TEST
Strangers in the Night is an anthology containing 3 previously released Linda Howard short stories. Two of them were previously reviewed when they were first released, and while I’m on-board with one of the earlier grades, AAR colleague Marianne Stillings enjoyed the other earlier release a whole lot more than I did.
Blue Moon
In Blue Moon, Sheriff Jackson Brody and Delilah Jones meet when he goes to her property in response to an incident. Despite rumors to the contrary, Lilah is no witch. She is, though, a folk healer capable of reading people’s auras and also gets flashes of information that are always accurate. When she meets Jackson, Lilah has a flash – a major one. If there is one story among these three that suffers more than the others because of the brevity, it’s this one. I liked both Jackson and Delilah as characters, although I did feel less than accomplished compared to the very, very capable Lilah. Even for a novella parts of their story seemed rushed, but I liked it nonetheless.
Grade: B-
Lake of Dreams
Thea Marlow is having disturbing dream about a man in Lake of Dreams. The dreams differ in the details each time; the man’s name and her own changes, as does the time period in which the dreams take place. But now the changes in the dreams are terrifying. From being intense and erotic, the dreams are now frightening Thea, because sometimes the man in the dream ends up killing her. Thea goes back to the family lake house in hopes of overcoming her sudden fear of the water. There she meets neighbor Richard Chance, a powerful, warrior-like male and, you guessed it, the man in her dreams. Richard knows about what has really been happening and thankfully, he shares some of his information with her. The short length of the story (mostly) justifies Thea’s behavior upon meeting Richard, but all in all, I’ve met better Howard heroes and heroines.
Grade: C+
White Out
In White Out, widowed Hope Bradshaw has to contend with a blizzard all by herself. For a time, her father helped her maintain a small mountain resort that belonged to her husband, Dylan; this year she is alone. Into Hope’s world comes a nearly frozen Price Tanner, with ill-fitting clothes, a stain on his clothing and no wound to show for it. Recently, some of my colleagues at AAR were discussing how some books smack of contrivance and blatant set-ups more than others. This one was a good example. I’m used to Howard stories where the hero and heroine meet and marry within days; most of the time she somehow manages to make this believable. Sad to say I didn’t find that to be the case here, so this one gets the lowest grade of the three stories.
Grade: D
Grade: C
Book Type: Anthology|Romantic Suspense
Sensuality: Hot
Review Date: 17/12/01
Publication Date: 11/2001
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.