12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Supernatural Smorgasbord., May 27, 2005
This review is from: Moonlight Lovers: Five Love Stories to Enchant You (Signet) (Paperback)
Ultimately, every reader has different feelings regarding any given book. Opinions make the world go round and sharing thoughts and opinions with fellow book lovers and readers is always great fun. Giving an overall rating to an anthology is usually VERY difficult. Not all the stories are to one's liking; yet, I always enjoy anthologies, because FREQUENTLY one comes across an unfamiliar author . . . someone satisfyingly new.
MOONLIGHT LOVERS: FIVE LOVE STORIES TO ENCHANT YOU is a paranormal anthology released in September, 1993, five short stories written by five romantic "big guns" . . .
1). Mary Balogh: "THE NORTH TOWER." - Rating: B- (4 Stars).
The setting is Balogh's calling card: the Regency period. Daphne Borland's maternal grandfather bequeathed Roscoe Castle to her - unexpectedly. Roscoe Castle was magnificent, so magnificent the Earl of Everett wanted it. Craftily, on his deathbed, Daphne's grandfather agreed the property would pass into the earl's possession, if his lordship and his granddaughter married within three months, if not, the ownership passed. Forthwith, Daphne felt a bond with "her" castle. The "North" tower provocatively lured her; lured her into the arms of a sexy, passionate ghost - a ghost very familiar to Daphne.
THE NORTH TOWER is a pleasant read, but it lacks the familiar Balogh poignancy. Usually, this author penetrates her reader's heart through sensitivity and sympathy. Regrettably, both emotions are absent in this story.
Grade: B-
2). Maura Seger: "REFLECTIONS." - Rating: A- (5 Stars).
The setting is the late 19th century. With the sole responsibility of two younger siblings, Nora Butler is desperate. So desperate, she hires herself out as a "party" psychic. Bram Hayes intends to expose Miss Nora Butler as a fraud. He believes she is a charlatan exploiting the spiritualism fad. Instead, he finds he is totally captivated by this young innocent woman, this attractive woman with the soft auburn hair.
REFLECTIONS is a gentle, well-written story - "page turner" material. The story's weakness: the brisk conclusion, which is all-too common short story annoyance.
Grade: A-
3). Jo Beverley: "THE DEMON'S BRIDE." - Rating: C (3 Stars).
Rachel Proudfoot is the Vicar's daughter. She is intelligent, innocent, and as her surname suggests "proud." The Earl of Morden thinks she is magnificent and should be in his bed. Wickedly, the Earl of Morden pursues Rachel throughout THE DEMON'S BRIDE. Rachel has enough trouble resisting the temptation of rakish Lord Morden without supernatural intervention, but this is a paranormal anthology and supernatural forces are at work. The story begins with the Earl of Morden discussing the annual celebration called Walpurgis Night. Rachel's father is the new vicar in Walberton, a small town in Suffolk. In his spare time, the vicar studies peculiar, local customs.
Sexual tension flows throughout. Magnificently, the pages are set to burn whenever the hero and heroine get together. This potency makes for great romance fun. However, Jo Beverley tells the story, solely, from the heroine's viewpoint. I am not a big fan of this writing style. Such an approach, generally, SLOWS the development of the other lead character. Therefore, in THE DEMON'S BRIDE, Mark Brandish, the Earl of Morden, appears vain and shallow - not an inspiring strategy for a romance hero.
Grade: C
4). Anita Mills: "THE HAUNTING OF SARAH GORDON." - Rating: A (5 Stars).
THE HAUNTING OF SARAH GORDON is absolutely wonderful. David Gordon went to war, but he promised his new bride he'd come back to her. He promised he'd return a complete whole man, but David Gordon died.
Now, Anita Mills soundly displays her writing talent. The reader shares Sarah Gordon's complete misery. This is great writing. THE HAUNTING OF SARAH GORDON is heart wrenching; yet as the story kindles the reader feels life again. Adeptly, the author wraps up this paranormal story with a truly happily-ever-after ending. Lovely. No wonder, I am hooked on this genre.
Grade: A
5). Patricia Rice: "MIDNIGHT LOVERS." - Rating: B+ (4 Stars).
An eerie story charged with enchantment, mystic concoctions, and magic. MIDNIGHT LOVERS is set in Louisiana, shortly after the civil war. Adrian Doncaster's spirit is dead. He regrets the state of war. He regrets the killing, the destruction, the hate. Adrian Doncaster is in New Orleans to visit a friend; he yearns for a reason to live. Instead, he finds Camille LeFebvre, a frail individual, who also fights the daily chore of living. MIDNIGHT LOVERS is the story of two hopeless people suddenly thrust into a supernatural web. Two sad souls exposed to the strange, unexplainable forces of the bayou - forces that grant the strength to love and to hope again.
Patricia Rice brandishes a good colorful, descriptive pen. Her setting skills are first-rate, and the story's sexual tension is sultry.
Grade: B+
MaryGrace Meloche.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
buy this book just for Jo Beverley's story, September 25, 2007
This review is from: Moonlight Lovers: Five Love Stories to Enchant You (Signet) (Paperback)
I beg to differ with the first reviewer. I would recommend this anthology solely on the basis of Jo Beverley's "The Demon's Bride."
I was a tried and true purchaser of new issue Regency Romance novels and anthologies until I could no longer find them in bookstores. My previous sources (B.Dalton's and Super Crown which carried full regency lines from all regency novel publishers) both closed about the same time. I read "The Demon's Bride" by Jo Beverley well over 15 years ago. However I still remember the plot to this story (though not the characters' names or story title which, like names of new people, are hard to remember after 15 years) and this story's sensuality has remained with me all these years. I cannot locate my old copy of this anthology so I am buying a new copy to replace it JUST for this story...I enjoyed it that much. Jo Beverley's subsequent success is hinted at in this story. If you collect Jo Beverley's novels, you should buy this anthology for a copy of this story.
There is a big emphasis in supernatural regency novels lately on vampire stories. It must be the "Buffy" influence. Older regency supernatural novels covered different themes -- I cannot remember any vampires. I believe this is the only regency about Walpurgis night. There is both a sexual tension between the lord(a rake) and the vicar's spinster daughter (will he succeed in seducing her?) and suspence about the villagers' united silence on Walpurgis night (is it a pagan myth or something more?). It becomes clear that the villagers have a hidden agenda.
The vicar's scholarly interest in pagan rites leads him, along with his spinster daughter who take notes for him, to interview the local lord about the village Walpurgis night celebration. There is a rumor that an ancestor of the lord participated in Walpurgis night, as he was in love with the maiden selected for the pagan rite, and that he subsequently went insane. After meeting the vicar's daughter, the lord becomes obsessed with seducing her. The villagers let the seduction go only so far, to keep both lovers interested, but prevent the completion of the seduction. The villagers have selected the vicar's daughter (rather than one of their daughters) to be the "sacrificial lamb" for this year's upcoming Walpurgis night, a pagan fertility rite associated with agricultural bounty if successful; it is a special Walpurgis night this year, apparently something odd, which neither the vicar nor his daughter nor the lord know about, which happens only every 50 or 100 years on that special night. The hero, when he realizes what the villagers are about, overcomes his obsession with seduction and tries instead to protect the heroine from whatever supernatural events occur on Walpurgis night. He fears that she too will be driven insane. The story culminates with the supernatural Walpurgis night celebration and the lord (previously a care for nobody rake and an absentee landlord) falling in love with both the heroine and his land.
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