Search - On the Prowl: Alpha and Omega / Inhuman / Buying Trouble / Mona Lisa Betwining

I got this book because of Patricia Briggs who is on my buy list for her Mercy Thompson series. Her story here "Alpha and Omega" is an introduction to a new series she will be releasing which is set in the same world as Mercy Thompson. This anthology contains 4 stories including the Briggs one. I liked the first 3 stories.

"Alpha and Omega" - Briggs’ contribution was more romance heavy than I expected - in the Mercy books the romance is much less of a focus. Still, well written and engaging and I will look for the continuing series with these characters.

"Buying Trouble" - I liked Chance’s short story better than her Cassandra Palmer novels because it felt like there was a little less rushing around than in those books - more pausing time between the action. Also set in the same world as Cassandra Palmer's but with other characters. Some mild humor I enjoyed.

"Inhuman" - I was impressed by Wilks. I’d never read anything by her before and I could not tell it had anything to do with a series (it's set in the same Lupi world as her series), unlike the rest of the stories in this anthology. I thought the world building was subtle and the story had a relaxed pace.

Sunny’s "Mona Lisa Betwining" - I did not like it. I skimmed, and actually stopped short at a “Crammingly so� line and spent a few moments wondering about what the author was thinking writing that. This felt like just a continuation of the Monere series, not just a story set in the same world, and had spoilers for book 2! Also I thought that any time that Mona Lisa has a problem (mental, physical, whatever), the solution always seems to be - have sex. I think the point was to introduce Lucinda, a character that will have her own series, but that encounter felt forced and oddly out of context.

I read anthologies expecting to get four or five completely self-contained, stand alone stories. The only one that really fit my expectations in this book was Karen Chance's story.

Two of them, by Briggs and Wilks, are teasers for novels due out later this year, even concluding with a statement something like "read more of their story in......" I felt a little lost reading Sunny's story as well - I've never read anything by her before.

The stories were all ok, but I've got a subscription service that sends me book excerpts five times a week. I don't need them in a book I pick up for an easy read.

I've only read the Patricia Briggs story from this collection, but it was fantastic. After encountering the "see more!" tag at the end of the story, I thought the story must be the first few chapters of the Anna & Charles book, "Cry Wolf." Not so, I discovered. In fact, "Cry Wolf" picks up right where the short story leaves off, and I found the novel much easier to understand after having read the short story. I recommend that anyone planning to read "Cry Wolf" check out this story first.

Im giving this 4 stars for Alpha and Omega cause I loved it... I love all of Patricia's books... the other 3 sucked!!!!!

I bought this to read the beginning of the Anna Latham and Charles Cornick story, which is set in the same alter-verse as Briggs' Mercedes Thompson series. The stories by Eileen Wilks and Karen Chance were good ones and tempt me to get into the stories that follow. Sunny's story is bad; I quit reading partway through. Interesting to me that the quality of the stories declines in just the order they're included.

loved the book! i found another fav author!! sunny is great! read the other books in order and you will see why!!mona lisa rocks!!
glenna