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Genre: Urban Fantasy and Paranormal romance
Pages: 336
Published: June 7th 2011 Berkley
Shapeshifting tigress Dali Harimau finds herself in deep waters when she must challenge a dark being to a battle of wits or risk losing the man for whom she secretly longs.
Iris Kuusi, a Finnish house sprite, journeys to the frozen Northlands to confront the crazed shadow of her former lover and break the curse that is keeping her from marrying the man she loves.
Stormwalker Janet Begay and her friends are trapped by a powerful curse. It will take every bit of magic simmering beneath her skin for the Stormwalker to survive being "Double Hexed."
Bounty-hunter-turned-vampire Anna Strong is visited by three witches who ask her to right an old magical wrong. Anna will have to live up to her last name to make it through alive.
Iris Kuusi, a Finnish house sprite, journeys to the frozen Northlands to confront the crazed shadow of her former lover and break the curse that is keeping her from marrying the man she loves.
Stormwalker Janet Begay and her friends are trapped by a powerful curse. It will take every bit of magic simmering beneath her skin for the Stormwalker to survive being "Double Hexed."
Bounty-hunter-turned-vampire Anna Strong is visited by three witches who ask her to right an old magical wrong. Anna will have to live up to her last name to make it through alive.
My thoughts:
Since this is an anthology I am going to review the novellas separately.
Magic Dreams by Ilona Andrews (Kate Daniels #4.5)
In this one Dali and Jim fight together to bring down a Japanese demon. Dali is not a scary shifter, but she does know her magic. Jim is an alpha and they have always been at odds. That is you know they both like each other but never get together. So therefore I looked forward to reading this novella knowing it would finally happen. Interesting mythology and in a way I did not feel like you had to have read the Kate Daniels series to understand the novella. Of course by having read them you would have met these two before and wanted the same thing I wanted. I enjoyed this novella.
Ice Shards by Yasmine Galenorn (Sisters of the Moon #9.5)
I never ever come across Finnish mythology and here I did. Iris Kuusi is a house sprite from Finland and she is going to the Northlands to find out if she killed someone 600 years ago. Ok I was a bit lost here at times, not really lost, but it was the fact that there have been 9 books in this series about three sisters. And this character who I guess is a minor character there. Also, they would not have had last names that far back and some names in it would not have been used. Still it was interesting in its rich mythology. There seems to be a lot going on in that world (worlds).
Double Hexed by Allyson James (Stormwalker #3.5)
This one was my favorite because it really made me want to read the series behind it. Janet and her friends are trapped in her hotel because someone has put a hex on it. I found myself wanting to read more about Janet and her dragon lover Mick. Coyote was funny, the vampire seemed nice (when not crazed) and the rest of the cast interesting. It's a world I want to read about and book 1 made it to my wishlist.
Blood Debt by Jeanne C. Stein (Anna Strong Chronicles #6.5)
Yes 6 before this one but I never felt at loss. I got a bit of explanations what Anna was and what she had been through. In this book she stands trail for something she has done. And that made me know about her history. I would definitely be interested in reading her story from book 1. The writing and story was good and I do like kick-ass UF heroines.
Conclusion:
Interesting novellas that made me want to read more about the worlds presented. And as always some better than other.
Rating:
Good in the end
Cover:
Cool
I'd be tempted to read this just for the Ilona Andrews series alone. I haven't read any of the of the other authors but maybe this would be a noce to have a little taste of them! Thanks! :)
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great anthology! I've only read the Kate Daniels series out of the ones mentioned, but I love Dali and Jim and that would be enough to make me buy this one:) I've heard the Stormwalkers series is great though!
ReplyDeleteI read the first two Anna Strong books and they were good. (Then I discovered m/m.)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good anthology, but I do wish that they didn't so often include books from series that are already established. I hate feeling like I'm being dropped in the middle of a world that I should already know something about and don't.
ReplyDelete@Mel
ReplyDeleteIf you like Ilona then do read this story too :) And yes then you get a taste of other authors too. Which can be fun
@Jenny
I was sure the same. One novella I wanted to read and then a lot of new to me books. But the stormwalkers sure managed to catch my attention
@Chris
Sounds good to me :D
@Carol
I agree. It just gets you confused and if you follow the series it will get you confused too if you have not read the novella in between
This sounds good. I guess it's a good way to sample an author's works as well. Glad you enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteHaven't heard of this anthology before but there are some great authors in it. Might have to see if I can find a copy at the bookstore.
ReplyDeleteOh I need to put this one on my wishlist and then catch up to those stories. Perfect! Thanks for the review. I need ALL the books. :D
ReplyDeletei love short stories! i'm not surprised the allyson james story was your fave b/c I'm pretty sure she writes historicals under another name, and if so, she's one of my fave authors.
ReplyDeleteAnother great book that I want to read. My list is getting so long! LOL
ReplyDeleteSuch novellas are a good way to find out whether a particular series would work for you or not. Thanks for a insightful review!
ReplyDeleteB,
ReplyDeleteI love the Allyson James series - so I would be interested in that one and the Yasmine Galenorn one since I love the Otherworld series - the others, I don't read.
Glad you enjoyed it.
M
sounds like some good stories in there, especially Double Hexed.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if this anthology is for me, I've only read a book by one of the authors and that is Ilona Andrews(and my heart just wasn't in it at that time at least).
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you ended up liking this collection :)
I find it surprising and sad that you rarely come across novels with Finnish mythology. There's an untapped market there perhaps?
ReplyDeleteI like the sound of this anthology. It sounds very cohesive. Great reviews :)
ReplyDeleteAlready have this one on my TBR list.. Magic Slays finally arrived today :)
ReplyDelete@Darlene
ReplyDeleteThat is it. Not that I am that fond of novellas but at least you get a bit of an idea what their writing is like
@Jenny
I sure want more from these authors so that was a good sign
@Melissa
Lol, tell me about it. I am reading a book now and want her backlist ;)
@Carrie
Yes she does..Ashley James? Something anyway. I have a book by her and I really should read it soon
@Yvonne
ReplyDeleteLol, tell me about it. I am reading a book right now and I want the 3 books she has written before it ;)
@Ana
Of course I can also misjudge a voice by only the novella but I still feel I get a good sense if I would enjoy it or not :)
@Michelle
Good news for me then cos I am really tempted to dip my foot into that series. So her series is good then? It was good, but I would sure liked to have read all thoe before first
@Naida
Double hexed was so fun, and I want more
@Ladybug
ReplyDeleteThen it's another matter. With an anthology, well I was glad there was one book I knew and wanted to read a story about
@Steph
When I think back Robert Holdstock did mention it in a "fantasy" book about Merlin and that guy..hm..Hounded, Hexed, anyway he said he has a character from our myths in his books. But other than that, nope. So perhaps something for me to explore ;)
@Melissa
And I read it all cos of Ilona :D
@Bookdout
Yay, I am gonna order book 4 soon since book 5 will soon be on it's way to me
I've ordered this book mainly for the Yasmine Galenorn story, really love her books. Secondly for the Ilona Andrews story, another good series, and thirdly for the Allyson James series, which I have started recently, but which had to give way to some newer books I had been awaiting. Only the Anna Stein books are not familiair to me, though on my TBR somewhere.
ReplyDelete@Aurian
ReplyDeleteThe Galenorn story was ok, but I just wished I had read more about it. Like when they mentioned that woman with 3 husbands..but anyway I am sure you will love it
I remembered! It's Jennifer Ashley!! She has some AWESOME historicals!!
ReplyDelete@Carrie
ReplyDeleteI plan to read one of her books soon :D
I've been thinking about picking this one up but I'm not a fan of anthologies. But BLOOD DEBT and DOUBLE HEXED sound interesting, and of course there's the Ilona Andrews story... I might just have to buy this one.
ReplyDelete@Jennifer
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel, I am not a fan either. But it had good authors in it
Thank you for reviewing each story separately. I usually try to do that as well when reviewing an anthology. I love the sounds of this one, but it sounds like they are all with series. So I might just hold off on it for a while until I finally get to the series. :) As there are a few here I do want to get too. Thank you!
ReplyDelete@Melissa
ReplyDeleteOh yes all in the middle of a series so not the best thing since I was only (almost) caught up on only one. But they still worked