many female vampire fashionistas to really care.

*Partial review. Rating based on stories by Alexandra Ivy and Dianne Duvall only.*

In Still Darkness by Dianne Duvall - 4 Stars
I'm a huge fan of Dianne Duvall and her Immortal Guardians series, and I am happy to say that this short story did not disappoint. In Still Darkness occurs during Night Reigns and Phantom Shadows . If you recall, during those stories you hear talk about Richart d’Alençon's mysterious human girlfriend. In In Still Darkness readers finally get the down-low about her and all of those secretive phone conversations. You don't need to be familiar with the series to read this short story as the author provides background into the Immortal Guardians world, but she doesn't bog the story down for fans of the series by being overly descriptive which I appreciated.

Despite the length, the author packs in plenty of sizzling romance, exciting action and a wonderful HEA into the story. Richart saves Jenna from a pack of vampires, which she doesn't remember, but Richart can't seem to forget Jenna. So he stalks watches over Jenna to be sure that the vampires don't return for her. But soon just watching isn't enough.... Sheldon, Roland, Sarah, Étienne, Lisette and a few other series characters join the story, which I enjoyed. All together, In Still Darkness was a short but satisfying read and I think the author did an exceptional job of giving readers a complete story in such few pages.


Out Of Control by Alexandra Ivy - 4 Stars
A promising start to Alexandra Ivy's Sentinel series, the author introduces readers to the world of the High-Bloods, gifted and sometimes mutated men and women, and their hunters and protectors, the Sentinels. As a novella, it doesn't get too in-depth as to the history and background of these groups, I'm sure we'll see that in the full-length novels, but it did give enough to peak my curiosity.

Nikolo Bartrev is on the hunt for a murdering high-blood who killed not only two of his best friends, but several 'norms' as well. He knows the psychopath will eventually try to contact Angela Locke, a college student with the ability to manipulate cells, so for the last six weeks he has been watching her in the role of a visiting professor. Never did he expect to fall for the beautiful but shy scientist. Can he separate his emotions from his duty when it comes time to confront the killer, or will he loose it all?

Passion, intrigue, magic and mayhem, I'm looking forward to finding out more in Born in Blood! I'm hoping that we see more of Niko and Angela in the following books as well as fellow Sentinel Arel!