Reviewer: Holly A Wish, a Kiss, a Dream by Lora Leigh, Shiloh Walker, Mary Wine
Series: Cowboys and Captives, Dream #4
Also in this series: Quiet Man , Dream Maker
Publisher: Ellora's Cave
Publication Date: 2005-08
Genres: Fiction, Anthologies (multiple authors), Erotica
Pages: 239
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
DJINN’S WISH: by Shiloh Walker
When Tamric chose to become Djinn, he never imagined that he would be trapped in service to a magical mirror for thousands of years, granting one wish to each woman who holds it.
Tam is ready to do anything to obtain his freedom when he meets the human who will make him burn with a hunger he had long ago forgotten and yearn for a love unlike any he has ever imagined.
For her he will give up his freedom, his dreams, his everything. Just to see her joy – before he disappears from her life forever.
PAYING UP: by Mary Wine
Christina Faulkner made a bet and now she owed him a kiss. If she’s lucky, he’s forgotten all about it. Shane Jacobs didn’t just want the bet paid. He wanted a whole lot more.
But once passion touches its targets, desire transforms simple contact into mesmerizing obsession.
And Christina is about to discover that Shane hasn’t forgotten her. In fact, he’s coming back to claim what is his. All of it.
COWBOY AND THE THIEF: by Lora Leigh
The owner of the ancient Irish Torque will always be an Irish lass. The wearer, the lover of her heart and soul.
It’s Angel Manning’s legacy and has sparked dreams of an unknown lover who would fill her nights with heat, her heart with joy.
But when her father sells the Torque to Jack Riley against her wishes, destiny and fate are put in motion. She’ll get it back if she has to steal it. But Jack catches her, and he’s not giving it up without a fight.
Sometimes when I’m in a reading funk, an anthology, short story or erotica will help me get out of it. With that in mind, I picked this one up the other day and really enjoyed it.
Cowboy & the Thief By Lora Leigh
The owner of the ancient Irish Torque will always be an Irish lass. The wearer, the lover of her heart and soul. It’s Angel Manning’s legacy and has sparked dreams of an unknown lover who would fill her nights with heat, her heart with joy.
But when her father sells the Torque to Jack Riley against her wishes, destiny and fate are put in motion. She’ll get it back if she has to steal it. But Jack catches her, and he’s not giving it up without a fight.
I’m not a huge fan of Lora Leigh. I’ve enjoyed some of her novels, but she isn’t an auto-buy for me and I’ve never felt the need to glom her. I did really enjoy this story, though.
Angel was a good heroine, tough and able to think for herself, without being stupid. She doesn’t take any crap from Jack and only stays with him because she wanted to. And she was honest with him right from the beginning, telling him she didn’t want to give him her heart, because he’d just break it.
Jack is one of Leigh’s typical alpha heroes – domineering, controlling and somewhat of a jackass. I have to admire his inventiveness in getting Angel to stay with him, and his prowess in the bedroom. I was less impressed with his constant denial of his feelings, but in the end he was redeemed for me when he admitted everything he’d done had been for Angel.
This is probably one of the better Lora Leigh stories I’ve ever read.
4.0 out of 5
When Tamric chose to become Djinn, he never imagined that he would be trapped in service to a magickal mirror for thousands of years, granting one wish to each woman who holds it.
Tam is ready to do anything to obtain his freedom when he meets the human who will make him burn with a hunger he had long ago forgotten and yearn for a love unlike any he has ever imagined.
For her he will give up his freedom, his dreams, his everything. Just to see her joy—before he disappears from her life forever.
I’ve seen Shiloh Walker being reviewed on various blogs (almost always favorably), but this is the first I’ve read by her. I have several of her books TBR, but I haven’t been in the mood for a paranormal in ages, so I haven’t read any of them. I’m kind of sad about that now, however, because this was an excellent story and my favorite of the collection.
This was a beautifully touching love story. Tam has been a Djinn for centuries, and has become jaded and cynical about the human race. So when his mirror is given to Katlin Dixon, he doesn’t expect much more than he received from everyone else..she’ll make a wish, he’ll give her a kiss granting it, and then he’ll be sent on to the next person.
Kaitlin Dixon was is pretty cynical herself. Just after finding out her husband and best friend were having an affair, she was in a car accident and lost her eyesight. Three years later, she’s become a recluse and hardly leaves her apartment. Since she can’t see, she has no idea Tam is in the mirror, and therefore doesn’t know he can grant her a wish.
Tam sees this as the perfect opportunity to be set free. If the owner of his mirror gives it to him before making a wish, or wishes him free of it, he’ll be able set free and return to his land for all eternity. Since Kat doesn’t know he came from the mirror, he devises a plan to get her to give it to him: He’ll pretend to be her new next door neighbor and get her to gift the mirror to him.
But there’s a problem…the more he gets to know Kat, the more he wants her happiness. Even if it costs him his freedom.
Walker does an amazing job writing both Tam and Kat as believable characters who have both suffered from things that happened in their past. Kat was an especially interesting character. Watching her come out of her shell and discovering life was beautifully done.
I found their love story to be wonderfully well drawn. I was completely wrapped up in it. It’s not often that I can say this, but the story was perfect as it was. I can’t even say I wish it had been longer, because everything was so perfectly executed I didn’t feel that anything was missing at all. I never do this, but I’m going to give it a:
5 out of 5
It was that well done. I’ll be digging through my TBR pile for more Shiloh Walker novels ASAP.
Dream – Paying Up By Mary Wine
Christina Faulkner made a bet and now she owed him a kiss. If she’s lucky, he’s forgotten all about it. Shane Jacobs didn’t just want the bet paid. He wanted a whole lot more.
But once passion touches its targets, desire transforms simple contact into mesmerizing obsession.
And Christina is about to discover that Shane hasn’t forgotten her. In fact, he’s coming back to claim what is his. All of it.
This was my least favorite of the three. There’s a note on EC’s website that says this is the 3rd book in Wine’s Dream Series, but it can be read as a standalone. That’s a lie. I was just confused throughout the entire story. You know how you walk into a conversation halfway through and you stand there feeling like an idiot because you have no idea what’s going on? Yeah, that’s how I felt about this story.
Christina and Shane met during some previous book and apparently shared an attraction for one another. But Shane sent Christina home after she’d been shot four times and she hasn’t seen him in two months. Then all of a sudden he shows back up in her life and decides he wants to sleep with her. She tries to fight her attraction to him, but can’t and they end up in bed together.
I didn’t connect with either of these characters. Christina is trying to pick up the pieces of her life after being kidnapped and shot, but seems to just be floating in limbo, waiting for something to happen. She didn’t really inspire anything from me, one way or the other. Perhaps if I’d read the first two books in this series I’d feel differently, but as it stands she was just a “blah” character for me.
Shane mostly just annoyed me. He stayed away from Christina because he thought she’d be better off without him, but then all of a sudden, because his brother said Christina was sexy, he decides he wants to be with her? Ugh. Then he treats her like a child and talks to her like she’s an idiot. I wasn’t impressed.
There is a really adorable scene at the end, though, so I’m going to give this one a:
2.75 out of 5
I’m thinking my grade would probably be higher if I’d read the other books in the series. Then again, the hero just annoyed me, so maybe not.
Overall a pretty good anthology and one I’d recommend. Especially the Shiloh Walker and Lora Leigh installments.
Total Grade: 4.0 out of 5
This book is available from Ellora’s Cave. You can buy it here or here in e-format.