I'm not the biggest fan of short story collections, but overall this book was pretty darn good.

It seemed like there were more stories in this book than in the few other short story collections that I've read. But, I'm not complaining. I had read some of the novels containing some of the characters in the stories, but, quite a few I hadn't read as well. A lot of the stories were also a nice intro to some new characters. Which also means I have a few more books to add to my TBR list.

There was only one story that I really didn't like in the collection, that was "The Dilemma" by Martha Miller. The tone of the story just hit me wrong. Most of the other stories were okay, well plotted and interesting. Like "Dawn Knew" by Lee Lynch, "Wolf Night" by Sheri Lewis Wohl, "The Light in Her Eyes" by Barbara Ann Wright, or Radclyffe's "Bad Girls and Sweet Kisses".

Then there were the surprising stories. I liked "The Pond" by D. Jackson Leigh a lot, the twist was what surprised me and I liked that I was surprised. "The Fantasy Exchange" by Meghan O'Brien was also a very different story than I usually read. But, even though it's not usually my cup of tea, I liked it a lot. Then there was "The Game Changer" by Lesley Davis. That was nerdy cool, and really, there aren't enough nerdy cool stories in this world.

Finally there was "The Royal Engagement" by Nell Stark. I'm not exactly sure why, probably a combination of the writing and the plot, but, I loved, loved, loved this story. It just hit a chord in me that made me smile through almost the entire thing.

Overall, it was a fun read, lots of fun stories. I got to get reacquainted with some of the characters, learn about new ones, and most importantly read some very good stories by great authors. A solid four star short story collection.

I got this advanced galley through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books. ( )