Brits in Time by assorted authors

TITLE: Brits in Time
AUTHOR: Bronwyn Green, Aurora Rose Lynn, Cindy Spencer Pape, Brynn Paulin, Lisabet Sarai, Saskia Walker
PUBLISHER: Total-e-bound
LENGTH: Anthology (roughly 92k)
GENRE: Historical erotic romance
COST: £5.69

Six stories of erotic romance, all set in Great Britain’s rich history…

The one most consistent, strongest part of this anthology is all the world building that happens in each of the individual stories. There isn’t a one of them that falls short in that regard, which often help a story along when the narrative isn’t quite as strong.

The first story in the anthology is “To Conquer a Lady” by Aurora Rose Lynn. Edmund de Montfort has wanted Lady Isabelle for years, but without a title, he has no chance of getting her. So he went off to earn one and gain some land, but her father still refused him. This gives him no choice but to kidnap her instead, so he lays siege to her father’s castle without knowing the father has died. Isabelle fears the truth getting out and losing what little control she has. This one starts out a little rough, as I really don’t like either one of the two leads. Edmund is pushy without being engaging, Isabelle is bitchy and bitter, and I have no idea how I’m supposed to want to read about them. The situation does improve, but not very much, and I was a little worried I might end up muddling through this collection.

That got banished with the second story. “Mist and Stone” by Bronwyn Green is about Gareth, a knight for Arthur, and Willow, a priestess for the Lady of the Lake. They grew up together, and while harboring feelings for each other for quite a while, each is oblivious to the other’s true feelings. This one engages almost from the opening lines, with smart, sparkling characters, a sweet, wrenching romance, and a great finish. In fact, I liked this story so much, I was even willing to overlook the convenient plot device that forces these two to get intimate. Under other circumstances, the whole “sex must be had to save the kingdom/world/humanity” angle drives me crazy. Here, the writing was deft enough to make me forget my usual dislike.

I honestly thought that was likely to be my favorite story of the bunch. I was wrong. The third story, “In the Dark” by Brynn Paulin, takes that prize. Katherine Wolf has born with a mark on her face, one that would brand her as a witch and probably killed if the outside world discovered it. She stays hidden away in her family’s castle, and when they are all felled by the plague, she is the lone family survivor. The castle is given to Calen the Black, a fierce warrior banished from Court but determined to make the “haunted” castle hospitable. Katherine is drawn to him, and when she sneaks into him at night, he thinks her one of the local girls servicing his men…until she disappears before morning. The set-up is gothic, romantic, and utterly compelling. Katherine is a woman determined to survive, innocent to so many ways of the world because of her seclusion and yet yearning for the things in life so freely given to other women. Calen is honorable and just this side of dangerous, and his obsession with Katherine passionate and compelling. The combination created a wonderful romance that completely restores faith in this author. I’d read another novella by her a year and a half ago that I really didn’t like, so I’ll be honest and say I didn’t bother seriously considering any of her work afterward. But this was enough for me to convince me there’s some real storytelling ability there, and I’m likely to go back and take another look at her backlist, as well as give future work far more credence.

On that high note, I went on to the fourth story. “Shortest Night” by Lisabet Sarai started out interestingly enough, with players in Shakespeare’s company expressing interest in each other. Male players. I thought, “Oh! An anthology that isn’t restricted by sexuality! Yay!” I understand there are het readers out there that don’t want to read m/m, just like there’s a whole army of m/m readers that disdain het (because of so-called girl cooties), but I’m not one of them. Romance for me is about people not their sexual orientation. I was really excited about the possibility of a mixed orientation anthology, but alas, that’s not really what it turned out to be. Hugh, the leading man, sets out to seduce Ben, the new actor for the ingénue roles. They take a room after a successful performance, where the serving girl and the owner’s daughter Jenny, sneaks up to watch them through the keyhole. She’s got a bit of a crush on Ben, and sees Hugh as a lech, so sets out to get Ben for herself. She interferes with Hugh’s attempts to continue seeing Ben in various ways, but the story is too short for me to elaborate without a lot of spoiling. POV switched around so much in this that there is never any true indication of who I’m meant to root for. All I know is that I was left with a distinct distaste in my mouth. The m/m is portrayed as wrong and dirty, even if Jenny gets off on watching them, and the only way to find happiness is with a woman. By far, the story I disliked the most in this.

The fifth story is “Georgie and the Dragon” by Cindy Spencer Pape. In the Welsh town of Draigmor, they offer a virgin up for sacrifice to a legendary dragon in exchange for protecting them. Georgie is the eldest of four, and as recent orphans, she has to figure out how to keep them all together without resorting to marrying off her sister to a man old enough to be her grandfather. She volunteers for the sacrifice, convinced the dragon is a myth but wanting the money that comes with the responsibility. Lord Weir, a man she finds herself attracted to, agrees to help her family should she not return. This story falls into the two middle-of-the-road stories in this anthology for me. While I liked the characters, some of the details annoyed me, stuff about the mythology that made me roll my eyes, dialogue during sex that was purple and overwrought. It let down characters that deserved better, and ultimately spoiled the overall effect of the story.

The final story is “Brazen Behaviour” by Saskia Walker. In 1896, Eleanor Argyle is preparing to travel the world, and with a stop at her aunt and uncle’s in Scotland as an early stop, they send along their manager, Gregory Munroe, to escort her along the way. Eleanor had a teenaged crush on the man, an attraction she still feels, but doesn’t like his autocratic manner, and decides to try and lose him, something he refuses to let happen. While the heroine is strong and likeable, I didn’t care for Gregory, and never really invested in the romance. The prose is capable but never engaged me. I always felt like there was something missing, and never actually found it.

Readability	7/10 – Some of the dialogue is over the top, and there are scattered issues that hold me back, but overall, fairly consistent
Romance	6/10 – Two of the six stories really excel at the romance
Characterization	7/10 – As a whole, stronger than most anthologies
Entertainment value	6/10 – Two stories shine, two are very weak, and the other two are middle of the road
World building	8/10 – By far, the strongest and most consistent part of the anthology
TOTAL:	34/50

Heart of the Bear by Cindy Spencer Pape

TITLE: Heart of the Bear
AUTHOR: Cindy Spencer Pape
PUBLISHER: Total-e-bound
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 18k)
GENRE: Shapeshifter erotic romance
COST: ₤2.49

Psychic Hannah Lightfoot only has a couple days left to decide whether or not she wants to return to her job with the San Diego Police Department. A traumatic event three months earlier has had her questioning her purpose, but when she still can’t reach a decision at home, she retreats to her grandfather’s cabin in hopes a different setting will make the choice clear. Everything conspires against her as her car goes off the road, a storm drenches her, and then a strange naked man surprises her at the cabin. But that’s just the start of what turns out to be the weekend that will change her entire life…

Novellas that try to set up paranormal series have a lot of work to do. The more complicated the world, the harder the job. The gorgeous cover on this particular story drew me in – April Martinez should be proud of another beautiful one – but ultimately, it failed to engage me into trying any more of this new series.

The world the author is setting up is a complex one. Hannah’s brother Will is part of a 5-man organization called Guardian; the hero in this story, Evan, is a member of it. It’s clear this is going to be at least a 5-book series, one for each of the men in the unit. Evan’s family are all shifters, and Will is a precog. There are hints throughout the book that the paranormal world is quite extensive, that Hannah's psychic ability isn't really that unusual, but very little of the world-building happens organically. Evan spends a lot of the time explaining things to Hannah, or we learn of it in exposition after the fact. We get most of Hannah’s backstory as statement after the fact, too, but it’s all indicative of a tell not show style that prevails throughout the story. This style of storytelling very rarely works for me. It drags down any chance this novella has to engage me.

Any other chance is taken away by both the hero and heroine’s swift “romance,” and Evan’s unrealistic dialogue. Evan and Hannah have sex almost immediately after he saves her from a bear attack in the woods – within minutes of seeing other for the first time. She barely knows his name and they’re doing it on the floor. And then in the shower. Within 12 hours, she’s melting just from the look in his eye, and all I can think, “Oh, brother.” By Evan's own admission, it's a mate recognition thing - Another thing you need to know about my family—we mate for life. When one of us finds the other half of our soul, it isn’t a long, drawn-out process. It’s almost always a case of love at first sight. - and I can't help but see that as shorthand for let's get to the sex and not worry about real relationship development. Toss in the fact that Evan says things like, Your hair is incredible and your eyes are like green velvet. You have the most luscious ass I’ve ever seen, and these incredibly feminine hips make me crazy, and You fit me like a glove, and I’m out of it. People don’t talk like that. Incredibly feminine hips? What exactly is that even supposed to mean?

The story does better when it slips into an unexpected kidnapping case for the couple, but while I don’t have to put up with unbelievable dialogue there, I do get subjected to more of the telling not showing. In the end, it’s just not going to work for me. I have another of this author’s stories in my TBR pile, and I’ve seriously wondered if I should bother reading it. I decided I still will. It’s novel-length, so hopefully it won’t fall into the same pitfalls as this novella, and it’s also not a paranormal. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Readability	6/10 – Minor editing issues, unrealistic dialogue, and telling not showing hinder what could be pretty smooth prose.
Hero	4/10 – Flat and not very interesting, especially with his unrealistic declarations
Heroine	5/10 – Only milder better than the hero, but at least she’s smart in a fight
Entertainment value	3/10 – Between information dumps to set up the series and a rush on the relationship, I’m almost surprised I finished it.
World building	5/10 – There is far too much telling in order to set up the series, and it makes for very boring reading.
TOTAL:	23/50