Night Shift

Night Shift (2014) Nalini Singh; Ilona Andrews; Lisa Shearin; Milla Vane

Let me be clear from the start: I read only two of these stories. In fact, I was going to read only one story, Ilona Andrews’ story “Magic Steals” until I realized the next story was a Lisa Shearin SPI files story. I very much adored the first SPI Files book, so was delighted to read a novella set in that world.

I already knew I don’t care for Nalini Singh’s stories (they simply aren’t my thing), and the last story didn’t pique my interest. I might read it at a later time, but possibly not. So I’ll review the two stories I did read.

Magic Steals is Jim and Dali story, and one that I (and many others) have been waiting for since their last story, “Magic Dreams”.

Jim and Dali are dating, except that Dali is so certain that handsome, confident alpha Jim is going to come to his senses at any moment and dump her, that she refuses to admit they are dating.

This sounds dumb, but you’ll have to trust me that it isn’t. Dali is a tiny, vegetarian, half-blind woman who turns into a massive white tiger–who is afraid to fight, doesn’t like the taste of blood even in her tiger form, and is befuddled following her change to her tiger form.

Yes, she is a very rare shifter who is also magic user, but her calligraphy magic doesn’t always work as she expects. So, her lack of self-confidence is understandable. But what this story makes clear is that Dali has value, to Jim and to her community.

I really enjoyed this story, despite all the boinking.

I also enjoyed Dali’s relationship with her mother.

Not to mention that she would be so overjoyed that I was having sex in the first place, she would probably call all of our relatives and tell them about it. They’d throw a party to celebrate.

Lisa Sherain’s story, “Lucky Charms” is a light-hearted story (like the first book in the series) and although there is snogging, it’s not a boinking story.

But much of the story does take place in… an unusual location.

“There’re behaviors that aren’t suspicious in a strip club?”

It’s about Mac’s first case with the SPI, so it’s set prior to the first book.

I quite enjoyed the story, but I can see that people who were expecting boinking and romance and all that might be… disappointed in it.

Published by Berkley

Rating: 8/10

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