J.C. Wilder and Rosemary Laurey are both well-known authors--Wilder for her paranormal series, Shadow Dwellers, and Laurey for her vampire series, Forever, and her stories in the Secrets anthologies. In Paradox III, they join together for the third installment of their Paradox series.

Each Paradox book has a separate theme: book I, shape-shifter, II, water, and with this one, stone. Ms. Laurey's, "The Shattered Stone," is about Alys, the daughter of a stonemason, and her journey to find her mother's family. Ranald is also on a journey to find the lost heir to the throne. Ms. Wilder's, "After the Rain," is about a fairy who is banished from her village who finds a job taking care of a set of stone gargoyles. Li only knows that the job fills her with dread, especially when she has to deal with one statue in particular: the one that has the likeness of one of her kind. Through a chance of fate, Nikolaz of River haven is freed from his imprisonment for which he blames Li, and he wants justice. What he finds is something entirely different.

My biggest complaint about these stories was that they were too short. They would have both benefited by more length--especially with Ms. Laurey's "Shattered Stone" where you know the outcome way before the story ends. It's a sweet love story but predictable. Of the two stories, Ms. Wilder's "After the Rain" was my favorite: a little less predictable, a little more of a twist, but still a little too short.

Both of these ladies are great authors and I will still buy their books. Though these are sweet love stories, they aren't the best examples of their work. If you have read Ms. Wilder's Shadow Dweller series and Ms. Laurey's Forever vampire books, you'll know what I mean.

Reviewed By Tammy Adams
© February 2005

The review is of a previously published version of this title.