Customer Reviews

Man of My Dreams Four All-New Sensuous Stories of Fantasies Come To Life

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Short stories are not one of my favorites. Somehow you feel they need just alittle more information. These four stories are somewhat unique in the fact that they don't leave you feeling empty, in fact the first one by Sherrilyn Kenyon only takes 68 pages. But the story is wonderful. The paranormal influence in each makes for a fantastic read.

In the Sherrilyn Kenyon story Livia must loose her virginity or be wed to an 82 year old lech. How she overcomes her problems and finds the man of her dreams is touching and delightful.

Maggie Shayne gives us a psychic who need someone to believe in her, The man of her dreams is a detective who finally fulfills her needs, but not before she saves him from a curse.

Suzanne Forester gives us a heroine who really doesn't know who the man of her dreams is. But someone or fate has placed him in her path a few weeks before her wedding. Will her eyes be opened or not? It is amazing who gives fate a hand.

Virginia Kantra tells us about a woman who lost her love 14 years ago. Now on a dark night she finds the man of her dreams is caught in the net of a fairy queen. But if he is the man of her dreams does that mean she is the woman of his dreams?

A very entertaining read. I enjoyed it very much.

Sherrilyn Kenyon. After five years, Adron still regrets his actions and drowns his sorrow at the Golden Crona rejecting all company. Princess Livia sneaks out of her father's castle seeking a male to deflower her so she would be unfit to marry her sire's choice Clypper. She chooses Adron who surprises himself as she lights a fire inside him.

Maggie Shayne. In Pinedale, bakery owner Megan has a vision of the missing woman so she calls Police Chief Skinner. When she is proven right he sends Detective Sam to investigate Megan.

Suzanne Forster. In Blanchard's Department Store customer Lucy tries to buy an attaché case for her finicky fiancé Frederick, but someone else beats her to it. Afterward the stranger gives her the case as a wedding present. Not long afterward, she meets him again as Noah owner of Hightower Electric works on her building. When her appliances go batty she asks Noah to help her although she thinks she needs an electrical exorcist instead.

Virginia Kantra. Wade County librarian Janet travels a remote area in a North Carolina forest when she runs into Rod. He looks just like her beloved Ross who vanished without a word, but shows no aging or physical changes from the man she last saw fourteen years ago.

These four paranormal novellas share in common the mystic, terrific protagonists, and delightful magical romantic story lines that readers will have trouble putting down once a tale is started.

Harriet Klausner

Fire and Ice - Sherrilyn Kenyon --- Adron was a scarred bitter man living with a broken body, and wanted only to continually drown himself in liquor to block out the world. Livia Typpa Vista was a princess, expecting to forge an alliance between families she was to be wed to a lecherous man twice her fathers age and knew her only way out was to lose her virginity before the court's physicians examined her and announced her fit for marriage. In desperation, Livia was determined to lose that which once had been precious to her and Adron was to be the lucky recipient of that gift. Discovering that inside Adron beat a loving heart, Livia was ready to sacrifice even her life to save the man she'd come to love. --- Proving that when written by a great wordsmith, even short stories can be emotionally fabulous and endearing. Loved this! --- Rate (5*)

Daydream Believer - Maggie Shayne --- Waking from a dream, shaking, and in a cold sweat, Megan Rose felt that finally she would be able to do some good. Having had `visions' all her life - she knew that this time someone would just have to believe in her. She phoned the police department to report where they could find the missing woman whose picture was flashing across the TV screen that had gone missing. The police chief didn't quite believe in `psychics' - took her information, and gave nothing away that she was `dead on' in everything she told him. Instead he assigned detective Sam Sheridan to find out what he could about her - thinking she was somehow connected to the murder/rapist stalking young women in the area. Megan took one look at the handsome police officer and knew him - his was the face she'd been dreaming of since she was 12 years old, and somehow her destiny was to save him. ---- This was an exceptional story with two very likeable leads. Megan's psychic connections and hard hitting visions were terrific vehicles pulling the reader in and creating a fast and moving storyline along with a tastefully done sensual romance where Megan almost makes the ultimate sacrifice for the `man in her dreams'! --- Rate (5*)

Shocking Lucy - Suzanne Forster --- This was about Lucy, a very successful mediator who was about to marry a man who fit `just about all her of the qualifications' of a list she'd made in high school. Two weeks before the wedding while shopping for a wedding gift for her groom to be she accidentally meets Noah Hightower, who for some reason wants to change her mind about getting married. --- The beginning was a little slow, and the heroine did not endear herself to me. Noah on the other hand was a definite hottie, and I loved the dialogs along with the surprise twist at the end. --- Rate (4*)

Midsummer Nights Madness - Virginia Kantra --- In a modern day version of the 1729 ballad of Tam Lin - thirty-six year old Janet, the heroine of this story, wanders through a forest only to come across a man who looks just like an old boyfriend who left her 14 years ago - only it couldn't be him looking like a 22 year old, or could it? Ross has been caught in a fairy trap. With the assistance of a kindly leprechaun, Puck, who reveals the secret to Janet of how to save Ross, she would have to decide if she would risk her heart in saving him only to have him walk away from her again. --- Interesting re-telling of an old tale. Very short quick read - sensual. --- Rate (3*)

Overall Rating of Anthology - (4*)

Very short stories by very creative writers. they don't take a ot of commitment to read them and provide a nice taste of each author. I liked all of the stories and found myself wanting to read more like them by the authors. A great way to test drive authors you don't know and see who suits you. This book had so much creativity and fun!
I did find myself somewhat embarrassed about carrying it around with the cover art - but I got over it! pick it up!

I have to admit I love short stories but sometimes I wish the authors could develop the characters better. Well these authors do just that. Each story is different with a twist that makes you keep reading and characters to fall in love with. I am not going to discuss these stories because I am sure some other reviewers will spoil them for you, but at least I'll know it wasn't me. Just remember I told you the stories are great, the romance wonderful, the sex terrific and the mysteries intriguing. When you finish the book you won't be able to stop thinking about what you just read.

I will admit to writing this review because this book really, really irritated me. It was one of those books that you read and wish that: A. You hadn't spent actual money on it and B. You really, really wish you could get that hour and a half of your life back.

WARNING: If you are planning to read this book this review contains spoilers.

I like Sherrilyn Kenyon, and I often find the stories she turns into shorts are the ones I wish she'd "novelize," (and some of her novels I really could live with if they were just shorts). This short story was set in the distant outer space future and not part of any of her current series, so far as I know. ***Note: This series is now out, it is "The League" and is some of Kenyon's best work.*** It was short and sweet, emphasis on the way, way too short; it felt like huge chunks of the story were missing. The story is of the young princess Livia whose abusive father is forcing her to marry the really old disgusting guy to cement a trade agreement. Old smelly guy demands a virgin; so in order to escape from him and to escape from trading one kind of enslaved captive life for another (only involving icky groping this time), she sneaks out to a bar to find a cherry popper. There she finds Adron, who we later find out is the prince of the planet they happen to be on. Adron is damaged and frail thanks to an earlier encounter with a psychopath while saving an innocent kid (how disgustingly sweet). Princess has sex with Adron, Daddy tracks her down in the morning and barges into their bedroom. Daddy threatens her, and in a bid to protect her Adron claims he took her for wife and she agrees. Princess is a magic healer, ends up healing Adron at the cost of her own health, but her mommy the better healer shows up to save her, too. Happy ending is had. I don't like space operas. I don't like futuristic romances for the most part. This story is the exception. This story's biggest problem was that it was too short, I'd like to see a longer, better fleshed out version, and as much as I hate to say it (I really do have this strange aversion to space romance), I'd even read this if it turned into a series.

That said and moving on, the other three stories in this book were a waste of space that made my head hurt.

The Maggie Shayne short is the story of psychic girl who gets visions of the future who ends up with the detective cursed to die at 35 (like all the men of his family). Together they try to investigate a series of unconvincing rape/murders. It turns out the so-called "curse" on our hero is his (utterly mundane) fatherly boss, the chief of police, who is also conveniently the raping murderer. I'm not a big Shayne fan, even her vampire romances are formulaic and trite with few exceptions, and this story is in that same category. Her detective is a moron and a jacka--; apparently cops in Shayne's world have the crime solving IQ of cabbages (with a general IQ no higher...) and her psychic is a useless ninny.

Shocking Lucy by Suzanne Forster is as dumb as its title. Girl is engaged, girl's fiancé has friend seduce girl to see if it's really true love, Girl and dumb seducer fall in love, Girl decides not to be with either one of them because of the "deception", seducer makes grand gesture and wins girl back. Awful. Unpleasant. Nausea inducing. I can't even say I hated the characters in this story, because, while they were so offensively moronic as to inspire hatred, they were too shallow to even care about enough to hate. Before I review a book, especially if I'm going to give a negative review I re-read it in an attempt to be fair. I tried to re-read this story before reviewing it, but about 10 pages in I got so annoyed that I flipped to the end. I just couldn't bring myself to reread it. In fact, I'm concerned that the awful dullness of this story will cause me to block it from my memory and in a horrible moment of brain lapse I'll mistakenly re-read it and hate myself forever. I need to remind myself I should never visit this story again, I'm thinking of making a note of that in black permanent ink on the first page of it but can't bring myself to deface a book.

I wanted to like Virginia Kantra's Midsummer Night's Magic because I like fairytales. I wanted, I tried, and I failed miserably. This is a modern retelling of Tam Lin (girl's beau gets kidnapped by Queen of Fae and girl has to hold on to him all night to win him back, despite various and painful transformations on his part). In this version girl is a librarian and boy is the guy she was dating who disappeared 14 years earlier (they had a fight and he walked out and never came back, turns out he went to play with the fairies). She runs into him in the woods on Beltane thanks to a fan belt that snaps and strands the AAA-less twit (rant: if you have zero mechanical aptitude, it's okay, we all have strengths and weaknesses. Just, for crying out loud, own up to it and get roadside assistance, or have a mechanically inclined friend on speed dial, or at least have some vague, foggy notion of something you could possibly do in the event of vehicle failure beyond hoping a mysterious stranger will magically appear and fix your car and won't murder you for having brains made of porridge and being too stupid to live.)
(Back to the review) "Wow, he bears a remarkable resemblance to someone I knew many years ago," our brainiac opines when the handsome stranger comes wandering out of the woods, in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, demanding she remove her pantyhose so he can fix her car (see, too stupid to live, brains that would envy porridge). Car fixed, girl drives away. Months later (maybe it was days, or weeks, who cares?) girl sees boy a second time driving in the same middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, has random sex with him in the woods, and gets herself knocked up. She is still too stupid to figure out who he is, even after he TELLS her what's going on. Finally, Puck visits her and spells it out for her in little teeny tiny words she can understand, sort of. She goes back to the woods on Halloween to Face Off with the Fae in an absurd (I don't know if it's the fact that the author found the description of the shirt necessary or the idea of the shirt itself I found so incredibly absurd, but it certainly stayed with me) Pumpkin shirt and a f(very bad word)ing SKIRT to play out the Tam Lin story and try to hold on to her man. First of all, I really hope my librarians are literate enough to have at least a vague recollection of classic fairytales, and second of all, WHAT LIBRARIAN, WITH AN ENTIRE LIBRARY AT HER DISPOSAL is too BLOODY STUPID to at least do SOME research into what is going on and not WEAR A SKIRT TO A SHOWDOWN??? Anywise, it's an utterly unimaginative slaughter of an old fairytale and so, of course, has an utterly inane oversimplified and predictable happy ever after that both main characters are too terminally stupid to deserve.

When I first picked up this book I thought, hmmm... this could be really good, or this could be one of those... yeeesh, wish I hadn't bothered books. I am glad to say, I have been very pleased with this book!Kenyon was with name that pulled me in, but I was glad for the introduction to the other authors. I will be looking for more books by the others as well, from now on. Definitely worth your time and money. Kind hearted romances with just enough thrill and tension to keep you turning the pages. Bravo!

This is a compilation by authors Sherrilyn Kenyon, Maggie Shayne, Suzanne Forster and Virginia Kantra.

The first story Fire and Ice a disappointing short story by Sherrilyn Kenyon is set in the future and Adron the hero, is a former assassin for his government who was terribly mangled and injured in a rescue attempt of a pregnant woman years ago. His injuries have left him forever in pain and terribly bitter. When he meets Livia who is escaping an arranged marriage to a cruel old man, he marries her to save her from her fate. Livia falls instantly in love with her new husband who tries to harden his heart against her for fear of loving someone and being rejected but he finds himself in love with her as well. When Livia makes a sacrifice for Adron, he must allow himself to fight for this love. I was disappointed in this story because it left too many unexplained questions as to why things are the way they are. I understand it is a short story but I have seen authors pull these off and not leave you hanging. This definitely is not up to Kenyon's standards.

The second story by Maggie Shayne is Daydream Believer. It is a little better than the first story. Megan Rose has visions and when she has one about the location of a body calls her local police department only to be told her information is wrong. Actually, her information is right on target and a suspicious police chief asks his top detective Sam to get close to Megan to find out if she is an accomplace to the crime. When it becomes apparent that a seriel killer is on the loose, Sam asks for Megan's help in cracking the case but she ends up being stalked by the killer. Then Sam has to decide whether he will change his beliefs and really believe that Megan is psychic although he knows he is falling in love with her. Megan knows Sam has doubts but needs his trust to fully love him. Once again, this story kind of disappoints in that there are holes in the story. The author explains that Sam's dad had dirt on the police chief but never tells exactly what it was.

The third story by Suzanne Forster, Shocking Lucy, is okay but once again I feel let down by the author in that it feels like an important element of the story is missing. When Lucy meets sexy Noah, she starts doubting whether she should follow through with her impending marriage. Her fiance, Frederick meets every requirement for the perfect man on a list she made when she was in high school. The only requirement he doesn't meet is that his kisses don't make her sparkle. Lucy feels a secure man is better than passion but her feelings for Noah makes her have doubts. Noah is determined to prove that she can have that sparkle and a good man, but when Lucy feels betrayed by Noah she starts doubting everything.

The last story by Virginia Kantra, Midsummer Night's Magic, is the story of Janet a 35 year old librarian that stumbles onto a wild party when her car breaks down. She meets a man who looks just like the boyfriend she loved who disappeared when they were 22 years old. When she finds out he is her old boyfriend Ross, he tells her that he was kidnapped by the Shidh after a fight they had in college and is bound to the queen so she won't let him leave. They make love and Janet leaves. Three months later, a pregnant Janet comes back looking for Ross. She finds out he is to be sacrificed on Halloween but she can save him if she is willing to do what it takes.

These short stories are lacking somehow and I know that these kind of books can be good because I have read several that succeeded. Still the stories are entertaining enough, but there are so many better books out there that I would rather read.

I looooooved Sherrilyn Kenyon's "Fire and Ice". She just can't do no wrong. A brooding, hurting hero, and a strong, loving heroine to go with. WOW!
Maggie Shayne's story is a normal, a bit paranormal romance. Suzanne Forster also writes enjoyable tales.
And we finally arrive to Virginia Kantra. Her story did nothing for me, absolutelly nothing. No spark, no enlightenment, nada, zilch. In other words - disappointing.

Sherrilyn Kenyon's story is the one that earns the 5 star review. Without it, the others are mediocre at best. Lovely as her story is, it left me a bit frustrated, wanting to know more. Several characters were introduced who seemed to need their own stories told. the hero's father told the heroine she should ask about how he and his wife met. She didn't, so now I'll never know. His older sister had disappeared, never to be heard from again. If this were a full book instead of a short story,I'd still be looking for a sequel.

Maggie Shane's story was a disappointment because I usually enjoy her stories. This one wasn't bad, but nothing to get excited about.

The other two authors I knew nothing about. Based on these stories, I won't be searching out more from them.

Still, the book is worth buying just for the first story.