Under Her Skin

Under Her Skin (2009) Ilona Andrews, Jeaniene Frost, Meljean Brook

So, this was the first full book I read on the Nook. I love Ilona Andrews and also really like Jeaniene Frost, so I figured I couldn’t go too wrong for three bucks. These are three short paranormal romances, focusing on shape shifters, but also with strong female leads.

The first story is “Pack” by Jeaniene Frost. Marlee is hiking in Yellowstone when she is attacked by a pack of wolves–werewolves of course, as these are paranormal stories. She is rescued and given medical treatment, but they pack refuses to let her go, aware that she may have become infected during the attack. She also finds herself falling for the man she sees as one of her captors–the pack enforcer named Daniel who claims she would be a threat to her friends and family if she returned home infected and undiagnosed, but also a threat to the pack if she returned and told people there was a pack of werewolves hiding in all but plain sight.

I like Jeaniene Frost’s writing, and so thoroughly enjoyed the story.

The second story is “In Sheep’s Clothing” by Meljean Brook. Emma is attacked driving through a storm on the way to her aunt’s house. When her friend and rescuer–the local sheriff arrives–she seems unharmed but understandably shaken up by the attack. This story and the first focus on the time right after a mere mortal is bitten by a were and the changes that manifest almost immediately. What I particularly liked was that Emma was NOT too stupid to live, but instead did everything she could to save herself. I like heroines like that. There were other things like liked about the story (hard to talk too much about a short story without giving everything away) but over all, it was for me the weakest story in the collection. This was also the only story that had boinking. Are those two facts related? Probably.

The final story–and the reason I bought the collection–was Ilona Andrews’ story “Grace of Small Magics.” None of the characters are were-wolves, so this story has quite a different feel from the previous too, as there are no familiar elements upon which to hang these characters and this world.

Grace discovers her family is indebted to another family, and that she is required to help this family perform a magical service of some sort, though she knows nothing about the family or what service she could possible provide. This story was the action/adventure/quest tale, and once I realized there wasn’t going to be a werewolf and once I paid more attention to the world building, I very much enjoyed the story. Again, strong female lead who does her part in rescuing herself. Always a favorite.

Yes, these are three relatively short stories, but the stories by Jeaniene Frost and Ilona Andrews were definitely worth the price of admission.

Only drawback about these stories is you can only get them in ebook format.

Rating: 8/10

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