Unlike with The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance I've read almost all of the authors present in this collection to some degree. Obviously some of them more (Maria V. Snyder, Rachel Caine, Mary Jo Putney and Ilona Andrews), but I've read at least one story per an author before now.

Even though I knew I would enjoy the authors more in this collection then the other, I was still hesitant to think I would enjoy the collection more. I read a lot of paranormal--for fun and review--and I've been disappointed before in far shorter anthologies. I'm happy to say that I was not at all disappointed this with this book as a whole. Individual parts perhaps, but not as a whole.

Kelley Armstrong ("Paranormal Romance Blues"), Jean Johnson ("How To Date a Superhero") and Ilona Andrews ("Grace of Small Magics") were my favorites. Armstrong's story was a fun balance of paranormal issues and dating issues--two things that have perhaps more in common then most people think. Johnson's is just a fun superhero love story and the foibles of being able to see the future (note to authors and publishers: we need more superhero romances! A.J. Menden is doing a fine job with the Elite Hands of Justice but come on folks!). And Andrews is the fun of underestimating the small guy (or girl in this case). They always surprise you in the end.

I enjoyed Cheyenne McCray's "Taking Hold" as well. It was a werewolf story, but it was really less about that (romance wise at least) and more about two outsiders coming together. Mac is a funny mix of strong silent type and 'Did I say that wrong?' under-confidence. I wanted it to be longer however--I liked Mac a lot and wanted to know more about him.

The other authors and stories I enjoyed reading, but they didn't spark my interest as the others did. The collection surprised me with just how many different paranormals you could fit into one anthology. There's angels, demons, succubi, inccubi, werewolves, vampires, selkies, mermaids, superheroes, Gods, immortals...it was astounding and so much fun. Some of them don't get enough love, others are so overdone we are all screaming for something different, but each author presents them in a different light.

The only story I didn't quite gel with as well as I would have originally thought was the selkie story by Vaughn ("The Temptation of Robin Green"). Vaughn does a good job of everything but Robin Green. We're told she's very committed to her work, very proper and strait-laced, but we're not shown that really. It was perhaps the short nature of the story that ultimately made this happen--if the story had been longer there would have been more time to build up to Robin and the selkie's encounters.

This was a fun, entertaining anthology however and sure to please many fans of the varied authors present. In fact it might make fans of several other authors as well. ( )

Before reading this book I had a nosey at the reviews and recall seeing someone claiming there 'was not enough romance' - well, for the first few there seems to be more smut with paranormal thrown in as a setting and little else. Don't get me wrong, the paranormal element was great, I just wish the author had focused more on that and then had romance as a theme and not the other way around.

Once I got past these few 'oh my god, take me now' stories as I like to call them, I found myself in a world of amazing paranormal writing. Quite a few of these authors have since been added to my 'to read' list although I was sad to find that a lot of these seem to be one off stories. The worlds created for the reader in these short stories are incredible and I wish they had been continued in fully fledged series.

There is something for everyone. There are even some stories in there that when I think of 'paranormal' I might not have considered before - and I was really glad they were included! There's romance of all sorts here, from all ages and situations. I definetly recommend this to fans of the genre. ( )

Hit or miss, as would seem likely in such collection. I liked the stories by Ilona Andrews, Rachel Caine and Maria V. Snyder (all of whom I've read and liked before). I also liked Meljean Brook, Mary Jo Putney, Allyson James, Eve Silver, Alyssa Day, Jeniene Frost, Catherine Mulvany, Holly Lisle and Anya Bast, but I was disappointed to discover that their stories are not from worlds they already write about -- it appears to be a book of short stories that do not relate to the author's canons. That's cool, I guess, something different is neat. However, I'm looking for more authors to read and I'm not going to pick any of them up because the short story seems to be so different from their main deal. Oh well. ( )

I picked up this volume to read a short story by a particular author whom I like, but ended up reading my way through most of it. Like any anthology, some stories were more my taste than others, and there were a couple that I just couldn't get into because of the writing, and I ended up skipping them. But for the most part, a nice fun read. ( )

I loved the mix of these stories. There was something for everyone. ( )