overall rating: 3 stars
this was a reasonably enjoyable anthology, but there were only a couple of stories that i really liked. most of them had mediocre writing and little in the way of plot/characters/worldbuilding, even for a short story.

it started before noon - 4 stars.
whimsical, charming, and inventive! a wonderful opening story.

heart's thaw - 4 stars.
this one was a historical regency-esque about a girl who snubs an incubus, who puts a... very interesting curse on her. very steamy and very fun.

fire and brine - 2 stars.
this one didn't really captivate me. not really a story, just sex, and whereas i like sex, it wasn't particularly well-written either.

dance with me - 3 stars
this was presented as a mystery, which didn't work because it was pretty obvious what madeline's Big Secret was.

my cup of o pos - 3 stars
love love LOVED the idea of a disabled vampire, and the characters were super cute, but the writing was incredibly mediocre, i'm afraid.

home - 3 stars
again, cute - i'm a sucker for the found family trope - but pedestrian and insubstantial.

swoon - 4 stars
this is very different to the other stories. it has a historical flavour, which isn't terribly evident because it mostly takes place on a ship, but the worldbuilding was good enough for a short story. unusual and enjoyable, with a little bit of grit, although the ending was questionable.

the hunt - 3 stars
yet again, cute and fun but just a little bit boring.

by candlelight - 4.5 stars
this was my favourite in the whole anthology. gothic, angsty, with a happy ending - wonderful. not five stars because there seemed to be something missing, but i still liked it a lot.

*~~*ARC kindly provided to me for an honest review *~~*

- Review to come

Review originally posted on my blog with added content on Mikku-chan / A world full of words

This was a really hit and miss collection of lesbian and bi-sexual short stories. The ones that stood out for me were "Fire and Brine" and "It Started Before Noon". These two were my favorites and the rest i either read and didn't take in the story or i ended up skipping them all together.

4 - 4.5 stars

Well-written and creative lesbian paranormal short stories.

This is a wonderful and creative set of paranormal romances with a decidedly lesbian and queer bent. The range of stories was great; there really is something for everyone in here, and yet each one had something to offer.

I loved jumping into one of these tales each day, with no idea where I’d be taken, and what story I’d land in. It was a joy to read each one of the tales, some quite scary, and some moving, and some with genuine heat between characters.

I highly recommend this for anyone with a taste for the paranormal, and reading strong female characters who are adventurous and bold. I had a ball reading this. Enjoy.

Advanced reading copy provided by NetGalley for an honest review.

Nine lesbian/bisexual paranormal short stories…
It Started Before Noon – All stories must begin somewhere.
Heart’s Thaw – A frozen heart is no match for ignited passions.
Fire and Brine – Of all the bars in all the world, Alice had to wander into Cassandra’s. Are either of them ready for what comes next?
Dance with Me – Can a werewolf and a vampire put aside their differences to catch a thief in the Windy City?
My Cup of O Pos – Not every visit to the ER has to be stressful.
Home – A stray, an alpha, and a question: Where does she belong?
Swoon – Falling in love is tough when you’re a cursed pirate.
The Hunt – A first bite is never easy for a teenage vampire.
By Candlelight – A girl and her ghost await a funeral

Overall, the book is exactly what I've needed these last few weeks. As with any anthology, some of the stories worked better than others, but it's a really strong addition to the small subgenre of f/f paranormal romance. If it helps you to know, I immediately bought volumes 1 and 2 upon finishing this one.

One of the things that worked well for me while reading the volume over a period of weeks was the variety among these nine stories. Some are close to erotica, some leave it at a kiss. Some are set in a world much like ours, some are completely fantastical. I didn't find that the book worked well when I tried to read it straight through, probably for this same reason. Reading an anthology is really like reading nine books, after all, even if the total page count is less than 300. Each story requires you to sink into a new world, after all.



Let's talk about the stories!



It Started Before Noon, by Ava Kelly

This is the first story in the anthology, but it remains my favorite. The main characters are a story gardener and a scientist/engineer. The story gardener grows story ideas, which can be used by story weavers to make stories. The gardener hasn't been able to make her romance "puffs" grow, so they sit on a little table in the corner of her nursery. One day, a scientist shows up and the gardener sends her away, over and over, until finally she relents and invites the scientist in for tea. They have tea every day, and a sweet romance blooms, in more ways than one!

Heart’s Thaw, by Bru Baker

Calliope is secretly in love with Lady Helena, but she's her hired companion and Helena must marry to preserve her father's title. Helena has no interest in all of her male suitors, however, and is eventually cursed by one of them to have a heart that gradually freezes and kills her. Sex to the rescue! This is one of the stories that relies more heavily on sex and has a definite Happy For Now ending rather than a Happily Ever After.

Fire and Brine, by Lis Valentine

This one was also heavy on the sex, but it worked so well for the characters that you can't say it's gratuitous. One of the heroines is a succubus and one is a siren (mermaid) and they have an attraction that neither can resist. It's the coming together of two very powerful supernatural women and it's very hot.

Dance with Me, by Michelle Frost

A vampire hires a butch werewolf to find something for her and sort of also work as her bodyguard during. This one didn't work as well for me, as it felt like the author was trying to put a full book into a short story. I would have liked to spend more time figuring out who the characters were, rather than zooming around the city on a motorcycle from club to club to club.

My Cup of O Pos, by L.J. Hamlin

This was another story that didn't work for me, but not because of any plot points, just some clunky writing. The author and the vampire heroine are both disabled, and it was a welcome change to see a vampire who wasn't magically healed of any "flaws." I liked the gentle building relationship between the vampire and her human ER doc, but I just couldn't get into the flow of the writing.

Home, by K. Parr

Another favorite for me! Farah is a newly turned werewolf who ends up shifting back to human the morning after a full moon in the yard of a gorgeous Alpha werewolf. Farah's pack is entirely femme, but it's made clear that they vary in sexual orientation. It was short, but after a bad day, it was nice to get a quick HEA with a bunch of women supporting each other.

Swoon, by Artemis Savory

A cursed pirate has to steal someone's voice before she dies, but doesn't want to be like her sisters and take without consent. I had some issues with her sisters' behavior, but I think that's intentional. I was also annoyed at the heroine because she does assault a woman before realizing what she's doing and stopping. I didn't particularly want their HEA after that, if I'm honest. On the plus side, it's a creative fantasy setting and not everyone will react the way I did to that scene.

The Hunt, by M. Hollis

A vampire comes of age and sets out to find her first willing blood donor. The whole thing is wonderfully awkward and sweet and ends with a hopeful HFN that I really liked. It reads like new adulttt, which is totally appropriate for the characters.

By Candlelight, by Ziggy Schutz

This is a mildly spooky story that takes place after the heroine, Zoe, dies. She's been sick for half of her young life and is really curious about the ghost who comes to help her family through their grief after she dies. Like the first in this anthology, it's a beautiful, sweet story with unique fantasy elements and it ends on a kiss. I liked this one a lot more than I thought I would, and it was the perfect way to end the volume.

So there you have it, a very long review of Into the Mystic, Vol. 3!

This was an interesting read, and full of interesting fantasy concepts. I enjoyed the concepts of most of the stories, and even the werewolf stories that I usually don't enjoy seemed interesting. The storygrowing science/magic pair up and the reaper stories tie for my favourite. There is a good amount of variety in explicitness, fluff, and fantastical elements to hold your interest. A good collection of romance and fantasy.

Spoiler Free Review

I requested this book on Netgallery as I really enjoy paranormal short story collections, but this is my first experience reading lesbian/bisexual fiction. I realise that is pretty bad, but I just haven’t really came across any before, which tell you a lot about the steps the literature world still needs to come in becoming more modern and having more variety of sexual orientations in their protagonists. As a LGBTQ+ supporter, I am glad Ninestar Press helped me to broaden my horizons by accepting my request for this book. Especially as this is a fantastic little collection, full of varied and interesting tales, great characters, good writing and engaging stories. I will review each short story individually below.

It Started Before Noon by Ava Kelly
This story is adorable. It’s just so cute. It’s gloriously steampunk, contrasting the age old argument of science and magic, creativity and logic, in a romance that is enough to warm anyone’s heart. The idea behind this story is great, it’s all about a muse, Talida who grows inspiration for stories in the form of these really cute balls of fluff known as ‘storypuffs’ that are grown like plants (I love the metaphor there). Talida is faced with difficult choices when meeting Ingrid an adorable scientist who may just change the views that she has held about science for many, many years.

Heart’s Thaw by Bru Baker
This story just so happens to be about a muse too. This time Calliope who is the female companion of wealthy duke’s daughter. This is more of a historical tale, set in the times when marriage is expected, and because of that it’s a bit Jane Austen… at first anyway. With the introduction of an Incubus to the story this definitely comes with a mature content warning. I do love the diversity of the characters and their orientations in this collection though, it’s unique and I have never really read anything like this anthology before. But yeah, be warned, this story definitely contains mature content.

Fire and Brine by Lis Valentine
If the last short story had a mature content warning, then this one definitely deserves one too. This is more about passion and attraction than romance, and it’s between two predatory creatures which creates for a steamy story with very little romantic build up. This was my least favourite story out of the collection, as erotic literature isn’t really something I enjoy reading, I prefer slow building romances more like the first story in the collection ‘It Started before Noon’. I would have liked to have known more about the characters, and seen more of their lives, but alas, time was taken up with *ahem* other stuff.

Dance With Me by Michelle Frost
I wondered how long it would take to get to a story about a Vampire, and then a werewolf shows up too. But it was taken in a new direction in the form of a private investigator (the werewolf) as our protagonist, trying to solve a mystery for her vampire client, and accidently finding romance along the way. This was a story that I really enjoyed, it’s more my kind of romance than ‘Fire and Brine’. I like slow building romances, especially if they are tied to other genres like this one is tied to both paranormal and mystery. This is a great short story for fans of The Mortal Instruments like myself, it has great world building in such a short slot of words and takes it’s time to give us proper introductions to the characters. I would really like to read more of this story, and especially more about the world that Frost created. I know it’s a little cliché now to have a werewolf/vampire story but they are my guilty pleasures so…

My Cup O Pus by L. J. Hamlin
This story really caught me off guard. I read the dedication at the front of the book and practically leaped out of my chair in the garden where I was reading. I have EDS too, and it’s a genetic condition that really doesn’t get as much publicity as it deserves. So seeing an author with EDS was really exciting. But then I was shocked for a second time, she had given one of the main characters EDS too! How awesome is that! SO AWESOME!
This is my first time EVER seeing a character with EDS in a published story, and I couldn’t stop grinning. It’s the first time there is a character who is actually like me who I can actually relate to, and it made me so gloriously happy.
This short story is about a LGBTQ+ vampire with a disability, how cool is that! And it was new, I haven’t read a vampire story quite like it before.
Even though I love that the book mentions EDS in such detail, and combats inequality, the romance isn’t as striking as in the other stories, probably more realistic, but less fiery or fairytale. The writing quality wasn’t as good as the other stories either which is disappointing. But thank you so much Hamlin for giving EDS a voice, and in a magical paranormal story no less.

Home by K. Parr
This story was also really sweet. I like how this story starts with a mystery, with confusion, and with a werewolf. I do love a good werewolf story. Although I admit that my first thought was teleportation, not a werewolf. I do really love how all of the vampire/werewolf stories in this collection, although they are written by different authors, they seem to all fit within the same world somehow. This is a really cute story though, all about finding a place in the world and finding a home.

Swoon by Artemis Savory
This story had a really cool concept about pirate sisters who need to steal voices to survive. This story had a lot of emotional conflict for our protagonist that I enjoyed.
She had to decide whether to submit to her feelings for Stowaway Bonnie, stealing the girl’s voice and turning her into an empty shell. Or protect Bonnie and sacrifice her own life. I’ll let you read it and find out the conclusion for yourself. It’s a great obstacle to have in a story though, and even I didn’t know what Mira was going to do in that situation.

The Hunt by M. Hollis
This was a great little coming of age story and the first which could be classed as YA. It’s all about a vampire teen and her first experience with (consensually) hunting humans after growing up with two vampire mothers in an all-vampire community. The world that Hollis created is really interesting and I’d love to read more about it. The characters in this were also really vibrant and interesting, and I would like to read more about Belinda and Alex’s budding romance. Also Belinda’s mothers seem awesome so I’d like to read a story about them too!

Candlelight by Ziggy Schutz
This had to be my favourite story in the collection. Zoe is a terminally ill patient in hospital who dies, then meets a ‘ghost’ who’s job it is to tie up all the loose ends in Zoe’s life. This story is incredible. It’s unique, I’ve never read anything like it before, the concept is so interesting and Zoe is a fabulous character. It’s a really sad story about Zoe coming to terms with her own death, but then there’s this really sweet hit of romance that underlays it all and gives the story another layer of depth. The end of the story is what makes this, it’s gripping, heart wrenching and it leaves you on the edge of your seat wondering what’s going to happen.

Not having previously read the last two volumes of the Into the Mystic collection, I wasn’t expecting what I actually go. The cover had me thinking, like time travel, witches, Scottish highlands but that’s not what I got. Now I can say each of these stories were great in their own ways. Some of the authors are now on my list to watch for future work or previous publications.

I have come to realize that there are going to be stories I absolutely love and need an entire novel written about the characters, and then one or two that I’m not fond of. It’s just personal preference. If you’re looking for erotica, that’s not what you’re going to get in this collection. There’s one story, Fire and Brine by Lis Valentine would be the one that went more in that direction. The rest have a gentle, kind romance about them.

It Stated Before Noon by Ava Kelly is probably one of the three stories I wish there was more of. That’s how much I loved it. The concept wasn’t one that I had seen before. A muse planting and cultivating inspiration (comedies, tragedies, dramas, but never romances) tickled me. A romantic and a scientist working together, learning about life and falling in love? I was smiling the entire time.

Home by K. Parr hit my weak spot. I love a good werewolf story, and then you’ve got a little bit of an age difference. Yeah, buddy. A young bitten wolf is trying to figure her way out in the world and she ends up in the backyard of an alpha who makes her feels whole. And that ending *sigh* it was perfect.
Swoon by Artemis Savery was completely unexpected. Sirens, they aren’t my thing. But a lesbian siren who is morally conflicted with taking the voice of a woman she loves? It was beautiful, crushing and hopefully all at the same time.

The Hunt by M. Hollis and By Candlelight by Ziggy Schultz were YA stories. The Hunt had a vampire youth going on her first hunt and I squealed with how adorable she was. By Candlelight, it was a bit darker but the thing is it’s what anyone would hope for when they pass. The communication between the ghosts and the ending left me feeling warm.

Fire and Brine by Lis Valentine, is a steamy quick read.

My Cup of Pos by L.J. Hamlin, the title is a little unfortunate until you actually read the story and understand what it means. I think it was intriguing to see a disabled vampire and an explanation of the disability was extremely important because you don’t get that very often in books.

Dance With Me by Michelle Frost was okay. I think it would have made an excellent full-length novel. A PI werewolf with a vampire client. The two don’t mix or do they?

Overall, this is a great collection of stories. I would definitely recommend checking into these collections to find new authors to read because that’s exactly how I’ve been finding a bunch of my new TBR list.

2.5 ☆

I actually hate reviewing anthologies by different authors because it's always so hard to make some general points about the book as a whole. All I can tell you this time, is that it's very much a hit-and-miss. More of a miss, if you're like me...

So we have 9 sapphic short stories, all with supernatural elements. We get vampires, werewolves, sirens, muses, ghosts... The diversity in that department is great and it's really refreshing to see so many totally different stories and all of them being effortlessly sapphic. And yet!

Let's talk about the good first, though. I really enjoyed "It Started Before Noon" by Ava Kelly & "The Hunt" by M. Hollis, and "By Candlelight" by Ziggy Schutz was pretty solid, too. What's special about those three is that the authors actually took time to develop the characters, put some thought into worldbuilding and - most importantly - made the relationships feel real. Especially the first two were extremely soft and lovely, honestly making me want to read more by Kelly and by Hollis.

That leaves us with 6 more stories. And, well. A few of them were honest to god just porn with some mediocre plot put there because you kind of need plot. The rest was just weak, both in the way of writing & the idea itself. It's so incredibly disappointing. You get a whole anthology tailored specifically to your fantasy-loving lesbian needs, and you can't even enjoy it!

This review will be posted on Goodreads, Amazon and my blog, Foxes and Fairy Tales, on 17 May

There was a good range of different paranormal types and tropes in this volume of Into the Mystic -- from whimsical to urban fantasy, werewolves, vampires and sirens. There was also a good range of ... explicitness? Some had little more than hand-holding, some had full-on sex scenes. That might be something some reader will want to look out for. Personally, I wasn't that keen on the raunchier stories (Heart’s Thaw and Dance with Me), purely because (with limited pages for each story) those ones tended to lack in character and plot development. Although overall I rated Into the Mystic overall as a 3 star, there were a couple of individual stories which really stood out to me and I would have rated those higher.

It Started Before Noon by Ava Kelly -- This one was so incredibly original. The first story and a fabulous start. The story centres around a muse who grows inspiration as if they're plants. She sells these to artists but meets a scientist who also wants to buy one and adorableness ensues. Sweet and whimsical with lovely writing.

The Hunt by M. Hollis -- One of the lighter and younger-feeling stories. This was good fun and had some interesting world -building.

By Candlelight by Ziggy Schute-- Haunting and soulful. This one was a beautiful look at grief and mourning. It had a sort of dream-like and reflective feel to it. The final story and my favourite.

3,5 stars

After finishing Bones and Bourbon I immediately went to see what else NineStar Press had because my curiosity was certainly piqued. I found this anthology that focuses on lesbian/bisexual paranormal short stories. This of course interested me as I don’t often get the chance to read fantasy and paranormal with lesbian or bisexual characters. We need more of those.
As this is an anthology and they are hard to write a general review of I am once again rather giving you reasons as to why you should pick this up.
The biggest reason you should pick this up is the diversity rep for lesbian and bisexual characters. Every story had one or both that was the focus. But that wasn’t the only rep present. There was also a character that I am fairly certain was non-binary and there was also some disabled rep. While I of course am a straight female, I did think the rep was all well done and with respect.
A lot of the stories are own voices. A portion of the authors are queer as they say themselves in the introductions at the end of their stories. And there was also a disabled own voices story, an author who incorporated her own disease into the short story. Own voices are always so important.
All the main characters were female. Now this might seem like a given with the focus on lesbian characters. But you would be surprised how often you see stories from a male’s perspective. As far as side characters go, a lot of them were also females. It was just a nice breath of fresh air to have so few males present.
As for the paranormal aspect, there was a lot of creativity present. Vampires and werewolves were more so present but there were also creatures present that I had never heard of before. Other creatures were story weavers, incubus, succubus and ghosts.
Lastly the romance is certainly a reason to pick up this anthology. I am not a big romance reader but I thought these were all well written. Not everything appealed to me as much but there was not one story that I disliked. These are all cute stories to read when you feel like a romance. Especially with the Summer coming.
Below you can find some of my thoughts and separate ratings per story.
It started before noon - 4,5 stars
Out of all of the stories I think this one was my favorite. Not surprising as this one doesn’t feel quite as much as a paranormal setting as the others. The characters and their relationship were so cute. I loved the setting of the world. The idea of a muse, a story weaver that grows story puffs for inspiration and I would totally read a book set in a world like that.
Heart’s thaw - 4,5 stars
This one is a bit more historical. Here our main characters are human but come across an incubus who triggers a few events. Warning for masturbation and sex in this one.
Fire and brine - 3 stars
This book has less plot and seems to be more focused on the physical interaction between the characters. I had less interest in the characters in this one. Warning for sex.
Dance with me - 3 stars
The idea of this world where a werewolf is a private detective and ends up with a vampire as client is very intriguing. Unfortunately I had a bit of a hard time connecting with the characters.
My Cup of O Pos - 3,5 stars
The initial setting of this world isn’t that spectacular. Vampires that live open amongst us. But the idea of a disabled vampire was. I was surprised to see this, but very glad. It is such a different view on vampires and just what we need to see more of when it comes to disability rep. Unfortunately the pacing was a bit off in this one. Warning for sex.
Home - 3 stars
This story focuses on werewolves. I was a little on the iffy side with this one as the relationship is between a newly turned werewolf and an older alpha who takes her under her wing. I would have preferred to have seen it take longer to have romance develop between them just because the newly turned counts on the alpha for care and information to her new world. Even so there was clear chemistry on the page between them.
Swoon - 3,5 stars
The appeal of this story laid in that our mc and her sisters seemed to be sirens of sorts. But a very different kind. They also come from India but our mc can’t remember things from there like her sisters. The diasphora slightly hinted at there was a good addition. I also liked that our mc in this case wasn’t super pretty as often happens with sirens. Warning for sex.
The Hunt - 3 stars
I liked the idea of two lesbian vampires raising a young vampire. I was a bit more interested in that than I was in the hunt of our young vampire.
By candlelight - 4 stars
Out of all the stories this one is more eerie as it deals with death and the afterlife. But not everything has to start with sunshine and roses. This is also the story where I felt a character was more binary as they didn’t seem to identify as female or male though they did say that they had a twinge of preference towards female bodies.
After finishing Bones and Bourbon I immediately went to see what else NineStar Press had because my curiosity was certainly piqued. I found this anthology that focuses on lesbian/bisexual paranormal short stories. This of course interested me as I don’t often get the chance to read fantasy and paranormal with lesbian or bisexual characters. We need more of those.
As this is an anthology and they are hard to write a general review of I am once again rather giving you reasons as to why you should pick this up.

The biggest reason you should pick this up is the diversity rep for lesbian and bisexual characters. Every story had one or both that was the focus. But that wasn’t the only rep present. There was also a character that I am fairly certain was non-binary and there was also some disabled rep. While I of course am a straight female, I did think the rep was all well done and with respect.

A lot of the stories are own voices. A portion of the authors are queer as they say themselves in the introductions at the end of their stories. And there was also a disabled own voices story, an author who incorporated her own disease into the short story. Own voices are always so important.

All the main characters were female. Now this might seem like a given with the focus on lesbian characters. But you would be surprised how often you see stories from a male’s perspective. As far as side characters go, a lot of them were also females. It was just a nice breath of fresh air to have so few males present.

As for the paranormal aspect, there was a lot of creativity present. Vampires and werewolves were more so present but there were also creatures present that I had never heard of before. Other creatures were story weavers, incubus, succubus and ghosts.

Lastly the romance is certainly a reason to pick up this anthology. I am not a big romance reader but I thought these were all well written. Not everything appealed to me as much but there was not one story that I disliked. These are all cute stories to read when you feel like a romance. Especially with the Summer coming.
Below you can find some of my thoughts and separate ratings per story.

It started before noon - 4,5 stars
Out of all of the stories I think this one was my favorite. Not surprising as this one doesn’t feel quite as much as a paranormal setting as the others. The characters and their relationship were so cute. I loved the setting of the world. The idea of a muse, a story weaver that grows story puffs for inspiration and I would totally read a book set in a world like that.

Heart’s thaw - 4,5 stars
This one is a bit more historical. Here our main characters are human but come across an incubus who triggers a few events. Warning for masturbation and sex in this one.

Fire and brine - 3 stars
This book has less plot and seems to be more focused on the physical interaction between the characters. I had less interest in the characters in this one. Warning for sex.

Dance with me - 3 stars
The idea of this world where a werewolf is a private detective and ends up with a vampire as client is very intriguing. Unfortunately I had a bit of a hard time connecting with the characters.

My Cup of O Pos - 3,5 stars
The initial setting of this world isn’t that spectacular. Vampires that live open amongst us. But the idea of a disabled vampire was. I was surprised to see this, but very glad. It is such a different view on vampires and just what we need to see more of when it comes to disability rep. Unfortunately the pacing was a bit off in this one. Warning for sex.

Home - 3 stars
This story focuses on werewolves. I was a little on the iffy side with this one as the relationship is between a newly turned werewolf and an older alpha who takes her under her wing. I would have preferred to have seen it take longer to have romance develop between them just because the newly turned counts on the alpha for care and information to her new world. Even so there was clear chemistry on the page between them.

Swoon - 3,5 stars
The appeal of this story laid in that our mc and her sisters seemed to be sirens of sorts. But a very different kind. They also come from India but our mc can’t remember things from there like her sisters. The diasphora slightly hinted at there was a good addition. I also liked that our mc in this case wasn’t super pretty as often happens with sirens. Warning for sex.

The Hunt - 3 stars
I liked the idea of two lesbian vampires raising a young vampire. I was a bit more interested in that than I was in the hunt of our young vampire.

By candlelight - 4 stars
Out of all the stories this one is more eerie as it deals with death and the afterlife. But not everything has to start with sunshine and roses. This is also the story where I felt a character was more binary as they didn’t seem to identify as female or male though they did say that they had a twinge of preference towards female bodies.

3.75 Stars. This is a good collection of paranormal and fantasy short stories. While a few feature bisexual characters, all the stories are about f/f relationships. I have been dealing with a book slump the past few days. Every book I tried starting, just wasn’t working. Then I suddenly got the idea to try reading this short story collection. I figured if I didn’t like one story, chances are I would like the next one. Well, I think it actually worked. Maybe it helped that there wasn’t a single story in this collection that I didn’t like. Or course some were better than others, but there were no stories below 3 stars. This definitely was a good quality collection.

What really impressed me was that quite a few stories had such impressive imagination. There were ideas never heard of before and supernatural beings that I have never read of before. Of course you had your vamps and werewolves, but it was a great balance of old favorites mixed with new ideas.

There are nine stories so I am not going to mention them all, but I will talk about a few that stood out to me.

It Started Before Noon by Ava Kelly 3.75 Stars. This is one of two shorts I would put more in the fantasy category. This actually had a little steampunk feel. This story is very unusual and like nothing I have ever read before. This idea felt completely new to me. I didn’t think “oh I loved this” when I was done reading, but I found I could not stop thinking about this short. The imagination was just impressive. I wish Kelly would write a book or novella in this world. It was so darn interesting and unique that only a short story feels like the idea is a little wasted.

Fire and Brine by Lis Valentine 3.5 stars. This story stuck with me since it was on the steamy side. This really was a story just for the sake of a hot sex scene. But it was plenty hot and steamy which I expect most people will enjoy. I did.

Dance With Me by Michelle Frost 4 Stars. I really enjoyed this. This is vamps and weres and the kind of paranormal story I look to buy. The premise is not really unique, but it’s what I want to read about. A vampire in trouble seeks out a werewolf private investigator, yes please. I want to read this book. Heck, I like this paranormal world enough it could make an entertaining series. Frost if you are somehow reading this, please, please make this into a book!

Swoon by Artemis Savory 4 Stars. This was the second short that felt more fantasy to me than paranormal, though there are some sort of supernatural beings in this. This was another example of a very unique story. While the supernatural creatures reminded me a bit of sirens or mermaids, they really were not. They were something new. I love when authors use their imaginations so this story really stuck with me.

By Candlelight by Ziggy Schute. 4.5 Stars. I thought this story was the best written of the whole collection. It is more somber, but just really well done. This had a take on a ghost that once again, I have never read about before. I have read a ton of paranormal stories in my life so when I still find new ideas, it makes me happy. Schute was able to change the job of a ghost and she did it well.

If you are a paranormal lesfic fan, I think you will enjoy this collection. I must admit I’m impressed at the ideas and imagination in this group of shorts. I think it truly has something for every paranormal fan. Not all of the stories were great, but there were no poor ones. I enjoyed this enough that I will be going to purchase some of the earlier volumes in this series.