Lorna Hinson

I'm reviewing 2 separate but important things here

First, the standard content review

There are 3 very short stories here. I can't tell how long they are, I'm still new to the Kindle system and the lack of page numbers still throws me off, but I read the entire thing in about an hour. So shorter than an average anthology. Each story was m/m and involved a shape shifter. Each story being so short, they threw you in the deep end, and just made you catch up. They were in complex worlds with no chance at world building or even much character portrayal.

The first one, Misa Izanaki's Running Wild, involving Fenn and Loki, was by far the weakest for me. These were shape shifters who retained their ears and tails in human form. Why? and how could they not been seen? And the idea of m/m sex with men with tails, just turned me completely off. This was a bit too bestial for me, with the men threatening to change before the sex was over...

The second one, Heightened Senses 1, by Anah Crow and Dianne Fox, was why I bought the book. I've read a bit of Anah Crow before and liked her writing style. It explained nothing, but actually worked. Jasper is haunted, treated as mad by our culture, but really he is a visionary of sorts. A dog who has special powers - can occasionally be human, but prefers dog mode (there's an interesting twist in itself) looks after him but their bond is new. I didn't understand much about what was going (if it was so essential that they were together all the time, why had Samson left, why was Jasper left totally unsupervised if he was so vulnerable) but I did see their connection and was curious about them. So it's worth reading, if not a keeper.

The third one, I think it was the shortest, was BA Tortuga's Yard Dog, and it was a simple slapping sex scene, that was okay, but nothing special, I would rate it forgettable.

So as a book, it was... okay. Took an hour to read, but only cost $2.49 so no real risk. It reinforced my respect for Anah Crow who managed to create something even in this limited format and I don't think I'll look to the others ever again, but what the hey...

However, as an ebook, I rate it - one star! I've read other e books, I know they could do better. The layout was just awful! No novella got it's own page, they just ran into each other, it was cluttered and ugly. That is not the author's fault but the publishers and Torquere Press did itself no favors here. It was so bad that I would think twice about getting another anthology from them. this was a first draft manuscript and should have been tightened and chaptered and laid out properly before being published.… (meer)