I liked this a lot. The concept was a great idea and I liked that all the stories tie in together instead of just having a common theme. The stories were fun, sweet, and romantic. Some where more predictable than others, but were very entertaining throughout.I think Snake Charmer by Kimberly Gardner is my favorite. Being first, it had the freshest material.Cock Of the Walk by Willa Okati was the funnest because of Zan, a character that pairs up with one of the existing ranchers. The only thing about this one is that the animal he turns into was so obviously hinted at nearly non-stop. I preferred the subtly of the other stories, in that regard.Lost and Found by JL Langly was the one that confused me the most. It is a really good story on it’s own, and within this collection. Aside from the 1st story, where everything was new, this one had the most new direction. The problem I had is that I’m used to her stories being great. Depending on how much control she had in the developing of the overall storyline, and her individual couple, may have a lot to do with why this one is only good, not great. And she telegraphed Shay’s animal, too. Had this story been written by almost anyone else, the obvious animal and the mate concept would have been my only comments. Unfortunately, I was expecting more so I was a little disappointed.The other stories were nice additions. I enjoyed the ones who overlapped the characters the most. It was great to see them happy and active in the ranch instead of after thoughts. The ending Epilogue wraps up all the stories nicely. This is really not an anthology per se. They are separate stories but they all take place with the ranch hands of the Shift Sands Ranch. They were cursed by Yi the owner's, Daniel, oriental wife. At the full moon they are forced to shift into animals of the Chinese zodiac. They have to be on the ranch lands otherwise they go into extreme pain when the shift tries to take place. The characters do cross into the different stories but don't change identities.Snake Charmer by Kimberly Gardner: Cy's Story 4 StarsAll The Moon Long by Ally Blue: Jud's Story (Had some of the best quotable laughs.) 4 StarsCock of the Wall by Willa Okati: Michael's Story (Adored Zan) 4 StarsHare of the Bull by Brenda Bryce: Gordy's Story 3.5 StarsLost and Found by J. L. Langley: Ben's Story 3.5 StarsPulling the Dragon's Tail by Jet Mykles: Daniel's Story 3.25 Stars (The alley encounter was steamin'!)
What do You think about Shifting Sands (2010)?
Some of the stories were quite skim-able. A little better than okay as a whole~
—Btam
some stories where interesting, some less. but the whole book was good.
—Bricheese
Only read jet mykles so I missed a bunch of backstory
—capr1
