Atlantis Rising; Alyssa Day

The Warriors of Poseidon series by Alyssa Day (aka Alesia Holliday) begins with this book, which was put out in March 2007 by Berkley. They're paranormal action adventure romances featuring Atlanteans. They remind me of Melanie Jackson's Wildside series, although these are harder edged with more explicit sex and violence. The ones I have are on the shorter side, 284 pages each versus 370+ pages each for the books I usually read. The next book is due to be released in June of 2009, which is about nine months or so later than originally scheduled due to Ms. Day's serious illness.

The plot should be familiar to those who read paranormal romances: psychically gifted heroine meets supernaturally gifted hero, who may or may not be quite human. The sexual sparks fly, they have a few encounters with the requisite baddies, one or the other of them must sacrifice something before they can be together. In this instance the world Ms. Day has built is a unique alternate reality world where the things that go bump in the night are real and are infiltrating the government for their own nefarious purposes. Not alot of angst, the heroine stands on her own two feet and makes her own decisions much of the time. The overarching plot has the potential to carry the seies quite a while should the author and publisher decide to do so. I certainly hope so.

This was a quick enjoyable read with fast pacing and a world sufficiently different from ours that I was able to suspend reality, despite the fact that they're set in Virginia Beach VA , one of our old stomping grounds while we were in college. Oh so many years ago. :) I find that I've kept the second one in my TBR while I'm waiting for the newest one. Why? It's a treat I want to save for a day when I really need a book I know will be a good, enjoyable read.

My Wicked Fantasy; K. Ranney

Written by Karen Ranney and published by Avon in 1998, at left is the original cover, but I believe there is another, newer one too. I think the title is weird & totally unrelated to the story. There were a couple of other odd quirks about this book, but in the end I liked it. More than I liked the last Karen Ranney book I tried. This one is set in the early to mid 1790's. The hero, Archer, changes & opens quite a lot by the end. The heroine was a stock character, comprised mainly of cliches, despite the odd events in her life.

Archer St. John, Earl of Sanderhurst, shuns & is shunned by the Ton because his wife is missing. Everyone who is Anyone presumes he killed her, supposedly because theirs was an arranged marriage & Alice made good time with her version of happenings. Personally, I didn't see that there was any 'real proof' of his bad intentions, other than gossip. However, St. John has spent good money on lawyers who are supposedly hunting for the missing Alice.

Mary Kate Bennett, abused orange haired Irish orphan cum governess' foster child cum early married-early widowed young woman, is en route to the tiny village where her enormous group of sibs lives. Due to lack of provisions in her lawyer husband's will, she is pretty much penniless and in need of a post. The farmer's cart she's riding in & St. John's coach are caught in a horrific crash. Mary Kate suffers a terrific blow on the head & is rendered unconscious.

From there, Archer ends up holding her hostage at his estate believing Mary Kate to be in cahoots with Alice to bilk him of money or a divorce proceeding or some such dreadful scheme. When St. John discovers Mary Kate's deceased husband was a) his lawyer & b) had done nothing despite recieving plenty of $$ to find Alice? Well, St. John is more & more convinced Mary Kate is not being honest.

My thoughts are complicated, honestly. As linked to above, the last Ranney book I read was a DNF & left such a bad taste inmy mouth it has been over a year since I've tried to read her work. In MWF the 'paranormal' element left me totally cold- but Archer &, to a lesser extent, Mary Kate, had hooked me. Setting aside MK's stock cliche-ness, her dialogue & interior life fascinated me. Her devotion to what remains of her family. Her desire to be independant & accepted for her own worth on her own terms resonated with me.

As I've mentioned previously I love emotionally tortured, damaged heroes, so Archer was fine. I loved that his secret passion is hothouse gardening. The ending, however, was not at all what I expected when I began this book. I was surprised, honestly, because I totally fell for the red herring. In the end, as a complete package, this books goes a long, long way to restoring Ms. Ranney to readable status but it isn't a keeper.

One Good Knight; M. Lackey

What an adventure! Very similar in tone & structure to the first 500 Kingdoms book, Fairy Godmother (which I really liked), ie: a sweet adventure romance featuring a strong central female character. This one is St. George & the Dragon & the legend of Andromeda carefully taken apart & restitched into a totally unique, new garment.

The vast majority of the book deals with Andromeda's life in her mother's (Cassiopeia) court & Cassiopeia's scheming. Andromeda has adventures with George (her Champion), the dragons Periapt & Adamant & the virgins. Andromeda, has, oddly enough, succumbed to the nickname Andie- which I found irritating.

Cassiopeia & her favorite advisor schemed & plotted to remove Andromeda. Why? Well for a start Andromeda is too nosey & she isn't nearly as..er- manipulable (yes, that really is a word- I looked it up) as they had hoped. Fortunately, as is often the case with evil villains, Cassiopeia & the advisor underestimate Andromeda, the Tradition & the Champion- George. Too, there are the dragons- bookwyrms to be exact. I love it- dragons who hoard books.

As mentioned in my summary of The Fairy Godmother (click link above) Lackey's books for Luna tend more toward fantasy than romance. Strong development of the female lead & strong overall adventure/quest plotting, lighter on the romance side.

Anyhow- because the Tradition likes the entire situation, everything works out in the end. What is the Tradition, you ask? It is a magical entity- much like "The Force" in Star Wars. The Tradition manipulates situations to the appropriate fairy tale end. If you remember, not all fairy tales end well. The Tradition can be thwarted or otherwise manipulated to achieve your goals.

According to the last page, Lackey's next book for Luna will be Fortune's Fool, released next year. I couldn't find a more exact date though. Like the first 500 Kingdom book, this one is a keeper.
Fantasy Romance Review, Mythology Romance, Fairy Tales, dragons