I wish I had read the reviews before I bought this book. I normally love Katie MacAlisters books, they are amusing and have something new even if she does have to rip off the whole Dark Ones thing. Jennifer Ashely's story was ok, at least her cheesiness is part of the storyline. But Minda Webber's contribution, I can't even get through. If it's not a pun or some trite cliche about vamps, werewolves etc. on every page, it's her mama's trite colloquialisms. Then Val, the main character would think something and the very next paragraph Lucy would say something stupid about knowing how he feels about something he just thought. Or Lucy would think one of her trite thoughts and then Val would say in an admiring way something using the same words, Ugh, awful. And the maturity level of the writing and the characters....it's one thing to say over and over how immature Lucy is, but Val's just as bad. Some of the situations they are in are straight out of high school. Everything is overeacted to, Val either hisses or says something savagely. Always at the wrong time and Lucy has absolutely no impules control. I couldn't even dredge up any kind of sympathy or empathy or itty bitty liking for these characters. What a train wreck.

I begin each new book with the dire hope that it would be less cheesy than the last, and I was sadly disappointed. Outside the mediocre love scenes the writing was something that a Jr. High school student would be entertained by.

*** Not too many people pull out their bags of tricks for Halloween these days, but it's a fine time to get treated by the best in paranormal romanticists. In this anthology, three of them tickle the readers' funny bones on the subject of vampires. Ms. Ashley gives us an author investigating vampires in Vegas and finding more than she bargained for. Ms. Macalister returns us to the world of Dark Ones and their Beloveds, showing us again why she is "beloved" by her fans. The collection ends on a high note as Minda Webber proves her contemporary paranormal writing is just as much quirky fun as her historical when a talk show host specializing in the outre gets a chance to confront her feelings for a vampire cop, the only man she ever loved. You should definitely leave a light on while reading these stories, though. It is hard to read in the dark and you won't want to miss a word. ***

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.

My reason for buying this book: Katie MacAlister. I love her books, she's always imaginative, and can always manage to make me , at the very least, chuckle a little if not laugh out loud.
I did neither with her story "Bring Out Your Dead". It had promise, and at the beginning I thought I might be able to get into it. But spirit guide just killed it for me. Nowhere on the book did it say that one needed a basic understanding of the French language to understand the dialogue in this story. Sally the spirit guide is supposedly speaking some mangled version of her own type of french, and I gather from the other characters reactions to her dialogue that it is supposed to be funny. Not that what she is saying is funny, but the act of mangling the language is supposed to be joke. But as I DON'T SPEAK FRENCH, I can't tell what she is saying, what she isn't saying, or what she is trying to say.
This same technique worked pretty well for MacAlister in a different book that featured a latin swordsman that spoke with spanish flourish, but the basic meaning of what he was trying to say came through, here it just confused the hell out me.I also think I prefer her full lenght books where she had the time to develop the history as well as the story somewhat more.

Minda Webber's story was choppy and problematic with a twist of unrealism. I know this is a paranormal book and realism shouldn't be called into question. I am referring to relationship with Lucy and Val. Their conflict goes from being monumental on both their parts, to Lucy begging for him to tell her went wrong, with no real transition in between. I just found it unrealistic that a somewhat strong character could go from one extreme to the other, with no catalyst for any kind of transition. Also, and this is when I gave up forever on this story, she ends up on her knees begging him to stay. Again, a strong proud woman on her knees begging for forgiveness when it was a mutual misunderstanding and she had some rights in being upset about what she saw. It was demeaning to women.

I don't know which more of slap in the face, Lucy as she "fell to her knees, taking his hand in hers and bathing it with her kisses and tears" all the while telling him she was stupid and sorry; OR the sheer volume of horrible hokey alliterations littered throught this short story. I mean every other paragraph, sometimes two to a single paragraph; "villianous vampiress" "viperous vampiress" and others just as painfull go on forever. One or two = cute One or two every couple paragraphs = sad and painful. I was sorely disappointed.

On the upside, the first story by Jennefer Ashley did have some redeeming qualities in that there few if any alliterations and nobody spoke a different language without interpretation.