NIght Shift Anthology – Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Milla Vane, LIsa Shearin a Review

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Description:
Four masters of urban fantasy and paranormal romance plunge readers into the dangerous, captivating world unearthed beyond the dark…

New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh delivers a smoldering story with Secrets at Midnight, as the scent of Bastien Smith’s elusive lover ignites a possessiveness in him that’s as feral as it is ecstatic. And now that he’s found his mate, he’ll do anything to keep her.

In #1 New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews’ novella, Magic Steals, when people start going missing, shapeshifting tigress Dali Harimau and jaguar shifter Jim Shrapshire must uncover the truth about the mysterious creatures responsible.

From Milla Vane—a warrior princess must tame The Beast of Blackmoor to earn a place among her people. But she quickly discovers that the beast isn’t a monster, but a barbarian warrior who intends to do some taming himself.

It’s seer Makenna Frazier’s first day on the job at Supernatural Protection and Investigations, and her first assignment is more than she bargained for when bodyguard duty for a leprechaun prince’s bachelor party goes every which way but right in national bestselling author Lisa Shearin’s Lucky Charms.

Review:

Night Shift is an anthology with novellas by 4 authors…Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Milla Vane and Lisa Shearin. Each of these authors either write Paranormal or Urban Fantasy. It is always difficult to write a review on anthologies, as there is too much risk of giving out spoilers. I will attempt to give you my thougths of each story, without telling too much

Secrets at Midnight by Nalini Singh – Ohhhh, what can I say. This is a Psy/Changeling novella and Bastien is our leopard hero. I am a freak when it comes to Psy/Changeling, and needless to say I was in my glory reading this story. Nalini never fails to amaze me at how story after story, even in a novella she can give us such a great story, a fabulous couple, and allow us to spend time with some of our old favorites, like Lucas, Dorian & Mercy. Bastien was wonderful, as I fell in love with him from the start. He was loving, and patient with Kirby, our heroine.   What mother wouldn’t want a Bastien for their daughter. Kirby was a fantastic mate for Bastien, and the story introducing her and her history was wonderful. When Bastien meets Kirby, he scents a cat, but she is human. It is Bastien who will help Kirby discover the hidden truth about her true destiny. A super fantastic story.   When I finished this book in one sitting, I had a smile on my face the rest of the day.

Magic Steals by Ilona Andrews – I am a big fan of Andrews’ Kate Daniels series, so I was looking forward to reading this one too. Jim is our hero in this book, and he has been one of the mainstays in this series. Jim is a Jaguar shifter, and Curran’s security chief. It was great for him to have his story, and I loved him with Dali, who is Tiger shifter. We started off with Dali preparing dinner for Jim, hoping this would be the night that they would take the next step. Before anything can happen, Dali’s mother comes to ask her to help find a missing person. Jim goes with Dali, who has magic abilities to help solve crimes or end curses. The mystery was very good, with a group of people ina  certain section having attacks brought on by magic. Jim and Dali must find out why and how to stop it. But the best part of this story was the humor between Dali’s family; Jim watching Dali use her magic, and learning more how she works, and Dali seeing how much Jim truly feels about her, and how well they will work together as a team. It was a great story, with a  great couple, and just plain fun.

Lucky Charms by Lisa Shearin – I have not read this author before, so I was not sure what to expect. This is part of her SPI Files series, which only has one book out. Since I did not read the first book, I am not sure if this novella will move forward or is it a prequel. SPI stands for Supernatural Protection & Investigations. There are all kinds of supernatural beings in this story, with seers, werewolves, vampires, dragons, goblins, leprechauns, elves, fae, as well as humans. Mac (Makenna Frazier) is a seer, and she is hired by SPI to help find missing supernatural beings. On her first day of the job, she is pulled into a dangerous mission, meets her hot partner, and team members, who are elves or werewolves. Though there were so many dangerous situations, there was a lot of humor in this story. This was a fun and exciting read, which has me interested to see what else is in store for this series.

The Beast of Blackmoor – Milla Vane (Meljean Brooke) – An angry young warrior asking a priestess for the goddess help to fight evil, is cursed by his disrespectful behavior. Years later, a female warrior arrives in Blackmoor to fulfill her quest from the goddess to tame the beast.

Mala is our heroine, and she is determined to complete the quest given to her by the goddess, so that she can go home and protect her family and townsfolk. Mala is a great warrior, who has faith that her goddess will protect her along the way. The beast is the warrior who has been been “forsaken” yet he battles the monsters to help the town. Kavik is our hero, and when Mala meets him, he is cold, but knows she is the one who will end his curse. When Mala tells him she is to tame the beast, which is him, he expects the taming to be cruel, and refuses to believe otherwise. Together, despite his mistrust, they must fight the evil creatures, and Kavik must learn to find a way to trust Mala and change the curse. Good story, however there some parts I did not care how it was handled.

Overall, this was a great anthology, and for me, I was thrilled to get more of Nalini Singh and Ilona Andrews, as well as learning about two other authors to check out for the future.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher