“The Majicka” MaryJanice Davidson--Ireland (I know) lives with a fairy, a vampire, a werewolf, a spirit trapped in a car, and what she assumes is a zombie. She picks up strays, see, and they all live at her farm as one big, happy, bickering family of weirdness. While she's trying to save, or at least care for, the zombie, Micah shows up to do his cosmic duty and train Ireland because she is the next "Majicka" or guardian of all magic. Mysteries are solved, true love ensues, etc.

“Voodoo Moon” Lori Handeland--Hey, it's an FBI agent named Dana and everyone jokes about how she's Scully, that's funny. Yeah, no, it isn't. Also there is a serial killer, voodoo, and a hot guy who runs the local voodoo shop. Despite the crappy plot I found Dana and Julian to at least have chemistry with each other so I enjoyed their scenes together.

“Breath of Magic” Cheyenne McCray--You know those stories where witches are bonded to their warriors and everyone talks about the Tuatha D'Danann? Yeah, this is one of those. It's as if the author tried to do that whole modernize the ancient Celts thing but that honestly only ever worked for Patricia Kennealy and IMO it's never worked in romance.

“Any Witch Way She Can” Christine Warren--I really kind of like time travel romance, so even though the travel in this case was only one day back I still liked it. Not great, but not the worst in this book. ( )

enjoyable read ( )

Library finally had it in. Read all of this anthology, a rarity for me! The individual stories for the most part were pretty good. I've read all the authors and three of them were part of an ongoing series, so knew their worlds already. ( )

I really enjoyed the Mary Janice Davidson story. In fact, I found myself wishing these characters had more time--in that the entire book had been about them! It felt like an excellent start to a longer work. Sadly, with the way it wrapped up, I really doubt this will ever happen. (Not that it was a horrific ending--just that it had a definite wrap-up.)

The second and third were fine, and I really disliked the last story. It's difficult to enjoy something when the heroine is so unlikable. Really, really unlikable. Like the kind of person you see and then you walk the other direction and perhaps hide behind something to avoid them just so you don't have to even say "hi". ( )

Four so-so offerings featuring the usual cast of romance-challenged witches, warriors, fairies and werewolves.

MaryJanice Davidson's The Majicka in which Ireland and her unusual roommates (a fairy, a vampire, a curse-infested car, and a werewolf) acquire a new roommate - a zombie - is probably the most fun.

The others? Lori Handeland's Dana Duran hunts down a voodoo-practicing serial killer in the small town of Devil's Fork in Voodoo Moon. In Cheyenne McCray's Breath of Magic the city of San Francisco has a lot more to worry about than earthquakes - didn't finish this one. And finally, in Christine Warren's Any Witch Way She Can a lonely woman dabbles in with a love spell and manages to send herself back in time - all the way to the day before.

Overall, a fairly banal collection. ( )