“The Bride Wore a .44” by Maggie Shayne

Six months ago, Kira Shanahan woke up with no memory, and she’s relied on her mom to help her get her life back together. Turns out, Kira was engaged to a gorgeous man named Peter, and now their wedding is a week away. Kira doesn’t love or even remember Peter, but she has the hots for her sexy wedding planner.
Marshall Waters loves Kira, but he can’t tell her the truth since he and his fellow DEA agents are continuing their mission, just waiting for the right moment to take Peter down.
I love this story. Kira is a badass chick, Marshall (Michael) is sooo understanding, and they made for a perfect warrior couple. Even though she has severe amnesia and is just going through the motions of living, when her memory slowly starts to return, her true self emerges from the scared, timid woman she’s been for months. Her gut instinct and training kicks into gear, and she finally knows what she wants!
4.5 Stars

“The Incredible Misadventures of Boo and the Boy Blunder” by Mary Janice Davidson

Boo is a tough-ass human vampire hunter and works alone. Period. No one knows her name so every calls her “Ghost” because of her pale skin and white hair. After she saves a human from a vampire attack, she finds herself with an annoying sidekick she can’t seem to shake. Eddie, whom she calls Boy Blunder, is a total dork who loves pop culture, and he’s not even terrified he almost became a vampire’s dinner.
Gregory is a vampire with a fascination for Boo. All vampires have heard of her, and he’s been following her career for years. When he hires her to kill another vampire, a child murderer, Gregory also teams up with Boo and her new sidekick, hoping but not really expecting anymore more to form between him and Boo besides a grudging work partnership.
The best part of this book is Eddie. He’s absolutely hilarious, frankly honest, and just a sweet, fun person. This novella is more comedic than romantic. In fact, the romance is a minor subplot while humor takes over the whole story as the three main characters learn to work together in pursuit of the bad guy. It’s a funny story, but not what I usually read.
3 Stars

“Warfem” by Angela Knight

In this second prequel to the Time Hunters series, there are different types of humans scattered across the galaxy. Some are just normal humans with no special abilities, but others are Warlords and Warfems, genetically altered humans to be machine-like warriors.
Warfem Alina Kasi is working as a courier for the president of the Kasi House, knowingly moving stolen gems from the business’s coffers. Though she hates Rajin Kasi, she has to obey the cruel woman or Alina’s son will die.
Warlord Baird Arvid doesn’t want to believe his former lover Alina is a traitor to Vardon, but the evidence suggests otherwise. He’s determined to uncover the truth about her loyalties, but he’s still angry and hurt over her cold dismissal years earlier. When they meet again, he soon realizes Alina is definitely hiding something.
Alina and Baird are strong, awesome characters. Alina had to make some tough choices over years, but love and survival fueled her every action. I would’ve preferred a more in-depth back-story for Baird, but I still felt like I got to know him almost as much as I did Alina. Despite the years and secrets between them, the love and chemistry between the H/h was still there, and it was fun seeing them fall in love all over again. They definitely fit well together.
5 Stars

“Painkillers” by Jacey Ford

Supermodel and CIA spy/informant Lauren Devlin is in the Caribbean for a modeling shoot and to find out who is funding the rebels that are threatening a military coup. The CIA wants the current president in power since he actually cares for the people of Isla Suspiro, so Lauren and her new partner have to stop the rebels any way they can.
CIA agent Jake Haven knows the rebels will attack soon, and he’s sent to the island to warn the president of the impending attack. Things take a turn for the worse when the rebel forces kidnap Jake and Lauren. But something is going on with the rebels, things aren’t what they seem, and the rebels might not be the bad guys after all.
Jake and Lauren work great together. They both hide from the outside, pretending to be what other people expect from them, but they found a kindred soul in each other.
I liked the story, but the pacing was slow, and I felt as though I knew too much about the bad guys early on. There wasn’t much mystery in the story because of that.
3.5 Stars

All of these novellas have snappy dialogue and likeable characters, and I’m happy I read the anthology.

Overall Book – 4 Stars

Disclaimer – I bought this book for my own enjoyment. I am not paid or compensated in any way, shape, or form for this honest review. I will not change or alter this review for any reason unless at my discretion.
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My favourite story was Mary Janice Davidson's "The Incredible Adventures of Boo and the Boy Blunder" - it was really funny.
Also good was Maggie Shayne's "The Bride Wore a .44" - straightforward action/espionage stuff, very well paced and kept the excitement going. ( )

Worth reading for the Angela Knight story, Warfem. ( )

***** The Bride Wore a .44 by Maggie Shayne. It's an amnesia story, reminiscent of that movie with Gena Davis (hmmm. must look for that one on DVD and ask for it for Christmas).
****½ The Incredible Adventures of Boo and the Boy Blunder by MaryJanice Davidson. Albino vampire slayer gets a geeky sidekick and meets a vampire stand-up comedian. I think this is my favorite of MJD's novellas, even though we don't actually see Betsy.
***** Warfem by Angela Knight. I've been looking forward to this one, and I wasn't disappointed. It's a secret baby story, but the plot reminded me a bit of something.... argh. Must.... resist... spoilers....
**** Painkillers by Jacey Ford. I've been looking forward to this one, too. I think Jacey Ford does better with full-length books. This was still pretty good, and there was a really funny epilogue, but it had that sex while they're hiding out from the bad guys thing that bugged me. The heroine was a supermodel and CIA agent, complete with her own secret agent handbook. The weakest story in the anthology, and it's still very good. ( )