Dreams Made Flesh (Black Jewels, Book 5)
by Anne Bishop

I first fell in love with Anne Bishop’s stories when I read “The Black Jewels” series. However, it’s been a while since I read that series and I actually just read her “The Tir Alainn Trilogy” not long ago. Fans of fantasy will probably best understand how hard it can be to keep track of the multiple worlds that you learn about fantasy series. Unless I’m currently reading a series, I usually have to go back and re-read each of the books in the series to recall all of the characters and their various histories as well as what events are driving the structure of the world. So, when I saw this book in the store, I snatched it up but I was hesitant to actually read it because I only had a vague memory of the other books. Unfortunately, I still don’t have my house and books unpacked and I couldn’t find these books in the areas that are readily accessible to me.

Finally, I decided I’d have to give the book a try and see how hard it was to get back into the world. Good thing! Turns out this is actually a collection of short stories that either take place before the overall series or at various times in between the books of the series. If you’ve read any of my posts about fan fiction, you’ll recognize that I love these type of stories. The best part about it in this case was that I really didn’t have to remember much about the series because of the nature of the stories. They did, however, make me want to go back and re-read the series. Now that I know the missing piece stories, it’ll be interesting to see how it changes my view of the characters in the original stories.

I’m not sure this is helpful or not and it’s a bit difficult to even try and explain what each story is about. They’re all a great look further into the lives of these characters and each story is emotionally moving in its own way. Of the four stories in the book, the one about about Lucivar and Marian was my favorite but the one about Janelle and Daemon was the most touching. The other great thing about the book is that each story is just the right length, making it easy to get through one story in one sitting. Fantasy can be frustrating in that you never want to stop in the middle of a complex segment for fear that you’ll be lost when you pick the book back up. With this book, you don’t have that problem. If you read the series, you’ll definitely want to read this book.

This Rake of Mine
by Elizabeth Boyle

Elizabeth is another author I read regularly. This book is from her “The Bachelor Chronicles” series and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It features several characters seen in previous books and centers around Jack and Miranda. Many years ago, Jack ruined Miranda’s reputation and led to her exile in the country. Now Miranda with three charges from the establishment where she teaches incognito is forced to take refuge at Jack’s country estate. Jack and Miranda are just the type of characters I love and I enjoyed their fight to resist their attraction as well as their struggle to keep their secret identities from each other. Plus, the rest of the characters add just the right amount of spice to the story. I definitely recommend this one.

The Naked Marquis
by Sally MacKenzie

I thought I had read “The Naked Duke” by Sally but, after reading this book, I’m pretty sure I haven’t and now I need to order it. This book was laugh out loud funny. I kept waking my mother up with my laughing. As you can imagine from the title Charles, the Marquis referenced, ends up naked more than once in the story. He spends the whole book trying to convince Emma, who adored him when they were younger, to marry him. Emma could have easily been too cliche but she managed to come across as believably in love with Charles while still having practical reasons for refusing his suit. If you get the chance, this is a fun read that should tickle your funny bone.