Tied With A Bow by Eileen Wilks, Virginia Kantra, Lora Leigh and Kimberly Frost
Review by Susan R. (Sue-in-AZ)
Story Synopsis
This is an anthology of 4 paranormal romances. As usual with these sort of books, the four authors are a mix of newer and more established authors. Each story is “novella” length. By necessity, the plots move really quickly. Not a whole lot of set up before we jump right into the heart of each story.
The first story is “Upon a Midnight Clear” by Virginia Kantra. This is written as a historical romance with a twist. For the “historical” part, Aimee is rescued as a young girl from the Terror during the French Revolution. She’s taken to England where she is raised by distant relatives. As the poor relation, she is treated as an unpaid servant, expected to be grateful to be given a place to live.
For the “twist” part, her rescuer is an angel, come down to earth to grant Aimee’s mother an answer to her prayers. But the angel is definitely not supposed to rescue Aimee – and in fact, he has been cast out of heaven for doing so. He is forced to live as a human, and is sent to earth as a 17 year old boy.
Now, years later, Aimee and her former angel meet as adults……
The second story is “First Light” by Kimberly Frost. A note from the author explains this story is intended to introduce a new series: Etherlin.
In this story we are introduced to another angel: Nathaniel. Nathaniel started out as a human during the Roman Empire, and was recruited to become an archangel to fight evil demons. One demon in particular: Gadreel. Nathaniel and Gadreel have fought many times over the centuries. But there’s a new twist this time – Kate.
Years ago, Kate found a unique ring – apparently dating back to the Roman Empire. What she doesn’t know is the ring belongs to Nathaniel, and he wants it back. But the ring holds the key to both their futures and they have some extremely difficult choices to make.
The third story is “Human Error” by Eileen Wilks. This book picks up characters familiar from the author’s World of the Lupi series.
Benedict is a werewolf, or lupi in the lingo of the series. His “mate” is Arjenie. The story of how they meet and become mates is told in one of Wilks’ full-length books.
In this novella, Benedict is meeting Arjenie’s family for the very first time – at Christmas. Or really at Yule, since Arjenie’s family are Wiccan. The family knows Benedict is lupi, but he wants to present himself as normal as possible. Unfortunately, right off the bat, a malevolent force causes Benedict to shift into wolf form. He scares the whole family – one uncle even pulls out a gun!
After things calm down, Benedict, Arjenie and the whole family go to work to discover what evil force is stalking not just Benedict, but all of them….
The fourth story is “An Inconvenient Mate” by Lora Leigh. This novella is part of the author’s very prolific Breeds series.
Malachi is a Coyote Breed – a result of a genetic experiment, and now an agent working against such experiments. He’s come to the Navajo Nation with a small group of Breed agents, looking for a rogue Breed who’s been killing scientists.
Isabelle is the Navajo chief’s niece. Her friends spot the very handsome Malachi in the bar and dare Isabelle to approach him. They know she won’t take them up on the dare – she’s gun-shy after leaving an abusive relationship. But the magnetism coming off Malachi in waves draws Isabelle in. It’s like they’re the only two people in the room.
What Isabelle doesn’t know is that Malachi has recognized her as his “mate” – which means something very permanent to his kind. What follows is definitely hot and steamy.
My Review
I loved all four stories! Since the format is short, there’s not a lot of time for the characters to have second thoughts – or sometimes even a first thought – before jumping into some pretty juicy scenes! I thought all four authors did a good job on developing characters and settings in the space available.
This is a good format to try out some new authors, jump into a new series, or get a little extra tidbit in a series you already love.
