Burning Up (Angela Knight, Nalini Singh, Virginia Kantra, Meljean Brook)

As much as I talk about Meljean Brook’s amazing Iron Seas series, it came as a surprise that I had never reviewed the story that forever hooked me on it. I hereby hasten to correct that egregious oversight.

It will be brief, but it will be done!

Burning Up by Angela Knight, Nalini Singh, Virginia Kantra and Meljean Brook

Not too long ago, in one of the Smart Bitches podcasts, there was a conversation on how effective are novellas as a way to introduce new series to readers.

My knee-jerk reaction is to say that they don’t work for me, but the truth is that they don’t when:

1. the world building doesn’t hold up in the novella,
2. events that are essential to the longer stories happen in the novellas (I like the shorts as extras, not compulsory reading, myself), and
3. when the novella is actually the first few chapters of a novel (yes, this has happened–ask Nora Roberts about Laurell K Hamilton and the Out Of This World anthology)

Three out of the four stories in Burning Up are part, or the starting point, of series of different lengths and success. I will review them as they appear in my print copy. Please do be aware the there’s explicit sex, and in some quite a bit of it, in all four stories.

Sea Witch, by Virginia Kantra

Sea Witch, by Virginia Kantra

The first full length novel in Ms Kantra’s Children of the Sea series, Sea Witch tells the story of the selkie Margred, one of the elemental beings born during God’s creation of the world, and Caleb Hunter, the very human chief of police of a small island off the coast of New England.

As I mentioned in my brief review of “Sea Crossing”, a short story and also a prequel for the series, the children of the sea are elementals and are loosely based on the Celtic legends of selkies, but with Ms Kantra’s personal twist.

Here is the back cover blurb:

“Sea Crossing” by Virginia Kantra

Shifter anthology

As implied by the title, this 2008 anthology by Berkley contains stories centered on shapeshifters, with each author giving these paranormal beings their own unique spin. I grabbed this book while glomming the Warriors of Poseidon series and, I have to say, I have had GREAT luck with anthologies lately. Way better than the usual for me, for sure: four stories, three read, three enjoyed.

The (much hated) back cover blurb:

Something happens when the beast within is teased and tempted. Something dangerous. Something inescapable. Something so irresistible no woman would want to run from it.

Whether transforming beneath a cool blue moon, prowling the night streets with feline grace and bloodred talons, or panting with pleasure, the shifters come alive to fulfill your wildest fantasies…