Night Shift (Kate Daniels)

Overall 4 stars for the entire anthology≺✿Magic Steals ★★★★ ✿≻I’m a huge Ilona Andrews (IA) fan so this story is the reason I bought the anthology. I think for most people it will be a love it or hate it sort of story. Dali is not your typical IA heroine in that she isn’t really sure of herself, she lacks confidence, she isn’t a good physical fighter, blood makes her sick to her stomach and she has a tendency to forget what she is doing after shifting. But she does know how to do kick ass magic using calligraphy, she has ancient magic powers, a car named pookie and is trying to figure out how to date the alpha male of the Cat clan.I understand Dali, while I would love to be like Kate or Andrea and just be a kickass heroine with some deadly skills Dali is far more human to me. She has some of the same flaws I had going into my mid 20s. I mean the last time I think I tried to be ‘sexy’ for my husband my heel caught on the lingerie and I tripped fell onto him in the least sexy and most painful way possible long fingernails falling on upper inner thighs you get the idea. I’m not ‘sexy’ in the traditional sense, I’m bubbly, fun, inventive and cute but it took me awhile to realize to him that made me beautiful and perfect to him so I get Dali’s lack of confidence and how she sometimes gets stuck in her head overthinking everything.This is Dali and Jim’s story to figure out how to be a strong team together. It is clear at the beginning of this that they haven’t really figured out what is going on between them since their first novella. With Curran/Kate and crew away Jim has been running the Pack and Keep. But finally they will get to spend a bit of time together. Seeing a deeper side to Jim was really good. I always just thought of him as Security officer Jim but Magic Steals dives a bit into how multifaceted Jim really is and maybe what we have seen up until now is just the face he wants us to see.“For the first three years with her all I did was covert work,” Jim said. “Pretend to be someone you’re not. Go to the right place at the right time, listen, talk to people, be likeable and be convincing. It wasn’t my favorite part of the job, but I’ve learned to be what people expect me to be.Dali and Jim are spending a lovely day together tracking down whatever seems to be targeting the owners of a strip mall. I like the dynamic between them. Dali is so adorably clueless as to why he could like her so much so she is so standoffish about telling anyone they are dating sure that it isn’t going to last. Jim however is big alpha man and will not be kept a secret even if that means he has to make all the big moves and out them one Thud! at a time.My mother stared at the ceiling. “Did you hear that?”“Hear what?” I asked, my eyes wide.I would kill Jim. He could sit completely motionless for hours when on stakeouts. I’d seen him do it. He had to be dropping things on purpose. Thud!All in all I liked the new magics introduced in the story. There are some new fighting styles blending the changeling fighting skills that Jim possesses with the magical mojo that Dali can throw down. I think it did a great job in showing that they could be a power couple in the rest of the series. Also I really appreciated how Dali explained to Jim all of the worries she had about what it would mean if they were a mated pair. I respected all the logic she threw in there but I adored Jim for having a counter to everything she said.This isn’t the strongest story in the Kate Daniels World but still enough to just tide me over until something else by them comes out.≺✾ Secrets At Midnight ★★½ ✾≻I have found that Nalini Singh’s novellas are pure PNR fluff for the most part. There is nothing wrong with that sometimes I just want some fluff in 80 pages or less. But if you go in expecting world building or wanting some sort of plot besides a quick romance then you will be disappointed.Secrets at Midnight follows one of Mercy’s brothers Bastian as he tries to help his mate discover the cat that has been suppressed inside her for years. Kirby has no idea that she is in anyway a changeling and it seems that being around more of them has triggered something deep inside of her.Honestly out of all the stories in the anthology this was my least favorite Kirby and Bastian are likable enough but all and all it is a lot like any other PNR story with a quick bonding or insta-love thrown in.≺❀ Lucky Charms ★★★★½ ❀≻Lucky Charms was my favorite story in this anthology.What didn’t this story have in it? On her first night of work Makenna Fraser has been chewed out by an Ogre, talked to a water sprite, been teamed up with a reluctant and deadly human babysitter, seen a werewolf naked and a few fae high on clover, gone searching for a leprechaun bachelor party run amuck and almost been snatched by a deadly yet oh so sexy Goblin all why trying not to upset her new dragon boss. Maybe it would have been easier to mention all the things not in this story.Apparently this realm of earth has become a hot spot for all things mythical, magical and lorelike.’And for them, our world and dimension now ranked at the top of their “Best Places to Live, Work, Play, and Eat” list. Unfortunately, the “eat” part often included humans. Why all the attention? From what I understand, it all started with two little words: indoor plumbing’ SPI is the agency tasked with keeping all things supernatural on the down low from the delicate humans and Makenna is their newest employee. If her first night on the job is any indication things will never be dull.Makenna and new partner Ian are running around a bunch of strip clubs looking for a bachelor party consisting of five horney leprechauns one of whom is a prince who slipped their security detail.“Obviously putting five male agents in a strip club and telling them they can’t look proves that there’s been a training oversight on the discipline side because the prince and his boys flew the coop before the first G-string dropped.”I had so much fun on this little trip. The writing is hilarious and there was just enough sexy in it to make my eyes perk up, I do love a good sexual tension tease. I was not expecting such a fun story and this had just enough of everything to grab my hook line and sinker so I plan on continuing on with the series.≺✽ The Beast of Blackmoor ★★★★ ✽≻I’d never heard of Milla Vane before this anthology so I have no idea what any of her other work is like but I will be sure to look for her in the future.Beast of Blackmoor is a high fantasy love story *gasp* I know there aren’t a lot of those out there. Kavik, desperate for revenge asked help of a goddess. When she refused he defiled her temple and was cursed to be forsaken and watch all those he cared for suffer until the Woman in Red ended him. Note to self: Do not anger goddesses, woman scorned and all that.Mala is on a quest for a goddess to tame the Beast of Blackmoor in order to gain the warriors she needs to save her homeland. Both warriors are strong in both body and will so which one of these alphas will win and bring the other to heel.Just a little warning the sexy times (I was not expecting them so big bonus) are a little harsh. It fits with the story line, these are warriors and not scribes but still very dominance alpha in nature and slightly crude. I never have issues with sex scenes like this but it might be rougher than some like.Overall the plot and story line are pretty well flushed out for a novella and I wouldn’t mind learning more about the evil in the land the demons that seem to be infecting creatures or the big big bad that they haven’t encountered yet.Milla Vane, I’ll be watching you as High Fantasy Romance could be my Achilles Heel.

I am not usually a big fan of novellas and short stories unless I know the author well and know that they can write a good novella. This collection includes stories by Nalini Singh and Ilona Andrews, two of my favorite urban fantasy and paranormal romance authors. Having already read some novellas by both of them before, I knew that they could deliver the goods in a shorter format. I did not know much about the remaining two authors before this but, after reading their stories, consider myself fans of both.Secrets at Midnight by Nalini Singh – 4 starsSecrets at Midnight is a novella set in Singh’s Psy-Changeling world. She gave a small teaser of it in her most recent Guild Hunter novel, Archangel’s Shadows. I don’t usually read excerpts because, if they are good, then I just want to devour the book right away and it sucks if it’s not out yet. But I read it because I could not help myself and was hooked.Midnight is the story of Bastien, a cat changeling from the Dark River clan. If you’ve read the series you will remember him as one of Mercy’s adorable but infuriating brothers. I have a soft spot for the entire Smith clan and was really excited to hear that Bastien was getting his own story. This is the story about how he finds his mate, a woman who is now what she seems. I had a lot of fun reading this one. Bastien is charming and sweet and oh so sexy. Kirby was a nice match for him. She’s not from the changeling world and has to learn to adjust to life around the cats. I don’t want to give it all away but Kirby has had some rough times in her past, and I admired her for her strength and resilience. She does not let Bastien or the other cats push her around. One of my favorite scenes is the one in which Mercy tests her mettle. Needless to say, Kirby can hold her own.This is a really fun story and I loved seeing the Dark River clan again. I am hoping this means that the rest of Mercy’s brothers will get their own HEAs as well.Magic Steals by Ilona Andrews – 4 starsYes – Jim and Dali’s story finally! Jim and Dali have always seemed like a bit of an odd couple. Jim is the cat alpha and is Curran’s chief of security. Dali is a vegetarian were-tiger with terrible eyesight. On the surface they don’t seem to have much in common. In Magic Steals though, we get to see why they are so good together. In Magic Steals, Dali is pulled in to help a family friend whose grandmother has disappeared. Jim comes along to assist and what she and Jim find is much more than just a case of a missing person.I loved this story, which isn’t surprising since I love this writing team. It was really great though to see a story that doesn’t involve Kate or Curran at all. This was all Jim and Dali and it’s fantastic. It was really cool to see how Dali’s powers work. I don’t know how much actual true Indonesian lore is incorporated into the mythology that they use here, but it’s fascinating nonetheless. This story was also really funny and we get to see a different side of Jim. He’s usually extremely serious but, in this, he lets a bit of his humor show. He also lets a bit of his softer side show (as soft as Jim can get) and I found their relationship to be unexpectedly sweet. Fans of the Kate Daniels series will not be disappointed in this one.Lucky Charms by Lisa Shearin – 3 starsShearin is a new to me author. I had heard of Shearin’s Grendel Affair but knew nothing about the world. Lucky Charms is a prequel novella set in the Supernatural Protection & Investigations (SPI) series. SPI is an organization whose goal is to hide the supernatural world from humans. It’s Makenna Frazier’s first day on the job as SPI’s newest seer. As a person who can see through any glamour, Makenna will help SPI in its investigations in what she thinks will be a safe desk job. However, on her first case tracking down a group of wayward leprechauns, she finds that the job is going to be much more dangerous than anticipated. It also seems like someone may be targeting her in particular. Throw in a badass but taciturn and hot partner, and you have a formula for fun.This novella was my least favorite of the bunch, but that’s not to say that I didn’t like it. Since this was my first taste of the SPI world, I wasn’t as invested in it as I might have been. There was also a lot of information being thrown at me, which was a little hard to keep track of at times. That said, I did enjoy it, and am looking forward to reading The Grendel Affair now. Makenna is a really likable character, though she is a little too proper for my taste. I am sure that’ll change though once she sees more of the world through her work with SPI. Ian Byrne (hot partner) piqued my interest as well. We don’t learn much about him in this novella but there’s enough there to make me want to know more about him. Overall I liked this one and will be picking up the series soon.The Beast of Blackmoor by Milla Vane – 4 starsThe Beast of Blackmoor was a surprise for me. When I started it I wasn’t sure if I would like it. I was expecting something in the UF realm but this is definitely more high fantasy. Story centers around Kavik, a young man who goes out to build an army in order to defeat an evil ruler in him homeland. Young and foolish, he angers a goddess who tells him of a warrior princess who will come to him and bring the end. Years go by and Kavik has become The Beast of Blackmoor, a fierce warrior who roams the land, trying to help those he can escape his dying kingdom. Finally the day comes when his warrior princess arrives. She is on a quest and must tame The Beast of Blackmoor in order to help save her own people. She doesn’t realize that The Beast is a man until after she meets Kavik and then must figure out a way to complete her quest without destroying Kavik, whom she admires and comes to care for.It took me a little while to get into this one. It’s a really complex world and I had a bit of a hard time getting everything straight in my head at first. However, after reading for a bit, I found myself really immersed in it. The world is really unique, with its own demons, goddesses, creatures and language. But at the heart of it all were Kavik and Mala. The connection between the two is strong from the start and I could feel the pull that they felt towards each other. I loved how badass and fierce Mala was. She has so much poise and grace but can also cut you in two. Kavik is a tortured soul and my heart went out to him. He’s lost everything and thinks that the woman he loves is going to be his end. The chemistry between Kavik and Mala is very primal and raw and their love scenes are as well. I never thought I’d find loincloths and beards sexy but Vane manages to make it so.It wasn’t until after I read this story and tried to find more by Milla Vane that I learned that Milla Vane is actually a pen name for Meljean Brook. I am a huge fan of Brook’s Iron Seas series so I am not surprised then that I liked Blackmoor so much. The tone of Blackmoor is very different than the Iron Seas books but it has the same great world building and well written characters that I’ve come to expect from Brook. I could not find a lot of information on Blackmoor but I am pretty sure that it’s a prequel to a new series that Brook will be writing under the Vane pen name. I really can’t wait for a full novel to come out. If The Beast of Blackmoor is any indication, the new series is going to be fantastic.Final thoughts:If you are a fan of any of these authors or love urban fantasy and paranormal romance, then Night Shift is a must read. I bought this for the Nalini Singh and Ilona Andrews stories but really liked the other two as well. It’s definitely worth the price tag to get 4 great stories in one neat package.

I'll admit that the main reason I wanted to read this anthology was for the stories by Nalini Singh and Ilona Andrews, I'm a huge fan of both the Psy-Changeling and Kate Daniels series so of course I was eager to be able to dive back into both of those worlds. It was a great opportunity to try a couple of new series though and I have to say that I definitely want to read more from Lisa Shearin and Milla Vane in the future. I'm going to talk about each of these stories individually but I would just like to say that if, like me, you picked up the anthology for one or two authors it's definitely worth giving the other stories a chance too. All four novellas are great and I'd be happy to recommend any of them.Secrets at Midnight by Nalini Singh - 4.5 starsPsy-Changeling #12.5I have loved Bastien ever since we first met him so I just knew that his story would be fantastic. He's such a great guy, fun loving and sweet but also incredibly protective of the women in his life as we've seen from his interactions with his sister Mercy. Bastien is currently infuriated though, he has finally caught the scent of his mate only to lose it again almost immediately. As a cat he should be able to hunt his prey wherever they go but the one person he needs to find almost desperately is managing to stay hidden from him. He isn't one to give up though and when he finally manages to track Kirby down there is no way he's letting her out of his sight again.I don't want to say too much more about the story because there was a fabulous twist when it came to Kirby and I really enjoyed watching Nalini Singh reveal it. What I will say is that I absolutely adored this couple and I hope we get to see more of them in the future. This novella takes place over a very short space of time but it's a testament to Nalini's writing that it never felt rushed, I always find her stories completely believable no matter how short the timeline is. Kirby is one lucky girl to end up with a guy like Bastien and I'm definitely looking forward to reading his brothers Sage and Grey's stories.Magic Steals by Ilona Andrews - 4.5 starsKate Daniels #6.5As a fan of the Kate Daniels series I have been rooting for Dali and Jim ever since I read their first novella Magic Dreams so I was excited to see more of them as a couple. This story fits into the timeline during events in Magic Rises while Kate and Curran are off in Europe leaving Jim in charge of the Pack while they're gone.Dali is such a brilliant character, not only is she an incredibly rare white tiger shifter who has an unusual magical ability but she's also the only vegetarian tiger you're ever likely to meet, her eye sight is terrible and she faints at the sight of blood. Basically Dali is the complete opposite of Jim who is the Alpha of the cat clan and Curran's right hand man. I think one of the reasons I love this couple so much is because of their differences though, they compliment each other's characters so well and it's nice to see a lighter, more relaxed side to Jim because of the way he is comfortable enough to let his guard down around Dali.Dali has a lot of insecurities about herself, she doesn't feel like she fits in around the other shapeshifters but Jim is brilliant at boosting her confidence. He is so incredibly sweet towards her and I love the way he doesn't let her keep hiding their relationship. As with the first novella there are some hilarious scenes with Dali and her mother but Jim makes the whole situation even more amusing. This novella has plenty of action, it introduces us to some more of the Indonesian mythology from Dali's ancestry and it has an incredibly sweet romance. I still hope we get to spend more time with this couple in the future but I'm very glad we got a second novella about them.Lucky Charms by Lisa Shearin - 4 starsSPI Files #0.5The first book in Lisa Shearin's SPI Files series (The Grendel Affair) has already been published but I've not read it yet and Lucky Charms is a prequel to the series so you're fine to start here. This story introduces us to Makenna, the new Seer who has just joined the SPI (Supernatural Protections and Investigations). Makenna's first job is to track down a missing leprechaun prince and the rest of his bachelor party after they escaped from their previous bodyguards. The leprechaun's have no intention of coming home quietly though - not when there is a whole city of trouble waiting for them to find it.This story was very light hearted and a lot of fun to read, the world Lisa Shearin has created is full of a wide range of magical creatures (Makenna's boss is a vampire and the CEO is a dragon!) and it's one I'm looking forward to exploring further. There was plenty of humour and I loved the banter between Makenna and the rest of the team she was working with. I'm very curious about her partner Ian and definitely planning on reading the rest of this series - in fact I've already ordered my copy of The Grendel Affair and can't wait to start reading it.The Beast of Blackmoor by Milla Vane - 3.5 starsMala is a warrior on a quest from her Goddess to tame the Beast of Blackmoor, she will do whatever it takes to achieve her goal because her people are depending upon her to protect them and she needs the Goddess's gifts to help them survive. What she doesn't realise is that the Beast is in fact a man and Kavik will do anything to avoid being enslaved again. Kavik angered Mala's Goddess so it's not too surprising that she has forsaken him but Mala believes that they can both earn redemption for themselves and their people if they only listen to the Goddess and follow her will.I believe that The Beast of Blackkmoor is the first in a new series from Milla Vane (who you may already know under her other name Meljean Brook). This was very different to anything else I've read from this author and in a way it seemed like a bit of a strange fit for this anthology. The first three stories are UF and PNR where this is a straight fantasy and it's much, much darker than the others. I still enjoyed the story and would definitely read more if this does turn into a series but it just wasn't at all what I expected and I can see why some people haven't liked it as much. Milla Vane has created a dark world, one where you will see characters raped, beaten and tortured so its probably best to be prepared for that going in, but I really liked the main characters and enjoyed seeing them fight for their freedom and the lives of their people. This won't be the story for everyone but I'd recommend giving it a try because it might just surprise you.

I have read books by Nalinia Singh and Ilona Andrews so knew that I would be getting some fantastic reads and they didn't disappoint. Nalini's book is another short story from her Psy Changeling series and while there weren't much in the way of surprises it was an enjoyable read.Ilona's contribution is a short story from the Kate Daniels series, another installment for Jim and Dali and the only complaint I have is that it wasn't long enough. I wanted a whole book but this will keep me going while I wait for the next Kate book.Had never written anything by the other authors but will check out some of their other books due to their contributions here

loved everything except the Milla Vane, absolutely NOT my cup of tea. I really hate that kind of story and setting, having said that it is an anthology and 3 out of 4 is quite good. I am sure that other readers would appreciate the Vane story. I haven't read Lisa Shearin before so I count that as a success as I have a new author to read. Longtime fan of both Ilona Andrews and Nalini Singh so would have bought just for those two. Would be five stars if the Vane story wasn't there.

I got this book for the novella by nalini Singh and ilona Andrews. I have been waiting for a long time for Mercys brothers to find their mate. Also for Jim to recognise Dali as his mate. Neither story did not disappoint. The reason for the 5 stars is the two other stories were good too. I will look out fir book by these authors too.

I enjoyed this anthology so much!! I'm a total fangirl for Nalini Singh and Ilona Andrews, so it was basically a given that I would adore their contributions, but the other two authors were also fantastic. They all felt too short, baring Milla Vane's story that was a contained short story on its own. But the rest are part of larger series I think, so that isn't so much a complaint as whining for mor books :D