The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes [collaborative story]

A fantasy romance about three sisters with magical powers, co-written by three separate authors. You see all the ways in which this could go wrong, right? Right. Well, Mare's story—written by Jenny Crusie—is the strongest and the wittiest, but it's nowhere near vintage Crusie. Dee's story was mostly boring (though God, let me count all the ways I never again want to read an erection described as 'rampant'); Lizzy's story irritated me, because it was full of all the smug, patronising, clichéd things that make me want to throw a lot of traditional romance novels against the walls. (Their eyes change colour to match one another's because they are in True Love! Gag.) Readable if you're a Crusie completist (though you might want to skip show more over the parts with Lizzy and Elric (no, really)), but still largely forgettable. show less

I love and adore Jennifer Crusie and I’m usually in line to purchase her books on the day they come out but I waited to buy this and I’ll tell you why: I’m not a fan of books that are written by more than one author and I’m not a huge fan of anthologies. I had never read anything by Anne Stuart and I had never even heard of Eileen Dreyer, so I decided to wait a while until I had some extra money.

I’m sorry that I was so quick to judge — this is a very fun and fast-paced novel, one of the hallmarks of a fabulous Crusie novel. At first, I wasn’t able to tell which author wrote each character but as soon as Mare’s story got going, I could pick out Crusie’s voice very easily. That didn’t mean that Lizzie and Dee were not show more as fun or well-written, but after reading everything I can get my hands Crusie-wise and then reading it again, it was easy to pick out her contributions.

The reason that I gave it an A- is simply that I felt in some ways the stories were just a little too fast. It takes place over a weekend and usually, I can overlook that sort of thing. A great number of romance novels take place over a short amount of time and the mark of a really fabulous author is to make you forget that everything you just read happened in a matter of days. I wasn’t able to get there. Mare’s story was easier to believe because her true love was a man from her past and I could believe her story having a resolution in about forty-eight hours.

But it was hard to buy Lizzie and Elric and Dee and Danny in particular. I just didn’t feel it. I could feel they were very attracted to each other but I just couldn’t see their resolution as neatly. The authors were trying to submerge you into this entire world and I just never quite had a handle on it.

In the end though, it was well-written, the characters were fun and easy to read and I would not have minded longer books (or even a trilogy with a different book from a different author). Even if some aspects of the book were not exactly what I wanted, I still enjoyed it thoroughly and now I have two new authors to track down. show less

How on earth could I resist this novel (it's not an anthology!) when two of the collaborators are favorite authors? And even if they hadn't been, their joint blog about the book would have convinced me.

Let me repeat: this is a novel, not an anthology. It's one story, written by three authors. Three heroines, three heroes, one villain.

The three Fortune sisters have magical gifts, but it hasn't made their lives easier. Ever since the death of their parents, they've only had each other, and they never stay in one place for very long because their aunt Xantippe keeps catching up with them.

And why not? It's not like Dee, Lizzie, and Mare are using their powers. Heck, those powers are making them miserable. If Xan takes those powers, she'd be show more doing them a favor, really. And if doing so keeps her young and beautiful, well, she deserves to be paid for that favor, right?

So Xan has cast a spell to send her nieces their true loves, giving them a reason to give up their powers. For Dee, there's Danny, who's writing a book about their parents; sorcerer Elric is for Lizzie; and for Mare, there's Jude, a VP at Value Video! where she works, who's offering her a dream job. Except that Mare's ex, Crash, shows up too.

The sisters are all individuals, each with her own niche in the family, and their powers reflect their personalities, or vice versa. The heroes likewise are perfect for each of them. And it's loads of fun watching how Xan's plan backfires when finding true love doesn't make her nieces want to surrender their powers.

Xan is a great villain, too, because she's just so reasonable. She's not evil, she just sticks up for herself, and everything would be just fine if people would only listen to her. And when things go wrong, it's not her fault. Much fun. It's really a shame this isn't the start of a series (it's not--the authors have said unequivocally that there'll be no sequel), because I'd love to see more of Xan.

As with the Crusie/Mayer partnership, each author wrote the scenes that are in her character's POV: Dreyer writing Dee, Stuart writing Lizzie, and Crusie writing Mare and Xan. Since the author shifts coincide with POV shifts, the collaboration was very smooth, and without the three names on the cover, I wouldn't have been able to tell it wasn't written by a single author.

Unsurprisingly, The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes was featured in the Cherry Forums Book Club. You can find that discussion archived here. show less

The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes by Jennifer Cruise, Eileen Dryer and Anne Stuart
Contemporary witchy romance. Multiple POV’s.
Dee Fortune grabbed her sisters Lizzie and Mare and moved them as far away from danger as possible. They’ve been hiding in a small town for the past thirteen years as if they were a normal, average family. But in truth, their different witch powers are making them known around town as a bit quirky. None of the three have complete control and when three men come to town for them, it could be destiny. Or it could be something evil. Will they be able to tell the difference as they fall in love?

🎧 I listened to a audiobook narrated by Neva Nevarre. The performance brings the women and their men to life although show more it’s a little hard to follow the changes from the three different POV’s. Each change includes the name in the beginning so it’s just a matter of listening for it. The best voices are the side characters, a few of which are very entertaining.
I listened at 1.5 and higher to more closely match my reading speed. The slightly slower end made it easier to mark the POV changes.

Slightly dated (2007) with one of the sisters working in a video store but everything else is relevant and entertaining.
A good vs. evil romance with multiple couples, each with their own level of witching and history and magic. The three authors seamlessly blended their writing for a story that makes it a family drama, each with their own lives and loves.
Charming and delightful.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and publisher Dreamscape Media. I actually had an unread paperback copy of this on my shelf and it was awesome getting to read it via audiobook. show less

I read this years ago, long before my vow to write something about every book I read; likely just after joining GoodReads back in the halcyon days when the site was actually fun, but I was still too nervous to write anything. I loved it, as is evident by the 5 star rating I gave it back then (and I'm keeping for posterity's sake). Sunday I was feeling slumpy and needed something easy, and since I've always wanted to go back and write something about all the early books, a re-read of this accomplished two goals.

3 sisters with powerful magic, hiding from the Aunt that killed their parents while stealing their powers. A fabulously evil Aunt determined to get the sisters to surrender their powers to her, who attempts to bribe them all by show more sending them their soul mates; or in one case, a reasonable facsimile thereof. A showdown in a small town whose residents are obviously deaf, dumb and blind in the extreme. Heaps of humor, sass, girl power and HEA's. An absolutely awesome, awesome cat name Pywackt.

I didn't expect it to stand up very well over time. I love a few of Crusie's non-paranormal titles to death, but she's not a consistent writer, her paranormal stuff tends to be over the top, and I remembered this being more romance than chick-lit (fine line, I know). But it did stand up rather well. It's not one of Crusie's best by a long shot - although it's really one 1/3 hers anyway, as she co-wrote it with 2 other authors: Eileen Dreyer and Anne Stuart, neither of whom I know anything about - but it's fun without being flaky or formulaic. The humor stands up, and there are a few sex scenes which I'd forgotten about that are far steamier than Crusie's other works (making me think that perhaps those scenes represent some of Dreyer and Stuart's contributions).

All in all still a great read when you're in the mood for a literary rom-com. show less

I first saw this book advertised and reviewed in Romantic Times Book Reviews and immediately thought, "Oh my God, I have to read this book--it's going to be freaking hilarious." Sure enough, I was very correct.

The premise of this book was what first caught my eye: three sisters, all of them witches, who have powers. The hook? They hate their powers. The oldest sister, Dee, is a shapeshifter. Unfortunately, every time she tries to get intimate with a man she shapeshifts--into his mother. The middle sister, Lizzie, can transmute objects. The only problem is that she keeps turning forks into bunnies, and any time she's sexually aroused or frustrated a new pair of shoes appears on her feet. The youngest sister, Mare, is telekinetic. show more However, she's barely managed how to figure out how to move muffins. Plus, her powers have wreaked havoc on her sex life considering any time she finds herself in the throes of passion things start flying across the room.

Needless to say, the sisters tend to see their powers as more of a curse than a gift, and they would be more than happy to give those powers up.

Their evil aunt Xantippe (Xan, for short) killed their parents years before while trying to take their powers away from them. Xan is obsessed with youth, beauty and power, and has devised a plan to obtain the sisters' powers which will result in her living longer, growing younger and most importantly being more powerful. How does she plan on doing this? She sends them their true loves with the thought that the sisters would be more than willing to sacrifice their magic for True Love.

The entire book takes place over one weekend, and in the course of three days (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), the sisters fall in love, have fantastic (and dare I say magical) sex and realize they actually want their powers.

Aside from the storyline I was also intrigued by the fact that this book was written by three different women, the sisters' stories intertwined rather than being separated into three short novellas. As a writer I was intrigued to see A) if they could pull it off and B) how they pulled it off if they did.

They definitely pulled it off.

This book is a great example of voice and POV. Each sister definitely has a distinctive voice (each writer told one sister's story), but they're woven together so well that it's very difficult to tell that the book was written by three different people. There are also seven Points of View--the three sisters, their true loves and Xan. That's pretty much unheard of in romance--unless you're Nora Roberts. The POV's are done extremely well, with no head hopping whatsoever. There was one place where I distinctly remember being pulled out of Lizzie's POV, but I was so wowed by the book as a whole that I can't even remember what about it pulled me out. Yes, this book was that good.

The only thing that I can even remotely complain about is that it's hinted that Danny (Dee's true love) has magical powers himself, but it's never explained how he came by them, what they are, if he accepts them, etc. Sure, he accepts Dee's powers (he was firmly anti-witchcraft) and loves her anyway, but when Dee tells him he's also magic he completely rebels against the idea. There wasn't any resolution to that particular thread, and I really would have liked to have seen it. I also kept wondering if Crash (Mare's true love) had any magical powers or if he was just completely ordinary.

I have to say that I absolutely adored this book. I started reading paranormal romance before everybody and their grandmother decided to write it, and I've always had a soft spot for stories about witches. Considering I also like a story that makes me laugh out loud, this was definitely a perfect fit. This was a great collaborative effort between three well-known romance writers (although, I have to admit, I'd never read anything by Stuart or Dreyer before this book), and a great illustration of just how much fun a well-crafted romance can be to read. show less

A great example of a collaboration between authors, though more degrees of emotion would have made the book better. In a sense, this is park your brain at the door romance but there’s not necessarily anything wrong with that, and to give the characters the depth to make this something more would have required a far longer book. Three writers, three central protagonists, three love interests, and three romances with some magic, and a villain woven in. I wanted a light read over Christmas week and this was perfect for that, though with enough threads to keep the story interesting.