Midsummer Night's Magic

by Emma Craig, Pam McCutcheon, Tess Mallory

Four stories of fairy-tale romance.

MacBroom Sweeps Clean - Emma Craig: Stuck in arranged marriage to a Scottish lord, Lily wondered if she'd ever find happiness or true love - until a wee Broonie named Angus MacBroom came upon the troubled beauty, and decided to teach the foolish couple a thing or two about Highland magic.

The Fairy Bride - Tess Mallory: Visiting Ireland with her stuffy fiance, Erin certainly never dreamed that she'd find herself swept into a handsome stranger's enchanted world of fairies and goblin kings - or that she'd soon long to be his fairy-bride.

The Trouble with Fairies - Pam McCutcheon: Fun-loving Nick and straight-laced Kate had a marriage that was destined for trouble, until the fateful night Nick hired a family of Irish brownies to keep the house clean - and let him get his love life back in order.

Whatever You Wish - Amy Elizabeth Saunders: A trip through time into the arms of an English lord just might be enough to convince the very cynical Meredyth that maybe, just maybe, wishes did come true - especially with the help of a fairy godmother.

Genres: Romance, Anthologies, Fantasy, Paranormal, Adult

368 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 1997

About the author

Also writes as Alice Duncan, Rachel Wilson, Anne Robins and wrote two books under the name of Jon Sharpe (Pecos Belle Brigade and California Crusader).

Reviews

[Barbara ★ · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Trouble with Fairies - Pam McCutcheon ★★★
This is cute. Children's illustrator/writer Nick Fairburn is a stay-at-home dad but his accountant wife is giving him grief because he's not getting the housework done while writing and taking care of his 6 year old daughter. So he brings home a family of brownies to help with the housework. They are a mischievous lot and tons of fun and/or irritating things happen. First time author but not the last as this was the best of the 4 shorts included in this anthology.

Whatever You Wish - Amy Saunders ★★
A typical fairy changeling story only in reverse...the changeling is returned...though too trite for my tastes.

MacBroom Sweeps Clean - Emma Craig ★
Neither the hero nor the heroine was likable and all the griping made the story unbearable. Just horrible.

The Fairy Bride - Tess Mallory ★★★
Just okay but definitely a story that could have benefited from some fleshing out of characters and plot. The romance was non-existent and there was no history for the bad guys. This surely could have been developed into an intriguing adventure for the fairy King and his Queen.

[TINNGG · Rating 2 out of 5]

This anthology didn't work for me. The first story had a h who was an all but unlikable twit, the second had an ending that reminded me of Knight in Shining Armor (as in, did we just get the H's reincarnation here?), the third was...ok. The last one... once again we have a twit. Her parents had died fairly recently so OF COURSE she got engaged to the first good looking guy she met after embarking on the trip she and her parents had planned for years. Riiight. The rest of the story - after she dumped him - could have been more fleshed out.

[M—]

Whatever you Wish (Amy Elizabeth Saunders) was the best of the bunch by leaps and bounds. Silly, fluffy, romantic wish-fulfillment (literally); it nevertheless had strong hints of a frustrated author jabbing back against historical details frequently overlooked in romantic literature.

And it was also true that she was of extraordinary appearance. He knew very few women free of pox marks or scars, yet her skin had a perfect, radiant glow, as new and soft as the skin of a child. Her hair, free and hanging, showed no traces of oil or dirt, but floated and shown like clean silk.
-----
Finally, she gave a little laugh. "Hot damn," she said. "That was smooth. You're not to bad yourself, Alexander Hartford. I just wish you and your house smelled better."

Only half of what she said made sense, and the part about how he smelled was really terribly offensive.

But suddenly Alex looked at himself, and saw the gray stains on the dingy white cuffs of his shirt, and was keenly aware that he hadn't had a full bath in months, and his skin seemed to crawl beneath black velvet of his doublet, which made no sense because the damned thing was new and he had only worn it twenty times at the most.
-----
"And maybe later we can try some chicken broth. But it's to be freshly made. Can we get a freshly killed chicken?"

"Of course. But thee cannot cook a chicken straight away, lady. It must hang first, at least two days--"

Meredyth interrupted. "No. Hanging it long enough to drain it; then wash it well in boiled water, and make the broth."

The Fairy Bride (Tess Mallory) was the worst of the bunch, primary due to color-coded prose details:

The king raised one dark brown in cynical disdain. "How will I know for certain when I have found her?"

"You will know. However, if you need concrete evidence, something you can see with your own stubborn eyes, then know that when you touch her, a lavender aura will appear around the two of you, affirming your choice."

And I barely remember reading the other two stories -- MacBroom Sweeps Clean (Emma Craig), The Trouble with Fairies (Pam McCutcheon) -- so they were probably even worse. (Sincere kudos to Saunders, though. The frustrated historian elements were my very favorite part.)

[Greeneyes Belle28 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

[Mellanie C]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12883885