Eternal Lover [Paperback]

This is a collection of four paranormal stories by well-known names in this genre. Two of the stories are standalone, the other two are short continuations from previous stories and thus are less successful for those who haven't read the previous novels.

THE YEARNING by Hannah Howell. In this story a young woman tries to break a curse which has blanketed two families for over four hundred years. The ancestress of Sophie Hay cursed her unborn child whose father, a MacCordy, left her; the curse called for the MacCordy line to never find happiness until they chose love over wealth and social position. Unfortunately for Sophie, the curse rebounded on Mona Galt, her ancestress, and meant that the Galt women's descendents find happiness briefly and then it is snatched away from them. She decides to visit the current MacCordy Laird and try to help him. She finds a morose man, Alpin MacCordy, whose beast inside is almost at the point of mastering him. Can Sophie and Alpin find love and freedom from the curse?

This is a good read with few surprises but some good characterisation and a satisfactory resolution.

A HELL OF A TIME by Jackie Kessler continues the story of Jessie/Jezebel from Hell's Belles. In this story Jessie and Paul decide to go away for a quiet weekend at a cabin in the countryside. Despite Jessie's nature now being human, rather than succubus, she finds herself unwelcome and that some of the entities already at the cabin want to drive her away. Jessie knows that her former life must cause some problems to Paul and she tries to shield him from the supernatural events that are going on, but those working against her are trying harder than she thinks and she and Paul must face up to some of the difficulties she's trying to avoid.

This story felt a little aimless at times, more as if the author was writing it for a chance to include further sex scenes rather than advance any plot; it also relies fairly heavily on the previous book and doesn't give large chunks of backstory for new readers.

CITY OF DEMONS by Richelle Mead apparently continues a previous story, one I haven't read. Georgie is a succubus who is living with Seth Mortensen, a human. Unfortunately this means that she can't touch him at all or she will steal his life which makes for a rather awkward love life. Georgie is sent by Jerome, her boss, to serve on a jury in a trial of three demons, one of whom is believed to have destroyed another demon. Georgie soon finds that she's the only juror interested in proceedings and, more worryingly, that Seth seems to be finding a close friendship with a waitress at a cafe. Can Georgie keep her honesty despite bribery from the accused in the trial and can she keep her man despite her inability to touch him.

This story was really good fun in terms of the setting of the trial, the different bribery methods and the demon/succubus world. It was less successful in the relationship between Georgie and Seth and ended, I felt, at a rather loose end. I enjoyed the trial sections, even if I did spot the twist coming, but felt that the love interest part was far less well developed.

BITTEN by Lynsay Sands was a light and fun final story in this book. It's a standalone story unrelated to her Argeneau vampire series, despite having a vampire hero. Keeran was turned by an evil female vampire and has lived a recluse for 200 years. When he rescues Emily Wentworth Collins from a sinking ship he finds that he's brought a lively and helpful woman into his castle, one who is trying to avoid an unwanted marriage and whose light and life seem to be spreading around the village. But a man who loathes his new nature and who tries to keep away from everyone may not be able to withstand a forceful character like Emily.

Lynsay Sands writes the brooding vampire character very effectively and some of the side characters, such as the housekeeper, are also very well written. This was an enjoyable story and finished off the book on a very positive note.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book, curledup.com. © Helen Hancox 2008

Richelle Mead's Georgina Kincaid series is one of my favourites ever, but strangely I cannot get into either of her other series. Weird, huh? I got this antho because I wanted to know all I could about Georgina and Seth's relationship, and whilst I am glad that I read it, it didn't really add much to the series, and IMO, actually spoilt their relationship by Georgina morphing into another woman that Seth was becoming friendly with, to see if he could be tempted into having sex with her, despite Georgina already repeatedly telling Seth that he could sleep with someone. After all, their relationship is meant to be abot true love, and not sex. Yes, it was clear that Seth was becoming attracted to the waitress he was seeing day after day, as they had things in common, but Georgina had unwillingly, then deliberately left him to his own devices. I don't think he would have taken the first steps at all, or that he would have easily responded to any advances the waitress made, but when Georgina deliberately puts temptation in his face by pretending to be Beth and stripping for him whilst they are watching a DVD (whilst Georgina is supposedly working) and he succumbs for a bit then backs off, I think that neither of them came out a winner. Yes, it was something that I kind of expected Georgina to do maybe in one of the full-length novels, but not in a separate novella, seemingly written just for this, so for me, it detracted from the series, not added to it, and in fact, I think it might have been a contributory factor to their breakup.

The Jackie Kessler tale, whilst I persevered and read it, added nothing whatsoever to the series. I picked up her first book when there was nothing else that I fancied at my local library, then I got into it and decided to track down the next in the series, which is currently awaiting me at the library, but I read the third in the series before reading this novella, and neither add to the series. Yes, we have 2 known quantities - Jezebel is an ex-demon so will always be unusual, and Paul though a hunk, is a bog-standard human male, so there's nothing too exciting about him, and yes, we know that trust will always be an issue, as she does not willingly confide in anyone, but they have to live with the things they can't change about each other, or go their separate ways. After all, he knows about her background and loves and accepts her unstintingly, not wanting to change anything about her. I am about to pick up the next book in the series, and will post a review shortly, but for me, this was a non-relevant addition.

I am sorry to say that contrary to the male reviewer, I could not get into either the Hannah Howell or Lynsay Sands tales, so cannot comment on them. Therefore, this review is based on the above 2 tales, for which the book was a 2.5* for me.

this book was alright but not the best i enjoyed hannah howells story and also lynsay sands but i could not get into the other two