#131 Night Shift by Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Lisa Shearin, Milla Vane

I was only familiar with half the writers in this collection. The Sighn story is set in her Psy-Changeling universe and this is more of a romance with a touch of mystery but doesn’t do anything to the overall story arc. Bastien scents a changeling in the city that he knows will be his mate and has trouble tracking it since it is so faint.  Saying much more will give away the plot but it is a nice HEA story.  The Andrew’s  story is set in the Kate Daniels universe but doesn’t deal with Kate or Curran. This is set during the time frame of Magic Rises but deals with Jim and Dali. I liked the more info in Dali’s magic use and again this is a bit of a mystery with a HEA. The other two writers were new to me.  Shearin’s story seems to be a bit of a backstory piece to her current series. Lots of our heroine floundering around at her first day of work and being tossed into the deep end of the pool. It was ok but not sure if I would bother to read any more in the series. The last story by Vane just rubbed me the wrong way. Looks like this is a pen name for another writer that I haven’t read but it seems the story is a stand alone. This was a high fantasy setting completely different than the urban fantasy feel of the other three stories.  If it was me doing the collection I don’t think I would have added it since the setting was so different than the rest of them. The first two stories have were creatures in it so you get the shift in the title. The third story has a werewolf but not as the main character. The fourth story doesn’t have any shape shifters in it.

#132 The Witches of Echo Park by Amber Benson

This is the first book in a new series and most of the book is bringing the heroine up to speed on the coven her great aunt wants her to join before she dies of cancer.  Lyse has been kept in the dark about all things magic by her great aunt Eleanor while she was growing up and moved across the country to attend college. When Eleanor is diagnosed with cancer she calls Lyse, who flys home and is dropped into an entire world she has never seen before.  And before she can do much to figure out everything Eleanor dies suddenly and more secrets come out including someone is hunting down the blood sisters of the coven.

The book reminded me a bit of Waking the Moon by Elizabeth Hand. The plot does suffer from being the first book in the series and there isn’t much of any resolution to the plot since there will be more books in the series. I’ll pick up the next one.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss

#133 Jason by Laurell K. Hamilton

This latest novella in the Anita Blake vampire hunter consists of just a few scenes that last chapters.  Anita is confronted by her lovers with a problem that Jason has with his new girlfriend.  Also Anita is having problems with her girlfriend as well.  The group decides the best way to work on the relationship problems is to have an orgy. Most of the pages is dedicated to the six people in bed. A few people leave the room and then more sex happens and then relationship decisions are made in after sex cuddle session.  The entire thing almost felt as if it was chopped out of one of the books early on since there are no bad guys attacking someone part of the pack or vampire group or even raising a zombie.  If you care about reading lots of sex then this will be enjoyable for you, if not read the first few chapters and the last chapter or so to see what is happening relationship wise in the book. I almost will not be surprised if this is summed up in the next book that comes out.