Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.0108377
EAN: 9780425222942
ISBN: 0425222942
Label: Berkley
Manufacturer: Berkley
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 304
Publication Date: 2008-10-07
Publisher: Berkley
Studio: Berkley

Return to a town of bewitching seduction and sensual demons. There’s a spellbinding witch of love who wants to make one man hers; a vegan having trouble adapting to vampirism; Satan’s emissary, who is looking for steady work in Colorado; and angelic triplets feeling a wee touch of the devil.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Very Entertaining!
Comment: I had thought about reading the original Mysteria anthology but never got around to picking it up. I'm very glad I decided not to wait to read this new book! These authors worked together incredible well to produce 4 very entertaining, interconnected tales.

"Disdaining Troubles" by Mary Janice Davidson
Kicking off this book we have the birth and subsequent mischief of the Desdaine Triplets, Mysteria's three most scarily mischievious little girls...until a lazy afternoon of tormenting the mailman has accidental consequences when one of the triplets falls into the local wishing well only to pop out a minute later in her twenties. All grown up and used to a different, more demonic world Withering suddenly finds herself with two much younger siblings, no clothes that fit, and a pizza shop owner who finds the grown up Desdaine triplet very interesting. An interesting premise but this one was probably the weakest of the bunch for me.

"The Nanny From Hell" by Susan Grant
Shay has been seducung mortals and living on the wild side for millenia as an important demon for Satan. But now the boss has discovered her secret, that she yearns to be human and she fears death. Threatening to end her entire existance he sends her into Mysteria to kill the child of Damon another former demon. But a crash into the towns wishing well has her turning mortal and gaining complicated things like a soul and morals as well as the hots for the towns demon hunter!

"A Tawdry Affair" by Gena Showalter
My Favorite! This story was fantastic! Apparently the three sister witches of Mysteria are no strangers to love, having had a story in the first book. Now Glory is calling in the favor her Revenge witch sister owes her. She wants revenge against Falon, the local barkeep, whom she offered herself naked to...and the jerk laughed at her! Given a pen that makes anything she writes come true Glory, who happens to be a love witch, decides to have a little fun with Falon both sexually and mischieviously. Falon, who thought he was protecting himself from another sadistic witch instead finds himself battling for her heart. This was both beautiful and hot!

"It's In His Kiss" by P.C. Cast
Very good tale of a new Mystetia high school teacher who after years of pining away for a handsome if insipid local fairy finds herself unexpectedly falling for a vampire while on a fieldtrip. With unpredictable magic powers she accidentally ends up in a painting of Romeo and Juliet with the exciting vampire and one kiss from him rocks her world and her future.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: four amusing lighthearted paranormal romances
Comment: "Disdaining Trouble" by MaryJanice Davidson . Thad Wilson spent his first twelve years in Mysteria, Colorado, but moved away as his father re-enlisted with the air force. Fifteen years later he is back in town avoiding the troublesome teenage Desdaine triplets (Derisive, Scornful and Withering). An incident with a mailman leads to Withering falling down a wishing well as her frustrated mother wishes she would grow up. Five seconds later a Lizard Man leaves the well followed by a beautiful warrior woman who turns out to be an adult Withering who says she spent a decade trying to come home.

"The Nanny From Hell" by Susan Grant. Luther assigns Demon Shay to destroy the child of former demon Damon and his human wife Harmony; he also warns her to stay away from the Mysteria wishing well. Shay obtains a job as the child's nanny, but the well turns her human while demon hunter Quel comes to kill her.

"A Tawdry Affair" by Gena Showalter . Witch Glory Tawdry loves Falcon, but he does not apparently reciprocate. Outraged by her unrequited love and in possession of a magical pen, she begins to scribe her sexual fantasies with and vengeance on the hunk who rejected her.

"It's in His Kiss" by P.C. Cast. The new teacher in town, Summer is a vegetarian. At a Romeo and Juliet art exhibit she meets Colin the vampire who wants to change her diet.

The return to MYSTERIA (by the same writing quartet) is filled with four amusing lighthearted paranormal romances.

Harriet Klausner

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Customer Rating:
Summary: 3.5 stars - Return to Mysteria for another round of romance and humor times four
Comment: Authors Davidson, Grant, Showalter and Cast are back together again, Mysteria Lane (Berkley Sensation) takes us back to the town founded by a demon's random act of kindness and you'll recognise many of the town's oddball inhabitants from the previous two visits (Mysteria was the same town but with a different name in Bewitched, Bothered & BeVampyred, the hard to find anthology that gave birth to it all.) All four stories have character tie-ins for Mysteria (Berkley Sensation) and BB&B fans, but with the exception of Davidson's, the stories standalone pretty well, giving hints of the past stories but not relying on the reader having read them.

Davidson's "Disdaining Trouble" - Is a twofer. After an unfortunate run in with a wishing well, one of the terrible twelve year old Disdaine triplets disappears for 6 seconds and returns the grown-up warrior princess of pizza joint owner Thad's dreams. Also woven into the story is a follow on to `Alone Wolf', river nymph Jan has got it bad for ghost Handywoman Rae, he sees past the grumpiness to find a lonely, but fiesty, kindred spirit. - If you like Davidson's bizarre zany style, you'll probably like this one but with two pairings in this short a story there were both really `wham bam, thankyou mam' romances. (3 stars)

In Grant's `The Nanny from Hell' - Lucifer sends demon Shay to kill off Damon Jr, the son of former demon Damon and Reverend Harmony Faithful, but Shay too has a run in with the wishing well, and ends up with a soul, confusing the heck out of demon hunter Quel Laredo who sensed the presence of a demon right before her `ensoulment'. But how's Shay going to complete her mission with the sexy Quel keeping an eye on her and her pesky new soul getting in the way of her do-or-die mission. - I really liked Quel but in a story this short I didn't have time to get attached to the reformed Shay. (3 stars)

`A Tawdry Affair', at last, gives the final Tawdry Witch sister, Glory, a chance for revenge against gorgeous Falon who ground her heart into the dust. But will she use a magic pen to write his torturous comeuppance or will she compose a fantasy to get the `taste' of luscious Falon she's always longed for. - Showalter's was my favorite of the anthology and this was the best of the three sisters' stories, it was fun and does a good job of building the tension by holding off the steamy payoff `til near the end. (4.5 stars)


Finally P.C. Cast's "It's In his Kiss" - Summer has returned to Mysteria, and is ready to settle down with the Fairy of her dreams - she has a plan, now she only has to get Kenny to notice her. But when she meet dark vampire Colin, her mixed up magic gives a whole new meaning to `you are my sunshine' and it just may be time to dump `her plan' of marrying the frothy fairy boy and, gasp, trust in Colin and her magic instead. - This one was a bit long on set up - we got to know Summer pretty well - and it left me wishing that there had been room for more of Colin. (4 stars)

Mysteria Lane very much had the feel of this gangs' previous anthologies, though I didn't like it quite as well as Mysteria (Cast's story in that one was one of my favorite werewolf shorts). So if you liked Mysteria and BB&B you'll probably feel right at home on Mysteria Lane. If your favorite characters didn't make the cut in this anthology, the author quartet are taking requests for the next journey to Mysteria, so visit the their websites and cast your votes.

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