Reviewed by Sarina
TITLE: Haunted Hotties Anthology Volume 1
AUTHOR: Kiernan Kelly, Laney Cairo, Alex Cohen, Katey Hawthorne, Jamie Jennings, Aaron Michaels, Jacey Mills, L.J. Hamlin, Shira Glassman, Sheri Velarde, Kassandra Lea, Mychael Black
PUBLISHER: Torquere Press
LENGTH: 223 pages
BLURB:
This Halloween collection has a little something for everybody. With demons, ghosts, psychics, reapers, shifters, and witches… a rainbow of paranormal/supernatural is included.
In Nine-Tenths of the Law by Kiernan Kelly, Oliver discovers he has a haunted sex toy. In Bear Hugs by Laney Cairo, Martin’s boyfriend might be bear shifter and apparently that’s news to him. In Houdini’s Masquerade by Alex Cohen, when Lila meets a succubus, everything changes. In Præsidium by Katey Hawthorne, Thackeray needs helps from a witch who won’t help him until he explains his demon. In Black Cat by Jamie Jennings, when a cat shifter can see ghosts, Micah’s simple life suddenly isn’t. In Haunted Honeymoon by Aaron Michaels, Dylan and Jake seem to be sharing their non-honeymoon with a couple of ghosts.
In And the Tarot Cards Said by Jacey Mills, an insistent ghost shouldn’t be too much to handle for psychic Vassily and his Tarot-reading assistant Ben. In Spirit Wolf by L.J. Hamlin, when Dawson rescues an injured wolf shifter, it’s not just his book that gets worked on while getting back to nature. In Wet Nails by Shira Glassman, it’s not every day a glamorous ’50s actress comes out of a TV but lonely grad student Adina isn’t complaining. In Possessed by Love by Sheri Velarde, a storm trapping them together gives Andrew and Damian the chance they’ve been waiting for. In The Last Night by Kassandra Lea, Eric gets one night a year and he always picks one particular Halloween. In Molly by Mychael Black, Detectives Cameron and Chase discover the murderer plaguing their city is more sinister than they could have known and not entirely human.
REVIEW:
Nine-Tenths of the Law by Kiernan Kelly
For Oliver, life is simple—work, eat, sleep and occasionally spend a little quality time with his right hand and a favorite sex toy. When his butt plug develops a life of its own, however, simplicity goes out the window and complications swarm in.
I liked this one…mostly. The story started off funny with Oliver getting an unexpected visitor in an unexpected place, his butt plug. Then the story took a turn for the serious, like way serious, as Oliver’s ghostly visitor, Martin, works to get things off of his chest from years ago before he died. I wasn’t expecting the way the story turned on a dime like that and then it turned again back into a comedic ending with some sex really quickly. It just felt off to me but I still liked it, but mostly if I ignore the entire center of the story.
Bear Hugs by Laney Cairo
A true story of the transformative power of love. (And also where the fur in the bed is from, what bears really do in the woods and how to be a sidekick.)
This is the one story in the entire anthology that doesn’t have a ghost in it in some fashion or another which made me kind of wonder why it was included but it was still a cute story. Martin really likes Eric; he likes his size, the way he dresses and he especially likes how furry he is. Its really becoming one of his favorite things to cuddle up with him at night, even if he’s like a space heater and keeps kicking off the covers. And is it Martin’s imagination or is Eric actually becoming furrier at night? Like I said, this was a cute story with a bit of a shifter twist to it. I liked how it was kind of a journey of discovery for both of the main characters and I especially liked Eric’s explanation for why he changed. I really didn’t have any strong feelings about this one one way or another.
Houdini’s Masquerade by Alex Cohen
Lila is determined to enjoy Halloween to the fullest: it’s her one night to cut loose. The light-hearted plans hatched with her roommates are derailed when a charming succubus catches her eye.
Lila only gets to cut loose and experience everything she wants to one day a year and she’d determined to get the most out of her time. Attending a Halloween party with her roommates leads to a chance meeting with a succubus that changes everything and means that maybe she can have more than just one night. This is the first of two F/F stories in this anthology and I enjoyed it. This had almost a Cinderella type feel to it where Lila meets Tasha at a party but only has until dawn before she has to run out and back home and it isn’t a glass slipper that leads to them meeting again, it’s a card. I found Lila’s story interesting and also how Tasha wanted more than what she normally encounters as a Succubus. This one was sweet with a spicy ending.
Praesidium by Katey Hawthorne
Hallowe’en is a busy time for demon hunting, but Thackeray has a haunting of his own that gives him the edge. Absolutely worth it—until the case drops a pretty witch named Matt into his lap. Hard to hook up with a demon looking over your shoulder…
I liked this one; it really felt like a complete story to me though I had a bit of trouble envisioning the characters clearly for some reason. Thackeray wasn’t what I expected; he’s had a rough life but he’s also doing whatever he can to protect others so that what happened to him won’t happen to them. I never felt as though Matt’s story was too clear, however. There was a little background but I didn’t feel as though I knew him as well as Thackeray. Personally I think his haunting made the story that much more interesting and I’d like to read more about these characters in the future.
Black Cat by Jamie Jennings
Nico has the power to shapeshift into a cat, and he can see ghosts. He does his best to get by without using his powers, but can’t ignore the plight of a hapless nurse.
Another cute story. Nico can’t help but see ghosts and he also can’t help that he turns into a cat once a month; it really doesn’t help that he doesn’t know why he can do either of those things. When he realizes that the neighbor across the street has a ghostly problem of his own, Nico can’t help but try and help. Now, if he just had a pair of hands… I really wanted to know more about Nico in this story and I’m sorry to say that I didn’t get the chance to. His neighbor, Micah, seemed an okay character but there really wasn’t enough time between them to decide if there was any chemistry or not. This one was okay. Cute, like I said, but it didn’t leave me with the desire for more, either.
Haunted Honeymoon by Aaron Michaels
An unexpected getaway to a quirky motel on the Oregon coast sounds like the perfect non-honeymoon for newlyweds Dylan and Jake. Even if rumor has it, the place is haunted.
I really liked this one. I think most everyone likes to imagine a love/relationship that lasts after death and this was just a nice way of showcasing that. The only complaint I have about this story is that I kept getting the two main characters mixed up.
And the Tarot Cards Said by Jacey Mills
A ghost is coming to town. Can psychic Vassily and his assistant Ben deal with the ghost and find true love?
I enjoyed this one but not as much as I expected to. According to Ben, the ghost supposedly haunting the town was making other practitioners and psychics pack up and get out of dodge but I felt that was misleading to the actual nature of the story. I was expecting something a great deal worse than ‘Sven’ and it almost felt like a bit of a letdown when he actually appeared and did his thing. Amusing read but not something that will stick with me later.
Spirit Wolf by L.J Hamlin
When famous mystery writer and panther shifter, Dawson Ray, suffers from writer’s block, his agent thinks getting back to nature will help. The moment he enters the cabin in the forest though, Dawson feels watched.
I wanted to like this one more, I really did. I love shifters and anything with the word mystery in it in some fashion always grabs my attention but I just felt this one was a little bleh. I didn’t really feel any kind of connection between the two main characters and the shifter aspect was kind of superfluous; any characters with any background really could’ve been plugged into this story and it would’ve worked the same.
Wet Nails by Shira Glassman
Lonely grad student Adina Greenberg is in for a treat when the glamorous ghost of Rose Hamilton, her favorite 1950s actress, comes out of the television to give her a manicure and great sex.
This is the second, and last, of two F/F stories in this anthology and sadly it was my least favorite of the book. I love the concept of the actress never truly dying while someone still enjoys her work and who wouldn’t love to have a conversation with someone they idolized so much? I just didn’t enjoy any other part of the story, I’m sad to say. The majority of the book focused around Adina getting a manicure which I just found boring (sorry if you like them) and the sex was okay but not spectacular in my opinion. Add in what I thought was a so-so ending and I could just pass this one over in the future.
Possessed by Love by Sheri Velarde
The storm of the century shut down Old Town, but things are just heating up at the Church Street Café. Andrew and Damian seem possessed by lust, but they aren’t complaining.
I’d been waiting the entire book for a steamy story and this one was it. Andrew and Damian have feelings for each other but neither seems to be able to find the courage to admit it to the other until a night stuck together changes everything. I found the chemistry between Andrew and Damian believable and the characters felt fairly well flushed out for such a short story. The back story given at the end of the book just added that little extra something to the entire thing and explained a few things. The only negative was that a few of the lines of dialogue seemed a little corny but that was easy to overlook.
The Last Night by Kassandra Lea
As a reaper, Eric Storm is allowed the privilege of reliving one day every year. So he makes sure that he gets to spend Halloween night with Timothy Fields, the only man he has ever loved.
What’s Halloween without a grim reaper in it? I thought the concept was interesting but otherwise found the entire story depressing. While the story showcased the love that Eric had/has for Timothy, the idea that he’ll spend his entire existence in mourning was upsetting to me. I’ll take a happy for now ending but I prefer my happily ever afters and this one was neither; I don’t like walking away from a story upset and I most likely won’t read this one again because of that. The writing and characterizations were well done, however, and if you don’t mind a bit of angst, this is a good story.
Molly by Mychael Black
A string of murders is plaguing the city, and it’s up to Detectives Cameron Marshall and Chase Ward to find the murderer. What they find, however, is more frightening than anything they ever expected.
This was by far my favorite story of the anthology; the premise was interesting enough to make me want to read it and the beginning did a good job of sucking me in. Chase ‘suffers’ from visions that help him to solve murders and the one he’s currently working on with his partner Cam is a bit more bizarre than usual. Finding the body of a missing woman is never easy, especially when its her ghost that led you to her, but having the same ghost claim it was a doll in a paining that killed her is a bit much. While I did really enjoy this one, this story ultimately ended up being an example of wasted potential. The story itself was great but near the ending things sped up entirely too fast and suddenly both main characters are running off to find the other victims when there was no indication before this point that there was more than one. If the author were to give this story the attention it deserves and expand it by quite a bit this would be one hell of a read but, even if I felt the ending was rushed, this was still a really interesting story.
Overall, I enjoyed this anthology though I can’t say that I’ll read all of it again; I’ll more than likely read certain stories and skip others and if I were interested in reading the entire thing again, I would’ve given it a higher rating. Still, it was good for a diversion and the diversity in the stories was nice.
RATING: 
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