Two Myth-Chievous Tales

A modern woman and a god from an ancient legend? Surely an epic love mismatch... or maybe it’s the “myth match” of the century? The irrepressible Katie MacAlister brings is heroes who are more than mere mortals in two sparkling new novellas of the Otherworld.

Stag Party
Dane Hearne- also known as the Irish fertility god Cernunnos- must choose a bride quickly. His longtime goddess has run off with a salsa dancer, and Dane must be married by Beltane, just a week away, or become a mortal- and die. When he meets American travel writer Megan St. Clair, he knows he’s found his soul mate. But while Dane is a sexy Irish hunk with his fair share of blarney, can he convince Megan to marry him in just one week?

Norse Truly
Alrik Sigurdson is cursed to sail his Viking ship along the same stretch of Scandinavian coastline forever. So when lovely American Brynna Lund skids her car off the road into the ocean, he and his men are happy for the diversion of rescuing her. The Alrik discovers that Brynna is the only woman who can break the curse. Is it any wonder that he’s determined to keep her... forever?

Title: Ain’t Myth-Behaving
Author: Katie MacAlister
Published: 2007
Publisher: Pocket Star
Genre: Romance-Contemporary, Fantasy
Pages: 353
Rating: 5 stars

Katie MacAlister takes classic mythology and turns it on it’s ear in her book Ain’t Myth-Behaving, which is actually two different stories compiled into one volume. This was the second book I have ever read by the wonderful MacAlister but it’s the one that has guaranteed that I would be reading more from this fabulous and imaginative author.

In Stag Party the gods from old Irish myths (and I’ve always loved mythology!) are brought to life but with a completely new twist: humans become gods and can live for hundreds, even thousands of years. Essentially it’s just a job title like a manager position and there is usually someone who would love to take the place of the current god or goddess (the only way to do this is to kill the current god) but that doesn’t make it any less interesting.

Dane Hearne has had the position of the god Cernunnos for a really long time and I’m not sure if it’s because of his god status or not but he’s a very egocentric and pushy person. Not really mean or anything but he does believe he’s the god and goddess’ gift to women so it was fun watching Megan knock him down a peg or two! She’s a great character, and just the person to play opposite of him. There were other minor characters that I liked too (especially the toy poodle hell hounds!) but I really enjoyed the quirky plot more than anything else.

Norse Truly is a completely different story and the plot isn't as complex as the previous novella but there are still many references to gods and mythology. It’s just Norse mythology this time and the characters are much more interesting, even if they are a little rough around the edges but what else would you expect from Vikings?

Alrik, Brynna, and the rest seem to be a bit more fleshed out and real than the characters in Stag Party. I thought the quest to get Momo Hildi’s ring back was a little too long but I really enjoyed the story. I really hope MacAlister decides to write more about the gods and goddesses in some future book!

If you would like more information on Katie MacAlister than what her website provides Wikipedia has an article on her. January 15, 2008 she is supposed to do a behind-the-scenes podcast on Ain’t Myth-Behaving that I’m really looking forward to and here's an excerpt from the book. If some of the names in the novel are a little unfamiliar to you, Wikipedia has articles on both Celtic mythology and Norse mythology and here’s the website on the Pippi Longstocking park where Alrik found Odin.

Other Katie MacAlister Posts by Me:

• Blow Me Down