Stroke of Midnight Anthology


Title: Stroke of Midnight
Author: Multiple (see mini reviews)
Series: Read for Dark-Hunter, #5.1
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks (Imprint of Macmillan)
Date Published: November 2nd, 2004
Edition: Paperback
Rating:

Winter Born by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Two enemy Were-Panthers discover that fate has destined they become lovers. Pandora must learn to trust Dante’s foreign nature. But as she slowly succumbs to the truest passion she has ever known, dark forces have already set out to reclaim her…

Born of the Night by Amanda Ashley
When Lady Shanara Montiori is taken hostage, she learns that the rumors about her captor are true. Lord Reyes is afflicted with the dark curse of the werewolf. Still, Shanara can’t fight the attraction they both feel. Will their love break the curse-or feed its powerful hold?

Make It Last Forever by L. A. Banks
An innocent mistake forces the beautiful Tara onto a mission to save herself from the dark fate that awaits her. Salvation comes in the form of a seductive biker with a heart of gold. But will surrendering to their ripe attraction unleash a danger even she cannot control?

Red Moon Rising by Lori Handeland
Novelist Maya Alexander’s peace is shattered when she is stalked by a Navaho skinwalker who has taken on the guise of a wolf. Her only hope is the mysterious Clay Philips. In his arms, she seeks protection-but as the red moon rises, no one is safe from the danger that lurks nearby…

Winter Born by Sherrilyn Kenyon: (Dark-Hunter, #5.1)
Loved it! In this story Pandora has traveled to Atlanta, Georgia for Dragon*Con, where she’s told she can meet with the legendary Acheron Parthenopaeus (aka Ash). She’s hoping he can help her get back to her own time where she was stolen from. In the meantime, Dante, a Were-Panther, was invited to Dragon*Con by Ash in order to seek out some potential bands to play at his club. The only problem is that Pandora is a Were-Pantheress in heat, and no Were-Panther male can resist her.

This was really fun and the reason I picked up this anthology. Not only does Sherrilyn Kenyon write awesome novels, but she’s a great short story teller as well. I loved it. Dante is sweet and sexy, and I liked Pandora as well. I also really enjoyed seeing Ash/Simi in this one, and at Dragon*Con too! So fun!

Favorite Quote:
“Pandora, meet my brothers, Leonardo and Mechelangelo.”

“Like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?” she couldn’t resist asking.

“Like the Renaissance painters,” Leo snapped. He exchanged a snarl with his twin brother. “I seriously hate those damned turtles.”

As if on cue, four people dressed as said turtles walked by and frowned at them.

“I swear the gods are mocking us,” Mike said as he saw the green-foam-covered humans.

Story-Specific Tags: Weres/Shifters

Born of the Night by Amanda Ashley: I’ve only read one other Amanda Ashley short story, so it was nice to read some more by her.

In this story Shanara is captured by Reyes because her father killed his father. So Reyes is determined to get revenge on Shanara’s father through her. However, he doesn’t expect to fall in love with her along the way.

This was really cute and a bit different take on werewolves. The history behind his werewolfishness kind of reminds me of another novella I read in the anthology Midnight Pleasures called A Wulf’s Curse by Ronda Thompson. The story itself wasn’t similar, but the mythology reminded me a bit of that. But I liked it! It’s a different take on a classic paranormal creature.

So this was a cute little story about falling in love unexpectedly. The interaction between Shanara and Reyes was sweet and overall I enjoyed it.

Story-Specific Tags: Weres/Shifters

Make It Last Forever by L.A. Banks: (Vampire Huntress Legend, #3.5)
I’ve only ever read one other short story from L.A. Banks and I had the same issues with this one as I did with that one.

The writing style, for me, is just really hard to follow sometimes. It’s like it’ll jump from one moment to the next day and nothing makes sense. In addition, she’ll flip-flop POVs between the male and female sometimes every other paragraph without any warning (no space or divider). So because of these things it’s very hard to follow and enjoy the actual story sometimes.

As for the story, I didn’t really like it anyways. It kind of started out cool with a bit of a horror twist to it, but then it just went downhill quickly and was mostly slow and boring. I really didn’t get where it was going and where it went made no sense to me. Perhaps if I had been reading this series it would have, but I haven’t.

So this just isn’t for me. I don’t think anything by L.A. Banks is for me personally. The writing style is hard to follow and her plots are usually just out there and confusing. Therefore, this didn’t change my opinion of L.A. Banks’ works so I don’t think I’ll be trying any of them out any time soon.

Story-Specific Tags: Vampires

Red Moon Rising by Lori Handeland: Maya is being stalked…by a skinwalker. A skinwalker is a witch who can merge itself with an animal to become a kind of shapeshifter. One of these things has it out for Maya, and she has no idea why. Her only way of surviving is through Clay, who she is attracted to for all the wrong reasons.

This was down near the bottom of my least favorites from this anthology. It was just a little too weird and out there for me. I also was not feeling the chemistry between Maya and Clay at all, it just felt too staged and like they were just going through the motions.

I will say that I did like the wittiness of this one though. Maya is really sharp and funny and so I really loved that. But other than that, this definitely wasn’t for me. I don’t think I’ll really be picking up anything from this author anytime soon. The dynamics behind the skinwalkers and this world in general was just too weird for me.

Story-Specific Tags: Weres/Shifters, Witches/Wizards

3 Hearts More Reviews Goodreads | AmazonPurchase Links Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble

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You Slay Me by Katie MacAlister

Aisling Grey is a courier enjoying a free, work-related trip to Paris when she learns she's a Guardian. That's a keeper of the Gates of Hell, for those who don't know. She finds this out from Drake Vireo, who's scrumptiously sexy-at least in his human form. Now Drake has stolen the package Aisling was sent to deliver, and she must track him down, get the package, and try to resist the passion boiling inside her.

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