{"id":13471,"date":"2020-09-30T15:32:21","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T19:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=13471"},"modified":"2024-01-22T19:38:05","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T00:38:05","slug":"unappreciated-gifts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13471","title":{"rendered":"Unappreciated Gifts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unappreciated Gifts<\/em> (2014) Patricia Briggs<\/a> from A Fantastic Holiday Season: The Gift of Stories<\/a><\/em> <\/p>\n

\"Fantastic<\/a>I thought I’d finish up my read of the Alpha & Omega series with a re-read of the Asil short story, Unappreciated Gifts<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Someone in the Pack has decided that Asil is lonely and needs some companionship. So they set him up on blind dates.<\/p>\n

Dear Asil: <\/p>\n

We have become worried about you. A werewolf alone is a sad thing, especially at Christmas time. So we have a challenge for you. Five dates in two weeks. We have taken the work out of it and connected you with five people (from online dating sites) who should make interesting dates. The dates, except for meals which we thought should be up to you and your date, are planned and paid for (when necessary). Tickets for some events should arrive in today\u2019s mail\u2014 all you have to do is write an email to each person and set up a time or place.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And then bet he he couldn’t do it.<\/p>\n

A successful date is one in which a) neither party runs screaming into the night b) there are no dead bodies at the end of it and c) lasts longer than two hours\u2014 at least an hour and a half of which is spent with your date\u2014 which is an hour and fifty minutes longer than we expect any date of yours to last.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Asil is hands down my favorite secondary character in this series, and this story gives you a much lighter side than you normally see.<\/p>\n

he had briefly considered an outfit he\u2019d saved from the rococo era. The silver-blue looked particularly good on him and the fabric looked as though it had been manufactured yesterday instead of nearly three hundred years ago. But, in keeping with the style of the era, it made him appear a little pot-bellied. It hadn\u2019t bothered him at the time, but his tastes had changed. He also had no inclination to wear a powdered wig.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He looked in the mirror and regretted that his hair was cut short. Properly he should have a mane of curls to balance the lace, but he looked magnificent, anyway.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s a delight, especially if you are already aware of Asil’s history and character.<\/p>\n

WordFire Press
\nRating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unappreciated Gifts (2014) Patricia Briggs from A Fantastic Holiday Season: The Gift of Stories I thought I’d finish up my read of the Alpha & Omega series with a re-read of the Asil short story, Unappreciated Gifts. Someone in the Pack has decided that Asil is lonely and needs some companionship. So they set him […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,2,41,35,16],"tags":[738,68,525],"class_list":["post-13471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-5-10","category-fantasy","category-reread","category-short-story","category-supernatural","tag-holiday","tag-patricia-briggs","tag-werewolves"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-3vh","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18392,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/18392","url_meta":{"origin":13471,"position":0},"title":"“Asil and the Not-date”","author":"Michelle","date":"October 21, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Asil and the Not-date\" (2020) Patricia Briggs Ages and ages ago, I got the anthology A Fantastic Holiday Season: The Gift of Stories mostly so I could read the Asil story. Which I loved. The anthology for the second Asil story has been sitting on my wish list forever, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "eBook"","block_context":{"text":"eBook","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/ebook"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8615,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/8615","url_meta":{"origin":13471,"position":1},"title":"A Fantastic Holiday Season: The Gift of Stories","author":"Michelle","date":"January 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A Fantastic Holiday Season: The Gift of Stories (2014) edited by Kevin J. Anderson & Kieth J. Olexa I picked this collection up solely for the Patricia Briggs story, but once I saw some of the other authors, read through the stories that interested me (but skipped the ones that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Fantastic-Holiday-Season.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5867,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5867","url_meta":{"origin":13471,"position":2},"title":"Shifting Shadows: Stories from the World of Mercy Thompson","author":"Michelle","date":"May 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Shifting Shadows: Stories from the World of Mercy Thompson (2014) Patricia Briggs Interspersed with the novels, I read the short stories in Shifting Shadows. Patricia Briggs is quite good at writing short stories, which is why re-reading is such a pleasure. Silver Fairy Gifts (previously published in Naked City) Gray\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthology"","block_context":{"text":"Anthology","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/anthology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Shifting-Shadows.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6311,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6311","url_meta":{"origin":13471,"position":3},"title":"Fair Game","author":"Michelle","date":"December 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Fair Game (2012) Patricia Briggs The third Alpha & Omega book finds Charles overcome by increase in killings he needs to do now that the werewolves have come out in public. I takes awhile for Bran to be convinced that this is harming his son. Asil left Bran alone with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/fair-game.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4862,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4862","url_meta":{"origin":13471,"position":4},"title":"Cry Wolf","author":"Michelle","date":"September 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Cry Wolf (2008) Patricia Briggs My reaction to this book, re-reading it and after reading half the Mercy books and the short story anthology is quite different from my initial read. First and foremost, I realized this story is as much about Asil and Bran as it is about Anna\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Cry-Wolf.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25893,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/25893","url_meta":{"origin":13471,"position":5},"title":"Burn Bright","author":"Michelle","date":"February 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Burn Bright (2018) Patricia Briggs (Alpha & Omega #5) Knowing Asil, he probably had C-4 stashed in sealed containers along with detonators somewhere in the car. But no one but Asil would be able to find it. \u201cReally,\u201d said Anna, amused despite herself. \u201cThat\u2019s your defense? \u2018If it had been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Burn Bright","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Burn_Bright-1-199x300.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}