Book Log #77: On the Prowl, by Patricia Briggs, Eileen Wilks, Karen Chance, and Sunny

I picked up this anthology out of interest in the Alpha & Omega prequel by Patricia Briggs. Along with that, though, I got three other interesting stories as well, and although some of them worked for me and some of them didn’t, I found this a decent enough read.

Patricia Briggs’ “Alpha and Omega” opens the set. I’d already basically known what happens in this from having read Cry Wolf, but it was nice to see the details filled in. And I was relieved to see that it works okay as a standalone story, and didn’t really feel like the beginning part of a novel.

Eileen Wilks’ “Inhuman” was the story I liked just about as much, and it intrigued me with a type of supernatural hero we don’t see much of: a hellhound. Of course, there’s the obligatory “but he shifted into human form” aspect of it, but still, points for an unusual type of supe. Decent murder mystery packed into a tiny package, and not too over the top.

“Buying Trouble” by Karen Chance probably should have snared me harder than it did, dealing as it does with the fey and having a good chunk of it set in Faerie. But it didn’t quite click with me.

And lastly, “Mona Lisa Betwining”, by Sunny, was just not my cup of tea. It was outright erotica, and as a result mostly bored me as I skimmed the whole thing looking for any sign of actual plot.

If you’re a Patricia Briggs fan and a completist, you might want to pick this up, but it’s optional since the events in “Alpha and Omega” are touched on sufficiently in Cry Wolf. Three stars.