On the Prowl
An anthology of stories. I bought it for Patricia Briggs I read past hers in hope of finding new authors.
1) Patricia Briggs, Alpha and Omega: We meet Anna a three year old werewolf (okay really older but has been a werewolf for three years). She is the lowest in her pack and a submissive. She has been used and passed around by the pack until she tried to kill herself with a silver knife and the Alphas Mate finally stopped the rape. Still she barely survives from paycheck to paycheck because the pack takes 40% of her money. Then one day she sees a newspaper article about a young missing boy and recognizes him as the young werewolf in the cage of the Alphas home. She calls Bran, the leader of the American werewolfs, to let him know. Taking place at the same time as the end of Moon Kissed Bran already knows and has sent his son Charles to take care of it and talk with Leo, the area Alpha. Charles gets there and learns something interesting, Anna is an Omega. Omegas are very rare because they make others clam and protective of them the trait can been seen and felt before they are werewolves and no sane werewolf could hurt a submissive. Which explains why the insane Justin was ordered to change her by Leo. Additionaly, they are not submissive and only have status in the pack form their mate if they are female or outside of the pack order if they are male. Werewolves are either submissive or dominate and they fight to climb higher but certain werewolves can never be stronger then others because much of it is inborn. It turns out that Anna had been beaten and passed around to make her think she was submissive. Charles quickly deals with the problem of Leo, turns out his mate was batshit crazy and had killed all the females. Leo had then killed any males who disagreed, only Annas presence was keeping her sane now. Charles though is wounded in battle and Anna has to save him and then keeps him sane while he is wolf so others can help him. Apparently, Charles was born a werewolf through magic of his mothers who died giving birth to him. She gave him the gift of changing quicker and being stronger then others. The downside is he is hurt more by silver then others, it makes him a little unbalanced. Cry Wolf is coming out in August and is the first full novel about Charles and Anna. Can’t wait to see where this goes and how she is going to tie it in with Merry.
2) Eileen Wilks, Inhuman: The world is different, magic roams free and people are scared of it there are anit-Gifted marches. It would appear that the Gifted range in what they can do. The heroine here is thought to be an empath but really she is more then that, we dont know much but she can see thoughts. Thoughts in color with movement. So not really the words but she has been able to since she was young and has learned what it means. Her neighbor is a cop who also is more then he seems. We learn that he is a hellhound from another plane of reality sent to chase and evil fae and left in our world for four hundred years. He had a chance to go home when the magic winds blew but he stayed. Really though this story is a man denying his love and woman who is trying to find her way. It ends with them having sex and decided never to be seperated agian. When his Queen comes to help her and him with a problem the Queen knows what the heroine really is and her law says that binders must die. But on closer examination she is not a normal binder she is a fae-human mix and maybe there is hope. The story ends with them being set on three quests to prove she should live. Kinda hum drum and boring. Slightly tempted to read more about the characters but still undecided.
3) Karen Chance, Buying Trouble: A null is up for sale at an aution and she doesnt even know it. Until her cousin shows up to buy her that is. When she tries to escape all hell breaks loose and she finds herself with a Fey in the light fey lands being hunted. She sucks the energy from her attackers like nulls can but then she throws it back at them, which shouldnt happen. Later when they have sex in the shed while running for their lives (Seriously?) she turns into a dragon. Turns out her father is really a dark fey who can turn into a dragon. Daddy comes to the resuce and saves her then sends her back to Earth with her newly found half brother to try to get the rune that sent her and her now lover to the Fey lands in the first place. After accidentaly destroying what they were sent to get her and her lover decide to stay on Earth. Very boring and typical story. Yawn.
4) Sunny, Mona Lisa Betwining: I only got through a little of this one. Of the 80 pages that make up the story roughly 45 are sex scenes. Seriously. I am all for the occassional one, especially when it is relevant to the plot and characters. But I dont enjoy reading 45 pages of stuff that describes both sides exact move, thought and how it looked. If you only have 80 pages to tell a story then tell a story. It felt like an Anita Blake scene. Anita Blake went down in a blaze of glory because it became more about the sex then the story and this reminds me of that.
