My rating is an average across eight very different stories. I'm glad to've read this because the good ones are exceptional. As with all anthologies, I'll never love every story. This one had four I bailed out of, mostly due to boredom. So:

One star each to the first three (someone likes them, I'm not mad they exist).

Four stars to Seong-Ja's story (by Cole McCade). It was a little slow, but I'm a huge Criminal Intentions fan, and Seong-Jae's sister is a great character. Also her boyfriend is AWESOME.

Four stars for 'Sugar Crush,' one of the better opposites attract stories I've read.

Five stars for the incredible When Frankie Meets Johnny. I went right out and found other work by Xio Axelrod. That good.

One star for the very very slow vampire historical.

And, five stars for the Mary Calmes story, though it could've used another edit pass. It's her brand of snarky and intense and fast and sweet.

Average, somewhere around 3.5 stars. ( )