Three different short stories
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This collection of short stories contains three very different tales, each with their own charm.
'Can't Get Enough' by Shelly Laurenston follows the playboy dragon Ailean who's always getting in trouble, usually at the hands of a woman. When he has to take responsibility for Shalin the Innocent, a quiet dragoness, he discovers that there's more to Shalin than the other dragons think. As he teaches her how to live with humans, and that horses and puppies aren't dragon food but are pets, he begins to discover what's important and what's worth fighting over. This story was the longest of the three, taking up about half the book, and although original in its ideas I found it slightly lacking in other ways, but it was a decent read.
'Spellbound' by Cynthia Eden had a storyline which was slightly familiar but still enjoyable. Serena is a witch and in order to protect her coven from a warlock who is attempting to bind them decides to summon a special kind of demon, a cazalone, who is extremely powerful and can hopefully defeat the warlock. Unfortunately the demon that she summons, Luis D'Amil, isn't too keen about being wrenched from another job - and he's less keen when he realises how attracted he is to Serena. The two have to work together to track down the Warlock - but Serena's opinions of assassins like the Soul-Hunter might begin to change. This was a good read with both hero and heroine being well written and with good pacing.
'Turn Me On' by Noelle Mack was the shortest of the three stories and, although enjoyable, I found the pacing a bit odd. Beth Danforth goes for a job interview at SpectraSign and finds the new CEO, Justin Watts, a very attractive man. However when their working relationship moves to something more personal she finds out Justin's not quite what she originally thought. Can a being of light and a human woman be together without some of his energy rubbing off on her? This story moved in odd leaps occasionally where a couple of weeks had suddenly passed, and it wasn't very easy to get to grips with how Beth thought. Justin was written in a rather childlike manner and I felt some disbelief that he could be a successful CEO. I also felt the ending didn't entirely wrap things up as I wasn't too sure about the resolution of some of Beth's issues. Still, this story was a reasonable read and an original plotline.
Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008
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