Limecello’s review of Tails of Love by Lori Foster, Stella Cameron, Kate Angell, Dianne Castell, Ann Christopher, Marcia James, Donna MacMeans, Sarah McCarty, Patricia Sargeant, and Sue-Ellen Welfonder
Special romantic fiction anthology released by Berkley Desire 1 Jun 09

I’d like to start out by noting that this book was written for charity- that all author and agent proceeds are going to a no-kill animal shelter. And that yes, I feel incredibly guilty about it… but I did not enjoy this book overall. The reason I finished it was because, well the book was written for charity, and it deserves a review, and also I think Sybil would have killed me if I didn’t finish it. So here we go. 

There were parts that I enjoyed, and I found some new to me authors that I plan to look into. I think also the fact that there were so many authors participating led to limited or restrictive page lengths, and that really hurt a number of the stories.

As I mentioned, a number of the novellas are incredibly short, so I’m not going to do an formal review of each one, per se. Some of the stories featured unique animals.

Ann Christopher’s novella, Atticus Saves Lisa, features a capuchin monkey. Too adorable – and its a therapy pet. Her story is well written, emotional, complete, has great characters, and is one of my favorites in this anthology.

Kate Angell’s story, Norah’s Arc, has a pygmy goat, which is cute. The interaction between the characters is also nice, and there’s a good balance between them and the animals.

Marcia James’s story, Rescue Me, was also very well written. The animal here is a Chinese crested dog. I’m impressed because her story is great, yes, but in a way mostly because she made me like cresties. And… if you’ve ever seen “ugliest dog” contest pictures, you’d know why that’s surprising. The characters have history, which also helps make this novella more realistic. It feels complete, although I would have liked more.

Sarah McCarty’s novella, Danny’s Dog, also pleasantly surprised me. I’ve read a few of Ms. McCarty’s other books, and this one was not what I was expecting. It was all about the plot, and characters, and it was rip your heart out and stomp it into the ground gut wrenching. I felt the character’s pain, and their emotions were so raw, and real. It’s a great story – I cried.

I enjoyed Lori Foster’s story, Man’s Best Friend, and was glad that it was an original one, but it was so short. Only 34 pages, and I felt that things were a bit rushed, and really it was only one scene between characters, not a story.

I don’t know what the page restrictions were, but I think writing for the anthology – not even really a novella, made it difficult for the authors to complete a story. Also, there wasn’t much cohesion within the anthology aside from animals being a part. Some novellas are contemporaries, others paranormal, or historical. This means there’s something for everyone, but it’s a little bit distracting. I think it’d help to read one story, put the book down, then come back to it, rather than reading them all in one sitting.

Some authors made animals characters, with cats and dogs talking, and I don’t mean were-animals. Although one novella did have a were-dog. Sometimes this was fine the story felt natural, but sometimes it did not. I found it very odd, and there was a distinct lack of flow in certain stories. For example the reader might jump from a cat, to a dog’s perspective – and it seems rather childlike or in the tone of a children’s book… and then all of a sudden you’re reading about the hero’s erection. The word “dissonance” comes to mind.

I’m afraid some of the stories simply didn’t work – not only were they not believable, but felt rushed and incomplete. I also kept wondering if this was actually a romance anthology or not, because so many stories ended abruptly, or without what seemed to be any real romance or relationship.

Nevertheless, there are some really great stories in Tails of Love and there were good things about each novella. I’m definitely interested in reading more books by some of the authors that I haven’t read before, such as Ann Christopher, Marcia James, and Patricia Sargeant. Others are authors that I’ve read before, and will continue to read. This anthology was written for a great cause, and that’s the most important thing of all.

Overall Grade: D+

Summary:

Ten all-new stories that celebrate our animal friends, by bestselling and award-winning authors. All Author and Agent proceeds from sales of the book will benefit the AAF – Animal Adoption Foundation – a no-kill animal shelter in Hamilton, Ohio.

From Seeing Eye dogs to the cat who cuddles in your lap, animals are there for us in more ways than we can count. Helping us get through the day with a wag of the tail and a tilt of the head, they let us know that someone is on our side—no matter what. They also have an amazing ability to break down barriers between people; bringing families and loved ones closer, and giving strangers an excuse to strike up a conversation. In Tails of Love, each writer draws from her own unique perspective on our loyal friends—exploring the many mysterious ways they bring love into our lives.

Read excerpts from Lori Foster, Stella Cameron, Dianne Castell here.

Read excerpts from Kate Angell, Ann Christopher, Marcia James here.

Read excerpts from Donna MacMeans, Sarah McCarty here.

Read excerpts from Patricia Sargeant, Sue-Ellen Welfonder here.

This just in…

Mark your calendars now for Lori Foster’s and Dianne Castell’s 2009 Reader and Author Get Together. This is the fifth year for the event that not only allows readers to mingle with authors, but also for aspiring writers to meet with editors and hopefully sell their ideas.

~ This year’s event will be held June 5th through 7th at the Cincinnati Marriott North in West Chester, Ohio. Currently there are 61 authors signed up for the event, but there may be many more by the time of the get-together.  Last year’s event had more than 200 authors (both print and ebook published) and readers.

~ The cost to register for this year’s event is $50 and includes two dinners and a lunch.   Registration is open until May 19, 2009.  Be sure to register early and get your hotel reservation made now.  Last year a second hotel had to be added to accommodate all the attendees.

~ As in the past, there will be lots of baskets being raffled to raise money for a charity.  This year all the money raised from the raffle will go to One Way Farm Children’s Home of Fairfield Ohio.  Also the anthology, Tails of Love, which features not only Lori but Stella Cameron, Sue-Ellen Welfonder, Kate Angell, Sarah McCarty, Donna MacMeans, Dianne Castell, Patricia Sargeant, Ann Christopher, and Marcia James, will be for sale. Author and agent proceeds from the sale of this book will go to the Animal Adoption Foundation, which is a no-kill shelter.

~ I went last year and must say if you get the chance to go…GO! It is fun weekend. I got to meet so many wonderful people. I had my books signed by my favorite authors, had breakfast with Anya Bast, Lauren Dane, and Megan Hart and discussed books with Anne Rainey and Kelley Nyrae.

Consider yourself flashed.

Lawson’s review of The Trouble with Moonlight by Donna MacMeans
Historical romance released by Berkley Sensation 3 Jun 08

This book has an interesting premise, though one usually attached to some other type of paranormal storyline. Instead of vampires or werewolves, there are a strange group of people who can become invisible. What follows, of course, is the idea that if you could be invisible, what would you do? How would the world treat you if you were different in the way that you disappeared in the moonlight? Or at least I think that’s where MacMeans was going with this one. Sometimes it was hard to tell. The cover to the books is rather striking though.

James Locke is a safe cracker and all around master spy, but when he’s searching for a list of British agents that have fallen into the wrong hands he witnesses something unusual. Though he sees no one enter the study he’s searching, out of the safe he just opened floats a ruby necklace that leaves the house and enters a carriage. He follows the carriage to a house which ends up being that of Lusinda Havershaw.

He quickly is able to trap and capture the invisible being, which he soon discovers is Lusinda. He convinces her to use her talents for the crown, but quickly becomes dependent on not only her skills but also on her presence in his life. Lusinda doesn’t like being blackmailed, but she’s afraid of her family secret getting out and so she goes along with things.

Underneath his calculating and strategizing exterior, Lusinda sees James as a lonely man and someone who seems to appreciate her for who she is. He doesn’t run from her when she’s invisible, in fact he still talks to her as if he can see her. When the spying life pops up to possibly destroy their fragile relationship and expose Lusinda’s secret, they do everything they can to preserve it. While not telling each other how they feel, of course.

One of the major things missing in the book was an explanation. Why is it that it’s moonlight that makes Lusinda invisible? How did her people start to be that way? No back story or reasons why she is the way she is other than her mother was the same way. Not only that, but there’s no explanation of Lusinda’s childhood other than she’s used to moving a lot. There’s plenty of back story for James, he’s an orphan (his last name Locke coming from the fact he’d bust out of rooms he was locked into), he joined the army, he was in India and got caught up in the Spy game, and he was thrown in a prison where he was whipped, though his life was saved by his best friend Marus Ramsden.

Because of the lack of history to Lusinda there was no cause for her actions, which for the most part where just clueless. She had no sense, whatsoever. Willingly paraded herself around London, in the nude (invisible, but still in the nude) and then she talks about going into brothels and other bawdy places to see what goes on there. Then she’s offended when James thinks she’s experienced due to the fact that she’s used to walking around naked (even though no one can see her). Barefoot in Victorian London would not be my choice. Think of the nastiness in the streets. Ick.

James, with his intellegence and wounded heart (because it seems that everyone leaves him so why form attachments) just makes one want to give him a big hug. Unfortunately, the villain of the piece devolves into a comic book villain, complete with a manical laugh and it takes away from the espionage storyline. He gave good balance to the story with his trials and tribulations that helped buoy Lusinda’s cluelessness.

If there had been more sense on the part of Lusinda and more back story this could have been a more enjoyable read, but it was a mesh of different things, because the story couldn’t stay one thing. Humorous, mystery, paranormal, sweet romance, steamy romance, spy tale. . .just all over the place and no real direction it was going in. If there was another story that helped to explain the Nevidimi (the invisible people), I think that could have helped things a lot.

Grade: C-

In the midst of a moonlit safe-cracking mission, British spy James Locke witnesses a ruby necklace spirited away as if by conjurer’s trick. Following the jewels leads him to Lusinda Havershaw, who’s inherited the talent of turning invisible in the moonlight–at least, the parts of her that are unclothed. Locke trains Lusinda in espionage, even while he finds her close proximity bewitchingly distracting. And as their mission to track Russian spies grows treacherous, they’ll find that the heart behaves even more mysteriously than Lusinda in the moonlight.