Thursday, November 20, 2014

Review: Night Shift

NIGHT SHIFT
Anthology
Nalini Singh, Illona Andrews, Lisa Shearin, Milla Vane
Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy
384 pages
Berkley
Available November 25th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
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.


MY THOUGHTS
Secrets at Midnight by Nalini Singh
Ms. Singh never disappoints with her paranormal romances, and whether we’re treated to a novella or a full length book, we turn the last page utterly satisfied yet already craving more. Secrets at Midnight takes us back to fiery redhead Mercy’s family, her brother Bastien finally catching his mate’s scent and setting out to woo and win her using all the weapons in his impressive arsenal. Things of course move quickly between them given the short page length, but their romance is a sweet and sexy reminder of why the Psy-Changeling series sits on a shelf of favorites.

Rating: 4/5

Magic Steals by Ilona Andrews
Like Ms. Singh, the writing team of Ilona Andrews has a gift for writing extraordinary secondary characters, and much to our delight and glee Magic Steals thrusts two such characters into the limelight. While this novella boasts a well-plotted mystery, the true highlights are of course Dali and Jim, Dali’s understandable insecurities (given she’s mostly blind with magic that’s hit-or-miss and he’s Alpha of Clan Cat) regarding how fit a romantic partner she is for Jim making us want to reach through the pages and hug her. In our short time with the two of them though, she and Jim work through their various relationship issues, all the while solving a tangled web of a case with their individual senses of humor present and accounted for.

Rating: 4.5/5

Lucky Charms by Lisa Shearin
Lucky Charms is a laugh-out-loud novella that walks us through protagonist Makenna Frazier’s first night at her new job. A new job that includes horny (and naked) leprechauns, strip clubs, and a partnership complicated by both physical attraction and the inadvertent inhalation of an inhibition-lowering drug. Pages fly by as clothes come off (including the clothes of those who make us grateful we can see only words on a page and not the events themselves), and we reach the end ever-so ready for a full novel with Makenna and her partner Ian leading the way.

Rating: 4/5

The Beast of Blackmoor by Milla Vane
The Beast of Blackmoor is a drastic and rather abrupt change in tone from the previous novella, humor and hijinks suddenly followed up by a grittiness that wipes the lingering smile from our faces. The abruptness is in no way the fault of Ms. Vane, but her world is inescapably off-putting to a higher degree than it might have been otherwise given the order of this anthology, the multiple rapes and violence such a departure from the other three that we can’t help but struggle to find purchase. The story itself has an intriguing Beauty and the Beast-type setup with a physically and emotionally strong heroine tasked with bringing a “beast” to heel, it just takes a while longer to really settle in and adjust to the darkness.

Rating: 3/5


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This book was sent to me by the author  free of charge for the purpose of a review
I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

37 comments:

  1. Oh I'm jealous, so many great authors in this one and the stories sound really good! I didn't know about Milla Vane but I'll have to look at why she wrote before. thanks for the review!

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  2. Well it has got Andrews so I want it

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    1. I will buy anything and everything written by Nalini Singh and Ilona Andrews:)

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  3. We're review twins today! I enjoyed two of these so much! I only read the stories from series I was already familiar with, the two UF ones, but I will read Nalini Singh at some point. PNR is just not my genre. A actually started Vane's story, but found it too depressing to continue, especially after Mac and Ian. :)
    Wonderful review as usual, Jenny!

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    1. *high five* I hope you get the chance to try Nalini Singh in the near future Maja, I adore her!

      And yes, that last story was brutal. O.o

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  4. And, once again, I am black sheep - these are all series I haven't read. Well, yet.

    I am happy that you enjoyed reading this anthology. :)

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    1. I'm the black sheep with a lot of authors/series Glass, no worries! Gayle Forman and Colleen Hoover among them:)

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  5. I love Nalini Singh and Ilona Andrews. The other two authors are new to me. I really enjoyed Lisa Shearin's story and will be looking up more books in that series. I'm still in the middle of Milla Vane's story and yet undetermined on what I think. It is more fantasy that I usually like.

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    1. SAME!!! I jumped on this one because of Nalini and Ilona, and I was super impressed by Lisa's novella, so I'll be reading more of her as well. Milla's was just a little dark for me.

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  6. Fantastic review Jenny!
    I think anthologies are great to check whether you'll like a series and an author's writing, so I might very well get this one!
    And I'll probably read the final story first and then the more cheerful ones after it!

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    1. I hope you do Pili! Nalini and Ilona are amazing, and I was laughing all through Lisa's novella. So much fun:)

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  7. I agree with Felicia! I need to read more anthologies... but as a way to sample new authors, too. Because we can never have too many new authors to read, amirite? (And, you know, visiting favorites doesn't hurt either.)

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  8. I'm so jelly that you got a review copy of this! Mind you, I didn't try very hard because the only author who's series I'm up to date on is Ilona Andrews, so I figured that I wouldn't really be able to appreciate the full extent of it anyway.

    Carmel @ Rabid Reads

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    1. I think you'd like Lisa's novella Carmel. I was dying laughing:) Naked leprechauns are never not funny.

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  9. I'm not particularly a huge fan of anthologies because they always leave me wanting more, but it really sounds like you enjoyed most of these. I especially like the sound of the Illona Andrews one!
    Lovely review!

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    1. I had such fun with this anthology Nick, it was a couple of my very favorite authors in one place so that's an all around win for me!

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  10. Your reviews are beautiful and well articulated as usual. I liked all these stories but I am glad they went from light to dark or else I might have stopped early.

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    1. Yes! If that last novella had been first that would have been even more brutal I think:)

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  11. Maja reviewed this today as well and it just sounds like the perfect anthology. I so need to read it!

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  12. I have pre-order this one! YAY! Melanie got a review copy but I haven't gotten her thoughts yet, but it sounds like is plenty good :) I enjoy anthologies, my fav. are from Womemn fron the Otherworld.
    Thank you!

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    1. I hope you give this a try Loupe, I just loved it:)

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  13. I should totally read this..I love Andrews but the others are new to me.and this is perfect for trying them. Woot!

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    1. Nalini Singh is an all time favorite Kim! This might not be the best one to start with simply because the romance develops quickly due to the fact that it's a novella, but her Psy-Changeling and Guild Hunter books are outstanding:)

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  14. Definitely reading this one for the Andrews and Singh short stories. Love their books! I never heard of Lisa Shearin so I will have to check out some of her stuff.

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    1. Then you should pick this up for sure Rummanah! So good:)

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  15. I would read this for the Lisa Shearin story for sure. I have read some of her books and she can be really funny!

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    1. She was new to me before this Candace and I was super impressed! I can't wait to read more from her:)

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  16. I love Jim and Dali! I do see how she would feel some insecurities with her vision problem and hit and miss magic. I need to get back to this series stat! I just finished Burn For You and oh my stars, I LOVED it! It reminded me of the love I have for the Ilona Andrews writing team! Lovely review, Jenny! :)

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    1. Jim and Dali are AWESOME. Particularly Dali. I love that crazy, nearly blind woman:)

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  17. I often feel the same way, but I like anthologies like this where the novellas are set in already existing worlds, and we're just getting an extra peek at it. I'm almost always satisfied in that instance:)

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  18. Ha. First I saw 'anthology' and groaned, but then I saw 'Illona Andrews' and got very happy. Yeah, I'll be reading this.

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  19. Eeep! This sounds like a winner anthology if you ask me ;) I haven't read anything by these authors, but I definitely want to start Ilona Andrews's books. THESE TWO MCs IN THIS NOVEL SOUND LIKE THEY'D BE RIGHT UP MY ALLEY!!! Ha! The other author I'm not interested in is Lisa Shearing bc I love me a sexy read and a LOL book. I'd totally be up for that ;) So happy you enjoyed these fun stories, Jenny!

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  20. That's a great list of authors complied in one book.

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  21. Thank you very much for writing such an interesting article on this topic. This has really made me think and I hope to read more
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