Valentine's Day Is Killing Me [Paperback]

MaryJanice Davidson (Author), Leslie Esdaile (Author), Susanna Carr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2006

There's always some reason to hate Valentine's Day: lost roses, canceled reservations, broken dates, arrests, dead bodies. MaryJanice Davidson, Leslie Esdaile, and Susanna Carr present their takes on Valentine's Day in this anthology.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Kensington (January 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758212844
• ISBN-13: 978-0758212849
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,597,298 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars DEFINITELY NOT THE BEST........., March 7, 2006

By 

Dana Y. Bowles "DYB" (West Chester, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Valentine's Day Is Killing Me (Paperback)

Serviceable at best Valentine's Day anthology comprised of 3 authors..two of whom have written work that I've thoroughly enjoyed in the past. Cuffs and Coffee Breaks by Mary Janice Davidson tell the tale of Julie Kaye who, against her better judgement accepts a date with a coworker. And although he's drop dead gorgeous, who would think that people would actually be dropping dead around him? But such is the case, and the rest of this ridiculous tale is spent on Julie trying to prove date Scott's innocence, while ignoring their physical attraction.
Leslie Esdaile tells the story of a group of singles who are close friends, and dreading the Valentine's holiday. Determined to prove that they can survive the day manless, Jocelyn Jefferson plans an evening of pampering to take everyone's mind off of flowers and chocolate. But when the plan falls through and a spontaneous party gets out of hand, it is a delectable piece of very masculine chocolate which casts a whole new light on the day for Jocelyn....
In Susanna Carr's tale, Shanna Murphy has it all planned out. Reservations at the best restaurant in town and a hot date. So what if the date is not with her gorgeous ex-boyfriend, Calder Smith. Shanna seems destined to have a real Valentine's Day after all...until the date cancels and the health department closes the restaurant. Things really take a turn for the worst when Shanna's boss turns up dead....and the gorgeous Calder is right there just waiting to pick up the pieces.
Not being a fan of short stories, my opinion may be somewhat jaded. If not for Carr and Esdaile, this seasonal anthology would have been beyond redemption.


DYB

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Gag! This anthology is killing me!, January 3, 2007

By 

Misuzmama (New York, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Valentine's Day Is Killing Me (Paperback)

Ok I have to admit that this was an impulse buy. The cover looked cute and the back cover blurbs were promising. But now? Grrr! $14 down the toilet! Where exactly is the romance in ANY of these three stories? I tell you where....its nowhere! Nada. Zippo. Zilch. Its supposed to be about Valentines Day isn't it?!?! Sexual tension? -barely enough. Love scenes? -blink and you miss them. Just alot of blah, blah dialogue that has nothing to do with romance. The characters were barely likeable (I'm being generous here!) and the plots were just ....whatever, but certainly not interesting. Who cares for smarta*s characters that are extremely rude to each other? Who wants to go out with the 'brilliant' law student who 'accidently' hosts a dope party? And who wants to marry the guy who absolutley refuses to be romantic even for the woman he supposedly loves? Not me! I want..uh..what is it called?...yeah.....ROMANCE in my romance books. Sheesh! You'd think this was rocket science! This one's going straight to the donation bin.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I wanted to like this one better but...., January 7, 2006

By 

Deborah Wiley (Winter Haven, FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Valentine's Day Is Killing Me (Paperback)

I expected more from this anthology. Overall I am not a fan of the Brava line but I love MJD's work so I expected more. In MJD''s story, "Cuffs and Coffee Breaks", Julie Kay About has been emailing Scott Wythe regarding the greeting cards she designs, as well as insulting his email lingo and lack of proper punctuation when he asks her out for Valentine's Day (V-Day). She has sworn off of V-Day due to numerous disasters but agrees to the blind date only to arrive at the restaurant and find a dead man. Luckily, the dead man is not her date; however, her date is the suspect. Julie bails Scott out of jail, takes him home for sex, and hides him from the cops until the matter is resolved. In Leslie Esdaile's "A 'No Drama' Valentine's", Jocelyn Jefferson and her 3 friends are sick of disasterous V-Days and decide to pamper themselves with their own party. Unfortunately for Jocelyn, her friends bail out on her and she is stuck with the non-refundable Pamper People. The ladies of the Pamper People quickly become caught up in Jocelyn's sob story and, after several drinks, invite their friends to her home to party. Unfortunately, 2 drug dealers being investigated by Detective Raymond Mayfield come to the party and Jocelyn is arrested. Raymond is attracted to Jocelyn and, well, the rest is history. The 3rd and final story, "Valentine Survivor", by Susanna Carr, revolves around Shanna Murphy who is determined to have the perfect V-Day. She even has a list. In fact, she made reservations at her dream restaurant last 2/15! But then her dream restaurant is closed down due to Hepatitis A, her date cancels, and her boss makes her work late on V-Day. Meanwhile, Shanna's ex-boyfriend, Calder Smith, is all she wants in a man- except he isn't romantic whereas Shanna is caught up in the trappings of V-Day. They come to the realization that they belong together, only to find Shanna's boss dead and Shanna the main suspect! Overall, this anthology was disappointing. Most of stories did not have sufficient pages to develop the depth of characters I would prefer to have read about. I wanted to like this one better but.....