Ain't Myth-Behaving contains two novellas. In "Stag Party", the Irish fertility god Cernunnos must find a bride quick since the goddess he had been married to ran off with a salsa dancer (a.k.a. Bacchus). If he's not married by Beltane, he will die. Fortunately for him, he falls for a visiting travel writer--except he will have to convince her to tie the knot...in one week. "Norse Truly" is about an American visiting her Swedish relatives when her car skids into the ocean. She gets rescued by a group of cursed Vikings who are convinced that she's going to save them from sailing up and down the Scandinavian coastline for eternity.
In this book, as in all of MacAlister's other books--be they paranormal, contemporary, or young adult, the author is once again revisiting the theme of American female tourist going off to a foreign country, falling in love, and most of the time making a fool of herself. MacAlister is also one of those authors who make it a habit of writing in first person--which totally doesn't work because all of her first POV characters sound the same.
This is abundantly clear in "Stag Party". The first POV character in this instance happens to be Cernunnos, a male, but he's not particularly original. In fact, he sounds just like MacAlister's heroines--ditzy, desperate, and doomed to tunnel vision. He's oblivious (although if you wanted to be stereotypical, you could call that a plus) and not exactly bright for a deity. I had trouble understanding why the heroine liked him in the first place--unless he had somehow put some sort of spell on her.
"Norse Truly" is a bit better--but only because the first person narration (by the heroine) is overshadowed by the hijinks of the plot. The pace was breakneck fast--the primary characters were rushing all over the place as if they were being chased by a serial killer in a suspense thriller--except all they were trying to do was to find Odin to help them break the curse. What was interesting was the identity of the villain--who is none other than the heroine's "grandmother", Brynnhilde the Valkyrie.
Of course, if you like MacAlister's somewhat breezy humor, don't let me stop you.
contains two novellas. In "Stag Party", the Irish fertility god Cernunnos must find a bride quick since the goddess he had been married to ran off with a salsa dancer (a.k.a. Bacchus). If he's not married by Beltane, he will die. Fortunately for him, he falls for a visiting travel writer--except he will have to convince her to tie the knot...in one week. "Norse Truly" is about an American visiting her Swedish relatives when her car skids into the ocean. She gets rescued by a group of cursed Vikings who are convinced that she's going to save them from sailing up and down the Scandinavian coastline for eternity.
