This is a collection of short stories. I have only read Patricia Briggs before so was neat to discover a couple new authors.
I really enjoyed the first one Alpha & Omega by, Patricia Briggs it is set in Mercy Thomson’s world .It is the prequel to her Cry Wolf Series I really enjoyed getting to know Sam’s brother Charles and his “mate” Anna infact so much that I had to go and get the rest of this series!But if you are looking at reading Cry Wolf read this story first or you will be confused.
The second story is Inhuman by, Eileen Wilks this was an interesting story and did make me want to check out more books by this author.
The third story is Buying Trouble by, Karen Chance she did a good job at building the world once the story got going although at first it was a bit confusing,but turned out to be a pretty good story.
The fourth story is Mona Lisa Betwining by, Sunny I couldn’t get into this story it didn’t hold my atttention at all.
So for a short story collection 3 out 4 stories enjoyed was pretty good and I discovered some new authors to read. ( )

In a way, I really hate anthologies. I prefer novels over short stories because there's more to sink my teeth into, and anthologies are usually lacking in more ways than one. Many publishers put an established, usually best-selling, author in an anthology with other unknowns to hopefully get them noticed. Not necessarily a bad idea, except that when I just want the one author I resent paying so much for other material I wasn't interested in. That's not exactly the case here - though Patricia Briggs is definitely skyrocketing in popularity, the other three authors present have established series and pretty good sales. But, that's also a problem - if you don't read those series.

I bought this book for the Briggs and Chance stories. I love Patricia Briggs' shapeshifter Mercy, and this story is set in that world though it doesn't star Mercy. The story was meant to be a stand alone, but the editor loved it so much they asked for a new series starring the characters. I have to say, they made a good choice. The story is sharp, with good writing, a clever plot and engaging characters. For newcomers, there is just enough info to keep everyone on board, but for established fans there are extra tidbits from knowing the other series. I liked Anna and Charles, and was happy I get to read more of them.

Karen Chance's story was actually a disappointment. It is a lead-in for her new spin-off series starring half-vampire Dorina Basarab. Unfortunately, I read the first novel before the story, and that may be the problem. The novel "Midnight's Daughter" opens with Dorina searching for her missing roommate Claire. This story explains what happens/ed to Claire during the course of Dorina's tale and features her as the narrator/protagonist. Only, she was uninteresting, annoying and for only being a short story - it dragged on and on. The exposition of the fairy realm was interesting but not enough to save the story.

Frankly, I didn't read Wilkes story because I have never read her series it is based in and heard beforehand it was more like the beginning of one of her novels. They do this a lot with Laurell K. Hamilton and it really ticks me off. Finally, I also didn't read Sunny's story because while I enjoyed the first Monere novel, I just haven't gone back to the series yet and this takes place mid-series.

Overall, fans of Briggs may want to opt for the newly available "Alpha and Omega" hardcover from Subterranean Press (or Kindle version) if they aren't interested in the other stories. Overall - disappointing in that I would personally prefer publishers release novellas as an extra bonus in other novels (like many Sherrilyn Kenyon novels did) rather than throwing them into an anthology. ( )

This is a collection of short stories but I mainly picked it up to read "Alpha and Omega" by Patricia Briggs. This short story begins the story of Anna & Charles which is picked up later in her book "Cry Wolf". I enjoyed this opener but it just wasn't as great as I know Briggs can be. I think I just like the Mercy Thompson series better. Sad, I know.I did briefly skim through the rest of the stories and they were definitely not worth reading. So the three stars is for Briggs' story and that's it. ( )

This anthology has 4 paranormal romance stories;

Alpha and Omaga by Patricia Briggs
- After being forcibly turned into a werewolf and finally accepting that she was a very submissive one, Anna Latham finds the courage to call the Marrok, Bran Cornick (the leader of all of the werewolves) and inform him of some strange things that her pack alpha is doing. Wanting to get to the bottom of the problems, Bran sends his own son Charles who is also an alpha. Together they discover more about Anna than either of them suspected.
(****) As a fan of the Mercy Thompson series I knew I would like this one (the reason for buying the book actually). I really enjoy the writing style and imagination of Patricia Briggs. Even with this story being as short as it is, the characters are well defined and since this is a continuing story it is easy to see why they take the time to make the connections that they do. One more reason to continue reading the series.

Inhuman by Eileen Wilks
- Things had changed, the supernatural was now the norm. But people were cautious around the magical ones. When those very people become the target of a serial killer, they were also the suspects. Nathan Hunter as a police officer wants to protect everyone, but as a hellhound, his priority is to protect Kai Michalski who is more than just the empath that she portrays herself as.
(****) First time reading this author, and this story appears to be in the middle of the “World of the Lupi” series. That being said, there was enough information given that I was able to follow the story and become interested in the characters enough that I am interested in reading the three stories that precede this one.

Buying Trouble by Karen Chance
- Used to having her talents taken for granted at the auction house, Claire stepped up to be near the magical artifact that were to be sold that evening only to find out that behind her back the owner had made a deal to put her up for auction as well. The fey known as Heidar had been sent to find out if the runes where real or another fake put out by a sometimes disreputable house, only to find that it was real the hard way. Transported into the Fey world without a nearby portal and then discoing that there is more to her powers than she ever knew.
(****) Again, this is actually closer to the middle of a series, this one had some parts that were not as easy to follow, probably because I had not read any of the earlier works. I did enjoy the concept but I am unsure of what this series is about based on this short story. I am curious and so I might try to track down some other books by this author.

Mona Lisa Betwining by Sunny
- As the newest Queen, Mona Lisa had to answer a few questions in regards to the death of her predecessor. She really did have something to do with her death, but the things she couldn’t say may cause more problems for her and for her current lovers.
(***) Different, this is also a series and this is not the beginning of it. The Children of the Monere seems to be a very intense type of story. This short story seemed to pack a lot into a short about of time. I felt lost and a bit confused at times, maybe because of the way the story was based on what had happened before. I don’t know what happened before, therefore I was a bit lost. As a stand alone, this one was not my favorite of the group, but I am intrigued enough to possibly look for others by this author. ( )

On the Prowl is an anthology of novellas by four urban fantasy/paranormal romance writers, so I’m just going to treat each story separately.

Alpha and Omega, Patricia Briggs

I adore the Mercy Thompson series, so moving on to the Alpha and Omega series was practically a given for me. This short story was surprisingly more substantial than just a teaser. Anna thinks that she’s the most submissive wolf in her pack; turned without a choice, she is threatened frequently by other pack members and has been subject to gang rapes and other such cruelty. When she sees a man missing on the news and realizes that her pack leader has not only turned but sold him, she finally calls the Marrok, the leader of all the werewolves, and he sends his son Charles to investigate. The connection between Charles and Anna’s wolves is immediate and he helps her to realize she’s not worthless after all. I liked the relationship between them and the fact that they don’t exactly act on their animal impulses. Restraint is something that doesn’t happen very often in this type of novel and I love that Briggs’s characters are always building their actual relationships, not just hopping into bed with one another because they want to. I feel that this is a delicate handling of Anna’s horrible situation and I liked the resolution of this story. I’m looking forward to reading the next two in the series but I do think that I could have stopped here satisfied at how it stands alone.

Inhuman, Eileen Wilks

This story reads much more like a teaser for a series. Kai Michalski is a physical therapist who also believes she’s a telepath. She’s friends with Nathan, a police officer who isn’t exactly human. When suspicious deaths begin to occur, Kai is immediately blamed thanks to prejudice against magical people from politicians and because another creature has taken her form, fooling credulous officials. While all her affairs on earth are cleared up, thanks to a handy deus ex machina that Nathan can summon at will, the story ends in a massive “buy my book if you want to know what happens now”. It’s a shame because I did like this one, although somehow it managed to feel too long, perhaps because it is all background and not really a story on its own. I might be interested in reading the Lupi series, of which this is a part, but I am not in a rush to do so.

Buying Trouble, Karen Chance

This was my second favorite story in the anthology. Claire has the ability to calm magic around her, so she’s been hired at an auction house to prevent the magical devices going wrong until the duped customers can get them home. One night, however, she discovers that she herself is on auction because of her skills; she can be killed and her abilities drained to make a bomb. Lucky for her, she is rescued by a Fey, Heidar, who realizes that there is even more to Claire than she herself suspected, not to mention a reason for her pesky attraction to all Faery men. This story alone was actually very funny at times and I really liked the main characters, Claire and Heidar. It struck a good balance between action, humor, and romance, and it was a great self-contained short story, not an ad for a book like the other three are. After reading this story I put a request in at my library for another of Karen Chance’s books.

Mona Lisa Betwining, Sunny

This was my least favorite story in the anthology. Basically, it felt like an infodump with lots of sex attached. Mona Lisa is a new Monere Queen, but she’s special because she’s half-human. In this story, she’s called to account for the death of another Monere Queen, who was part demon, and she laments the death of one of her lovers. She also makes an unpleasant discovery about herself. A lot of the story consists of recounting what happened before to get to this point. In the meantime, she has sex with two different men and one of the scenes made me very uncomfortable. The story is only 60 pages long, so at least it went by quickly, but I probably would have skipped this one if I’d known. I went on Sunny’s website and it turns out that her books are mainly paranormal erotic romance, which I really don’t like, so that explains my reaction to this. Her novels have won a number of awards so I’m assuming they have more actual plot and less recapping, but I don’t intend to try them. ( )