Book Review of By Invitation Only by Lori Wilde, Wendy Etherington, Jillian Burns

Name of book: By Invitation Only

Author Name: Lori Wilde, Wendy Etherington, Jillian Burns

ISBN: 978-0-373-79625-0

Publisher: Harlequin Blaze

Type of book: Adult, romance, anthology, wedding

Year it was published: 2011

Summary:

Texas Tycoon J.D. Maynard Jr. and famous actress Holly Addison are getting married on exotic Rapture Island. And you're invited!

Exclusively Yours by Lori Wilde
In order to scoop the wedding story, journalist Oliva Carmichael feigns an engagement with infuriating writer Nick Greer. But getting-under-his-skin turns into getting-under-the-sheets...

Private Party by Wendy Etherington
Non-hired caterer Tara Lindsey crashes the wedding to get a taste of the food, but drop-dead-sexy security chief Wade Cooper catches her in the act! Fortunately Tara is about to be the guest of honor at a much more exclusive party...for two.

Secret Encounter by Jillian Burns
Though a disguise gets Dr. Peyton Monahan into the celebration, it doesn't help her find the elusive philanthropist she's seeking to fund her latest research project. But she does find one hot gorgeous guy. Too bad Quinn Smith's hiding a few things of his own...

Characters:

I enjoyed hanging out with the characters in this anthology; I liked the banter between Olivia and Nick, the determination of Tara and Wade, and also liked the twist on Peyton, (I think she needs a full length novel. I liked how not only a male hero grew up without love, a female heroine does as well, which in romance novel is unique.)

Theme:

I think the main theme is that you never know when your someone special will show up.

Plot:

This contains three stories and has six points of view, three from women and three from the men. Although its obvious that the authors are talented and wrote beautiful stories, I sense that in the stories they could have said much more than they had, if that makes any sense.

Author Information:

Lori Wilde
Lori Wilde is a New York Times bestselling author and has written more than forty books. She's been nominated for a RITA Award and four RT Book Reviews Reviewers' choice awards. Her books have been excerpted in Cosmopolitan, Redbook and Quick and simple. Lori teaches writing online through Ed2go. She's also an RN trained in forensics and she volunteers at a women's shelter. Visit her website at www.loriwilde.com

Wendy Etherington
Wendy Etherington was born and raised in the deep South-and she has fried-chicken recipes and Nascar ticket stubs to prove it. The author of more than twenty books, she writes full-time from her home in South Carolina, where she lives with her husband, two daughters, and an energetic shih tzu named Cody. She can be reached via her website www.wendyetherington.com.

Jillian Burns
Jillian Burns has always read romance, and spent her teens immersed in the worlds of Jane Eyre and Elizabeth Bennett. She lives in Texas with her husband of twenty years and their three active kids. Jillian likes to think her emotional nature-sometimes refered to as moodiness- has found the perfect outlet in writing stories filled with passion and romance. She believes romance novels have the power to change lives with their message of eternal love and hope.

Opinion:

One of the things I like about anthologies is that I get to see which authors I like and dislike, and which ones have talent. With this said, I feel that all three authors have talent in writing stories, especially creating chemistry within the constraints of words and pages. The only thing I didn't like is that I feel that stories should have been longer and in one case, the plot twist happened a little too soon. Also, for those who love intelligent, curvy heroines, Jillian Burns's story, Secret Encounter has one. There are some minor discrepancies between the stories: (such as the hair color of the current J.D Maynard Sr.'s wife,) but they didn't detract from my enjoyment.

4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)