Monday, September 28, 2009

[ARC Review]--- Healing Spell and Other Stories

Author: Kiki Howell
Genre: Erotica, Wicca/Magic
Publisher: Excessica
Publication Date: Unknown (You can probably buy it in E-Book form already, but print, like I read, might not be out yet...) Summary (Author's Website):
In this anthology, Kiki Howell, Author of Magical Erotic Romances, shares the following short stories and novellas…
The Healing Spell Samantha leads David through the steps of a sexual magic spell with the intent to heal him. Yet, once the spell has been completed, he finds he cannot just take his talisman and walk away from her, and the witch finds her carefully protected heart on the line.
To Save A Witch from the Focus Anthology, ed. Kev Henley “Kiki gives us a brief but penetrating look into a world where shadow and power are subtle and often unpredictable. Even in this exotic and little-known world, however, it is never too late to correct one’s mistakes and set things right.” - Forward by Ed. Kev Henley
Beltane’s Guide from the Four Seasons: Spring 2009 Anthology, ed. Selena Kitt Meghan celebrates the sacred sex act of the God and Goddess when she goes on a Trust Walk blindfolded with a stranger in the woods. After the rite becomes more than she bargained for, she will have to work for her new beginning.
Rituals When a Wiccan rite opens Maddie’s eyes to her old friend, Ryan, they find freedom in the bondage lifestyle. But, once her past catches up with them, they will have to choose between being bound by it or bonding to each other.
Caught Under the October Moon A promotional short-short published on the Whipped Cream, Erotic Romance Reviews website and in the All Romance eBook’s Wildfire Newsletter where a witch gets caught skyclad during a moon ritual.
My Review:
Anyone who's ever read an anthology knows that there's almost always one problem with the book-- the stories are too short. And though that is the point of having an anthology, it's still hard to tell a story, develop it, and end it well. This one flaw is most of the reason behind my over all rating for this book.
The Healing Spell and Other Stories is a collection of Kiki Howell's short stories and novellas that have been published before in other anthologies. The nice thing about this anthology is you get to see what her writing it like (wonderful, but more on that later). The only down fall is that the romance story itself doesn't get to develop and pull through as strongly as in a full length novel. But, despite the page constraints, Howell does do a good job at telling a story... especially the sex, since this is an erotic novel!
Howell has a wonderful way of blending the words together, weaving them into a story, and really, she can easily 'paint a picture' in your mind, as they say. I had no problem with the writing style, the word choices, etc. In fact, I thought this was very well done, and it did grab my attention and help pull me into the stories....
...Only until the story was suddenly over, and it was time for the next one. But again, this is a problem you'll always find in an anthology. You want the story to keep going, but in reality, it's time for it to end and the next one to begin. Because of the shortness of the stories, I'm even more interesting in reading more from Howell-- I want to know if a full length novel from her will be just as amazing as I picture after reading this.
The story lines were interesting enough, and I wish we could have learned more about the characters, their stories and world-- especially the Wicca theme in the stories. I would have loved to hear more about the culture in the stories themselves.
3.5 STARS! Over all, a great introduction to a new to me author, and one that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a good erotica novel. The Healing Spell and Other Stories is quick, but fairly satisfying, and leaves you wanting to read more! Always a good thing in a book, right? Fantastic, flowing writing, Howell has a gift for describing the scene to viewers-- I only hope that we'll get to see more of the description in her future novels, hopefully a full length one?
Enjoy!
Until Next Time,

The Book Queen

2 comments :

Teddyree said...

Well done on getting another review done, you're sticking to your committment!

The Healing Spell sounds pretty good but I haven't read an anthology yet.
I do have my very 1st one coming in the mail; A Christmas Ball. Will see how I like the whole 'anthology' thing before trying this one!

The_Book_Queen said...

Teddyree--
Yep, so far so good. We'll see how I do this next month..

I don't mind anthologies, since they allow us to see what an author's writing is like before buying their book, but some are, of course, better than others. I hope you enjoy "A Christmas Ball", it sounds good, so I'll keep my eyes open for your thoughts on it! :D

Enjoy,
TBQ