Mysteria (Anthology 4-in-1)

Instantly forgetable. These stories were more plot driven than character driven, with the main theme seemingly "How do I get you to jump my bones in the next 50 pages?" I did like Mary Janice Davidson's story Alone Wolf. It was quirky and unusual, and since I haven't ever read a novel by her I may be persuaded to hunt one down. Like another reviewer noted here, the premise of this collection of short stories was great, but maybe I would have liked it better if it had been a series of novels rather than short stories.

I picked up this anthology for the Susan Grant story after reading "Your Planet or Mine?" then checking her website and finding an excerpt.

All four stories are fun - silly, even a bit ridiculous, but fun.

Mysteria is a small town that is home to magic and all its creatures - vampires, werewolves, fairies, witches and pretty much anything else you can imagine. Life there is weird and crazy and that makes for four fun, short romantic stories.

Take your pick from the naked demon in the flowerbed, the werewolf raised by humans, three witch sisters or the ex-English teacher and the artist werewolf.

My favourite story is the first one, "Mortal in Mysteria" by Susan Grant, which is appropriate since its the reason I bought the book. I enjoyed show more the other three as well, particularly P. C. Cast's "Candice Cox and the Big Bad (Were) Wolf" which was actually a lot less campy than the title suggests.

I couldn't say if I'd buy another Mysteria book if it comes out or not, but I certainly enjoyed this visit. show less

This is a collection of 4 stories, by 4 paranormal romance writers, all about 1 town in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Mysteria was originally established by a group of settlers that were slightly different from the normal. This is a place were the slightly different actually fit in. All creatures are welcomed, the Demon High Lord that has been banished from hell for committing random acts of kindness, the vampires who have found ways to not crave the taste of blood, the witches, the werewolves and the non-magical humans have all found ways to live - and thrive in the small town - together.

Susan Grant, Mary Janice Davidson, Gena Showalter and P.C. Cast worked so well together on this project, it was almost a continuing story (especially show more the last 2). I typically write a review for each individual story, but this one doesn’t need individual rating, they are all good stories. Short little stops in this very interesting town where you can run into anything and anyone, I liked the way several of the authors just continued each others stories, just a heartbeat later. Getting to know some of these characters made it feel like a novel instead of several novellas. Mary Janice Davidson has an Author’s note about how this story relates to her others (‘Bewitched, Bothered and Bevampyred’ and ‘Derik’s Bane’), I haven’t read them, but I might now. Anthologies are great for introducing new authors, I have read Susan Grant and Gena Showalter, and was happy to be introduced to May Janice Davidson and P.C. Cast. show less

Collection of three novellas taking place in a town with lots of supernatural things going on. An older woman / younger man romance is among them. The collection is overall not as offensive and annoying as a lot of paranormal romance; more chick-lit-style, with modernism and wisecracking.

Demons, werewolves and witches, oh my... Founded by the accidental good deed of a demon from Hell, the small town of Mysteria, Colorado is the home to vampires that hate blood, banished fairies, black witches married to white ones, you know... misfits. And lucky them, they're all about to find true love.

Clever premise, and for the most part a solid collection of romantic urban fantasy.

I usually find when I pick up an anthology that there is one short story which doesn't quite float my boat. Happily, the collaboration of P.C. Cast, Gena Showalter, MaryJanice Davidson and Susan Grant runs like a well-oiled machine. One story shifts to the next effortlessly. I enjoyed that the writers put each others' characters into their own story as needed and end up actually creating, for me, the town of Mysteria.

Silly and fun. This is not Great Literature, but I enjoyed the premise of a town filled with supernatural residents. Some of the stories were better than others - I got bored with a couple and didn't finish them.