Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: Bones
SERIES: Gothika #2
AUTHORS: Eli Easton, Jamie Fessenden, Kim Fielding, B.G. Thomas
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 260 pages
BLURB:
Vodou. Obeah. Santeria. These religions seem mysterious and dark to the uninitiated, but the truth is often very different. Still, while they hold the potential for great power, they can be dangerous to those who don’t take appropriate precautions. Interfering with the spirits is best left to those who know what they’re doing, for when the proper respect isn’t shown, trouble can follow. In these four novellas, steamy nights of possession and exotic ritual will trigger forbidden passion and love. You cannot hide your desires from the loa, or from the maddening spell of the drums. Four acclaimed m/m authors imagine homoerotic love under the spell of Voodoo.
“The Bird” by Eli Easton
Colin Hastings is sent to Jamaica in 1870 to save his father’s sugar cane plantation. If he succeeds, he can marry his fiancée back in London and take his place in proper English society. But Colin finds more than he bargained for on the island. His curiosity about Obeah, the native folk magic, leads him to agree to a dangerous ritual where he is offered his heart’s most secret desire—one he’s kept deeply buried all his life. What happens when a proper English gentleman has his true sensual nature revealed and freed by the Obeah spirits?
“The Book of St. Cyprian” by Jamie Fessenden
“When Alejandro Valera finds a book of black magic in New Orleans, he ships it to his friend Matthew in New Hampshire so he can read it when he gets home. Unfortunately, Matthew’s dog, Spartacus, gets to the package first, and Alejandro returns to find Matthew locked out of his apartment by the suddenly vicious pit bull. The boys call on all the magic they know to free Spartacus from the evil spirit, but they might need to accept that they’re in over their heads.”
Uninvited by B.G. Thomas
When a hot tip leads Kansas City reporter Taylor Dunton to a series of grisly murders, his investigation points to Myles Parry and his vodou shop. Myles wants nothing more than to practice his religion in peace, and he hopes Taylor can help him show the community they have nothing to fear. The problem is all the clues point to Myles as the suspect and only Taylor can help him prove his innocence. However, this case has also caught the attention of the vodou spirits of the Lwa… and they’ve taken an interest in Taylor as well.
The Dance by Kim Fielding
After being surrounded by deaths and near-deaths, introverted chemist Bram Tillman wishes he could undo the past year. Then beautiful Daniel Royer shows up with a warning about more danger ahead—and a promise to use vodou to help Bram discover what’s trying to kill him. But while Bram’s attraction to Daniel grows, vodou spirits change Bram in unexpected ways.
Cover by Eli Easton
REVIEW:
I have read books from three of these authors, Kim Fielding, Eli Easton and Jamie Fessenden. I really like their writing! I am familiar with B.G. Thomas but haven’t had the chance to read anything by him. This is what I like about anthologies, the opportunity to see short stories from known authors and new ones! These stories all sound quite interesting, so I’m looking forward to this book! Here we go…
The Dance by Kim Fielding
Yes! Off to a great start with this story! Very creative…
Bram Tillman is having a bad year. He’s lost his boyfriend, he has been in a car accident, attacked, and nearly run over. He’s been surrounded by death. He’s a bit of a mess at this point. He’s barely hanging on, barely maintaining his job, and home, not eating, losing weight, just surviving. Something has got to change for him, even his patient boss has had enough. She suggests a counselor or a vacation in Hawaii. Instead he gets a visit from a man who should rightly hate him.
Daniel Royer is a practitioner of vodou, and has a message for Bram. Someone is out to get him, someone not necessarily alive. He shows up on Bram’s door, telling him a bizarre story, offering help, and leaving his phone number for when Bram has had enough. Which he has, not too long after.
What follows is a fantastic, creative story about a religion I know very little about. Both of these men are great characters, Bram is darker, shy, and introverted, Daniel is light and sweet, very much comfortable in his own skin and life. Unlike poor Bram, who just seems uncomfortable all of the time. Daniel figures out what is happening with Bram, with the help of some different characters, and sorts him all out. It was so cool!
This was a very different story for me, I’ve never given much thought to vodou (voodoo?), I’ve not read much about it. Not for any reason, it just hadn’t come up much before. But this was great! I loved the other-world feel to this story, yet it’s grounded in reality with Bram. The two men are a very nice balance to each other. Well connected, not exactly insta-love, but it was pretty quick. I loved the other two characters, I won’t tell you about them, but they are cool! I’ve loved the other books I’ve read by Kim Fielding, she is a very strong writer. If I had the time I’d just download all of her books and go through them one after the other.
RATING: 4.5 stars
“The Bird” by Eli Easton
This one is what I had in mind for stories about voodoo…. Historical set in Jamaica! Wonderful!
Colin is the third son of a wealthy family, engaged to a nice girl, and sent off to Jamaica to resuscitate his father’s failing sugarcane plantation. He’s young and on his own, leaving behind his best friend Richard, but writing him nearly every day. We partly follow this story through his letters to Richard. Great way to show us what was going on…
Colin is very intelligent and curious about the local people, especially when he discovers one of them performing some sort of Obeah ritual. He learns that she is trying to save her sick daughters life, and he steps up to help, earning the gratitude of the child’s mother, and her Obeah loa. He is rewarded with “his heart’s desire”.
This story is fantastic. Much more traditional voodoo feeling to me, I liked the contrast between the first two stories. Kim Fielding’s was contemporary, this one is historical. Both were wonderful in their own way. This one is set in the late 1800 in Jamaica, and felt very authentic to me. Just a little creepy with the rituals in the woods, combined with the “Englishness” of Colin, it was just perfect. I loved the history between Colin and Richard, and the ending was just what I wanted. I loved the characters, both Colin and eventually Richard, but the others as well.
I’m fairly new to Eli Easton, I’ve only read her Seattle series and loved those. Her writing is excellent, her plot was interesting and felt well researched, her characters had good depth and history, all set in a short but not too short story. Very well done!
RATING: 4.5 stars
“The Book of St. Cyprian” by Jamie Fessenden
Awww…. Young love! So sweet!
Matthew and Alejandro have known each other since they were barely teenage boys, and have been in love with each other pretty much since then. But neither knows the other is in love! Silly boys. Alejandro is Hispanic, Matthew is not. Alejandro has an Abuela, who soon adopts blond Matthew, and has him helping out at her botanica shop, helping sell potions and lotions to the local Santeria community. Alejandro goes on a short trip to New Orleans to bring home some goodies from the botanica of a family friend who has died and brings home more than he expected.
Alejandro finds an old hand bound book, with a padlock around it. He suspects it is a copy of The Great Book of St. Cyprian, an old book of magic. He knows it’s not necessarily a good thing, and his Abuela won’t want it in their home. So he stupidly sends it to Matthew! Assuming he’ll leave it alone, which he does, but his dog does not! Poor Sparticus gets himself in to some trouble and the boys have to rescue him.
This is a great story, the two boys are young, dealing with a spiritual situation that is beyond them, and fighting a serious case of the horny nature. They work through their odd situation, and finally get a clue about their own feelings. We never get the naughty payoff in this story, but it wasn’t needed. The ending was so sweet, I didn’t realize there wasn’t any sex until it was over!
I’ve not read much by Jamie Fessenden, maybe a short story or two, so I wasn’t familiar with his writing. It was great! This story is a brief look at the beginning of the life for these two boys, I can see them being together, and I’d love to read more about them later. Enough background to make them interesting, but not loads of details and drama. It was just right as a short story. I like the writing, the characters, the plot, the dog, the Abuela, and the ending!
RATING: 4 stars
Uninvited by B.G. Thomas
This is the creepiest of the stories, I was a little icked out!
Taylor is a reporter for the local newspaper in Kansas City, usually doing the fluffy pieces. He gets a call from a detective friend that there has been a murder, if he wants to get a good story now is his chance. He does, and ends up with way more than he bargained for. He becomes part of the story. But also gets himself a hot boyfriend out of the mess!
Taylor investigates a local voodoo shop he’s been told about and discovers there is deep belief and history involved in what he thought was a fake religion. He flirts with, then has a relationship with the owner of the shop, Myles, a practitioner of Voodoo. Myles teaches Taylor about voodoo, as they try to figure out what is going on in Kansas City. We get a creepy murder investigation, an education about voodoo, and a nice romance between the two! What we don’t get is sex… This one I do wish had been a little sexier, it was a great plot but I missed the naughty times.
This is the first I have read from BG Thomas and it was very good. I enjoyed the plot, even though it was a bit “horror” for my taste, it was very well written. I loved Taylor and Myles, and their flirting and banter. I loved the secondary characters as well, particularly Taylor’s best friend. The only thing I missed was the sex. But overall it was a great addition to the anthology!
RATING: 4 stars
Overall thoughts:
I thoroughly enjoyed this anthology. I wasn’t sure going in to it, I requested it because I have read and loved books from Kim and Eli and I wanted to see what was in here, but I was concerned that it would be scary. Three of the four stories weren’t, and the fourth didn’t freak me out! As I said at the beginning of this review, voodoo isn’t something I know much about, but I do now. All four stories taught me something. I liked that they were all different, but had a similar theme too them. They were longer than I expected, which gave the authors more time to develop their characters. I appreciated that. Sometimes short stories are too short and rushed, trying to get too much plot in, or are just sex and no plot. Neither was the case with these. They were all just right. All were well written, creative, and enjoyable. Makes me want to go read the first book!
I gave two 4.5 stars and two 4 stars, so the average would be 4.25, but we don’t do that. So I’ll round up to 4.5! Although I did like two better than the others, it doesn’t mean I didn’t like the two lower rated ones, I did, I just really liked two of them! But it was such a great mix of stories we’ll round up!
OVERALL RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
Thanks for the review, Vicki!