Stephanie Marks

A girl is attacked by a vampire after leaving a nightclub. Another vampire saves her. When she realizes her friend is missing, she asks vampire rescuer for help finding her.

This is the second short story in this series and honestly, I feel like I could just copy the review I left for the first short story, Hidden Falls (Silverlake City Stories Book 1) other than the story specific details. To sum it up, I liked the writing style, dialogue, characters and the storytelling overall, but it felt like the beginning of a romance rather than a complete story. The ending was more like a happily ever before instead of a happily ever after. The heat level in this story is also sweet with just a kiss and embrace at the end. There were a handful of typos (or maybe a smidge more in this one) that stand out more in a short story than it would in a novel. I like the story in general but was disappointed that it felt like more of a beginning to a story than a complete story, so I am using the dreaded "it's too short" complaint. On the other hand, if I didn't like it then it wouldn't be short enough, so in a way, it's a compliment. I liked it enough that I wanted more thorough story.… (meer)

In a nutshell, girl goes to visit her cousin in Hidden Falls, which is out in east doo-dah somewhere, and discovers there are more things in them thar woods than she ever imagined. An incident happens that opens her eyes to the fact that werewolves really do exist and one of them seems more than a little interested in her.

This is a short story of about 30 pages per Amazon’s estimate. The heat level is sweet and there is just a kiss and embrace at the end. The writing and dialogue flowed smoothly for me and was comfortable to read. There were a handful of typos, which would not stand out in a novel but they do somewhat in a story this short. There is a dog in the story that I enjoyed. I love it when animals are given a role in a story.

I’m struggling a bit with what to rate this story. It is really hard to find PNR short stories that are satisfying and written well. This one is actually one of the better ones I’ve read. I liked the author’s writing style, dialogue, and characters, and also the story overall; however, it felt more like the beginning of a romance to me rather than a complete story. Instead of Happily Ever AFTER, the ending felt more like Happily Ever BEFORE. There is no I Love You because it is too soon for that. They are attracted to each other but not in love yet because they have not overcome the obstacles to get to the HEA.

It was an enjoyable story even though the ending disappointed me somewhat, but I plan to try more by this author. I would be interested to see what she could do with a full novel size romance.… (meer)