Night's Edge (Her Best Enemy | Someone Else's Shadow | Dancers in the Dark)
by Maggie Shayne (Contributor)
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DANCERS IN THE DARK by Charlaine HarrisDancer Layla Rue Le May's childhood prepared her to handle just about anything, including her aloof partner, Sean McClendon, a three-hundred-year-old vampire. But when she acquires a stalker, Layla Rue is surprised to find that Sean is the only one she can trust.
HER BEST ENEMY by Maggie Shayne
Kiley Brigham refuses to believe there's a ghost in her house, but when an unseen hand leaves a bloody message on her mirror, she's forced to turn to local show more psychic Jack McCain. As the two work to uncover a long-buried secret, Kiley finds that she's haunted not by spirits, but by thoughts of Jack....
SOMEONE ELSE'S SHADOW by Barbara Hambly
Maddie Laveau worries about her young roommate, Tessa, when she stays late to practice ballet in the old Glendower Building...and when Tessa goes missing, Maddie enlists mysterious tenant Phil Anderson to help. But is Phil the white knight she needs, or the predator she fears?
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I was dissappointed with Ms. Harris's story, and didn't read more than a couple pages of the 2nd story, but I loved Ms. Hambly's story! The barrier between the main characters made sense, instead of being contrived. The female lead dealt with her own problems, then invited the male lead to her life - she didn't need a man to make her complete. The writing was delicious, and the sexy bit were realistic and quite romantic. I can see myself in this sort of relationship. I kind of have a crush on both the main characters, truth be told :)
Overall, it's a good enough collection of romance stories. If you're not a romance fan, just read the last story, "Someone Else's Shadow" by Barbara Hambly.
Overall, it's a good enough collection of romance stories. If you're not a romance fan, just read the last story, "Someone Else's Shadow" by Barbara Hambly.
"Dancers in the Dark" by Charlaine Harris is set in the same universe as the Southern Vampire/Sookie Stackhouse stories, but with none of the incredibly annoying characters. How refreshing! It does go back to the same stuff Harris explored in her Shakespeare series and one of her standalone books (Sweet and Deadly? I can't remember if it was that one of the other, as they don't stand out in my memory too much anyway). The story wasn't terribly, though, and I was engaged. I kept thinking while reading, "Didn't I read another short story or novella in this universe about dancers?" Anybody else remember? I hate it when my memory goes wonky like that."Her Best Enemy" was too hackneyed, bringing in too many old standbyes. There's a tough show more girl reporter who is really a sweet woman who just needs a good man after a bad one took everything she had, a sexy man who is tougher than he looks and better able to protect her than even he knew, etc. I don't remember reading anything really strong by Maggie Shayne yet, but she's definitely on the romance side of the paranormal romance street, so that may explain my lack of enthusiasm.Barbara Hambly's contribution, "Someone Else's Shadow," has us back in the world of dance. I wouldn't be surprised to see this one and the first story in a dance-themed anthology (they probably are, already, and I just don't realize it yet). It was the strongest story of the three (with reason, as Hambly is certainly the most experienced and IMNSHO best writer of the three). Sound plotting, good reasoning, likable characters who are well-rounded and believable, neither perfect saints nor disgusting sinners.I kept thinking of Hope while reading the last story because the main character dances and teaches belly dance, and there's a lovely quote from the first time she dances in front of her love interest, "It's all dancing. Skill infused with joy. Weaving jewelry out of dreams." show less
Night's Edge brings together three authors and three novellas. I originally picked up the book for Charlaine Harris's Dancers in the Dark as part of the Sookie Stackhouse universe and read the other stories as well.
Dancers in the Dark is not so much an integral part of the Sookie Stackhouse saga as it is a story that simply takes place in the same universe. At the same time, it's nice to see a wholly separate story that is free of the Bon Tempes connection. This story follows Layla Rue Le May's story of joining a vampire/human dance troupe that performs for private parties. Just as she sees her life taking shape, her past comes back to haunt her...but her vampire partner Sean McClendon is determined to protect her. Layla/Rue is not a show more Sookie clone, so this story does take a wholly different path and is a nice change of pace for Harris.
Her Best Enemy by Maggie Shayne is the strongest story in the group. Kiley spends her days as a columnist debunking all manner of con artist with her latest eye on the bustling Burnt Hill's psychic business. So what happens when the one psychic she hasn't been able to debunk, Jack McCain, becomes her one hope in getting to the bottom of the mysterious goings on in her house? A well-paced story with two characters that seem well aware of how crazy certain moves can seem in the paranormal romance world.
The weakest story of the lot, Someone Else's Shadow suffers not from a bad idea, but from lack of focus. Barbara Hambly brings us more dancers and musicians and some very creepy goings-on at the building where lofts are rented on the cheap for all manner of creative studio space. Maddie Laveau's roommate has become the focus of this evil and she's enlisted the help of Phil Anderson...even though her gut tells her that it may not be a good idea. Although this is all solid enough, things start to erode around the edges. Not the least of which is the problem of Tessa. Tessa's character is clearly used as a prop throughout the story and we're never really given a good reason for Maggie to constantly seek out and protect Tessa in the middle of the night outside of her being "a sweet kid." show less
Dancers in the Dark is not so much an integral part of the Sookie Stackhouse saga as it is a story that simply takes place in the same universe. At the same time, it's nice to see a wholly separate story that is free of the Bon Tempes connection. This story follows Layla Rue Le May's story of joining a vampire/human dance troupe that performs for private parties. Just as she sees her life taking shape, her past comes back to haunt her...but her vampire partner Sean McClendon is determined to protect her. Layla/Rue is not a show more Sookie clone, so this story does take a wholly different path and is a nice change of pace for Harris.
Her Best Enemy by Maggie Shayne is the strongest story in the group. Kiley spends her days as a columnist debunking all manner of con artist with her latest eye on the bustling Burnt Hill's psychic business. So what happens when the one psychic she hasn't been able to debunk, Jack McCain, becomes her one hope in getting to the bottom of the mysterious goings on in her house? A well-paced story with two characters that seem well aware of how crazy certain moves can seem in the paranormal romance world.
The weakest story of the lot, Someone Else's Shadow suffers not from a bad idea, but from lack of focus. Barbara Hambly brings us more dancers and musicians and some very creepy goings-on at the building where lofts are rented on the cheap for all manner of creative studio space. Maddie Laveau's roommate has become the focus of this evil and she's enlisted the help of Phil Anderson...even though her gut tells her that it may not be a good idea. Although this is all solid enough, things start to erode around the edges. Not the least of which is the problem of Tessa. Tessa's character is clearly used as a prop throughout the story and we're never really given a good reason for Maggie to constantly seek out and protect Tessa in the middle of the night outside of her being "a sweet kid." show less
A solid collection of short stories with varying degrees of paranormal/urban fantasy.
Harris and Hambly both write about dancers, Shayne about a reporter. All three stories move along well.
Hambly combines three of my obsessions - bellydance, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory tragedy and ghosts - into one story. I loved the first half, but in the second it feels like she suddenly realized she had to get the romance part in there, so the heroine goes from suspecting the leading man is a killer to being in love with him in about three pages, with no good reason given. Romance passages fail to move the story forward, and toward the end the story really drags. Also a bit too much lecture about how to properly appreciate bellydance, and that's show more saying something coming from me. A little goes a long way, you know? I fully expect to see this as a Lifetime movie one day, however.
Shayne's story is just rollicking paranormal fun with an old-fashioned haunted house and a psychic who doesn't realize he isn't a complete hoaxer. Moved quickly and was a sheer blast.
Harris's story, although it doesn't include Sookie Stackhouse, concerns characters she meets, and moves rather quickly. Also lots of fun, frankly, although it's an obvious plot device that the "leading man" vamp must hate computers. I'm not sure if I've read anything else where Harris details the process of becoming a vampire quite so closely. show less
Harris and Hambly both write about dancers, Shayne about a reporter. All three stories move along well.
Hambly combines three of my obsessions - bellydance, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory tragedy and ghosts - into one story. I loved the first half, but in the second it feels like she suddenly realized she had to get the romance part in there, so the heroine goes from suspecting the leading man is a killer to being in love with him in about three pages, with no good reason given. Romance passages fail to move the story forward, and toward the end the story really drags. Also a bit too much lecture about how to properly appreciate bellydance, and that's show more saying something coming from me. A little goes a long way, you know? I fully expect to see this as a Lifetime movie one day, however.
Shayne's story is just rollicking paranormal fun with an old-fashioned haunted house and a psychic who doesn't realize he isn't a complete hoaxer. Moved quickly and was a sheer blast.
Harris's story, although it doesn't include Sookie Stackhouse, concerns characters she meets, and moves rather quickly. Also lots of fun, frankly, although it's an obvious plot device that the "leading man" vamp must hate computers. I'm not sure if I've read anything else where Harris details the process of becoming a vampire quite so closely. show less
"Dancers in the Dark" - A story set in the world of Sookie Stackhouse, but not featuring any characters from that series. Rue is desperately trying to escape a horrific event from her past, and avoid the person who inflicted it upon her. Needing money, she joins a dance troupe made up of humans and vampires. Her vampire partner, Sean, seems cold and aloof at first, but they dance well together and he becomes enamored with her and tries to figure out her secrets so that he can protect her. This story elucidates more aspects of vampire life and introduces compelling characters. One hopes they will someday interact with Sookie and her friends.
I picked this one up to check out the Charlaine Harris story in this collection of supernatural romance novellas (novellae?). Hers was decent, Hambly's was better - they both had dance elements and I liked Hambly's bellydancer in Manhattan. Sadly, Shayne's story was fairly lame. (November 10, 2006)
This was a collection of three novellas. Each novella has a heavy paranormal theme to it along with some romance. All the stories also feature women who have a history of abuse by men and the stories are somewhat about them overcoming that past.
My favorite of the bunch was “Dancers in the Dark” by Harris. This story actually made me a bit sad because it reminded me what a great writer Harris was before she stopped editing her books (around the True Blood TV series time).
Overall, all of the novellas are decent and I would recommend if you are a paranormal romance fan. I have brief review of each novella below.
Dancers in the Dark by Charlaine Harris (5/5 stars)
Great story about Rue and Sean. Really enjoyed it.
Her Best Enemy by Maggie show more Shayne (4/5 stars)
This was a good story about a haunted house. The woman who moves in there debunks psychics for a living and needs to request the help of her great enemy, a psychic named Jack, to get the evil ghost out of her house. The story was good and creepy; I didn’t think the chemistry between the two characters was all that great though.
Someone Else’s Shadow by Barbara Hambly (4/5 stars)
In this story a young woman who teaches belly dance is creeped out by the building she works in. When her roommate, a fellow dancer, starts acting strange she begins to suspect that the building is haunted by an evil presence. This was an okay story; it’s a good creepy mystery but the chemistry between the two main characters was just so-so. show less
My favorite of the bunch was “Dancers in the Dark” by Harris. This story actually made me a bit sad because it reminded me what a great writer Harris was before she stopped editing her books (around the True Blood TV series time).
Overall, all of the novellas are decent and I would recommend if you are a paranormal romance fan. I have brief review of each novella below.
Dancers in the Dark by Charlaine Harris (5/5 stars)
Great story about Rue and Sean. Really enjoyed it.
Her Best Enemy by Maggie show more Shayne (4/5 stars)
This was a good story about a haunted house. The woman who moves in there debunks psychics for a living and needs to request the help of her great enemy, a psychic named Jack, to get the evil ghost out of her house. The story was good and creepy; I didn’t think the chemistry between the two characters was all that great though.
Someone Else’s Shadow by Barbara Hambly (4/5 stars)
In this story a young woman who teaches belly dance is creeped out by the building she works in. When her roommate, a fellow dancer, starts acting strange she begins to suspect that the building is haunted by an evil presence. This was an okay story; it’s a good creepy mystery but the chemistry between the two main characters was just so-so. show less
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- Canonical title
- Night's Edge (Her Best Enemy | Someone Else's Shadow | Dancers in the Dark) (Her Best Enemy | Someone Else's Shadow | Dancers in the Dark)
- Alternate titles
- Dancers in the Dark / Charlaine Harris; Her Best Enemy / Maggie Shayne; Someone Else's Shadow / Barbara Hambly
- Original publication date
- 2004-10-01
- People/Characters
- Layla Rue Le May; Sean McClendon; Sylvia Dayton; Julie; Thompson; Carver Hutton IV (show all 16); Megan; Hallie; David; Will Kryder; Kiley Brigham; Jack McCain; Chris; Maddie Laveau; Phil Anderson; Tessa Lopez
- Important places
- Pineville, Tennessee, USA; Burnt Hills, New York, USA; New York, New York, USA
- Dedication
- For George...and Baby (Someone Else's Shadow)
- First words
- Rue paused to gather herself before she pushed open the door marked both Blue Moon Entertainment and Black Moon Productions. (Dancers in the Dark)
In the time it took Kiley Brigham to submerge her head, rinse out the shampoo and sit up again, the temperature in the bathroom had plummeted from "steamy sauna" to somewhere around "clutch your arms and shiver." (Her Best... (show all) Enemy)
"Tessa?" (Someone Else's Shadow) - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Her Best Enemy
"You can't bring any ghosts with you."
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Someone Else's Shadow
They rose from the divan and dressed, then went down to join their friends, afterward walking to the subway together through the icy January night.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Dancers in the Dark
She took Sean's hand. "Layla," she said gently. "My name is Layla." - Disambiguation notice
- This anthology contains the following 3 short stories:
Her Best Enemy by Maggie Shayne
Someone Else's Shadow by Barbara Hambly
Dancers in the Dark by Charlaine Harris
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