Review: Once & Forever--So Much to Love!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 2, 2013
I loved this anthology because it showed the many faces of romance and the diversity and richness of a well-loved genre.The Psychic Detective by Evie Owens is a paranormal romance/mystery tour de force--a clever paranormal mystery with interesting twists that blindside you even when you're looking for them. When Erin Healy, a disgraced police detective who struggles with a lack of faith must join forces with a sexy, tortured psychic to clear her name after a drug bust gone wrong, she's surprised by the truth she uncovers. The author shines a powerful spotlight on the human condition, illuminating those hopes and fears we all struggle with when we question what we think we know and those circumstances we cannot explain. Faith, self-discovery, and an awakening of love are all the hallmarks of this novella by this talented debut author. I adored Psychic Detective and I hope we see more of this dynamic duo and their psychic-detective adventures! More please!Mary Blayney's Playing for Keeps is a fun, contemporary romance set in the heart of New York City that gives us the same subtle storytelling mastery the author has applied to historical romance novels for years, only this time she plies her craft within a contemporary framework. Quirky actress Kendall Marshall is pulled into a plot of intrigue and danger when she becomes the audience handler for talk show host Mike O'Hara. But she's attracted to and irrevocably intertwined with Mike's brother, Steve--who provides security for hotshot celebrities--when the threat becomes personal. Blayney's deft hand with characterization and romance perfectly renders sympathetic characters with whom we immediately fall in love and gives us a sweet love story with a gentle, yet insistent tension that draws us through the story one page at a time. The hero and heroine's chemistry is palpable and we're rooting for them from the get-go. The characters and setting came alive for me and I wanted more. I loved it. I can't wait to read Jessica and Mike's story!Elaine Fox's The Princess & The Pinot is a lovely, compelling contemporary fairytale told in the author's original spellbinding voice. The story has the rich feel of a contemporary with fantasy elements. The Princess & The Pinot is a touching friends to lovers story where a pot-bellied fairy plays cupid to Kim O'Shea, a vineyard shop manager, to help her discover the love she deserves and that has been right under her nose in the form of Cooper, the co-owner of The Vineyard Inn, who she's known since childhood. Add a beautiful princess who applies for the sommelier position and requests mattress after mattress for her bed, and you have the modern-day retelling of The Princess and The Pea. I found this story captivating and original.Duets by Emelle Gamble is the perfect prequel to Molly Harper, a full-length novel due out later this month. Gamble employs the same masterful emotional tension in this novella that she gave us in Secret Sisters, her novel out earlier this year. At the heart of Duets is a love triangle between actress Molly Harper, her long-time family friend Cruz Morales, and actor Ben Delmonico that is bound to tug at the reader's heart. This is the story of star-crossed lovers and the lies we tell ourselves to make the best of a bad situation. A complicated women's fiction story packed into a novella length, Duets is a well-written story that elicits a true emotional reaction from readers, priming us for the continuation of this story in Molly Harper. I'll be eagerly waiting to find out, as they say ... the rest of the story. Loved it.Never and Forever is a Regency-set historical romance with heaps of heart and sexual tension. The first time spunky heroine Molly Watson, who runs The Watson Agency for the Placement and Advancement of Ladies of Quality and Comportment, crosses paths with Radford, a duke looking for a companion for his mother, sparks fly. After the duke accuses Molly of providing ladies for placement schooled in the art of seduction, he propositions her, asking her to become his mistress. They're off to the races when she declines. Throw in a country house party, a secluded walk in a maze, a clandestine night-time meeting in a garden, and a few hot kisses and you have the ingredients for a Regency romp filled with enough sexual tension to curl the pages of your e-reader. I adored this story and can't wait to read the next installment of Radford and Molly's love story.All in all, this is a robust anthology where any romance reader will find exactly what they're looking for ... love, passion, and a great escape! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. ;0)