Really Unusual Bad Boys [Hardcover]

Mary Janice Davidson (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Kensington (2005)
• ASIN: B001GDMWZQ
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

More About the Author

MaryJanice Davidson has been credited with starting paranormal chick lit. The New York Times bestselling author of the Undead series, she lives in Minnesota. Please visit her on the Web at www.maryjanicedavidson.net.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maryjanice Delivers Again!, August 18, 2005

By 

M. Nix - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Really Unusual Bad Boys (Paperback)

Really Unusual Bad Boys is a collection of three stories featuring The SandLands Royal Family.

In Bridefight, Detective Lois Commoner is tired of her life. Ever since she was injured on the job she's lived with pain and the knowledge that her injury will have her riding a desk for the rest of her career. She's been alone since the death of her mother and now, with the end of her career, she's depressed and makes the decision to end it all. After taking pain pills she wakes up in a strange new world. The first thing she sees when she opens her eyes is a large puma who stuns her by shifting into a man. Prince Damon believes that Lois has been delivered to his world, The SandLands, to be his mate. But before he can keep her, he has to win her in the Bridefight.

Mating Season continues the SandLand stories. With his brother's recent mating to Lois and apparent happiness, Prince Maltese is lonely for a mate of his own. He's in his bathing pool when he wishes that wherever she is she would come to him. Suddenly, a woman drops out of the sky into his bath. Lt. Anne Sanger is a World War II WAC who is not happy at finding herself in the SandLands. Nor is she thrilled to find out that Maltese is determined to be her mate. She's determined to find her way home regardless of how attractive she finds Maltese.

Groomfight is the last story in this book and is Prince Shakar's story. Prince Shakar is off hunting and bored when he wishes himself to be anywhere but the SandLands. He finds himself on a strange world facing Rica Callanbra. Rica's mother is from the SandLands and appeared to her father who, in an effort to keep his mate happy, built a machine allowing them to travel to the SandLands whenever they wished. Shakar determines that Rica is his mate, and before long, she is pregnant. When Shakar discovers he is to be a father, he decides that they should return to The SandLands so Rica and the baby can have proper care. They return only to discover that although it has been months on Rica's world, in The SandLands Shakar has only been gone a few days. Rica learns that Shakar has neglected to tell her that a Groomfight was called, and who ever wins will be his mate. Since all SandLanders are able to shift into cats this puts Rica and his unborn child in danger.

Really Unusual Bad Boys was, for a lack of better word, a hoot. Bridefight was originally published as an ebook for Ellora's Cave and I loved it just as much then as I do now. The addition of two more stories for Damon's brothers plus the interwoven story of Lois' mother Gladys and King Sekal made for a book I was unable to put down. Hilariously funny and filled with romance Really Unusual Bad Boys is a not to be missed treat!

Melissa

Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

62 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Still a fan, but not hot for these stories, August 23, 2005

By 

Julia (Walton, KY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Really Unusual Bad Boys (Paperback)

I'm a huge fan of MJD. I love her sassy women and with few exceptions, find her stories to be a laugh-a-minute wild ride. That said, I feel rather luke warm about this collection. The first story was available from Ellora's Cave about 3 years ago, and doesn't seem to have been edited or reworked at all. (If you read Bridefight then and liked it, skip the rest of my review, because the other two stories are very similar.)

The recurring character, Lois is obnoxious and annoying, and while I concede that MJD's smart-mouthed women can sometimes be a little annoying, they usually go about it in some charming or humorous way. The rest of the characters are "OK". The steamy factor is "OK". The quality of writing is "OK". The "Bad Boy" factor is non-existent - these guys are pussy cats.

That said, an "OK" from MJD is still better than the good stuff of many other authors. As for me, anything by MJD has an automatic spot on my keeper shelf, so I had to buy this book, even if I'll never re-read it.

Better MJD recommendations: Undead and Un-(fill-in-the-blank), The Royal Treatment (sequel coming soon) , Hello Gorgeous, Under Cover, Derik's Bane (which you'll enjoy more if you've read Secrets 6 and Secrets 8)

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Really Disappointing Bad Boys..., October 7, 2005

By 

CoffeeGurl - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Really Unusual Bad Boys (Paperback)

I loved Bridefight when I read the novella in e-book format at Ellora's Cave. The aforementioned novella was the first part of a series that was never carried out called Canis Royal. In fact, I loved it so much that I wrote a review about the novella and expressed my pleasure in having read such a fun little story. So, imagine my delight when I heard that MaryJanice Davidson re-released Bridefight and added two more novellas of the SandLands for an anthology... and imagine my disappointment when I read Really Unusual Bad Boys. Mating Season leaves off where Bridefight left off, only this time this is Damon's brother Maltese's story. He wished for an earthly woman and got Lt Anne Sanger, a straightlaced WWII soldier. She has no idea how she'd landed in SandLands. Her circumstances are quite different from Lois's. She wants nothing more than to return to her home, however, will she want to after she spends time with the gorgeous werecat? And in Groomfight, third brother Shakar lands on earth and meets a beautiful dark-skinned woman. After spending time with her and indulging in some erotic moments, which includes skinny-dipping, he decides to stay on earth, but things could change after Rica discovers she's with child.

The problem I had with the last two novellas is that they seem rushed, thin and sloppily executed. When I read Bridefight, I felt that Davidson discovered a unique and erotic world with sharp humor and great one-liners to boot. However, the novellas are so short and end so abruptly that I am not any the wiser about the SandLands and its inhabitants. For example, in Mating Season, Anne was quite adamant about returning to earth, and then out of nowhere changes her mind. I was confused with her sudden change of heart. It was just too abrupt. I like that Davidson used the whole time-travel angle with the female characters, but she could have and should have done so much more with these stories. The characters lack depth and all I got from this anthology is a few good romantic scenes between the characters. And the titles "Mating Season" and "Groomfight" had nothing to do with the actual stories. That is another indication that Davidson wrote these stories without giving them much thought. Reading this book was like reading a pamphlet -- thin, light, brief. Bridefight is great and that is why I give Really Unusual Bad Boys two stars instead of one star. Davidson should have taken more time developing this erotic fantasy anthology in a more palpable way. I am a big fan of her work and love the Undead, Wyndham Werewolf and Alaskan books respectively, but I've grown wary of trying her novellas because they have left me unfulfilled. These shall be the last novellas I read from Ms. Davidson. They served their purpose in providing some (very) light entertainment during my train commute to work, but I expected more and I cannot help but feel disappointed and cheated. And ripped off! I paid fourteen dollars for this. Ugh.