FIRE OF THE FROST is a holiday anthology with a Frost theme - great fun as the temperatures where I live plummet. This is a charming collection of winter fantasy romances from some of my favorite authors. I greedily gobbled this treat up as soon as I got my hands on it.
My very favorite of the four stories is THE KING OF HEL by Grace Draven. Draven’s books are an auto-buy for me, and this story is no exception. Doranis, the magic-touched king of Helenrisia is betrothed from infancy to Kareena Morcam, the timid aristocrat of House Morcam. Kareena’s best friend is the modestly-born boyar and scribe Castil il Veras. Castil travels to Helenrisia to be with her best friend as Kareena prepares to give birth but when she arrives, she finds her best friend has died shortly after childbirth. Doranis and Castil were chastely attracted to each other before his marriage. After grieving for her best friend, Castil embarks on a steamy romance with the dishy Doranis for the months that she is trapped in his kingdom by the winter weather. Both Doranis and Castil are marvelous people - witty, intelligent, and caring. I love them both, and I positively adore them together.
OF FATE AND FIRE by Amanda Bouchet takes a character from Bouchet’s Kingmaker Chronicles, and yanks him through both time and worlds, from ancient Thalyria (like Greece) to modern day New York City. I’m a sucker for time travel romance, and Piers is a wonderful displaced knight errant. Piers has been brought to NYC to protect a descendent of Zeus from an evil Indiana Jones guy and his henchman while she tries to get an ancient artifact back to Athena. It’s a fun and jaunty story despite the perils and danger. Bouchet is another auto-buy author for me, and this playful tale has her signature.
Jeffe Kennedy’s FAMILIAR WINTER MAGIC brings us two students at Convocation Academy at holiday time. Iliana has already been assigned the role of familiar, and will shortly be facing her assignment of a life of servitude to a wizard. Her best friend, Han, has not yet been sorted by the oracle into wizard versus familiar. But Iliana and Han must face their impending separation and decide whether to act upon their attraction to each other. As with many of Kennedy’s stories, there is a lot of cruelty and despair in this story, but true love overcomes.
Finally, my least favorite is Darynda Jones’ A WYNTER FYRE. I found the story to be somewhat confusing all the way through, and there’s a multi-being rape scene to start off the tale, between a demoness and three vampires that leaves the heroine needing further, ahem, “attentions” from the prince hero. Perhaps the initial rape colored my perception of the story?
FIRE OF THE FROST brings us four holiday stories of romance in winter. Readers will find their own favorite. This varied collection has plenty of delightful romance and adventure to recommend it.
From Darynda Jones, a standalone novella set in a world where vampyres are hunted for sport. The only thing standing between them and total annihilation is Winter, a warrior bred to save them from extinction. Forbidden to fall in love, Winter cares only about her oaths… until she meets the devilish prince of the underworld.
Of Fate and Fire by Amanda Bouchet The Kingmaker Chronicles meets modern-day New York City! Piers, an exiled warrior from Thalyria, finds himself in the Big Apple just before the holidays. The world and everything in it might be utterly foreign to him, but that won't stop Piers from helping to complete a vital mission for Athena and protect Sophie, a French teacher from Connecticut who's suddenly knee-deep in inexplicable phenomena, danger, and henchmen after an Olympian treasure that should never have ended up in her hands—or remained on Earth after the Greek gods abandoned it.
The King of Hel by Grace Draven A novella-length expansion of a stand-alone short story in which a cursed mage-king from a frozen kingdom is obligated to marry a woman of high-ranking nobility but meets his soulmate in a lowly scribe.
Familiar Winter Magic by Jeffe Kennedy It’s holiday time at Convocation Academy, but best friends Han and Iliana are finding it hard to celebrate. As a familiar, Iliana is facing her assignment to a life of servitude to a wizard, very soon. And Han… despite being tested by the oracle daily, he is still uncategorized. As Iliana and Han face being separated forever, they at last find the courage—or desperation—to break the rules and acknowledge their deeper feelings for each other. But it will take more than true love to save them from the laws of the Convocation…
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