The darkest hour is before the dawn... headlines a sinful new anthology where the dark and light sides of desire collide...Embrace the darkness and experience the light in this all-new anthology filled with touching stories of happily ever after alongside smoldering tales of irresistibly dangerous, otherworldly passion. From bewitching emotions and untamed desire to dazzling romance and tantalizing sensuality, these novellas explore the complex facets of the human heart—both the light side and the dark.
I personally find that back cover explanation the most useless piece of information ever so I'm going to do a quick recap before we do the review. This anthology has four stories written by two authors (L.L. Foster is Lori Foster's paranormal genre pseudonym) and each authors' set of stories are connected to each other. Meaning the characters are all know each other and in the second story you see men and women from the first. Here are the stories in this particular anthology:
1) Lori Foster - "Have Mercy" - Mercedes didn't need another 6 months to know that she was in love with Wyatt and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. But how was he going to handle an over protective brother and the possibility of a baby on the way?
2) Erin McCarthy - "Deal or No Deal" - Katie is a vampire. One that's over a hundred years old and managed to survive the end of Tsar era in Russia. Michael is another vampire - one that will do anything to get back the love of both his life and undeath even if it means fighting against a 90 year old misunderstanding?
3) L.L. Foster- "Total Control" - Brax will no longer deny his desire. Cameo is his and it is fine time that she realizes that her only future will be with him! (Mercedes' Brother)
4) Erin McCarthy - "Undead Man's Hand" - With Katie all settled in with Michael, it's finally time for Nick to get his chance at a little eternal love. Jordan might be determined to do the best job she can, but being a murder cop in Vegas has it's ups and downs - and it's definitely a down moment when a new serial case is dumped in her lap. But maybe things can't be too bad if there are hot Russian body guards like Nick around to help take your mind off it all?
All in all I thought this was a good anthology. Unsurprisingly to me Lori Foster's stories outshone both of Erin McCarthy's by a big margin, but that's just kind of the way things are with Foster - she usually writes a damn good short story and it's hard to compete with that. Both as 'Lori' and 'L.L.' the stories were sizzling yet emotionally satisfiying, though in her 'L.L.' story you can definitely feel the hint of darkness that permeates more in her paranormal works. I just felt like McCarthy's stories were pretty average, with the endings in both (though Nick and Jordan's was a bit better) very predictable and without any of the challenge or connection that makes such a short story worth while.
Overall Feeling - Thumbs up. While McCarthy's stories aren't the greatest, Foster makes this an anthology I'm happy to have on my shelf.
Series - None.
