Since it was a rainy and dreary 4th in our neck of the woods, I spent the day reading The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes, a collaboration by Jennifer Crusie, Eileen Dreyer and Anne Stuart. After finishing it I went in search of reviews and found Dear Author's review nailed it perfectly. Rather than write my own I decided to be lazy and simply link to Jane's :) Go over and read, I can wait...From the Publisher
You’re invited to spend the weekend with three extraordinary sisters…
When she was sixteen, Dee Fortune kidnapped her two younger sisters and ran from danger. Now twenty-nine, she’s still trying to control her shape-shifting power—no easy task when Danny James shows up one Friday morning with his deadly smile and dangerous questions about the past.
Dreyer is wickedly clever and witty.”—Booklist
Lizzie is determined to save her family from financial ruin by turning straw into gold; now if she could only stop turning forks into bunnies. Then Elric, a sorcerer, appears one Friday—annoyed with the chaos Lizzie is creating in the universe and in his heart. . . .
A consummate mistress of her craft, Stuart is a pure pleasure to indulge.”
—Romantic Times Bookreviews
The youngest Miss Fortune, Mare, towers above her sisters but her telekinetic power is dwarfed by their gifts. She spends her days at Value Video!! and her nights contemplating the futility of her existence. But then a gorgeous Value Video!! VP and Mare’s long lost love turn up. . .and they all turn up the heat on a weekend that no Fortune will soon forget!
“Crusie is a master of fast-paced witty dialogue.”—Seattle Times
Each author's voice is distinctive, each writing the story of one of the Fortune sisters. If you're familiar with the authors you can easily pick out who wrote what. I liked each of the sisters, Stuart's Dizzy Lizzie is sweet but not stupid--typical Stuart, Mare is vintage Crusie, but I can't say much about whether or not Dee is a typical Dreyer heroine as this is my first "Dreyer".
Crusie has some very witty dialogue and it's hard to complain about her writing style and voice. Stuart is always a favorite and Dreyer has a nice style and voice too, and yet found myself a little underwhelmed by the whole thing.
So, what was wrong--I think it was the heros, not enough time or attention to each, leaving each of the romances somewhat weak. Though the stories aren't done in a novella format each one is limited to the amount of space within the 390+/- pages. I would have loved more of a back story on Stuart's Elric. Crusie does the best giving a stronger back story for Mare and Crash.
Not bad, but not spectacular either Jane's B- is right on target.
8 comments:
I've been on the fence about this one & I think I'll wait. Maybe it'll turn up in the UBS.
Amanda, honestly I'm not sure it's worth running out and getting new. It's probably a good TBR pile book, something that can sit for a while and will probably be enjoyed when you read it, but not spectacular enough to wish you'd read sooner.
Does that make sense?
Yeah, not bad just not as fizzy as I was hoping for.
I'm just finishing this one up now and thinking about the same as you. It was a good read but I wanted it to be better.
Rosie--didn't live up to expectations.
Jennie--good but not great.
Good luck with your move :)
I think I picked a name too close to Jane's for my review pseudonym, LOL!
Apparently I'm in the minority on this book, though, at least as far as Crusie's die-hard fans are concerned. Sarah Frantz wrote a very interesting review, though, on Teach Me Tonight, that I wish she'd expound on a little more, since her insights on the Romance narrative structure really interested me.
Ha, clicked too soon -- I meant to say that I totally agree with you on the need for more back story on Elric; you KNOW he has a REALLY GOOD story somewhere. I felt the same way about what's his name (Dee's guy), too, but their story felt the least vivid to me overall, so in a sense they were well-matched. I did like the whole artist thing with her, though, but unfortunately I guessed the "secret" with Danny, or whatever his name was.
Robin, Sorry, I didn't realiz it was a "Janet" Review. I don't think you're in the minority, we all thought Good, but...
I'll head over and check out the comments on TMT.
I really thought Elric and Lizzie deserved more book time, honestly there was a full novel in that backstory. :)
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