The Blurb :
Drama. Scandal. Secrets. And a whole lot of supernatural goings-on.
"Where Darkness Lives" by Alexandra Ivy
No one's more surprised than Sophia when she's struck by an unfamiliar maternal urge to move near her daughters. But instead of being greeted by a welcome committee, she's targeted by kidnappers. . .and saddled with a gorgeous bodyguard on a mission to protect—and seduce. . .
"Murder on Mysteria Lane" by Angie Fox
When a werewolf trophy wife is found dead in Vampire County, Heather McPhee goes undercover to investigate. Heather's never been a mascara-and-manicures sort of girl, but she's willing to learn. Especially with sexy vampire detective Lucien Mead posing as her husband. . .
"Werewolves in Chic Clothing" by Tami Dane
Ever since Christine Price moved in with her fiancé, Jonathan, and his twelve year-old son, she's worked hard to fit in with a cadre of local women whose lives seem picture-perfect. Except no one in Jon's upscale neighborhood is quite who they appear to be. Least of all Jon. . .
"What's Yours is Mine" by Jess Haines
Still Waters is like many other exclusive gated communities—except that it's home to one of the largest werewolf packs in the state. But Tiffany Winters isn't frightened of her big, bad new neighbors. In fact, she intends to take her place among the pack. . .
My Review :
As far as I know I have never read anything by Alexandra Ivy before. I know of her and maybe I have something on my tbr shelf from her but this story was my first experience with the author. It was clear from the beginning that this story related to or fit in with the series that the author writes. She does a nice job of trying to explain who is who despite the fact that hardly any of the characters mentioned actually appear in this story. However it does give the reader a nice feel for who Sophia is.
Sophia is a werewolf (all four stories in this anthology, as you guess by the title, are about werewolves) and needs a bodyguard. In steps the typical yummy male character that obviously has a secret to hide. A little cliché, this story isn't bad but it wasn't the best in the book either. I am pretty sure that if I was familiar with this series I would have enjoyed it a whole lot more but this little peak into a world I don't really know wasn't very exciting for me.
Next up in the book was Angie Fox's contribution. Now I have read at least one of Angie's books before and remember her as being a fun writer who made me giggle a lot. This second story was interesting enough and mostly due to the main character Heather being able to extract the truth from people. Not a huge unique spin but it was different and unusual enough to stand out. The romance aspect of the story was kind of cute but yet again it was your typical plot of 'girl and boy have to work together and end up together'. Murder on Mysteria Lane didn't really make me laugh but, just like the previous story, it wasn't too bad.
The third story in The Real Werewives of Vampire Country was my favourite of the four contributions. I had never heard of Tami Dane before but after reading 'Werewolves in Chic Clothing' I will be looking her up to see what else she has written. I was hooked straight away and there was a lot of mystery attached to this story. I could relate with Christine and was very curious to find out what had really happened to her fiancé's previous wife.
A nice story that kept me interested till the end this is definitely the best of the bunch and worth checking out. Great writing style and a nice well thought out plot. I wonder where this author has been hiding....
Last up was an author I know quite well. Jess Haines' short story takes place in the world of her H&W Investigation series but I have to say it could have taken place anywhere. There small were references to the series but all in all this story was a chick-lit of bitchy women who just wanted to flash their fashion and money everywhere. I have to admit I was expecting something better from this author and was left quite disappointed. There was no real plot to grab on to and the characters all seemed to mix into one another. I had a hard time remembering who was who.
All in all this anthology is a good read. Definitely a must read for any Werewolf fans or anyone who wants to try out some new authors. I rarely give recommendations or great reviews for anthologies but The Real Werewives of Vampire County has introduced me to at least one new author I want to look up (Tami Dane), another new author I need to give a try (Alexandra Ivy) and another one I need to catch up with again (Angie Fox). So this wasn't a waste of time!
***The Real Werewives of Vampire County is due for release in November***
