Like most anthologies it's a mixed bag. 3-3.5 stars overall"Forked Tongues" by Rachel CaineGood story. I've read another short with these characters. I'd like to see more from them at some point; perhaps their own series?"Stolen Goods" by Shannon K. ButcherThis wasn't bad but I had a bit of a hard time since they never explained WHAT the bad guys were. Some kind of alien? I guess this is a case where you're supposed to already know but for someone who isn't familiar with whatever series this is from, it was a pretty big information gap."The Girl with No Name" by Chris Marie GreenWhile not something I was familiar with, I felt this was a pretty self-contained story. Decent and interesting."The Devil's Left Boot" by Faith HunterI've been a long time fan of Faith's work and this story, set in the Jane Yellowrock world and featuring twins from the Everhart clan was solid as always. Top marks."High Stakes" by Chloe NeillI'm also a fan of the Chicagoland Vampires series from which this is part and so enjoyed the Luc/Lindsey side story greatly."The Parlor" by Lucienne DriverAnother where I didn't really know what was going on. It depended on you already being familiar with the series which I wasn't. It was filler for me."Red Isn't Really My Color" by Christina HenryNot a series I am familiar with but I did enjoy this setting and would be interested in reading more from it."Snakeskin" by Rob ThurmanIt was just ok. The tone and narration made it hard to follow sometimes and was weirdly vague so you didn't truly know what was going on until the end when it was sorta kinda explained. Eh. Pass."Ruby Red" by Kalayna PriceI really liked this one. I didn't even realize it was in a series I knew until the end. But it's the right kind of short story: enough info to not feel lost, quick pace and easy flow. "Forked Tongues" by Rachel Caine is a Holly and Andrew Story. We met Holly and Andrew in story stories in Strange Brew an Hex Appeal. Now they have have new troubles."Stolen Goods" by Shannon K. Butcher is a good story."The Devil's Left Boot" by Faith Hunter is set in the Jane Yellowrock world. Cia and Liz Everharts are the twin sister witches of Molly, Jane Yellowrock's best friend. They have a visit from Layla, a bitchy girl they knew in high school who needs help finding her missing mother."Ruby Red" by Kalayna Price is a Darque Files Story set in Alex Craft world. It follows Briar Darque on a case. It is not directly related to Alex Craft's story but timeline related it falls between Grave Dance and Grave Memory. "High Stakes" by Chloe Neill is from the Chicagoland Vampires series. This is short story is #8.25 and about Lindsay and Luc. Lindsay's past comes back to threaten her and her new "thing" with Luc.
Fun book. Gave me a chance to sample some new authors that I might like to read.
—bthnxo
ok, enjoyed short stories, identified several authors I can't wait to check out
—Jennifer
Granted, I only read the stories I wanted to, but they were great!!
—angie
Read Rob Thurman's novella. Good fun read.
—Plowood
"High Stakes", by Chloe Neill
—ravenmccleland
