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.

If you’ve spent any amount of time swimming around the pond, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that more than a few of us have mad love for Harlequin.  We read ‘em, we review ‘em, we love them with the kind of slavish devotion usually reserved for stalkers.  So when we learned that Harlequin editor, Marsha Zinberg was doing a blog tour in honor of Harlequin’s Famous Firsts collection, we jumped at the chance to have her stop by for a visit. OK, in truth we just about fell all over ourselves.  But Marsha is made of some stern stuff, and we’re happy to report we didn’t scare her off with our borderline rabid fan girl behavior.  So, without further ado – here’s Marsha sharing with us the romance novels that got some of Harlequins “Famous Firsts” on the path to romance super-stardom!

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the creation of excellence or the achievement of success usually stands on the shoulders of those who have gone before.

There was little hesitation when I asked the Famous Firsts authors about the books that had turned them on to romance, or the authors that they had particularly loved. As you may have guessed, I fell under the spell of Jane Austen in high school, and a much-thumbed school edition of Pride and Prejudice still holds pride of place on my bookshelves.

I discovered that I shared that early delight with Stella Cameron, who also loved the Whiteoaks series.

For Carla Neggers, it was The Moonspinners, by Mary Stuart, which she read when she was twelve. A short dozen years later, she had produced her own first novel.

Anne Stuart was only ten when she fell under the gothic spell of Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt. She asked her grandmother for the hardcover for Christmas, and thus began her romance reading career!

Joan Johnston loved Jude Devereux’s Velvet series. She was thrilled to be the winner of an autographed copy of Velvet Angel when it was raffled off at the second annual Romantic Times convention. She only had to pay the postage! She also mentioned that Roberta Gellis’s Rosalynde series taught her to bring dimension to her characters by having them say one thing and think something else entirely.

Kathleen Woodiwiss’s The Wolf and the Dove hooked Debbie Macomber. She also loved early Harlequin romances by Ann Mather and Violet Winspear.

Linda Lael Miller wasn’t a southern girl, but she fell hard for Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. (Another favorite of mine, too!) And Judith McNaught’s Whitney, My Love followed close behind.

Lori Foster claims that school never gave her a huge love of reading, but historical romances, such as those by Johanna Lindsay, really engaged her. Then she moved on to early books of Linda Howard and Jayne Ann Krentz, and the rest is history…..

Her journalism background caused Vicki Lewis Thompson to approach an early romance by Tate McKenna as a research project. What was all this fuss about romance writing? Could she do it? She sure could, and she sure did.

Now here’s a lovely story that I just learned. Lindsay McKenna met her husband in 1972, when she was in her late twenties. Her husband-to-be took his betrothed to Genevieve, Ohio to meet his mother, and the thing she most wanted to share with her soon-to-be daughter-in-law was her Harlequin romance novels. She was particularly fond of doctor/nurse stories. Lindsay dutifully took home ten or fifteen, read them, enjoyed them, but thought she could do better. So she decided to try writing one herself. She credits her mother-in-law with introducing her to the romance industry and starting her career!

What romances do you consider “classics”? Please share your favorites with me. I’d love to know what book or author initiated your romance reading habit!

Please be sure to come visit me at Pink Hearts on Thursday, June 18 and at The Misadventures of Super Librarian next Monday, June 22! I’ve had great fun on this tour and your comments have been fascinating.

My previous blogs stops include: Bookbinge, Plot Monkeys, Blaze authors blog, Romance Junkies, Romancing the Blog, Dear Author, Cataromance, and Teach Me Tonight – a different Harlequin Famous First story at every blog.

Don’t forget that you can enjoy 16 free Harlequin novels by downloading them at www.HarlequinCelebrates.com.

Contest Alert! We’ll be giving away two Harlequin tote bags, filled with eight (!) books by some of Harlequin’s Famous Firsts!  Share your favorite classic romance in the comments, and one lucky winner will be chosen at random.  Contest ends Monday, June 22!

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.