I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
When He Was Bad
by
Cynthia Eden, Shelly Laurenston
anthology, short stories in Paperback edition that was published by Brava on June 1, 2008 and has 352 pages.
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Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Everlasting Bad BoysS, Howl for It, The Devil in Disguise, The Mane Event, The Mane Event, The Mane Squeeze, The Mane Attraction, Beast Behaving Badly, Big Bad Beast, Here Kitty, Kitty!, Hunting Season, Pack Challenge, Go Fetch!, Bear Meets Girl, Wolf with Benefits, The Unleashing, The Undoing, The Unyielding, Hot and Badgered, In a Badger Way, Badger to the Bone, Breaking Badger, Bite Me, The Undoing, Born to Be Badger
A two-story anthology about male shifters and the human females for whom they hunger.
Series:
“Miss Congeniality” (Magnus Pack, 3.5)
The Stories
Shelly Laurenston‘s “Miss Congeniality” is a look back into the past where we discover how Professor Irene Conridge, PhD, meets Niles Van Holtz, womanizing werewolf. This is just too cute! Niles is just too intrigued with the doc. Her haughty, cold ways. The constant efforts to freeze him out. And he wants her. And he gets her. In a way. When he rescues her from Russian spies attempting to kidnap her. To protect her, he has to mark her. No big. It’s all folktales anyway…isn’t it???
The reason, it’s considered fourth position-wise in the series is the Epilogue’s note that it’s 20 years later. Gimme a break…
Cynthia Eden‘s “Wicked Ways” is awful. Oh, the story concept is sweet, but the execution is sooo bad. Kitty cat Cain rescues Miranda Shaw (think Eden’s been reading Laurenston’s books??) from a serial killer vampire so naturally they hop right into bed, or, rather, the couch. A vampire who uses a gun, no less. At one point, Cain decides he doesn’t have time to find his shirt…somewhere in the couch cushions. Since he’s supposed to be a big man, I kind of assume, his shirt is big enough to fit him… Then they have the big takedown and completely “forget” that the vampire can read her mind??? Gimme a break. Eden’s got no finesse in her writing and was obviously in a hurry when she wrote this crap.
The Cover and Title
The cover is okay showing the upper half of a guy’s back, his head slightly turned as though he’s about to look over his shoulder with a full moon encircled by a haze of cloud, almost as though it were the man’s breath wreathing upwards.
The title doesn’t really works as When He Was Bad indicates there are times *wink, wink* when they aren’t bad…
