Lace and Blade 2 (Volume 2)
Just in time for Valentine's Day, Ross delivers a charming second anthology brimming with romantic fantasy tales of swashbuckling ladies and daring gentleman. Among the best are two sequels to stories from 2008'sLace and Blade: in Diana L. Paxson's The Crow, an old flame of Claude le Baron's has become entangled with a blood sacrifice cult, while in Robin Wayne Bailey's Trial by Midnight, Lady Elena Sanchez y Vega and her beloved highwayman, Ramon Estrada, enjoy an adventure with startling repercussions on their future together. Also outstanding are Sherwood Smith's amusing tale Miss Austen's Castle Tour, which suggests a mysterious gap in Austen's letters might have occurred when Jane visited Count Dracula, and Tanith Lee's eloquent Comfort and Despair. Readers will be left starry-eyed and hoping for the series to continue.(Feb.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.