SURF'S UP

Author: Nina Bangs, MaryJanice Davidson, & Janelle Denison ISBN: 042521012X 7/2006 ANTHOLOGY Publisher: BERKLEY SENSATION

For those looking for crashing waves, intense heat, body oil, and men who give new meaning to a day at the beach-look no further. Three of today's most talented authors deliver all-new stories of the hunks who work and play at the sizzling seashore. By no means beach bums, these irresistible guys are as ripped as the waves and smooth as the sand. No shirts required. Features: "Hot and Bothered" by Janelle Denison "Paradise Bossed" by MaryJanice Davidson "Hot Summer Bites" by Nina Bangs

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

In Hot and Bothered, Claire Reissing is a newly divorced, independent woman with a nice healthy crush on one of her new neighbors. Shea O'Brien is one hot, hunka-hunka burnin' love, and Claire would love nothing more than a good old-fashioned roll in the sheets with him. What she finds with Shea is all that and SO much more.

Paradise Bossed, being my least favorite novella in the anthology, still had a lot to recommend it. Nikki and Tom are literally from different worlds. He is a medium and she is a dead person. Her friends commission Tom to try and find Nikki, so that her body can be recovered when she never shows back up at their hotel while on vacation. Nikki is fun and has a great sense of humor, and Tom is this enormous egomaniac who gets the lesson of his life, which really made the whole story. My problem with Paradise Bossed is that I wanted flesh and blood people. It kind of creeped me out to think of Tom's body lying around anywhere he felt like storing it while he took a walk around "outside" to be with Nikki. The whole feel of the end of the story left me feeling unsatisfied, but the story in and of itself, was great to that point. I was just a little disappointed in the ending.

Nina Bang's Hot Summer Bites was my favorite of the three stories. Ms. Bangs always give us the wackiest of the paranormal stories, with every type of paranormal being imaginable. We are back at the Castle of Dark Dreams with Taurin and Kristin, Taurin being the vampire that sabotaged Kristin after she ran a whole group of vampires out of town years before. Kristin is a reporter and openly hates anything or anyone who might even allude to being paranormal. She takes no prisoners—she just wants them all dead. Well, she is certainly in for a surprise when she finds out who Taurin is, and even scarier is when she realizes how she feels about him!

SURF'S UP is a fun, fresh new anthology, and while it did have a few snags along the way, it is absolutely a must read for a great summer's day!

Kristal Gorman