THE QUEEN IN WINTER

Author: Claire Delacroix, Lynn Kurland, Sharon Shinn and Sarah Monette ISBN: 0425207722 2/2006 PARANORMAL Publisher: PENGUIN PUTNAM/BERKLEY

A gifted seer receives a vision of a man who she was not meant to marry, but was meant to love…A man and an elven woman endure both the mundane and the magical in their quest to remain together…A warrior maiden is trapped in a deadly storm with the only man she ever wanted, whose scars she must heal if he is ever to want her…A brave young woman helps her sister save her magically-gifted child, only to receive an unexpected gift of her own. Enjoy four of today’s most imaginative authors, and four stories of love as pure as the driven snow that will warm the coldest of hearts…

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

I am on the fence with my review of THE QUEEN IN WINTER. That is the hard thing about reviewing an anthology. You can't judge just one author when reading the entire book. That being said, I will say that two of the stories are by authors that are new to me and they were great, while the two stories that are by two of my favorites are mediocre at best.

In Lynn Kurland's A Whisper of Spring, I wanted to love it just on pure principal, because I have been a fan of hers forever. But the truth is, I really could not love this story. The hero and heroine don't seem to be the focus of this story—the surroundings are. Descriptions abound of every hill, tree, blade of grass and breath that is taken by someone. There is not enough of the heroine and hero to actually come to love. Theirs is a swift and hasty courtship—if one would call one day a courtship—and then all of a sudden they are in love and defying her father. A Whisper of Spring truly did not seem to mesh well for me, and I know that Ms. Kurland is a much better writer than this story would imply.

Sharon Sinn's When Winter Comes is a warm and lovely story that adds wonderful, vibrant "color" to this book. The heroine is Sosie, a strong and courageous woman who is willing to go to any lengths to protect her nephew and sister. Darryn Rappengrass is the hero, and always seems to be on hand to help a damsel in distress. Sprinkled through with bits of humor and good old fashioned romance, When Winter Comes is my favorite story in the anthology.

Claire Delacroix is one of my all time favorite authors. Let me start my review by saying that I mean I LOVE all of her books. But The Kiss of the Snow Queen just seemed silly to me and I honestly can say that this is the only novella of Ms. Delacroix's that I have thoroughly disliked. In the story, a beautiful seer sees a man in her mirror, one who she believes she is supposed to be with. She tries to go to him to save him from some trouble that he is in, and along the way she falls for Loki, a shapeshifting hottie who is funny and charming with a hint at something deeper, almost darker about him. Loki is a great character and one that was totally redeemable in my eyes. Yet, in the end, Gerta didn't end up with him anyway, so he really had no point in the story. All of a sudden, Loki is gone and Gerta is marrying the man in the mirror sight unseen—no pun intended). It was thoroughly frustrating and made this my least favorite of the anthology.

In Sarah Monette's A Gift Of Wings, Agido and Mauer are a beautiful couple that brought tears to my eyes. Mauer is hurt and scarred, but a beautiful man inside. He is stubborn and prideful but Agido is just as strong as he is, if not more. She refuses to allow him to wallow in his misery and tries to bring him back to her, little by little. They are a wonderful contrast to one another and I found myself wishing that their story would continue much farther than what it did.

All in all THE QUEEN IN WINTER has got its good points and its bad, like any other book. I will definitely be looking for more from Sharon Shinn and Sarah Monette, and am diligently hoping that Claire Delacroix and Lynn Kurland bring back the kind of writing that has made them bestselling authors.

Kristal Gorman