Wolfsbane and Mistletoe by Charlaine Harris, Toni L.P. Kelner , Kat Richardson, Alan Gordon, Carrie Vaughn , Patricia Briggs , Dana Stabenow , Nancy Pickard, Karen Chance, Keri Arthur, Rob Thurman

Wolfsbane and Mistletoe by Charlaine Harris

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The editors of "Many Bloody Returns" deliver the perfect howl-iday gift, with new tales from Patricia Briggs, Carrie Vaughn, and many more.

"New York Times" bestselling authors Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Keri Arthur, and Carrie Vaughn—along with eleven other masters of the genre—offer all-new stories on werewolves and the holidays, a fresh variation on the concept that worked so well with birthdays and vampires in "Many Bloody Returns."

The holidays can bring out the beast in anyone. They are particularly hard for lycanthropes. Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner have harvested the scariest, funniest and saddest werewolf tales by an outstanding pack of authors, best read by the light of a full moon with a silver bullet close at hand.

Whether wolfing down a holiday feast (use your imagination) or craving some hair of the dog on New Year's morning, the werewolves in these frighteningly original stories will surprise, delight, amuse, and scare the pants off readers who love a little wolfsbane with their mistletoe.

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Very much enjoyed this anthology of Christmas werewolf stories. Of course with the line up of authors here I am not surprised. There were some great takes on Santa -- From Santa Claws(an evil werewolf hunting monster) to Santa (the Saint of many things, including werewolves (poor Rudolph though). A few vampires and lots of different weres made these stories wonderfully entertaining!



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Strange Brew by P.N. Elrod (Editor / Contributor)

Strange Brew by P.N. Elrod


Today’s hottest urban fantasy authors come together in this delicious brew that crackles and boils over with tales of powerful witches and dark magic!

In Charlaine Harris’ “Bacon,” a beautiful vampire joins forces with a witch from an ancient line to find out who killed her beloved husband. In “Seeing Eye” by Patricia Briggs, a blind witch helps sexy werewolf Tom Franklin find his missing brother—and helps him in more ways than either of them ever suspected. And in Jim Butcher’s “Last Call,” wizard Harry Dresden takes on the darkest of dark powers—the ones who dare to mess with this favorite beer.

For anyone who’s ever wondered what lies beyond the limits of reality, who’s imagined the secret spaces where witches wield fearsome magic, come and drink deep. Let yourself fall under the spell of this bewitching collection!



My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Very enjoyable read. Some old favorite authors as well as an introduction to some new ones for me.

My 2 least favorite stories were Charlaine Harris's Bacon and PN Elrod's Hecate's Golden Eye. The rest of the stories were quite enjoyable.

I will add one warning. If you have any desire to read the 'Cin Craven' series by Jenna Maclaine, you may want to read them before reading the short story included in this book -- 'Dark Sins'.


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Claimed By Shadow by Karen Chance

Claimed By Shadow by Karen Chance


From the Publisher
Clairvoyant Cassie Plamer has inherited new magical powers-including the ability to travel through time. But it's a whole lot of responsibility she'd rather not have. Now she's the most popular girl in town, as an assortment of vamps, fey, and mages try to convince, force, or seduce her-and her magic-over to their side. But one particular master vampire didn't ask what Cassie wanted before putting a claim on her. He had a spell cast that binds her to him, and now she doesn't know if what she feels for him is real-or imagined...

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Excellent book. It has been a while since I have read a 'so good you can not put it down' book, but this one qualified!!



This book takes up right where the first, 'Touch the Dark' left off. We follow Cassie on an action filled adventure in her attempt to avoid becoming the new Pythia. The book starts off with breathtaking action and never lets up, right to the ending.



The author worked out the few wrinkles that hindered her first book -- no long winded vamp politics to bore us this time around!!



This is one of the better Urban Fantasies that I have read recently and I am looking forward to the release of the next in the series!!


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Touch the Dark (Cassie Palmer Book 1) by Karen Chance

Touch the Dark by Karen Chance



From the Publisher
Cassandra Palmer can see the future and communicate with spirits-talents that make her attractive to the dead and the undead. The ghosts of the dead aren't usually dangerous; they just like to talk...a lot. The undead are another matter.

Like any sensible girl, Cassie tries to avoid vampires. But when the bloodsucking Mafioso she escaped three years ago finds Cassie again with vengeance on his mind, she's forced to turn to the vampire Senate for protection. The undead senators won't help her for nothing, and Cassie finds herself working with one of their most powerful members, a dangerously seductive master vampire-and the price he demands may be more than Cassie is willing to pay...

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was a really good book. The characters are well developed and the main character is a strong woman who is trying to be in control of her life. Cassie is a young woman who has been raised in the world of the Supernatural by a ruthless, cold blooded vampire, who had her parents killed when she was young so that he could control Cassie. But while she knows about vamps and their politics, a lot of what she encounters is new to her.



The plot is interesting, although the author does tend to get a little long winded about the vampire politics and gets boring at times, but over all there is a lot of action and very little romance (although there is some sex), which I prefer in my paranormal books.



Overall a great read and I am very excited to be able to go right on to the next book in the series.


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