Cravings by Laurell K. Hamilton, MaryJanice Davidson, Eileen Wilks, and Rebecca York, 7 1/2

Book Description: Four favorite authors present their favorite characters in all-new tales of bloodlust, appetites that must be sated again and again, and the passion that feeds them.

Review: The first story in the collection is Blood upon My Lips by Laurell K. Hamilton. The back of the book claims this is an all new Anita Blake story but it’s really just the first few chapters of the latest Anita Blake novel, Incubus Dreams. Since I read that book and didn’t like it I felt no need to read the beginning of it again. The only reason a Hamilton fan may want to read this is to see if they want to read Incubus Dreams If you don’t like the portion of the book contained in here you probably won’t like the rest either. Luckily the rest of the stories in this collection are much better than the first offering.

Next up is Dead Girls Don’t Dance by MaryJanice Davidson. It’s about a young vampire who meets up with an old college crush and they go on a road trip to visit the new queen of the undead. This story is set in the same world as Undead and Unwed and Undead and Unemployed but you don’t have to read those to follow this. Nice vampire romance full of Davidson’s usual wacky humor.

The third story is Originally Human by Eileen Wilks. It’s about a succubus who finds a young man with amnesia and they must discover who he is and who’s trying to kill them both. I never thought I’d enjoy a story about a succubus but this was actually my favorite story in the collection. The characters were very different and there were lots of surprising twists. I found myself wishing this was a full length novel. The writer recently released a novel, Tempting Danger, set in the same world and I’ve already picked that up.

The last story in the collection is Burning Moon by Rebecca York. In this one, a werewolf is hunting the man who murdered his wife when he comes across a blind tarot card reader who may be able to help him in his quest. The romance in this one felt a bit rushed but I enjoyed it overall. It had a lot of interesting ideas and I liked it enough to probably check out one of the writer’s full length books.

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