Debbie's Spurts

Moving review from amazon now that my kindle account is banned from posting after commenting on author review circles.

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I enjoyed all of these stories; but, none held "surprises" -- I think the readers all knew after first couple of pages how plots would go. I had originally picked up book because of two enjoyed authors and a blurb on back of books suggesting very original plot lines. Possibly I'm being a little hard because these are shorter than normal novels and give authors less room to complicate plots and flesh out characters. Once I started each story, I did not put down until finished.

Jayne Castle (Jayne Ann Krentz) returns in "Bridal Jitters" to her futuristic romance world and I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I'm not sure I could recommend to readers who hadn't read Amaryllis, Orchid, and Zinnia. Much "fluffier" than the three longer novels.

Julie Beard is one of my favorite authors; but, the characters in "Man In The Mirror" had an extremely easy solutions to all problems, no one questioned anything, and the reader knew from page 1 almost exactly how the story would go. Still well-written but surprisingly the characters were not as "real" as Julie Beard's other writings show she can create. I'm not fond of the deus ex machina solution where the character finds a reincarnation or twin of their true love found in time travel as soon as they return to their own time.

I hadn't read any of Lori Foster's work before. I did enjoy her story "Tangled Dreams" and plan to read more, particularly the stories of the other brothers. The "kinky" or "bondage" sex mentioned in other reviews consisted of no force, pain, or anything weirder than a four-poster bed with soft ties and a hero who preferred being the agressor. I don't think it added to the story; but, didn't think it was as terrible as some other reviews suggested.

Eileen Wilks was also a new author for me and "Pandora's Bottle" was a very good read. I will be looking for more books from Ms. Wilks. This story did read like she had more books in same universe she created. Did a lot better with the characters and although I had guessed the ending to start with the plot was substantial enough I wasn't sure until last couple of pages how it would end. I'm not particularly fond of torn-between-two-lovers type of stories; I'm more of the romantic one-true-love sort.