Laurie S. (LaurieS) reviewed Over the Moon: Moon Dance / Between the Mountain and the Moon / Driftwood / Mona Lisa Three on + 504 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 22
The first story by Angela Knight starts off when a female werewolf in heat runs away from an arranged marriage to a brutish alpha wolf and lands pretty much on top of a police officer who just happens to be a werewolf himself. She needs a baby in order to maintain her independence from the alpha wolf but the reasons are so convoluted that I'm not going to attempt to explain. I can see where this is going and really who couldn't? But it's holding my attention and there's a lot to be said for that.
The second story by Virginia Kantra seems to be a sequel to a story in an anthology released quite a few years ago. It's about a young lady who decides to go on an extended hike in the wilderness and ends up stumbling across the sidhe. I felt lost throughout most of it. The basis of the story relies on the previous story which I had not read and all the references to the previous tale frustrated and confused me instead of clearing things up. The atmosphere of the story is very well done but in the end I still felt confused and the love story didn't make all that much sense. This one needed to be longer, if you ask me.
The pace picks up with MaryJanice Davidson's tale "Driftwood", an unlikely love story between a beta werewolf and a bossy female vampire who wants nothing to do with him. The two hook-up when he finds her stuck in a hole on the beach and attempts a rescue. The results are silly, sarcastic and a lot of fun.
The final story by new author known only as "Sunny" is giving me the same issues as the Kantra story. I feel like I've been thrown into a sequel of a book I haven't read. Why is it so damn hard to write a stand alone story anymore? Anyway, it's about some sort of alien/paranormal/fatally attractive Queen and her two male lovers who are little more than Jean-Claude/Richard clones right down to their descriptions. It's almost as if the author took Laurell K. Hamilton's characters and wrote them a little fanfic piece in which they're a happy three-some. Despite all of that, I did enjoy the story. The characters were decently drawn and I'll probably look for more from this author.
The second story by Virginia Kantra seems to be a sequel to a story in an anthology released quite a few years ago. It's about a young lady who decides to go on an extended hike in the wilderness and ends up stumbling across the sidhe. I felt lost throughout most of it. The basis of the story relies on the previous story which I had not read and all the references to the previous tale frustrated and confused me instead of clearing things up. The atmosphere of the story is very well done but in the end I still felt confused and the love story didn't make all that much sense. This one needed to be longer, if you ask me.
The pace picks up with MaryJanice Davidson's tale "Driftwood", an unlikely love story between a beta werewolf and a bossy female vampire who wants nothing to do with him. The two hook-up when he finds her stuck in a hole on the beach and attempts a rescue. The results are silly, sarcastic and a lot of fun.
The final story by new author known only as "Sunny" is giving me the same issues as the Kantra story. I feel like I've been thrown into a sequel of a book I haven't read. Why is it so damn hard to write a stand alone story anymore? Anyway, it's about some sort of alien/paranormal/fatally attractive Queen and her two male lovers who are little more than Jean-Claude/Richard clones right down to their descriptions. It's almost as if the author took Laurell K. Hamilton's characters and wrote them a little fanfic piece in which they're a happy three-some. Despite all of that, I did enjoy the story. The characters were decently drawn and I'll probably look for more from this author.
Rebecca H. (Rebemdee) reviewed Over the Moon: Moon Dance / Between the Mountain and the Moon / Driftwood / Mona Lisa Three on
Helpful Score: 12
4 stories
Angela Knight, Moon Dance
It's more erotica than romance, and the story is minimal, merely providing the setup to some pretty graphic sex. Not bad.
Virginia Kantra, Between the Mountain and the Moon
A forgetable story about love and revenge. Very soft, sweet, and not very interesting, but readable and enjoyable.
Maryjanice Davidson, Driftwood
More interesting characters, feels the most fleshed out of all the stories, and is written with her usually biting, fun flair. I enjoyed this the most.
Sunny, Mona Lisa Three
Pure dreck. Again, more erotica than romance, with graphic sex, and just not that interesting. There are a lot of references to events from other books, which completely negates the point of a short story to stand on its own merits. The writing is atrocious. I wont be reading her other books.
Angela Knight, Moon Dance
It's more erotica than romance, and the story is minimal, merely providing the setup to some pretty graphic sex. Not bad.
Virginia Kantra, Between the Mountain and the Moon
A forgetable story about love and revenge. Very soft, sweet, and not very interesting, but readable and enjoyable.
Maryjanice Davidson, Driftwood
More interesting characters, feels the most fleshed out of all the stories, and is written with her usually biting, fun flair. I enjoyed this the most.
Sunny, Mona Lisa Three
Pure dreck. Again, more erotica than romance, with graphic sex, and just not that interesting. There are a lot of references to events from other books, which completely negates the point of a short story to stand on its own merits. The writing is atrocious. I wont be reading her other books.
Kathleen C. (KathleenSews) reviewed Over the Moon: Moon Dance / Between the Mountain and the Moon / Driftwood / Mona Lisa Three on + 69 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 7
Angela Knight and MaryJanice Davidson stories in one book is enough to get me to grab this book off the shelf. Knight's story is of spouse abuse in the direwolf part of her Mageverse. MJD's "Driftwood" recounts the crazy adventures of a misogynist Wyndham Warewolf and one of Betsy's vampires.
Also in this collections are Virginia Kantra's sequel to "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in the collection "Man of My Dreams," but stands on its own. A tale of human meets fae, the daughter of the hero & heroine of the first story is targeted by the evil fae queen for revenge. The last story is a contribution by Sunny (just Sunny, no last name) and the timeline lies between her first novel, "Mona Lisa Awakening" and her second not yet published as I write this. You really need to go to Amazon.com and read the reviews of "Awakening" to get a sense of Mona Lisa's world before reading this. It took me 10 pages to get the geist of what was happening. I ran right out to get "Mona List Awakening" but have not read it yet. Sunny writes in the "if Laurell K. Hamilton won't do it, I will" style. As long as her books have a real plot and lots of magic, I'll buy them.
Also in this collections are Virginia Kantra's sequel to "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in the collection "Man of My Dreams," but stands on its own. A tale of human meets fae, the daughter of the hero & heroine of the first story is targeted by the evil fae queen for revenge. The last story is a contribution by Sunny (just Sunny, no last name) and the timeline lies between her first novel, "Mona Lisa Awakening" and her second not yet published as I write this. You really need to go to Amazon.com and read the reviews of "Awakening" to get a sense of Mona Lisa's world before reading this. It took me 10 pages to get the geist of what was happening. I ran right out to get "Mona List Awakening" but have not read it yet. Sunny writes in the "if Laurell K. Hamilton won't do it, I will" style. As long as her books have a real plot and lots of magic, I'll buy them.
Lynne J. (Doughgirl) reviewed Over the Moon: Moon Dance / Between the Mountain and the Moon / Driftwood / Mona Lisa Three on + 138 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6
Moon Dance by Angela Knight: Even though I'm not a big fan of the furry paranormal stories, I loved this story. It had everything I look for in a full novel: plot, strong leads, suspense and plenty of steaminess. IMO the best of the four stories.
Between the Mountain and the Moon by Virginia Kantra: More like a fairy tale. Also enjoyed this story.
Driftwood by MaryJanice Davidson: Maybe I'm just getting tired of MJD's sarcastic style, but I agree with other reviewers. She phoned this one in. I wouldn't even bother reading it.
Mona Lisa Three by Sunny: Just OK. Although the more I read the more I started to list the ways this storyline is similar to Laurel K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry series. There are so many similarities that I'm frankly surprised she hasn't been sued for copyright infringement. Oh well, given the very slow pace that LKH's books are progressing at, this is a decent substitute and I'll probably read more of Sunny's books just for that reason.
Between the Mountain and the Moon by Virginia Kantra: More like a fairy tale. Also enjoyed this story.
Driftwood by MaryJanice Davidson: Maybe I'm just getting tired of MJD's sarcastic style, but I agree with other reviewers. She phoned this one in. I wouldn't even bother reading it.
Mona Lisa Three by Sunny: Just OK. Although the more I read the more I started to list the ways this storyline is similar to Laurel K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry series. There are so many similarities that I'm frankly surprised she hasn't been sued for copyright infringement. Oh well, given the very slow pace that LKH's books are progressing at, this is a decent substitute and I'll probably read more of Sunny's books just for that reason.
Darlene S. (dbs) reviewed Over the Moon: Moon Dance / Between the Mountain and the Moon / Driftwood / Mona Lisa Three on + 329 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6
I loved Davidson's story, GREAT plot, but I wish she'd quit confusing cussing and screeching for dialogue. She is just so close to being fabulous, and then she drops the ball. Kantra's story was romantic I thought--very nice. Knight's story was ojay too. This Sunny---well, I am not into graphic sex, so the whole novelette turned me off. But I would buy the book alone for Davidson story (dang, she is just so close to being great!) and probably for Knight and Kantra. I know for sure I would never buy another Sunny book---just not my style.
