Score: 4 (made up of a 5, 5 and a 3 for the three stories)
The three stories in this anthology all center around a picture in a gallery. When the picture "choses" someone who needs another chance at life, they see something different looking at the picture than everyone else... and the picture draws them INTO IT!!!
Second Chance by Rebecca York
Sara sees another room in the picture and as she moves closer, she finds herself sucked into it. It takes her back in time to the day she met the man she loved. Now she is racing against time and fate to prevent the events the led to his death. AWESOME story! I score it a 5.
Ulterior Motives by Susan Kearney
Merline is a famous singer who has a throat condition that is preventing her from singing. When she looks into the picture she sees stars and space... and then finds herself in a future society on unknown space stations and planets with strange creatures and stranger technology. Two men suddenly are pursuing her for her voice, which is magically healed. Excellent story with an evil villian and great new creatures. Score 5.
Temptation by Jeanie London
Set in 1713, St. Michaels, Maryland. Nina is the ward of Gray and she has a special "gift" .... or is it a curse? Gray takes her to a famous painter of the time to get her portrait painted for her birthday. The painter takes them both to see the painting.. and they BOTH see a face... the SAME face... of Damian. Nina is driven to find Damian, the man who chose NOT to go into the picture after looking upon it because what he saw, and later drew was a portrait of both Nina and Gray! I didn't really like Damian in this story, nor did I care for the conclusion. I score it as a 3.
It is interesting, now that I have written my review, I have read the ones on Amazon and they are not in agreement with me. I hope that my high ratings do not lead anyone else to a disappointing read, but I really enjoyed two of the three.
Harlequin Imprint: 17 Other Publishers: 17
Crystal
100,000 Books Blog: crystalrclass
