Hot Blooded

Christine Feehan,,and

i've read this anthology before, but it was a while ago, so I didn't mind revisiting.
The first story - Dark Hunger by Christine Freehan - more life mates meeting, this time in the jungle and she, unusually, is sexually experienced and a shapeshifter, but he still treats her like a virgin... It was readable but barely.
The last by Angela Knight - set in her mageuniverse. This time Lancelot meets his commupance with a woman who doesn't want to accept her grandmother's gifts - esp after she so cruelly withheld them from her mother.
Started the Maggie Shayne one but it didn't pull me in.

all in all, quite a forgettable book... ( )

Four paranormal stories with a creatures of the night theme:

Dark Hunger by Christine Feehan: D
Juliette and her sister rescue animals from an experimental farm deep in the jungle. One of the creatures she rescues is not a creature but Riordan - a Carpathian - a sort of a super vampire/shapeshifter being who hunts evil vampires. In order to survive he has to bite Juliette but they unite to rescue Juliette's sister. Juliette is a shape-shifter and turns into a jaguar so does this make her a furry critter with bat wings. Sorry disn't work for me and I do like vampire romances - there just seemed to be so much in such a short story.

Awaiting Moonrise by Maggie Shayne: B
I loved this story - a wonderful tale about a zoologist who is searching a steamy bayou to find the creature she is convinced is responsible for the wild tales of werewolves running about the town. She quickly finds, and doesn't he have big teeth and a cute tail. Yep he is quite yummy, now all she has to do is save him from the big bad scientist.

The Night Owl by Emma Holly: B
kinky romance ("The Night Owl") between a vampire and a smalltown baker. Mariann cooks her grandfather's recipes. The owner of the B&B next door is a vampire who knows he has found his queen. Now they just have to work it out.

Seductions Gift by Angela Knight: C
The last story is a mix up of the traditional Arthurian legends and alien invasion. King Arthur and his knights are vampires - the women are witches. The hero is Lord Lancelot du Lac, assassin and High Court seducer. He has to 'turn' Grace from human to Witch - and he can only do this by having sex three times. Trouble is she knows what he wants to do and is not going to make it easy for him. ( )

Dark Hunger by Christine Feehan is book 14 in the Dark Carpathian Series. I read this "short story" in an anthology, and this review is only for Dark Hunger.

Riordan is an ancient and powerful Carpathian male living in the jungles of South America with his brothers. Trapped and caged by the same beastly Morrison Psychic Research Center that has been endangering the lives of all immortals throughout the series, Riordan will give his life before becoming the bait to bring in his brothers and others of their kind.

Deep within the jungle, Juliette lives with her sister Jasmine and cousin Solange. On a mission to liberate wild animals from the Morrison Center's secret jungle lab, Juliette stumbles upon something she did not expect - Riordan. As Juliette frees him from his captors, Riordan realizes that he's found his lifemate, but Juliette has her own secrets to protect...

As you may have noticed, I'm not a huge fan of the "short stories" in this series. Usually, the stories from the anthologies are just too short to be as good as the rest of the series. THIS WAS NOT THE CASE WITH Dark Hunger! It was really exceptional.

Dark Hunger is vivid, and beautifully written. Feehan's writing is fluid and lyrical, and her style of multiple point-of-views is outstanding. I'm really intrigued by the "jaguar people" we've been hearing about for awhile now, and was happy to see a little more of them in this book. I can't wait to see what happens next, so I'm officially moving book 15 to the top of my tbr pile. ( )

An anthology of 4 short stories, gets 4 short reviews from me. I liked this one, for me it had 2 authors I am familiar with and 2 I had never read before (but will in the future).

Dark Hunger (Carpathians - Dark series, book 14) by Christine Feehan
Chained to a wall by the humans, caught in a trap surely set by a master vampire, Riordan De La Cruz was running out hope until he felt her coming into the room. Witnessing the men take more wild animals into the new research building, Juliette Sangria and her sister Jasmine needed to save the animals before they were tortured, finding not only animals but a man, nearly broke her heart. Binding themselves together meant one big family.
(****4) Book 14 ….. Short stories are so difficult, it always feels so rushed and incomplete. I like the jaguar species and the connection they make to the Carpathians, Juliette’s simple acceptance of was good but Riordan’s compassion for Jasmine’s situation is what made him the best part of this story. Large cast of characters (brothers Zacarias, Manolito, Nicolas and Rafael as well as sister Jasmine and cousin Solange) for a short story, hopefully we will see more of all of them as the series progresses.

Awaiting Moonrise by Maggie Shayne
Taking a research trip to New Orleans, Professor Jenny Rose from Dunkirk University was wanting to use her expertise as a cryptozoologist to prove that werewolves don’t exist, it is just a previously not discovered species of animals. After finding what could be the animal she has been looking for and being scratched by it, she met the local Doctor. The attraction Dr. Samuel La Roque had to Jenny was instantaneous and unavoidable. He had his secrets and she was going to find them, and then what would they both do?
(****4) Under 100 pages, this is a great story with some wonderful characters. It did feel like it was lacking because of how short it was. Their encounters are intense, but the reaction seemed more than what was warranted, almost like we only saw part of it. I liked the ‘bad guy’ not really wanting to track the werewolf for any normal reasons. The addition of the Voudon priestess, Mamma Louisa, gave a bit of flavor to the story and a great ending.

The Night Owl (Midnight series, book 1) by Emma Holly
Owning the bakery was all Mariann O’Faolain had really ever wanted to do. Finally after the ex-husband and the ex-partner were out of her life, she could start over and do what made her happy. Needing a connection to the people around him, Bastien Luce and his ‘cousin’ Emile started renovating the Night Owl Inn. Finding a different kind of connection with Mariann might be more difficult for him, but he knew he would find a way to make it forever.
(****4) New author for me, one that I really enjoyed and will look for more from. Little bit of a different take on a common storyline. The back story of the characters was well written and easy to follow, the characters themselves were wonderful. Bastien’s shyness was endearing from the beginning and I could have read more about him and Emile’s strange view of life made for an easy camaraderie between the two… and then all three of them. As always, I like learning a new words (one at a time), upyr - from Hungarian and Slavonic folklore.

Seduction’s Gift (Mageverse, book 1) by Angela Knight
Sheriff Officer Grace Morgan liked her job, she liked protecting and helping people even if she already knew that there was more to life than just the earthy universe. Catching a speeding car, Lance (Lancelot du Lac) looked up at her and her heart dropped, she thought she had squashed that crush long ago but seeing him now made her unsure of everything but the need to not give in to her desires for him. Knowing that he had the power of the Mageverse behind him, Grace fought her growing needs as long as she could.
(***3) Different, interesting, strange - really enjoyed the concept of the story (King Arthur, his round table, and Merlin) and the characters (Lancelot, Grace and Morgana) were fabulous. Too rushed for my taste (maybe because it is a short story), felt as if the story was an excuse for the sex scenes, I would have rather had a story I didn’t care about and have the sex be the story or invest more into the great story and let the sex just enhance it. This story could have been the best story of the book, it could have been a really great story, unfortunately it was crammed into about 100 pages and lost so much. I would be interested in reading this author again (full length book please). ( )