I picked this book up at one of those 4 for 10$ sales at my bookstores, where you have to have four books, to get the deal, at the time I had three that I really wanted and a few I wasn’t sure of, including this one. But I decided to get it anyways even though the blurb on the back of the book didn’t impress me much. I figured four short stories, one of them might stick. I’m glad I picked it because I ended up enjoying three of the four short stories. And I really enjoyed two of the four short stories. I’ll probably look into the authors other works (in a sort of related note, I found a list of books to read, and one of Sharon Shinn’s books was on it, small world).

Like most short story collections, you are going to have some you will like and some you won’t, and this is no exception, but for all the stories, the blurbs on the back of the book just don’t do it justice. I can see why it’s in a bargain bin, for so cheap, (this had the most copies in the selection of books included in the deal). The back of the blurb just doesn’t give potential readers enough information, to fully appreciate what the stories will be like. All of the stories are set in the back drop of winter, hence the winter titles. My favourite stories where; “When Winter Comes and A Gift of Wings. My least favourite was “The Kiss of the Snow Queen The titles of the short stories are:

A Whisper of Spring by Lynn Kurland
When Winter Comes by Sharon Shinn
The Kiss of the Snow Queen by Clair Delacroix
A Gift of Wings by Sarah Monette

For “When Winter Comes” I was caught up in the plot and the whole fantasy world the characters were in. The author did a great job at creating a fantasy world, and characters who were enjoyable to read. I enjoyed watching the two sisters strive for survival, in a world were mages are shunned away, and them trying to find a place in society. I found the love story side, a bit too predictable, but in the end, I didn’t mind as much, because the story as a whole was well told, and I was itching to read more about this fantasy world.

In “A Gift of Wings” had a bit of murder mystery in it, which made it that much better. Again, I was really interested in this authors “world” and wanted to learn more of the warrior woman and her kin of people. This one was one that was really hard to put down, because of the “murder mystery” aspect to it.

For a “Whisper in Spring”, the story wasn’t bad, nor was the writing style, although I did find there were some awkward dialogues in it, overall the story was well done, it just lost my interest in some points, and it was the usual “mortal versus immortal of races who are in love and them trying to ensure they keep that love. So it’s hard for a story like this, to be strong enough to pull you in, when it’s been done so much already, author did a good job at it, but, not my favourite in the collection.

“The Kiss of the Snow Queen”, was the worst in the book. The story seemed to not match up together as a whole, it had multiple elements, but I just didn’t see how they all fit together to create the story. Also the main character bugged me a lot, along with some of the other characters of the book. I think this is a story that needed to be at least the length of a novella, to fully have the impact the author intended to have (or what I think she was trying to have when she wrote the story). It just seems like it needs more.

Combined together, the stories were well down, and weren’t overall romancey. I don’t mind a bit of romance in a novel, and sometimes the right kind of romance novel/story works for me, but for most romance themed stories there I find are just not well down. In this collection the love stories are plausible and mixed in with the right amount of romance, and the right amount of fantasy worlds, it created a very interesting read.

Review also on my blog: http://juliebooks.blogspot.com/2009/0... ( )

This is a collection of four novellas; two by romance writers, two by writers of fantasy. The pieces by Shinn and Monette are readable and entertaining. The other two were not to my taste. Several good and detailed reviews have already been done on this one. My advice is to read them before you buy this book. ( )

This was a little collection of short fantasy/romance stories, by 4 women writers, that I picked up at the library book sale. I had never tried any of the authors before, so I thought it would be a fun experiment.

And it was fun. The first story, A Whisper of Spring, was by Lynn Kurland and it was a tale of a kidnapped elven princess and a wizard human prince who goes to rescue her. Nothing especially deep, but I just loved it. I liked the characters and the storytelling itself. I wish it had been longer, because I really wanted to read more about the characters.

The only story I wasn't especially happy with was the one by Claire Delacroix, a twist on the Snow Queen story that didn't really fit in with either the collection or the fairy tale itself.

But as always, part of the fun in a collection like this is that you discover some new authors - ones you like, ones you don't - and everyone else has a different opinion about it. I will look for more by Kurland and by Sharon Shinn. ( )

Four novellas by Claire Delacroix, Lynn Kurland, Sharon Shinn and Sarah Monette.

I found this collection to be a bit of a mixed bag. I enjoyed two of the stories very much, but the others did almost nothing for me.

I think my preferences here are divided along genre lines. The two stories that didn't click seemed, to me, to be rooted quite firmly in the romance genre. I haven't read a great deal of romance, but the few such novels I've been exposed to were mostly surface and little depth. The stories - "A Whisper of Spring" by Lynn Kurland and "The Kiss of the Snow Queen" by Claire Delacroix - fit the bill. We're told a lot of things, but at no point do the authors show us enough that we can really feel it. A lot happens in the background, and in many cases it seems as though each author has simply padded her story to make it fit a predetermined word count. They were disappointing. I did find it interesting that Delacroix chose to rework the Snow Queen myth, with some interesting inclusions, but I never felt that she really hit the mark. I'd give each of these stories somewhere between two and a half and three stars. They weren't bad, but they're nothing I'll feel the need to return to.

The other two stories - "When Winter Comes" by Sharon Shinn and "A Gift of Wings" by Sarah Monette - owe much more to the fantasy genre. The romance is decidedly understated in Shinn's story; she focuses on the main character's struggle to help her sister and her nephew lead a normal life. Each scene adds more to what we know about these two women and their difficulties. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and am looking forward to reading more of Shinn's work. I understand that this story ties into her series that begins with Mystic and Rider; perhaps I'll start there.

Monette's story is the reason I purchased the collection, and it was worth the price of admission. If I'd hated every other story, I'd still keep the book for this one alone. I just love the way this woman writes! She's got style aplenty; I sank straight into the story and didn't come up for air until I'd finished the last word. The atmosphere is just gorgeous, the world building is tops, and the relationship between the protagonist and her lover felt real. I'm very, very glad to have read it. While it's set in the same world as her series that begins with Melusine, it has no connection to that story.

I can't really recommend the stories by Kurland and Delacroix, but this is worth seeking out for the contributions from Shinn and Monette. ( )

I bought this for the Sharon Shinn story, which is the tale of two minor characters from her Twelve Houses series (they appear separately in earlier novels, and together in the fourth book, but this could stand alone). It was a one of the two good novellas in the book, giving a bit more depth to the two characters and some more background on the world.
The Lynn Kurland story was a rather pedestrian story about an elf who is kidnapped by a human and rescued by his brother, who happens to be in love with her.
Claire Delacroix's story seemed to be a reworking of the Snow Queen fairytale with added Loki. I'm not sure as I didn't read past a few pages.
Sarah Monette's contribution was the other good one - a warrior is escorting her former lover, now damaged physically and mentally, to a university where he can hopefully be healed.

The Shinn story ties in with her Mystic and Rider novel. It and the Monette story are both good stories, well-told, and worth your time, the other two are not. ( )

I only read the short story by Sarah Monette (which I absolutely loved). She's an amazing author- check out "Melusine", "The Virtu", and "The Mirador". ( )

http://rivkat.livejournal.com/162623.... ( )

http://www.lonelymountain.net/books/f... ( )

**** "A Whisper of Spring" by Lynn Kurland. Historical paranormal romance. Literally a fairy tale. It was love at first sight for a mage king and a fairy princess, but fairies don't wed mages. They get their chance when his evil brother captures and imprisons her and her brother asks him to rescue her. It was a nice story, but it felt as if a lot of it had been left out. We learn, for example, that he's one of the most powerful mages, but don't see much evidence of it. We also learn that her mother had betrayed her to the evil brother, but not why or how. It would make sense if it were part of a series, but I couldn't find any evidence of that.

**** "When Winter Comes" by Sharon Shinn. Fantasy. In a land where magic is distrusted, a young woman tries to protect her sister and infant nephew. The baby's father was a mystic, and the baby himself has magic powers that make it hard for them to stay incognito. They're aided by a man of the nobility and a pair of female mystics. It was interesting, but felt more like the introduction to something than a complete story in itself. The romance is virtually nonexistent, which isn't a bad thing, except that it's marketed as fantasy romance.

**** "The Kiss of the Snow Queen" by Claire Delacroix. Fantasy. Re-telling of the snow queen fairy tale, but instead of the brother being affected by the snow queen, it's the handsome prince. The heroine's a seer in training, who's been told that she must remain chaste to preserve her power. She's barricaded herself in her room to avoid a forced marriage to a cruel prince, calls for help in her magic mirror, and gets more than she bargained for. In the end, she has to choose between her power and the life of the man who came to her aid. All the sensuality in this one is related to an angel who calls himself Loki, who feeds on sexual energy. ****spoiler****It was a bit of a let-down to discover that the prince, whom we saw hardly at all in the story, was still the hero. The heroine spent all her time with Loki, and had all her emotional/sexual revelations with him. And it was rather unsettling that she surrendered her virginity to Loki, only to have him erase her memories of the event.****

**** "A Gift of Wings" by Sarah Monette. Fantasy/mystery. Again, light on the romance, which, again, is only a problem because it's marketed as romance, which has nothing to do with the story and everything to do with the publisher. Also again, I felt as if I'd come into the middle of a series, though according to her website, ""A Gift of Wings," takes place in the same world as Mélusine and The Virtu, though it is a standalone story--no overlap with the novels." The h/h are on their way to seek help for him--he was wounded physically and his magic was damaged or destroyed somehow in a war. At an inn, they come across an arrogant wizard who'd told him that his injuries were all in his head, then later that night, they discover the man dead. Being the obvious suspects, the h/h have to find whodunit. Fans of gender reversal will like this one--the heroine is larger & stronger than the hero, and he's very dependent on her. Call me sexist, but I don't find that romantically appealing at all. As a fantasy, though, it's fine. It does turn out that she'd fallen in love with him before his injuries, so that redeems the love story for me--otherwise, I'd be thinking she was more in love with the image of herself as a longsuffering caretaker to an invalid. ( )