Novellas — Have any knocked your socks off lately?
I talked about this last year, and listed a few of my favorite (paranormal) novellas — the kind of novella that I loved so much, I’d have bought the anthology just for that, and thought it was worth the money. They were:
- “Fairies Make Wishes, Too†by Maggie Shayne — in A SPRINKLE OF FAIRY DUST (like a fairy Little Mermaid)
- “Everything She Does Is Magick†by Maggie Shayne — in BEWITCHED (Virgin Hero would have sold me on this, anyway)
- “A Dream of Stone and Shadow†by Marjorie M. Liu — DARK DREAMERS (read this one recently; the voices are incredible. *happy sigh*)
- “Roarke’s Prisoner†by Angela Knight in SECRETS VOL. 2 (I remember thinking: shit. this is what I want to be writing.)
- “Love’s Prisoner†by MaryJanice Davidson in SECRETS VOL. 6 (The elevator scene isn’t for everyone, but works for me.)
- “The Nekkid Truth†by Nicole Camden in BIG GUNS OUT OF UNIFORM (and it’s even in first person, which I’m usually kind of squiggy about in romances)
- “The Night Owl†by Emma Holly in HOT BLOODED (the hero is just…yeah. And the heroine, too. But it’s so sweet how he’s tongue-tied around her. Awwww.)
- “Dark Journey†by Anne Stuart in STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT — about Death, and a little holiday that he takes.
Since then, I’d add to the list with Patricia Briggs’s “Alpha and Omega” in ON THE PROWL and Kresley Cole’s “The Warlord Wants Forever” in PLAYING EASY TO GET, Nalini Singh’s “Beat of Temptation” in AN ENCHANTED SEASON … okay, and I know there are others, but my memory is not-so-good, and I sucketh at the record-keeping. (Also, I haven’t read as much in the past year as in previous years. The anthologies in my TBR pile are almost as high as the single-titles.)
So are there any out there that you think are worth the price of the entire anthology? I’ve listed paranormals only here (I fudged a little on “The Nekkid Truth”) but I should also compile a list of my favorite contemporary and historical novellas at some point — but feel free to mention novellas in any genre.
