Review

Five new stories filled with the suspense, paranormal elements and love in unexpected places.
Stories include a new Eve Dallas novella from J.D. Robb, which picks up right after New York to Dallas out last month, and others that span from historical to contemporary. The Unquiet focuses on different suspense and paranormal aspects.

Start with Eve Dallas battling the unquiet Dr. Chaos, a mutilated being murdering doctors and recovering addicts in New York. This story is actually the first Eve Dallas story that I was able to finish. Normally Eve’s speech and actions turn me off, but I found myself hooked from the opening pages.

Mary Blaney’s newest coin tale takes you back in time to England where the innocent Lydia Chernov receives help from the mysterious and dashing Mr. Chase. I liked this story, but felt a little cheated by the short story format. I wanted to know more about the illustrious Mr. Chase; all gentleman all-the-time.  Lydia’s grandmother was an interesting secondary character as well as the back story on both hero and heroine.

In Patricia Gaffney’s Dear One opposites attract when a psychic in dire straits randomly converges with a rich businessman.  I enjoyed this story and again found myself enamored with secondary characters that I felt really needed a tale. I thought that Gaffney did an excellent job of bringing the hero and heroine together.

Ruth Ryan Langan brings the spirit of a restless highland Laird a chance of redemption when a widow comes to reclaim and re-invent his castle in The Unforgiven. Langan’s story was my least favorite. I found the tale too fast and I am not a big fan of the spirit in love with a human trope. The story did redeem itself in the end though.

Finally, Mary Kay McComas weaves a tale of two wondering hearts pulled together by fate and a ghost with a message to deliver. This story was my favorite out of the entire anthology. I loved the characters and found the spirit aspect interesting, but the hero and heroine were neither. I think that reason alone made the story better as the spirit’s presence and purpose existed outside of the romance. Also McComas does a good job of keeping the reader guessing. I really didn’t know how this one would end up or how things tied together until the right moment.

Overall, this book has something for every romance fan if you’re into suspense, historical, paranormal—it doesn’t matter. The Unquiet anthology covers all three, and if you weren’t aware this group of authors has completed several previous anthologies that have connecting stories with those in The Unquiet. If you’re looking for something that doesn’t require a huge commitment, but still provides an entertaining read you won’t go wrong with this one.

Reviewed by Landra