Jennifer Crusie, Eileen Dreyer, and Anne Stuart, The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes

The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes

Jennifer Crusie, Eileen Dreyer, and Anne Stuart

St. Martin's, Jun 2007, $6.99

ISBN: 031294098X

In Salem's Fork, West Virginia, although only a teen, Dee Fortune realized she and her two younger sisters were in danger; she abducted Lizzie and Mare keeping them safe over the next thirteen years as she struggles to learn how to use her shape shifting power. However, the haven she constructed falls apart with one wicked smile that makes her preening and ready to no longer be the oldest North American virgin when Danny James arrives to interrogate her about Miss Fortune's past.

Middle sibling Lizzie knows the three Miss Fortune's are in financial trouble so she concocts an alchemist like plan to spin straw into gold. She fails at that, but succeeds in changing forks into bunnies that overwhelm the land. Elric the sorcerer arrives to prevent Lizzie from spinning anymore disasters, but is too late as he wants to spin a future with her.

The youngest of the trio, Mare is much taller than her two older sisters and in fact can see eyeball to eyeball with most men; some forcing her to look down. However, her magic is limited compared to her siblings, which adds to her feelings of worthlessness until Crash the mechanic magically arrives to whisk her away from Value Video.

Fortunately for the contemporary paranormal romance crowd with a touch, the saga of the Miss Fortunes is an excellent novel that will grip readers from the first siblings' vote until the climax as the "matchmaking" Xan sends hunks their way in an effort to steal their power. The humorous and heated story line belongs to the three sisters who have hidden in small towns since the threat surfaced, but due to the men suddenly in their lives must confront the one they ran from. This is a wonderful collaboration.

Harriet Klausner