Anthology - Stroke of Midnight

Continuing on my last ditch efforts of getting these Kenyon stories read as well as clearing some of those anthologies in my TBR pile, I picked up the next anthology from the series. The best of the bunch was the Were-Hunter story but the book on a whole was not terrible.

Winter Born - Sherrilyn Kenyon: (B) This was the story of Dante and Pandora whom also show up in Wren's story in Unleash the Night. I loved this story but there was not such a shock factor associated with it like V'aiden's story. What I loved in this one is that it takes place in a Con. Dragon*Con to be precise and Simi is there with her Akri! I love that Dante is so much of a gentleman and yet a strong leader for his pack! Pandora was lucky like hell to have ended up mated to the Were and I was very happy to see her realize it.

Born of the Night- Amanda Ashley: (B-) This was a bit on the dark side but in my experience that is not unusual in an Ashley tale. The Reyes family was cursed many years ago and are now destined to be werewolves. The Reyes and The Montiori family have a fierce family feud where Lord Montiori tricked Reyes' father into turning into a wolf and then killed him. He now wears his pelt as a prize. Lord Reyes kidnapped Shanarra to exact revenge for his father's death but Montiori could care less. It irks his pride that Reyes has taken his daughter but it's not until Reyes decides to wed her that Montiori comes charging in to fight him. I found it disconcerting that Shanarra really didn't accept Reyes as a wolf. In the end she loved him but I didn't get the impression she was accepting him completely until the curse was lifted.

Make it Last Forever - L.A. Banks:(C) I find it funny that this story was the one I found the most difficult to read and yet I acknowledge the writing itself was superb. I just had a problem with it dragging so much. If you are familiar with L.A. Banks Vampire Huntress series you will most likely love this one. It's the story of one of her guardians, Raider and how he discovers his destiny in the arms of a vampire.

Red Moon Rising - Lori Handeland:(B-) This last tale was more like a crazy satire of all things paranormal. Maya is a writer that moved to Arizona for some quiet time that would allow her to meet her deadlines but she finds herself being stalked by a Skinwalker (this is a side story to a series Handeland writes). Clayton is stalking the Skinwalker and is determined to keep Maya safe, but falls in lust with the stalking victim. The story is told in first person and Maya is shown to be very witty and sarcastic which makes this a very light piece. Nice way to round out the Anthology even if it really won't motivate me to look up the rest of the series.

Grade: B-