Rent On the Prowl

I really liked this collection of stories. The best being from Patricia Briggs. I am so interested in reading more about the characters that she introduced us to in her story. My least favorite story was by 'Sunny'. I just wasn't that interested in the story. I felt like it was a lot of sexual situations and less story. Other than that... this was a great book!

Usually, anthologies are a mixed bag as the ability to write engaging short stories require different skills than the ones needed to write a good novel. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that all but one of the stories actually delivered when I had only one guarantee that Patricia Briggs' story would be engrossing. I was happy to be introduced to the worlds of Eileen Wilks and Karen Chance, who have succeeded in hooking me in enough to want to read more of their books. I was not as impressed with Sunny's story as that fit the stereotype of lowbrow romance completely. The worldbuilding that is more fully developed in the hands of the other three authors is simply a more complex version of the scenario that most pornographies use with much circular logic as to why the sex must occur in order to slake our guilty conscience while still giving us the sex. However, all convoluted lack of logic aside, the sex isn't even that impressive so I was left with a decided disgust of the whole universe that Sunny shares and a resolve to not go near that series if I could help it. On a more pleasant note, the characters that Briggs, Wilks and Chance decided to write about seem to be minor characters in their respective authors' main series, which was actually disappointing to me. Although the stories ended strongly without loose ends, I wanted to learn more about the characters. Of course, the fact that they are only minor characters will not stop me from reading more of their work. In conclusion, other than the tacked on Sunny story, this anthology is a fun and fast way to spend your time. It is not meant to be something that you have to slog your way through just to understand as everything is written for the casual reader and thus, easy to immerse yourself into. So, none of the usual hang ups of fantasy with all the fun of romance.