Everlasting Love

by Jayne Ann Krentz, Linda Lael Miller, Linda Howard

In the springtime, our thoughts do turn to love...to the sweet thrill of a first kiss...a romantic walk at twilight...a glance across a crowded room that says, your're mine. Now savor the magic of love everlasting with five new tales of romance and intrigue from your favorite writers.

Let: Jayne Ann Krentz, Linda Lael Miller, Linda Howard, Kasey Michaels and Carla Neggers sweep you away...to modern-day Washington, where treachery ignites an unlikely affair of the heart...to 1880's Montana, where an abandoned bride searches for a love she thought forever lost...to a bewitching country lake, where dreams lure a woman into a dangerous embrace...to an English Regency manor, where a time-traveling film star discovers the role, and the passion, of a lifetime...to the California coastline, where a handsome attorney inherits a haunted house and a beautiful, seductive ghost...to places far and near, exotic and familiar, where love is timeless...and always everlasting.

Contents:
"Connecting Rooms" / Jayne Ann Krentz
"Resurrection" / Linda Lael Miller
"Lake of Dreams" / Linda Howard
"Role of a Lifetime" / Kasey Michaels
"Tricks of Fate" / Carla Neggers

Genres: Romance, Anthologies, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Fiction, Paranormal, Time Travel

373 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 1995

About the author

The author of over 50 consecutive New York Times bestsellers, JAYNE ANN KRENTZ writes romantic-suspense in three different worlds: Contemporary (as Jayne Ann Krentz), historical (as Amanda Quick) and futuristic (as Jayne Castle). There are over 30 million copies of her books in print.

She earned a B.A. in History from the University of California at Santa Cruz and went on to obtain a Masters degree in Library Science from San Jose State University in California. Before she began writing full time she worked as a librarian in both academic and corporate libraries.

Reviews

[Azet · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Different Love-Stories written by 5 different best-seller authors. All 5 of them about "Everlasting Love"...

1.Connecting Rooms by Jayne Ann Krentz

Review:Jayne Ann Krentz pulls off her magic in this quick contemporary novella about this remarkable couple i just soooo ADORE!
Amy Comfort was a hell of a stubborn heroine,and so honest too at that. She truly cared for her aunt to go such means as to hire our hero to inspect her aunt`s fiance.

Owen Sweet ( i love the surnames the H and h have) is a very manly Alpha without being too arrogant-which also showed us some vulnerability in him when it came to his feelings for Amy.He was courting her all the time and she didn`t even know it,how naive of her,haha!

The conclusion is that i REALLY enjoyed this story overall,as i adore this couple 100%.

My rating:4 STARS

2.Resurrection by Linda Lael Miller

My review:Fantastic, gleaming and SHATTERING beautiful Love-Story between a lost married couple who now reunites in this late 1880s setting in Montana, a Western romance i will late forget...

Emmeline who always thought her husband dead the last 7 years gets shocked over his return,but little does she know that he had been kidnapped and taken away to slavery and been forced to endure the hardships and abusiveness which have changed him, he has now changed into a man who has become patient for her love even if it would kill him-I just simply love this man!

Gil Hartwell is a man with a wonderful persona, while being innocent with his arrogance in his youth he has now changed into a man who knows the darkness of life, waiting and fighting for 7 years to come back to his wife-enduring all kinds of punishments along the way. Emmeline had mourned him after all these years and decides also to marry another man-which is the exact day Gil comes back. Talk about some drama...(smirk)!

Gil and Emmeline obviously love each other very much-it was so bittersweet and romantic in the way that both of them had to go through some very emotional obstacles and the real enemy in the end,who had firstly caused all harm for them from the start.I love this story,A Unforgettable Keeper that deserved it`s 5-Stars!

My rating:5 STARS

3.Lake of Dreams by Linda Howard

My review:
I think i am in love...

NO!Scratch that, i AM IN LOVE!

Linda Howard has to be ONE of the MOST Amazing Author on earth.She writes with such simple grace and delivers all you could possible imagine with hero`s and heroine`s to die for.

This Novella "Lake of Dreams" is no exception. Thea Marlow and Richard Chance are two reincarnated soulmates where tragedy strikes them in the every lifetimes they fall in love with each other-as history always repeats itself. They both dream about making hot passionate love with each other every night...and in this twelfth life-time they will meet again. Last chance for their forever...

THIS IS A FRICKING MUST-READ FOR ALL ROMANCE LOVERS!

Thea´s and Richard`s romance are witty,sexy (SO SEXY) and just soooo alluring with a little bit of danger. Thea was so funny in her way of thinking and i just loved her sassy character and Richard...my GOD how utterly SMOKILY SEXY he was.!What a man!So much Alpha in his bold Warrior-like nature...a predator. He unlike her had dreamed about making love to her ever since he was a kid-poor lad,she had destroyed him for every other woman!And the end,Ahh i actually shed some tears...Richard`s and Thea`s love is a Everlasting love.What every woman wishes for herself.!

A Keeper that deserves EVERY STAR you can find!You made a Hit out of this one, Linda Howard!

My rating:5 STARS

4.Role of a Lifetime by Kasey Michaels

My review:
I don`t remember the last time i laughed this much,dear goodness!

A Delightful Novella,where our self-loving and pompous (he clearly loved himself most in the world) Movie-Star Michael Casey travels back in time to fall in love with his only soulmate ever, Alexandra Deverell.

So Funny and Irresistible, "Role of a Lifetime" was a hell of a Romantic Comedy Adventure i will late forget.

My rating:4 STARS

5.Tricks of Fate by Carla Neggers

My review:A Short fast-paced contemporary romantic comedy with a tiny bit of paranormal element. I really liked it, and it made me really laugh.

The hero crime-inspector Samuel Archer gets manipulated by his uncle through his fake "death" that he has to live two weeks in the Liberty House where a ghost haunts, Cassandra Belle who have cast a spell on the Archer men, for them to never find everlasting love. Surprisingly he also gets a housemate, the heroine, copper-haired wine expert Cassandra Liberty. The youngest descendent of the haunting ghost-little does both Sam and Cassandra know that Sam`s kook of a uncle has planned for the both of them to fall in love with each other...so the curse could finally disappear from the Archer men.

My rating:3,5 STARS

[Caro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Connecting Rooms was pretty good. I liked how it had a little mystery, humor, and a quick get together with emotions. It was a really good short read. I would read it again, but it's more for sometime when you don't have the time for a engrossing page-turner. But it still has that 'what's going to happen next' thing to it. Resurrection was good too. I liked the situation and how the author showed how people would probably really feel, if it wasn't emotions that are 'sensible'. I liked how everything was overcome and the truth came out. This was a great short read and I would read it again, but more for passing the time. Lake of Dreams was a great book. I really enjoyed reading this one. I liked the mystery surrounding the dreams, the emotions, the sense of reality changing, and the way everything was written to pull you in. The beginning was great too, it pulled me in from the first page and wasn't slowly building up to the characters and situation painstakingly. Brava! Role of a Lifetime was another great book. I liked the humor, self-discovery, 'who-dun-it' factor, and the ending was a great touch. I would definitely read this one again. It made me laugh and aggravated me at the same time. This was a YAY! book. Tricks of Fate was really good too. I liked the fact that the author kinda let you hand, was it real or not?, I also liked how it was a good short read. It kept me interested, no boring slow parts, and was short enough that I didn't have to stay up too late to finish. Overall, I really liked this book and am going to keep it on my shelf. I liked all the books within it and would definitely read it again. I liked the variety of different times, situations, and creativity. Enjoy

Still like it!

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Short, concise romance stories. Some historical, some contemp
If u like all these writers it’s a great book. But if like me, u only read some of them, they’re nice little bonus short stories.

[Kelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everlasting Love had five stories, each of which I am going to review to give the book its overall rating of 4 out of 5 stars:

1) Connecting Rooms by Jayne Ann Krentz
2) Resurrection by Linda Lael Miller
3) Lake of Dreams by Linda Howard
4) Role of a Lifetime by Kasey Michaels
5) Tricks of Fate by Carla Neggers

Connecting Rooms was about Amy Comfort who hired her love interest, Owen Sweet, to be a private investigator for her. The case she hired him for ended up requiring the two characters to pretend they were an engaged couple to attempt to solve the case. Amy and Owen's banter, love and passion was fun to read about as the story went on. I smiled as I was finishing the story.

Resurrection was about Emmeline and her long-lost love who suddenly showed up after years of absence, her husband, Gil Hartwell. While the plot and climax of the story was very entertaining, the story itself was a little boring. Maybe it was the author's way of writing. Maybe it was because it took a long time before any real passion (meaning sex) happened. I don't know, but I didn't like that story as much as the first one.

Lake of Dreams was about Thea Marlow and her love interest, Richard Chance, who was literally the man of her dreams. This story was my favorite out of all the stories. I loved everything about it, including the two main characters and their story. They had a long, sad battle to finally end up together, and when they finally get together, it is so glorious and makes me wish I had the man of my dreams come sweep me off my feet.

Role of a Lifetime was about an actor named Michael Casey and the woman he ended up with, Alexandra Deverell. This was the worst story out of all of the stories. It was the concept of the plot and the way Michael acted and spoke. No one speaks like he did throughout the story. If I was Alexandra, I would have slapped him silly more than once.

Tricks of Fate was about Sam Archer and the ghost who haunted him in his uncle’s house, Cassandra Liberty. The plot of the story was entertaining to read about, and I loved how Sam and Cassandra came to find each other and fall in love with each other. I think this was my second favorite story.

So, all in all, I rate the stories as 4, 3, 5, 2 and 4 respectively giving the book a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.

[Jerry Jares · Rating 3 out of 5]

This compilation has my least-favorite mix of stories; the authors are not offering stories from the same historical era but a variety of timeframes.  The book cover assures the reader that these are all-new short stories.  I'm not familiar with the first or the last author (Krentz or Neggers).  At the end, I will rate the stories from favorite-to-least.

CONNECTING ROOMS (Jayne Ann Krentz) -- 3.5 stars
Amy Comfort is worried; she needs someone to find out if her widowed aunt is being hoodwinked by an opportunist.   Amy asks the only PI on the island, Owen Sweet (where they both live), to accompany her, as her fiance, for a weekend visit to Villantry, where her aunt lives.  When they get there, they find out that Arthur (her aunt's love-interest) is being blackmailed. The backstory is that Owen bought the ramshackle estate he lives in from Amy (a realtor) a few months earlier.  Owen is interested in Amy personally but has been moving slowly, in order not to rush her.  Contemporary romantic suspense.

RESURRECTION (Linda Lael Miller) -- 5 stars
Hours before remarrying, Emmeline's husband, Gil Hartwell, returns after an absence of 7 years.  Although Emmeline has the townspeople notified that there will be no wedding, a pall settles over the couple.  What are they to do now?  Emmeline has had no word from her husband for all those years.  Can they start again?  Each of them realizes that he and she are very angry and it is not easy to set it aside.  A fascinating character study in 1888 Montana.

LAKE OF DREAMS (Linda Howard) -- 2 stars
Thea Marlowe has been having worrisome dreams for a month.  Thinking to get some quiet time, she decides to take a vacation at her parents' summer cottage at the lake.  As she's unpacking, a man comes to the door to introduce himself.  He's the man in her dream.  Absolute hogwash.  Linda Howard is so talented; this is a real disappointment.

ROLE OF A LIFETIME (Kasey Michaels) -- 1 star
This is a short story about time travel drivel.  Michael Casey is so unlikeable that I didn't even finish the story.

TRICKS OF FATE (Carla Neggers) -- 2 stars
If you believe in ghosts, this is a great story.  If you believe in logic, this is a pitiful effort. An uncle tricks his lawyer nephew to spend 2 weeks at a decrepit, falling-down house and winery to get rid of a curse.  Of course, Sam falls madly in love in just 5 days.  Just plain stupid. 

**Ratings from favorite to least:  Miller, Krentz.  None of the others were worth reading.

[Dasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 estrellas.
He sido un poco generosa a la hora de hacer la media 🙃
Solo porque esta antología recoge uno de mis relatos favoritos de Linda Howard.
Todas estas historias románticas tienen un toque paranormal, como se deduce del título, obvio 😅

Connecting Rooms , de Jayne Anne Krentz: ⭐⭐⭐ tres estrellas.
Divertida e interesante. De lo mejor: el protagonista masculino que es maravilloso 😍
También me ha gustado mucho el misterio, los personajes en general y la ambientación. La escena de cama es bastante mediocre y una de las poas pegas.
Resurrection , de Linda Lael Miller: ⭐⭐⭐ tres estrellas.
Romántica histórica (esta creo que no tenía toque paranormal). Las convenciones sociales típicas de la época muy desesperantes y, sobre todo, tanta mención a dios y la religión. Por lo demás, interesante.
Lake of Dreams , de Linda Howard: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ cinco estrellas.
Mi relato favorito. La historia de dos amantes condenados a reencontrarse una y otra vez.
Role of a Lifetime , de Kasey Michaels: ⭐ una estrellas.
Se junta la temática con el arquetipo masculino que me sacan de los nervios (famosos, actores o músicos y protagonista mujeriego que en este caso "roza" el abuso). Pese a que los viajes en el tiempo me encantan como soy tan exquisita con ellos me cuesta mucho encontrar historias de este tipo que me gusten. El toque de humor era especial pero no ha sido suficiente para mí.
Tricks of Fate , de Carla Neggers: ⭐⭐ dos estrellas.
Meh. Interesante premisa pero se me ha quedado corta. El final precipitado y los personajes planos.

Tengo la edición grande de tapa dura publicada por Thorndike Press. Con una cubierta "vintage" de 1998.

[L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent collection of novellas by some good authors.
Connecting Rooms- A young woman hires a private detective to investigate her aunt's current love interest. There are really two story lines here, they're both interesting but felt incomplete in the telling.
Resurrection - The husband leaves to purchase cattle for their ranch and doesn't return for seven years! And he shows up on the day his wife is going to marry another man! What happened in those seven years? There's a lot packed into this short and sweet story.
Lake of Dreams - De ja vu - but we've all probably met someone that we feel we've known a long time or met before. Fantasy, but a good read.
Role of a lifetime - Funny story. Bad boy meets the right girl.
Tricks of Fate - Scheming uncle, suspicious nephew, young woman who refuses to be used by anyone. This one could have been longer, it was very good but felt rushed or too condensed to make it a short story.

[Jane Mercer · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me to keep an anthology bok I have to like at least half of the stories I only liked 2 so this is not going to stay in my collection
Liked
Connecting Rooms Jayne Ann Krentz
Amusing tale of two idiots who can't catch on when they're attracted to each other and a little blackmail thrown in.
Role of a Lifetime Kasey Michaels
The female lead Alex makes this story the hero who is thrown back in time to rescue her wants slapping, he's supposed to be an immersive actor but shows little sign of it insisting on calling Alex babe all the time.
Disliked
Lland of Dreams Linda Howard
Soft core porn with a weak female character
Resurrection Linda Lael Miller
Predictable western
Tricks of Fate Carla Neggar
Best character the meddling conniving uncle where there others?

[Cheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay reading for me. I liked LH's Lake Of Dreams the best :)

[Clara Smith]

Read "Connecting Rooms" by Jayne ann Krentz; "Lake of Dreams" by Linda Howard; "Resurrection" by Linda Lael Miler; "Tricks of Fate" by Carla Neggers

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a compendium of five stories. I bought it for the Jayne Ann Krentz story, Connecting Rooms. My only complaint is that it is far too short.

Connecting Rooms: The two main characters, Amy Comfort and Owen Sweet, are typical Krentz and deserve a bigger story line. The story was published in 1995 when Ms. Krentz began to really hit her stride. Amy was a little too pushy for my tastes, probably because I have always felt that if you hire a professional, you let him/her do the job. If I felt I could do it better, I wouldn't hire them in the first place. Amy doesn't seem to get this philosophy at all. I felt Owen had to put up with a lot from her.

Resurrection (Linda Lael Miller): Definitely a four-star read, the story is about a wife in Montana in 1888 whose husband has been missing for seven years. She is finally getting on with her life by remarrying when her missing husband shows up on the morning of her wedding. Whew! Really fun story.

Lake of Dreams (Linda Howard): I had trouble with Thea, the female protagonist, right from the beginning. She is described as a woman who has always fearlessly moved forward in life, never giving in to others who cross her, but when it comes to what she does, she comes across as timid, unsure of herself, and frightened by dreams she is having. Really couldn't get into this one.

Role of a Lifetime (Kasey Michaels): A time travel story, which put me off from the get-go. Not my cup of tea, to say the least. Casey is not a hero to revere, by any means. His slang, his quoting and role-playing, and his inability to take things seriously put me off. Alexandria deserved better.

Tricks of Fate (Carla Neggers): Sam and Cassandra are talked into spending two weeks without credit cards, transportation, or connection to the outside world in an old, abandoned house five miles from the nearest town. Neither knows the other will be there. There wasn't enough time for real character development, and nothing much happens to speak of.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Connecting Rooms - okay, kind of blah, especially compared to the rest of the offerings in the anthology.

Resurrection - Another okay one, period romance set in 1888 Montana Territory. A husband comes back after being gone for seven years, on the day she is to be remarried. Okay, not great story.

Lake of Dreams (Linda Howard) - Fascinating story, especially in contrast with the first two. A woman starts dreaming of a man every night in the hour before the dawn. Most of the time, they're making love. But sometimes, he kills her. I couldn't put that story down.

Role of a Lifetime - An actor is drawn to England to shoot a movie based on historical events on-site, and finds himself in the middle of the the action when he's transported back to 1813. A lovely story, even if somewhat rushed because of the format, the action is well paced, as is the hero's character development (and believe me, at the beginning, it needs development).

Tricks of Fate - This one was the shortest, and it felt rushed. Two people whose families have a long history of battling each other find themselves spending two weeks in a house that is supposed to be haunted.

[Lin Stepp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes I really love these multi-author books with several related short novels in them ... usually always on a theme. All of these stories were well-written and fun. I love Krentz's writing ... and Connecting Rooms doesn't disappoint. It has one of Krentz's usual pacific northwest locations ... on a small island, where Amy has fled an assortment of life problems to become a realtor and where Owen, too, has arrived to buy a rundown house, his past also a mystery. Amy hires him as an investigator ... starting the connection and the fun. The other stories in the book are by Linda Lael Miller, Resurrection, a western romance, of course ... by Linda Howard, Lake of Dreams - actually a good read and I don't usually like Howard because her books have such an excess of sexual content ...by Kasey Michaels, Role of A Lifetime, a British-set romance, ... and the last by Carla Neggers, Tricks of Fate ... a fun story of an eccentric man who contrives to get two young people together at a remote estate. ... All were a good read! ... And you could finish each at one sitting.

[Carolyn F. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Anthology

Connecting Rooms by Jayne Ann Krentz. Okay romance with a who-done-it element. ***

I tried to read every one of the short stories here including ones by authors I usually enjoyed and I think the word "hate" is very applicable to this. I think these are stories that couldn't find interest at the publishers so they were put in a short story. Awful!

[Tonya Warner]

As sometimes happens when you read a collection of stories, you must take the bad with the good. I really enjoyed Resurrection by Linda Lael Miller and Lake of Dreams by Linda Howard. I was disappointed by the other three stories. Overall, I could not find any connection on why this stories would even be grouped together in a book.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found new authors to read, enjyd known

[Gloria Rohde · Rating 3 out of 5]

Consisted of 5 short books. 3 of them were pretty good but 2 of them were just OK for me.

[Ms Borg · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Lake of Dreams' by Linda Howard
'Connecting Rooms' by Jayne Anne Krentz
'Resurrection' by Linda Lael Miller
'Role of a Lifetime' Kasey Michaels
'Tricks of Fate' Carla Neggers

[Tania · Rating 2 out of 5]

Randomly chosen to be book #33 for 2012.

[Shei Belikov · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lake of dreams [Linda Howard] - 2.5★

[Verity]

LAKE OF DREAMS

[Mudpie · Rating 4 out of 5]

All in a collection of good short love stories that did not feel too short and hurried as with all novellas or short stories.

My favourite of these is Linda Howard's Dream Lake. Right from the beginning I was sucked right into the story as our heroine had her scary dream. As I read I felt her frustration and fear and hating that she feared the lake she loved so much in her childhood. The hero was scorching hot yet scary intense and her dreams showed him killing her too. What an awful feeling to be so attracted yet fearful...the back story was slowly revealed to our heroine and us and we lived her dream right alongside her. Then ending was just so amazing and powerful and their last lives revealed a shocking secret. The hero truly loved our heroine and made the ultimate sacrifice each time...I'd give this story 5*!

The other stories were sweet with some light mystery involved. Nothing too wild and just enough to keep me engaged.

The story I like least is the time travel from Kasey Michaels. Her hero Michael Casey (ahem) was such an annoying man! if I were to know him in real life I'd have whacked him over the head with his baseball bat. He's always making smart Alecky comments and worse, those were not even his own words but lines quoted from different movies. I get that he's actually an insecure man who was playing mediocre baseball and stumbled into acting by chance...but I really dragged through this story.

Despite the annoying hero the story was interesting and on the whole I took away 1* for this.

[Kathleen Nalley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not worth my time.