Charmed Destinies: Counting Crows\Drusilla's Dream\Moonglow (Mass Market Paperback)

I loved "Counting Crows," even though it was a rather dark romance, not of the light and fluffy variety. Bretagne's treatment of Lady Gwynn is disgraceful, and more than once I almost set the book aside because I could no longer bear to see the heroine treated in such a way, while her love is in the same castle with her, knowing what she is going through, yet pretty much powerless to do anything about it. Whoever typed the descriptions on the back of the book did a horrible job - not only did they butcher Gwynnhwyfar's name (it was spelled Gwynhefar), but Sir Artemus is called "Sir Elloran." There is no Sir Elloran in the book, and I kept wondering when Sir Elloran was going to make his appearance, meanwhile wondering why Sir Artemus was getting closer to Gwynn when she was supposed to fall in love with Elloran! It took me a while to figure this out, because I'm slow like that :) An excellent story, though, and probably quite true to life - I am sure there were a great many loveless marriages in medieval times.

The next story is "Drusilla's Dream" by Rachel Lee. Every night Drusilla goes to the same boring job and secretly daydreams while she enters in boring data. This particular night, however, cute Miles Kennedy, her boss, keeps popping into her fantasy. Things aren't going the way Drusilla wants them to go in her fantasy, either - the hero in her story (Miles, of course!) never reacts quite in the way she would expect him to. What's really going on in Drusilla's dream? This story was a fun little story and definitely lightened the mood after reading the "Counting Crows" story. The characters were funny, realistic, and quite clever. This is a light, quirky romance, something that makes you feel good when you read it, but something you don't rememeber the details of once you've completed the story.

The final story is "Moonglow" by Catherine Asaro. I loved this story as well! Iris Larkspur feels out of place learning how to use the magic her teacher believes is deep inside of her, but Iris seems to be unable to harness. It doesn't help matters that Chime, her classmate, is just about perfect, from her golden hair to her feet. Iris, in an amazing moment, however, discovers her power - and also discovers that the prince of her land, long thought dead, is actually alive. Once Prince Jarid is found, he must return to assume power of the kingdom, but he is blind, deaf, and mute. And since Iris is now the most powerful mage in the land, she must marry the Prince - and at the same time, try to heal his broken spirit.

I really liked Iris and Jarid - both of them were outsiders, and yet there was such a bond between them, almost instantly. "Moonglow" was an interesting story, and I'm really looking forward to the next book by Catherine Asaro. Altogether, I liked all three of the stories, just in a different way. Each story appealed to me on a different level, and it's rare to find that in a book. I'll definitely be reading this book again!

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Mercedes Lackey's "Counting Crows" is the first story in the book. In it, Gwynn is wedded to a man she has never seen before, in order to ensure the safety of her father's lands. She goes to her husband hoping that he will be a man she can learn to love and finds instead that he is a brutal man who rapes her and beats her. While Gwynn brings order to her new household and decides whether to use her magic against her husband, she falls in love with one of her husband's knights, Sir Atremus. The story was an okay fantasy story, but a miserable romantic fantasy story. Gwynn was the most fleshed out of the characters, but she was too perfect to be truly interesting. I found myself more interested in Robin. Gwynn's husband was Bad, with only the hint of a backstory, not enough to make him more than a cardboard Bad Guy. Atremus was useless, which actually wasn't too bad, since I kept forgetting he existed. Gwynn may have fallen in love with him, but I didn't know enough about him to feel anything for him. Gwynn and Atremus apparently had long conversations that led to deepening feelings for each other, but Lackey just glossed over most of them. Since I know that in Lackey is capable of creating great romantic plots, this story was really disappointing and not good enough to be a keeper no matter what genre it's labeled as.

Rachel Lee's "Drusilla's Dream" was the second story in the book. I enjoyed the characters, and this story could have been very good, but the way Lee chose to write it made it, in my opinion, the worst story in the book. Technically, most of the story takes place during Drusilla's night shift job, while she's typing data into her computer. As she types, she's on autopilot, daydreaming about a world where she is a princess on a quest to find the Key of Morgania. Details from her job work her way into her daydream, such as the janitor, who becomes a powerful wizard, and Miles, her supervisor at work and the Behemoth tamer in her dreams. Although reality and dreams get really mixed up, and there's evidence that Miles is aware of Drusilla's dreams, I had a hard time seeing her dreams as evidence that she and Miles were falling in love. Unlike Lackey's story, which didn't feel like a romance, this did, but, unfortunately, it was a badly written one. If the entire story had been set in Drusilla's world, without any hint that there was a real world, it would have been a good, but very odd, story. I don't mind odd, though.

Catherine Asaro's "Moonglow" was the best of the three. Jarid is the heir to the throne until his parents are killed in an ambush. The entire kingdom believes he is dead, but he in reality he is still alive, deaf, mute, and blind. Iris, who believes she has no real magic, finds him. It's decided that Iris must marry Jarid, and much of the story covers how Jarid and Iris get to know one another. My explanation sounds ver cheesy, but I'm trying not to reveal too much. It's an excellent fantasy and romance, and I'm looking forward to the first book in this series. Asaro writes better romantic short fiction than many romance authors. I may keep the book just for this story. It's fascinating reading how Iris and Jarid fall in love even though Jarid can barely communicate and can't see or hear anything around him.

Overall, it's a weak book, but, if you can get it cheap, I would recommend it just for the last story.

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