The stories in this collection really varied in quality. The two readers' performances did too. Generally, I liked McLeod Andrews' performances more than Amanda Ronconi's.

Rating the stories individually seems to be the fairest course, so here goes:

If I had a Hammer, by Charlaine Harris —Only OK, as most of the Sookie material of the last 3 years has been. Certainly not the worst of the bunch, but not the best either. 2.5 stars

Wizard Home Security, by Victor Gischler —Liked it about the same as the Sookie story, although points for not picking a haunted house storyline in a collection where that choice was overused. 3 stars

Gray, by Patricia Briggs —One of the better ones in the collection; you can always count on P. Briggs for good characters and tension. 4.5 stars

Squatter's Rights, by Rochelle Krich —Somewhat predictable and frustrating, but I liked the incorporation of Jewish traditions into the plot. 3 stars

Blood on the Wall, by Heather Graham —One of my favorites of the collection. I checked to see if she had any novels featuring her story's protagonist, but couldn't find anything. This is the first time I've read her writing, and I'd like to try more of her stuff after listening to this story. 4 stars

The Mansion of Imperatives, by James Grady -- Too grim for me, with mostly unlikeable characters. 2 stars

The Strength Inside, by Melissa Marr —Twisted, but I liked it OK. I'm wondering if Melissa Marr has had some real-life frustration with a community association. If so, I can see how writing this story would have been very satisfying. 3 stars

Woolsey's Kitchen Nightmare, by E. E. Knight —My favorite of the collection—morbidly humorous, and performed by Andrews with a swell Irish accent. I'll be checking out more of Knight's work. 5 stars

Through This House, by Seanan McGuire —I'm not a big October Daye fan, so I wasn't mad for it, but it was OK. Some of the supporting characters are pretty interesting. 3 stars

The Path, by S.J. Rozan —Should have been named "The Boring". This was my least favorite story of the collection, with pages and pages of conversation about the protagonist's problem before a quick resolution at the end. Also, you could make a drinking game out of how many times the characters say the words "New York City, America" and get completely blotto. As much as I liked the way Andrews read Woolsey's Kitchen Nightmare, the slow precision of his performance of this story just dragged out the agony. 1 star

Rick the Brave, by Stacia Kane —Decent story. Definitely got me interested in the Downside series. 3.5 stars

Full-scale demolition, by Suzanne Mcleod —Didn't love this one-the writing was too cutesy, and I wasn't completely on board with the world (although I did like some of the pixie stuff). This was Amanda Ronconi's worst performance of the CD, which probably contributed to my attitude toward the story—her accents were all over the place and horrible. But it was still better than The Path, so I'm giving it 1.5 stars.

It's all in the Rendering, by Simon R. Green —And yet, Ronconi's accent seemed a whole lot better for this story. I had to check to make sure it was the same person reading. Weird. I liked this one. He built a neat little world between worlds. The resolution was pretty abrupt, though. Still, I'd like to read more of Green's stuff. 3.5 stars

In brightest day, by Toni L. P. Kelner —This was another one where I was sad to find out there aren't any books featuring this character. I quite enjoyed this one. 4 stars

I was determined to read every story in this collection, and that was probably a bit obsessive, but I am glad to have been introduced to some new authors. ( )

There were some very good stories in this book. However, one thing I found annoying were the "cutesy" stories. I picked up this book hoping for a few good chills and shivers......but a darkly humorous story about the difficulties of running a restaurant for a clientele of assorted paranormal creatures just doesn't do it for me. One P. G. Wodehouse style story populated by vampires, zombies, golems, etc was enough, no more in this lifetime, thank you very much. ( )

(this rating and review is only for Through This House by Seanan McGuire. I might eventually listen to the other stories, but I don't like audiobooks that much, so probably not. sorry!)

4.5 stars, needs more Tybalt. Pushing May off cliffs will never stop being hilarious (SORRY MAY), and I love Quentin so much. Also, I always love when pixies are treated as the intelligent people they are, and it doesn't happen often enough. We need more Patrick POV stories for that reason, or at least Toby hanging with Patrick tbh. ( )

Just read the Sookie Stackhouse story - no great character insights, but a fine short story ( )

I really didn't care to much for some of the other stories. There was some really good ones and some really boring ones. ( )