Review: Six Paranormal Romance Novellas, entertaining enough to be worth a dollar
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 27, 2014
This is a collection of six novellas. All are paranormal romance novels, but unlike the current trend few of them are set in an alternate reality version of today. Instead, most are set in truly different fantasy universes. There is some erotica but not too much.My favorites were the first two stories, both 4-star presentations. The setting and mythic culture is most of the fun, so I won't say much. These have a good plot and climax, with a fun and enjoyable romance. Better yet, they focus on winged men, which is a pretty unusual paranormal character today. The 1st story (with the free sample) she is about to become queen and undergoes a mystic ritual to be joined with her perfect husband. To her chagrin, the guy who appears is the sexy nemesis of her youth. The 2nd story is also a realm with winged soldier men. The lead guy is a hotshot from another land, but looked down upon because the land he is in is at war with his homeland. He believes his mystic wife to be was killed in her youth, and is ecstatic to be wrong. So basically, both are stories of magically finding the right guy, but life isn't so simple and how do you forget past hurts? Personally, I think these two stories are worth the current $1 purchase price.The 3rd story starts like a sequel. The back story is complicate, and quite frankly I gave up.The 4th story has scenes that are wonderfully romantic and erotic. Werewolf guy stops by a bar and finds the woman of his dreams. The beginning and middle are so awesome that the whole novella is worth reading, but the rest is (I'm sorry to say) junk. That probably triggered the 1-star review that was the first review for this boxed set. Wow, rarely do I see such plotting errors. There are long boring monologs of past events phrased as conversations (yawn), huge jumps in continuity from one scene to the next (huh?), and for goodness sake either show us what is going on or cut it out of the story already.The 5th story was my favorite after the two bird man tales. The leading lady is a spy on a mission to another planet. The mission is over incredibly quickly, leaving her to wait 3 months for a ride home. She accidentally ends up in the king's harem, and in short order the new king's mistress. She isn't much of a fighter, but has an entertainingly quick mouth & wit. She's the sort of gal who knows the guy she wants, and the new king is it. He in turn is just proving himself as king, and isn't just a hot muscular guy but feels a need to stand strong. Most of the story is the two strong personalities butting heads. There are some things I would change, but overall it was a satisfying 3-star read with some very funny scenes. My big complaint is cameo appearances from prior romantic couples that I really, really, desperately wish had been omitted--it's never cute, never fun, and I wish author signed a pact to never have cameo appearances from prior romantic couples ("aren't they so cute together").The 6th story is really long and mostly focuses on action. A group of paranormals is sent by the government to explore a ruin  that they think has mystic properties. Hot guy (shape changing jaguar) is hotly attracted to his best friend's girlfriend, but has morals so tries to fight the attraction. It is a solid 3-star story, decently despite some glaring flaws. Good action, but suffers from more dialogs (yawn), coy "I'm not going to tell you want is going on" taunts, and constant power-ups. The main characters constantly get new and more hideous powers as the book goes along. I abhor power-ups! Still, the action story is entertaining enough. The romantic plot starts interesting but basically doesn't progress beyond "gosh she is cute; too bad she's taken" for most of the book. Save this one for when you really want an scifi/fantasy novella, not a romance.