Reviews

Hexed by Jeanne C. Stein, Allyson James, Ilona Andrews, Yasmine Galenorn

kayteeem's review against another edition

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Read this mostly for the Illona Andrews short, and liked that one the best of the four novellas. Might have liked the others better if I knew the characters beforehand.

cheesygiraffe's review against another edition

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4.0

#151 I only read "Ice Shards" by Yasmine Galenorn. I liked it a lot. It helped me understand where Iris's point of view comes from. Although why she waited 600 years to take care of what she should have taken care of a lot sooner. I understand she was young when it happened but the shadow was killing people all those years she waited to confront him. Grr!

sjb86's review against another edition

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5.0

Great collection of shorts story's. Bought mostly for stormwalker and breed story but other were very good.

novahkiin's review against another edition

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2.0

Only read "Ice Shards" by Yasmine Galenorn.

angels_gp17's review against another edition

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4.0

I picked up this Anthology to listen to the novella Magic Dreams (Kate Daniels #4.5) only. I LOVE the Kate Daniels series and have been listening to the books and loving them all over again. Instead of just listening to Magic Dreams I went ahead and listened to all four novellas; Magic Dreams, Ice Shards, Double Hexed, and Blood Debt. This Anthology was interesting and each novella was different and enjoyable to listen too.

Magic Dreams - 5 Stars

Here we get Jim & Dali, two shapeshiftes in the Cat Clan. If you are familiar with the Kate Daniels series then you have an idea of who these two are. Jim shows up in the first book and Dali shows up in the third book, but here we get to see more into them, their insecurities, and mating dance. Lots of fun to listen too and learn more about these two.

The Narrator: Renée Raudman did a superb job with the narration. The audiobook brings out the emotions, characters, mystery, and adventure.

Ice Shards - 4 Stars

Ice Shards takes place in the Otherworld/Sisters of the Moon #9.5 series. I haven’t tried this series yet, but do have book one on my TBR. This novella has made me want to bump up trying out Yasmine Galenorn. Iris has to face her past. I like how her past is weaved into the now. I found this novella interesting and entertaining.

The Narrator: Cassandra Campbell did a wonderful job. I really enjoyed the Irish accent given to Iris and all the other different voices for the other characters.

Double Hexed - 3 Stars

Double Hexed is part of the Stormwalker #2.5 series. This one I felt lost and like I was missing something. The familiar connections between the characters just wasn’t their for me. All the people introduced are friends, acquaintances, or a lover. This novella focused on Janet the main character in the Stormwalker series. We also get Coyote the God, Mike a dragon, Cassandra a witch, Ansel a Nightwalker, and a few others. Theirs a cute/hex on the inn that Janet runs. Their more dark primal instances are coming out. This novella wan’t working so well for me. It didn’t make me want to go out and pick up the Stormwalker series.

The Narrator: She did a good job. The voices where unique and you could distinguish between the different characters.

Blood Debt - 4 Stars

Blood Debt is Anna Strong Chronicles #6.5 series. We meet Anna a bounty hunter/vampire. Something in her past is coming back to bit her in the butt. We learn about her, her past, and how she was turned. She’s got to defend her actions in an otherworld court. Not just her life, but another’s is on the line. It’s interesting. Anna is determined to protect those who can’t defend themselves. I’m curious to try the Anna Strong Chronicles series. It sounds like it has adventure, mystery, and fun characters.

The Narrator: She did a wonderful job. All the voices where alive and unique. The story came alive.

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blodeuedd's review against another edition

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3.0

Since this is an anthology I am going to review the novellas separately.

Magic Dreams by Ilona Andrews (Kate Daniels #4.5)
In this one Dali and Jim fight together to bring down a Japanese demon. Dali is not a scary shifter, but she does know her magic. Jim is an alpha and they have always been at odds. That is you know they both like each other but never get together. So therefore I looked forward to reading this book knowing it would finally happen. Interesting mythology and in a way I did not feel like you had to have read the Kate Daniels series to understand the novella. Of course by having read them you would have met these two before and wanted the same thing I wanted. I enjoyed this novella.

Ice Shards by Yasmine Galenorn (Sisters of the Moon #9.5)
I never ever come across Finnish mythology and here I did. Iris Kuusi is a housesprite from Finland and she is going to the Northlands to find out if she killed someone 600 years ago. Ok I was a bit lost here at times, not really lost, but it was the fact that there have been 9 books in this series about three sisters. And this character who I guess is a minor character there. Also, they would not have had last names that far back and some names in it would not have been used. Still it was interesting in it's rich mythology. There seems to be a lot going on in that world (worlds).

Double Hexed by Allyson James (Stormwalker #3.5)
This one was my favourite because it really made me want to read the series behind it. Janet and her friends are trapped in her hotel because someone has put a hex on it. I found myself wanting to read more about Janet and her dragon lover Mick. Coyote was funny, the vampire seemed nice (when not crazed) and the rest of the cast interesting. It's a world I want to read about and book 1 made it to my wishlist.

Blood Debt by Jeanne C. Stein (Anna Strong Chronicles #6.5)
Yes 6 before this one but I never felt at loss. I got a bit of explanations what Anna was and what she had been through. In this book she stands trail for something she has done. And that made me know about her history. I would definitely be interested in reading her story from book 1. The writing and story was good and I do like kick-ass UF heroines.

Conclusion:
Interesting novellas that made me want to read more about the worlds presented. And as always some better than other.

twowhoodles's review against another edition

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3.0

I'd only ever read Kate Daniels before, out of all the authors, but the stories in this anthology were all engaging - I'm definitely going to seek out their books.

desiree_mcl's review against another edition

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5.0

This rating is just for Magic Dreams by Ilona Andrews.

4.5-5 stars.

Such a great short story. Getting a story with Dali and Jim was fantastic. My only complaint, there wasn't more. I wanted to keep reading their story and I hated when it stopped. Other than that this was wonderful and I hope we get more short stories (or full-length novels) focusing on Dali and Jim.

git_r_read's review against another edition

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5.0

For me, historically, an anthology is one strong story, one reasonably good and the rest rather weak filler.


I was highly pleased to find that HEXED happily underexceeded my historical expectations....each and every novella smoked!


I was introduced to two new-to-me authors, in that I've heard of them, but not read as yet, Allyson James and Ilona Andrews. I have added their books to the WWBL because of their novellas in this book. Each one kept me up way past my bedtime so I could see what else was going to happen to the characters. Especially in Allyson James story, 'Double Hexed'. A multiple of supernatural characters working together to figure out who or what was keeping them trapped inside their hotel.


I've read Yasmine Galenorn's Sisters of the Moon series in the past, but meandered away for some reason. I will be going back after reading 'Ice Shards'. I like how Yasmine draws other characters into the main story, not just the sisters. I've been fascinated with Iris' place in the household and her backstory is uniquely told.


And I absolutely adore Anna Strong's story as written by Jeanne Stein. She's tough, family oriented, and trying to learn her place in the world as a vampire and as The Chosen. I am highly intrigued to read what is going to happen next since it looks like Anna might have a new love interest. YAY!




Thank you, Jeanne Stein, for giving me this signed ARC to enjoy and have on the keeper shelf to dig into again. HEXED comes out 7 Jun. Go get this highly excellent anthology!!



Five sparkly smokin' diamonds......

hlizmarie's review against another edition

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5.0

I actually only read the Ilona Andrews story about Dali since I don't follow the other series in this anthology. I loved reading from Dali's perspective! She's a very unique character in the Kate Daniels world since she's more brain than brawn. Not to say that everyone else in this series is all muscle since that's not the case in the least but their battles often rely on their physical capabilities as much as their head. Dali has a lot of insecurities as well which we get a clear picture of throughout the novella. She's struggled with who she is and how she fits in with other shape shifters since she's not physically strong, gets disoriented during shifting and is blind as a bat. Of course she's secretly in love with Jim, security head for the pack, who she feels she has no chance with. I adored the interactions between Jim and Dali. They made me laugh more than once and I was thrilled at the end when Jim visits her at home and explains where he's coming from. It was wonderful! I'd love an opportunity to read more about Dali and her unique type of magic. The authors have mentioned they may be doing a spinoff series with her in the lead and I'd definitely pick that up!