Burning Up [Anthology 4-in-1]

I got this book as part of a reading challenge I am doing with vvb32 reads (thanks for the awesome book!). Readers of my reviews know that I am more of an urban fantasy fan than a paranormal romance (PNR) fan, but I do enjoy the occasional PNR novel. I was eager to read stories by Nalini Signh and Meljean Brook since those were two authors I have been dying to check out. The collection of stories was pretty good and widely varied.

Angela Knight's Blood and Roses was set in a fantasy setting with a creative world set-up; I enjoyed it and loved the special powers of the Blood Roses. It was a little romancy for me but the creative world definitely kept my attention.

The highlight of the book was Here There Be Monsters, a prelude story to show more Meljean Brook's new Iron Duke series. This was a great story and made the whole book worth reading. The world Brook has created is incredible, the characters full of depth, and some of the scenes incredibly steamy. This story packed more story than any of the other stories in this novel and didn't sacrifice creativity and action to provide romance. Overall it was a wonderful story that I really enjoyed.

Whisper of Sin by Nalini Singh and Shifting Sea by Virginia Kantra were more typical PNR. Both about tough men falling for beautiful women; the majority of the story focused on getting the two main characters in "bed" so to speak. Although I will say that Kantra's finfolk are interesting and I have never read about anything like them before.

A highly varied collection of stories. All more with a romance bent to them than an urban fantasy bent. I would definitely recommend urban fantasy and steampunk fans check out Here There Be Monsters by Meljean Brook. See below for more detail on each story.

- Whisper of Sin by Nalini Singh (3/5 stars)
Supposedly this is a prelude to Singh's Psy/Changeling series. It was okay. The characters definitely have good chemistry. The story plot is just barely there and mainly used as a vehicle to provide steamy scenes. This was bit too much of your helpless female/alpha male set up for me. I am really not into that kind of thing. It was well-written though.

- Blood and Roses by Angela Knight (4/5 stars)
This was a well done fantasy story. The chemistry between the two main characters was excellent and Knight creates a story in a complex universe with complex politics. The main character is a Blood Rose whose lot in life is to fuel the desire and power of vampires. Both the Blood Rose, Amaris, and the vampire, Raniero, are very conflicted characters. There are some nice fight scenes and some very steamy scenes. I liked this story. Again it was a bit too much of a romance for me, but still well-balanced.

- Shifting Sea by Virginia Kantra (3/5 stars)
Story about a soldier turned landowner who stumbles upon a beautiful woman, Morwenna, who is not quite human. Morwenna is one of the finfolk and wants to escape the ocean to try out life as a human. Basically the soldier sets out to woo Morwenna and there are complications because of her background. The story is well-written and the finfolk are unique. Not much humor or action.

- Here There Be Monsters by Meljean Brook (5/5 stars)
This was an absolutely wonderful story. I have never read any of Brook's books before but I want too. This was a great opportunity to be introduced to her writing and her new Iron Duke series. This is a steampunk fantasy novella and featured an incredibly creative world with a bleak tone to it. Loved that the characters had clockwork limbs grafted on and that steampunk and nano technology helped to run so much of this world. There was action in here, a wonderful world, believable characters, and great descriptions of fantastical devices. The two main characters had excellent chemistry and really tugged at your heart. There were the prerequisite steamy scenes which were tastefully done and engaging. I just really loved this story and am eager to read the Iron Duke series now. show less

Individual story reviews, than a wrap-up!

"Whisper of Sin" by Nalini Singh (futuristic paranormal)
I haven't read Singh's 'Psy-Changeling' series before, so I was a little apprehensive and worried I would get lost. Not so! Singh gave me a good sense of the world, the politics and who's who without making it seem contrived for exposition. I loved Ria's family--the scene at dinner when certain revelations are brought forth by her popo (grandmother) Miaolong in regards to the 'Great Match' was priceless. The threat level for the story was kind of middling however, for once having such a big bad impressively male specimen as the 'hero' of the story worked against it. Emmett and his pack were just so effective--in both action and from the show more stories--a human gang like Vincent's didn't seem threatening. At all. More of a mild irritant.

"Blood and Roses" by Angela Knight (historical fantasy paranormal)
As far as I can tell this isn't tied with any of her other series, but having not read her longer works (just the occasional short story), I can't be certain. Medieval vampire romance with lizard barbarians, wizards and violence aplenty. I was intrigued by the notion of the 'Blood Roses', women who were genetically predisposed to being the perfect bed mates for the Vampire Knights, men genetically predisposed to being super-awesome fighters for the king. Both the leads--Amaris and Raniero--had deep trust issues, but sex cured them of that. Sort of. Desperation I think also helped; Amaris was desperate to save her sister and Raniero was just desperate to keep himself alive and save the world. Still, I'm intrigued by the Blood Roses and would love to see more about that.

"Shifting Sea" by Virginia Kantra (historical paranormal)
This is part of her Children of the Sea series, of which I read one book from (Sea Lord, Book 3) and was not suitably impressed with to read the others. The covers are gorgeous however. Morwenna was a child of the Sea, finfolk and Jack was a recently injured soldier taking over a holding with hostile villagers and a self-satisfied steward. As I said, the series doesn't quite catch me and while I enjoyed this story and was delighted by the outcome it didn't change my opinion. Also, some of the issues Morwenna brings up--especially in regards to her brother Morgan--aren't given enough explanation in the end. I did find her attempting to live like a human amusing--in that she was kind of like the Little Mermaid, intrigued by shoes, a dress, riding a horse.

"Here There By Monsters" by Meljean Brook (steampunk paranormal)
This is the beginning to Brook's up-coming Iron Seas steampunk romance series. Its about Mad Machen (Eben) and his inability to properly court engineering whiz Ivy. No really that's pretty much the whole set up, but you see Eben is a pirate (with a very very bad reputation, that may or may not be taken completely out of context at times) and Ivy is part mechanical (her arms at least, though we're never told why). Ivy is dead certain Eben means her harm, Eben is dead certain he wants Ivy in his life for keeps and Lady Corsair (a female airship pirate--er merchant) is dead certain the two will be the end of decent pirating. Its at time amusing to see Eben try to quell his rather violent nature to reassure Ivy, while Ivy doesn't question the fact he's taking one coin a night to avoid 'mauling' her. Lady Corsair who pops up infrequently and tends to disturb the peace, was fun and I hope we see more of her! This just made me want the new series now and I'm rather cross I have to wait until October to read about the Iron Duke himself.

I tried to include the sub-genre each story was part of as well, but they all shared 'paranormal' and with the exception of Singh's were all set in a historical like time period (Medieval, Regency, Victorian). I definitely liked Brook's story the best, but I can honestly say I didn't dislike any of these stories. Some worked less well for me (such as Kantra's) and some I would have liked way more expansion of the world on (Knight's) and then I'm likely to go and find me Singh's other Psy-Changling books now, but in all this entire collection was a solid romance anthology. show less

This is only a review of Meljean Brook's Here There Be Monsters.

When I first got this book I did it because of Virginia Kantra and Nalini Singh, I was a fan of both of them but I had never heard of either Meljean or Angela, and so I skipped their stories. Some months later The Iron Duke came out and it caused such a stir that I became curious and decided to check out her backlist before reading it (I normally do this, if I hear about a great book by an author new to me I usually read his/hers previous books before actually reading the new one with the great reviews). So I bought the Hot Spell anthology and Demon Angel. Two weeks later I had read the whole Guardian’s Series and wanted to marry Meljean.

Here There Be Monsters was a show more complete different experience though, I can’t believe that one single person can come up with such different worlds and do it so well. I’m actually in awe of people like Meljean Brook, Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews and so many other brilliant writers and storytellers.

I think this one is my favorite book of hers, I even voted for it as winner of DABWAHA -were I got my ass kicked BTW-. It’s a Steampunk novel, and I had to google that name because I had no idea what that was about, but I don’t think you need to be a fan of the genre to love it.

I don’t want to give much away but the story is about Ivory who is a very talented but very poor Blacksmith, she’s desperate to leave London because people are starting to disappear from their beds and she is afraid she will be next. She goes to the infamous pirate Mad Mahen and begs for him to let her travel on his ship and even offers herself to him, but on the last minute she finds an alternate way to scape and leaves without fulfilling the bargain. Years later their paths cross again.

This book was incredible because in such a small page count she gives you a strong world building and backstory, well drawn main characters, intriguing secondary characters, an action packed plot, a sweet romance, a very clever ending, and an overall satisfying experience that leaves you wanting more.

As I have said in others reviews I am not a big fan of Fantasy, Historical or Sci-fi romance, this book was all of that and I adored it. It took me out of my comfort zone and I wasn’t expecting to like it that much but it blew me away, as I said I really think this is my favorite book by this author and that is saying a lot because her work is exceptional.

If you are looking for a satisfying rich story but don’t have a lot of time in your hands, then this one is perfect for you. If you are a fan of any of those genres, if you are looking for something new or if you are just a fan of romance in general like me, then read it I believe you won’t regret it. show less

I only read Nalini Singh's story. It was a cute, fast read.

ETA: I read Brook's story and I liked it. I think I liked it slightly better than Singh's story. The characters had depth making it easy for me to care about them. The world was interesting and different, though I wished it was explained in a little more detail. I'm looking forward to reading Iron Duke now.

I think this is a rare occasion, I liked all the stories. Normally I only like 1 or 2 of an anthology.

Nalini Singh was a given since I love her Psy-Changeling series. I just wish it could have been longer. But I think she was able to tell a complete story in 87 pages, and I give it 4 stars.

Angela Knight - I've never read any of her vampire stories. While we got a backstory on both characters, there was a beginning, middle and end, and I liked the premise, I just never connected with the story. I give it 2 1/2 stars.

Virginia Kantra - I'm not sure I have ever read any of her stories. I liked the premise of the story, but I don't think we got enough of the leading lady's side of things. The leading man was kind of weak. Plus I'm not a huge show more fan of that time period, so I can only give it 2 1/2 stars.

Meljean Brook was my surprise story. I've only read her in anthologies and I have never read a steampunk story before. I liked the mismash of old and metal. I remember first hearing about steampunk and never really understanding what it meant. I found both leads likeable and their romance believable. I give this 4 stars and would love to read another steampunk story from Ms. Brook. show less

Whispers of Sin by Nalini Singh.Set in 2072, some years before Slave to Sensation, this is Ria & Emmett's story. It's funny to see Dorian so young! I thought it had an excellent start but it kind of fizzled a little for me by the end - I wonder if it's because the story, due to it's length, couldn't be fleshed out enough to satisfy - I wanted more Emmett!Read 3 June 20113 stars.Here Be Monsters by Meljean BrookI enjoyed this short story about Pirate Captain "Mad" Machen and Ivy Blacksmith. On the one hand, I appreciated that there wasn't an info dump about the world but on the other, I can't say I truly understood about the nanoagents etc. There were a couple of steamy scenes and overall, it was cleverly written and a very good show more introduction to the MB Steampunk world. I think I'll read The Iron Duke next.Read 20 July 20123.5 stars.Shifting Sea by Virginia KantraI've been hearing a little about this author lately and so was inspired to try this book. I enjoyed the story and certainly liked Ms. Kantra's writing style. Set in 1813, Jack Harris returns scarred from the Peninsula wars to take up his unexpectedly inherited estate in the north of England. He meets Morwenna, a member of the "finfolk", an immortal shapechanger who can shift to any sea creature as well as take human form. What starts off as merely Morwenna taking her pleasure from Jack begins to be a relationship between them and then the wider town and fishing community. It seems that for Morwenna to choose a life with Jack permanently, she must give up her ability to shape shift and her immortality - I thought those aspects were not very well explored. It seemed that Jack didn't know about it. And there were some little things, like when Morwenna has dinner at the estate, her hair is curled and styled but she didn't know how to do it herself I don't think - she's never worn shoes before she meets Jack so I think her adaption to the human lifestyle was also a bit glossed over. This could well be because of the limits of the format - there's only so much you can fit in to 100 pages or less.Read 21 July 20123/3.5 stars www.kaetrinsmusings.blogspot.comOverall, I liked all three novellas I read in the anthology. I don't think I will read the other one - even though Angela Knight's name is biggest on the cover, I just don't want to read another vampire series. I'd only read Nalini Singh's series before. I regard these sort of shorts as a sort of entry point to a series, a "give a writer/series a try" kind of thing and for authors that I already read, it's a bit of fun. It's pretty rare a short story will get 5 stars from me - mostly I think there's not enough room for it to be that awesome and I try to be a little sparing with the high grades. As far as the success of the anthology is concerned - I already read the Psy/Changeling series, I now plan to read some more Virginia Kantra and I'm currently reading The Iron Duke - so I'd count that as a success. July 2012. show less

Whisper of Sin / Nalini Singh - A prequel to the Psy/Changeling series. After human Ria is attacked by thugs, DarkRiver leopard-shifter Emmett takes her under his protection. Compared to Singh's other work, this story seems kind of 'phoned in, but it's still enjoyable. If you haven't read anything in the series yet, this would be a fine place to start.

Blood and Roses / Angela Knight - Vampire warrior Raniero and Blood Rose Amaris must battle an evil sorcerer and their distrust of each other to save their kingdom from invasion. Set in a medieval fantasy realm. The world building seemed kind of incomplete, but still interesting enough that I'd be willing to read more in the series (if there is a series planned). I enjoyed this a lot more show more than I expected to.

Shifting Sea / Virginia Kantra - Set in 1813, Major John Harris has returned from war after inheriting property in Scotland. There, he meets a mysterious woman named Morwenna, whose secrets seem at odds with her forwardness. I'm not super keen on historicals or mermaid stories, but this was nice in a fairy tale sort of way. (Well, fairy tale-like except for the HEA, of course.)

Here There Be Monsters / Meljean Brook - Loved it! Romantic steampunk done well. Blacksmith Ivy is on the run from monsters and asks the pirate Mad Machen for help. Unfortunately for them both, he's so madly infatuated with her and so verbally-clumsy from it that he completely freaks her out. Solid world-building and I loved the characters. This changed the book from being a read-once to a keeper-shelf book for me, and I'm now planning to pre-order The Iron Duke. show less