Crave The Night [Paperback]

Michele Hauf (Author), Patti O'Shea (Contributor), Sharon Ashwood (Contributor), Lori Devoti (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 2011

This collection of novellas features paranormal pairings romance readers will pine for. Vampires, demons, werewolves, faeries and even a mermaid will satisfy the darkest of cravings. ENEMY EMBRACE by Patti O'Shea When vampire hunter Nicole Ruiz nearly loses her life to a powerful vampire, she offers an alliance to her rescuer, a demon name Daktan. Demons might be an enemy, but she'd make a deal with the devil himself if that's what it took to avenge her family. ONE SOUL TO SHARE by Lori Devoti Mermaid, Sarina Neri, is desperate to regain her sister's soul. The sea spirit who has it wants a man who can survive in her realm, underwater, in exchange. Fortunately, Sarina has found such a man, vampire Nolan Moore. Unfortunately, Nolan wants the soul too, for himself. CRUEL ENCHANTMENT by Michele Hauf Investigating the vicious werewolf blood games, vampire Revin Parker struggles with his attraction to the faery informant, Sabrina Kriss. Six months earlier she had cursed him with an addiction to faery dust. Can they risk the desire that demands they fall in love with the one who could become their worst nightmare? HIDDEN by Sharon Ashwood Rafe returns to the Devries werewolf pack to rescue his people from a scheming fey beauty. Pitting his will against her wits, he plans to seduce his way free of the ice queen's trap. But surrender means death for the fey, and little does Rafe know that he's gambling with more than hearts...

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michele Hauf has been writing paranormal, historical and fantasy romance for over 20 years. Populated with vampires, angels, werewolves and more, her wickedly enchanting stories will appeal to today's paranormal readers. It's Twilight for big girls! Sharon Ashwood is a RITA® award winning novelist, freelance journalist, desk jockey and enthusiast for the weird and spooky. She has an English literature degree but works as a finance geek. She lives in the Pacific Northwest and is owned by the Demon Lord of Kitty Badness. Lori Devoti is the author of paranormal romance, urban fantasy and mystery novels. Awarded numerous Top Picks from Romantic Times Magazine, she's also appeared on bestseller lists. She lives in the Midwest with her husband, two children, two dogs and some fish. Patti O'Shea is a nationally bestselling author. Her books have appeared on the Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks, and Borders bestseller lists and have earned starred reviews in prestigious publications such as Publishers Weekly and Booklist.

Product Details

• Paperback: 372 pages
• Publisher: Swell Cat (October 6, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0615548377
• ISBN-13: 978-0615548371
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,149,980 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Satisfy your craving with four paranormal romance shorts, December 1, 2011

By 

melindeeloo (sb,ca) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Crave The Night (Kindle Edition)

No human paranormal pairings here and the stories the four authors offer a are a nice mix of heroes and heroines with fangs, fur and fins(!) finding the one who satisfies their steamiest cravings. And despite the mix, one thing all of the stories had in common was that none of the stories felt too short.

Hidden by Sharon Ashwood - Light Fae Lila must be merciless, whether it be by tricking , conjoling or coercing she needs Rafe's werewolf pack to sign away the mineral right to Pack lands - The perceptive Rafe is quick to read between the lines and see through Lila's cold facade and I loved that the were is the one to come up with the tricksy solution to everyones' problem (I am guessing that this is set in another corner of Ashwood's Dark Forgotten from a brief mention of a side character from that series)- 4 stars.

One Soul To Share by Lori Devoti - A vampire is looking for a guide and a mermaid who is headed the same way seems to be just what he needs, but she has her own reasons for taking him to see the Sea Hag -a vampire and a mermaid - so original, I loved this one - 4.5 stars

Cruel Enchantment by Michele Hauf - When a faerie meets her Intended under the worst circumstances, she wonders how fate could be so cruel since the only thing that can save them is the thing that will condemn him to addiction - Another unique pairing - vamp and faery - though fae blood being addictive to vamps has been done before on a lesser scale, I liked the story on the whole but in the middle the pair's relationship takes a turn for the unhealthy and the hero has some definite Mr Hyde moments - 3.5 stars

Enemy Embrace by Patti O'Shea - this is set in the same world as several other of O'Shea's demon/vampire shorts - When the tables turn on a vampire hunter persuing vengence, she is saved by a rogue demon hunter who is also hunting the same prey - I liked the demon struggling against his instincts which scream for him to claim his mate, this made for some steamy tension building, and I liked how O'Shea makes the transition in their relationship so that when the I love you's finally come they feel natural. I really liked it - 4.5 stars

3.0 out of 5 stars Star-crossed lovers with a paranormal twist., February 1, 2012

By 

J. Markovic - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crave The Night (Paperback)

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy:

CRAVE THE NIGHT gives us four stories of star-crossed lovers kept apart by politics, physiology, or just plain stubbornness. A short, sweet anthology that I devoured in one sitting; though none of the stories were good enough to prompt re-reading, I felt like I got a favorable introduction to all of the authors in general and will seek out two of them in the future.

The two stories that fell below my "active interest" threshold were Sharon Ashwood's Hidden and Michele Hauf's Cruel Enchantment. Ashwood's story had some high points in terms of dialog, but neither the relationship nor the plot ever managed to come together for me. Lila was just too "everyone will hate me once they find out the truth" to win me over as a heroine and the mechanics of Fay oath vacillated too much between "iron clad" and "completely situational" to be an effective plot fulcrum for me. Hauf's Cruel Enchantment did much better in the relationship front, if only from a pure interest standpoint. As any fan of Chess and Terrible can attest, reading a love story where one half is an addict can be an emotional roller-coaster and Hauf handled much of the relationship between Bree and Rev perfectly. I loved that "love doesn't conquer all" initially and that an actual physical antidote to Rev's addiction is needed for them to finally come together, though ultimately, well... love conquers all. As much as I liked Bree and Rev, however, they couldn't entirely compensate from a plot that was difficult to follow and two end scenes that sucked all of the climactic drama right out of the story.

While those two offerings were more in the Two/Three Bat range for me, Lori Devoti's One Soul to Share and Patti O'Shea's Enemy Embrace raise the anthology's average over all. Devoti's heroine starts off in much the same boat as Ashwood's (both women became villains for the sake of their family) and despite the fact that Sarina actually killed several men in her quest (where as Lila only roofied a few), I still liked Sarina better in the end. One Soul to Share was a sexy, modern take on mermaid mythology, and everyone down to the villain was a character I'd like to read more about. And if One Soul to Share breaths new life into a familiar myth, O'Shea's Enemy Embrace revives a familiar trope, "paranormal soul mates". Rather than spending too much time fighting their attraction, Nicole and Dak managed to shift the focus to the much more relatable business of being a part of a new couple. To spice things up, this new couple has more exotic concerns than picking restaurants or meeting mutual friends, they're out to kill an ancient vampire before she kills them. Enemy Embrace feels like a perfect fit for the story length while still piquing my interest in the rest of O'Shea's catalog.

I ultimately gave this anthology Three Bats, though both Devoti and O'Shea have been added to my author watch list as a result of their contribution. Even better, all four stories managed to introduce new and interesting mythologies for the universe of fae, werewolves, vampires, demons and mermaids, by no means an easy feat, which makes CRAVE THE NIGHT worth picking up.

Sexual Content: Explicit sex scenes.

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this!, January 9, 2012

By 

Lisa Gibson (Denver) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crave The Night (Kindle Edition)

Sexy, sometimes dark, always great. I love me a good paranormal. What a fun mix of authors.I hope they do something together again soon.