A review by ashleynichole
Mysteria Lane by P.C. Cast, Gena Showalter, Susan Grant, MaryJanice Davidson
3.0
Actual, averaged out rating is more like 3.5 stars when factoring in the individual star ratings of the four stories.
Davidson: 2 stars. I was so disappointed by this one. Perhaps this one would have been more likable had I read Mysteria but this story still would have had the issue of too much going on. Honestly this could have easily been fleshed out into two or three different stories or even one stand alone book with ease. This story was also the least romance-y of the four books. Yes there’s sex and dating but, everything else that’s happening in this town is a much bigger focus. Mild spoiler for the plot of this story (please skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want a spoiler). There is a case of alternative dimension rapid aging of a character who then finds love and there’s like, some ick factor because she was just 14 years old and now she’s ten years older and banging a dude who’s now super into her and I had a hard time wrapping my head around this. It felt very unnecessary.
Grant: 3 stars. I don’t think I’ve read anything by Grant before and now I’m intrigued to try some of her other stuff. The demon plot wasn’t very original but the writing was well done and I greatly appreciated Grant’s ability to write a sequel story that was accessible to readers who hadn’t read the previous story.
Showalter: 4 stars. This was my favorite of the four stories hands down. I love the idea of a family of witches all having different types of magic that are good for different things. It keeps a world interesting without overpowering your magic users. This is an enemies to lovers trope that’s body and sex positive in addition to being the steamiest of the four in my opinion.
Cast: 3.5 stars. I started reading Cast’s adult novels at a too young age so I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this one now that I’m of a proper reading age (ie not in high school). Cast’s romantic pairings tend to read like a Harlequin romance novel from the 80’s and this one was no exception. At this point I think I’m a bit sick of romances where the vampire is so much older than the heroine so that put an immediate damper on the story for me. Also I just, can’t read stories about teachers. I’m a teacher and 1) I get to read in my teacher free time, I don’t want to be reminded of teacher time. 2) I can’t help but judge everything about the teacher aspects of a story so I was definitely not the right audience for this book. The storyline was fine but, this one just wasn’t for me.
Davidson: 2 stars. I was so disappointed by this one. Perhaps this one would have been more likable had I read Mysteria but this story still would have had the issue of too much going on. Honestly this could have easily been fleshed out into two or three different stories or even one stand alone book with ease. This story was also the least romance-y of the four books. Yes there’s sex and dating but, everything else that’s happening in this town is a much bigger focus. Mild spoiler for the plot of this story (please skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want a spoiler). There is a case of alternative dimension rapid aging of a character who then finds love and there’s like, some ick factor because she was just 14 years old and now she’s ten years older and banging a dude who’s now super into her and I had a hard time wrapping my head around this. It felt very unnecessary.
Grant: 3 stars. I don’t think I’ve read anything by Grant before and now I’m intrigued to try some of her other stuff. The demon plot wasn’t very original but the writing was well done and I greatly appreciated Grant’s ability to write a sequel story that was accessible to readers who hadn’t read the previous story.
Showalter: 4 stars. This was my favorite of the four stories hands down. I love the idea of a family of witches all having different types of magic that are good for different things. It keeps a world interesting without overpowering your magic users. This is an enemies to lovers trope that’s body and sex positive in addition to being the steamiest of the four in my opinion.
Cast: 3.5 stars. I started reading Cast’s adult novels at a too young age so I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this one now that I’m of a proper reading age (ie not in high school). Cast’s romantic pairings tend to read like a Harlequin romance novel from the 80’s and this one was no exception. At this point I think I’m a bit sick of romances where the vampire is so much older than the heroine so that put an immediate damper on the story for me. Also I just, can’t read stories about teachers. I’m a teacher and 1) I get to read in my teacher free time, I don’t want to be reminded of teacher time. 2) I can’t help but judge everything about the teacher aspects of a story so I was definitely not the right audience for this book. The storyline was fine but, this one just wasn’t for me.