Friday, January 23, 2009

Review: Beyond the Dark (anthology) by Angela Knight, Emma Holly, Lora Leigh, Diane Whiteside

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Title: Beyond the Dark
Series: Breeds, Tale of the Demon World
Author: Angela Knight, Emma Holly, Lora Leigh, Diane Whiteside
Read copy: Paperback
Published: December 4, 2007
Publisher: Berkley Trade
ISBN: 0425218767
ISBN-13: 9780425218761

Four of the most sizzling authors of paranormal romance take readers beyond their wildest fantasies, to a seductive midnight world of erotic suspense, demons, mages, vampires, and knights. A world of queens with devilish secrets, and of demons with secret desires. So dangerous and fun, readers may never want to come back down to earth again...

My rating:

Dragon Dance by Angela Knight
One word: ENTERTAINING
I don’t particularly like stories about super-power infected humans, but [author:Angela Knight|23] does it with such style and certain panache, I just can’t hold the theme choice against her. As with all things Knight the steam is up in the stratosphere, and the leather-clad hunks and that chops licking tiger sticking his head out of Tracker’s chest more than compensate for the whole aliens-did-it hoopla.

Caught by the Tides by Diane Whiteside
One word: DISAPPOINTING
While anthologies are a great way of discovering new authors, this is not the case with this story (and author). The magickal AU take on the Regency period and the Napoleonic threat was a major stretch, and might (big emphasis on that might!) have worked if the author decided on a little less harrypotterish approach...I love historicals (Regency being one of my favorites) and paranormals, yet this particular combination left me cold – and bored.

Queen of All She Surveys by Emma Holly
One word: PASSABLE
While the first few chapters promised one heck of a novella (there’s just something about hunks wearing only a loincloth and a smile), the story quickly diluted into a weird May-September (the September woman looking like a May woman) quasi-relationship with a helluva lot of furniture-breaking sex including god-touched liquid and a funky appendage with a not-explained purpose...Hmmm.

In a Wolf’s Embrace by Lora Leigh
One word: STUNNING
This was the first Lora Leigh story I've read, and my first encounter with the Breeds, and it made me crave for more. As I wrote when I started reading it, the foreword sounded pretty darn good, but the story was (thankfully) even better. I laughed and I cried, tears (not of laughter!) are a great indicator of a good book for me, my hands were freezing cold (another good sign), and by the middle of the novella I was hot all over. Can't wait for the rest (my TBR pile is soon going to get even larger).


This collection gets four stars only thanks to Lora Leigh's contribution. It's the last novella of the bunch that makes it all worth it - no wonder they put it last. After the bitter aftertaste the two middle ones left, it was a relief to "rest my eyes" on the Breed story.

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