Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance

Mammoth Book of Paranormal, The (2009) — Anthology

Editor and Authors[]

Editor: Trisha Telep

Contributors: C.T. Adams, Ilona Andrews, Kelley Armstrong, Anya Bast, Meljean Brook, Rachel Caine, Cathy Clamp, Alyssa Day, Lori Devoti, Jeaniene Frost, Lynda Hilburn, Allyson James, Jean Johnson, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Holly Lisle, Cheyenne McCray, Sara Mackenzie, Catherine Mulvany, Mary Jo Putney, Michelle Rowen, Eve Silver, Maria V. Snyder, Carrie Vaughn, Anna Windsor

Genre and Sub-Genres[]

Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance

Theme[]

Fall in love with someone out of this world.

Description[]

If love transcends all boundaries then paranormal romance is its logical conclusion. From the biggest names around, here are 24 tales to take you to another time and place.

Let Alyssa Day, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Cheyenne McCray, Jeaniene Frost, Ilona Andrews, Kelley Armstrong, Maria V. Snyder, Carrie Vaughn, Allyson James Marland and others show you powers beyond your wildest imaginings.

Within these pages mythical beasts, magical creatures of all shapes and sizes, heart-stoppingly handsome ghosts, angels, and mortals with extra-sensitive sensory perception play out the themes of extraordinary desires. ~ Goodreads | The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance

Supernatural Elements[]

Vampire, succubus, djinn shapeshifter, shifter child, werewolves, demon, demon hunter, mage, spirit, gargoyle, chimeras, elvish lord, reincarnation, Study of Paranatural Biology, Faeries, magic users, selkies, purgatory, Half-demons, queen of the Unseelie Court, creatures of myth, sea-god Neptune,

List of Stories[]

Story Title	Series and Order Number	Author	Supes	Lead(s)
"The Temptation of Robin Green"	Kitty Norville series 0.4	Carrie Vaughn	Paranatural Biology, selkie	Lieutenant Robin Green
"Succubus Seduction"	none	Cheyenne McCray	succubus, faeries,	Lilin, Archer Dane
"Paranormal Romance Blues"	none	Kelley Armstrong	Half-demons, vampire
"John Doe"	none	Anna Windsor	'Sybil': element magic	Anna Windsor
"Taking Hold"	none	Anya Bast	werewolf	Lily, Mac,
"How to Date a Superhero"	none	Jean Johnson	Superheroes	Carrie Vinson, Steelhand
"Daniel"	none	C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp	vampire	Karen James, Daniel, Alexander
"Light Through Fog"	none	Holly Lisle	magic fog	Sarah, Sam
"The Tuesday Enchantress"	Guardians series #3.5	Mary Jo Putney	magical Guardian	Charlie, Maggie, Rajiv
"Trinity Blue"	Compact of Sorcerers?	Eve Silver	magical secret	Jen, Daemon Alexander
"Grace of Small Magics"	none	Ilona Andrews	mage clans	Grace
"Once a Demon"	none	Dina James	demon-turned-vampire	Kyle
"Night Vision"	none	Maria V. Snyder	invisibility	Sophia
"Pele's Tears"	none	Catherine Mulvany	Hawaiian mythology	Dillon Makua, Neolani
"Pack"	none	Jeaniene Frost	werewolves	Marlee
"When Gargoyles Fly"	none	Lori Devoti	gargoyle	Mord, Kami
"The Lighthouse Keeper and His Wife"	none	Sara Mackenzie	sea-god Neptune, reincarnation	Isabel, Zek
"Blood Song"	none	Lynda Hilburn	vampire, sound-healer	Ethan, Grace
"The Princess and the Peas"	none	Alyssa Day	fae, elves	a princess
"At Second Bite"	none	Michelle Rowen	reincarnated	Evan Frost, Julia
"Blue Crush"	Weather Warden series #7.5	Rachel Caine	Djinn	Joanne, David
"The Wager"	Lords of Avalon	Sherrilyn Kenyon	Arthurian lord	Thomas
"In Sheep's Clothing"	none	Meljean Brook	angels	Emma, Nathan
"The Dream Catcher"	none	Allyson James	Dream Catcher	Natalia

To expand the table, right-press on a row of the table or (Control-press on a Mac)—choose add row.

Synopsis by Story[]

"The Temptation of Robin Green" by Carrie Vaughn — Kitty Norville series 0.4

Lieutenant Robin Green's work at the Center for the Study of Paranatural Biology introduces her to some strange and interesting creatures of myth and legend, one of which may steal her heart. ❖ A military researcher gets more than she expected out of her new laboratory position when she finds herself working with a mysterious collection of living, cryptozoological specimens, including an irresistible male selkie who seduces her completely.

"Succubus Seduction" by Cheyenne McCray

Lilin, a succubus, has been charged by the queen of the Unseelie Court to seduce Archer Dane and bring her his soul... but Archer won't be won so easily. ❖ Lilin, a gorgeous succubus, is tasked with stealing the soul of a handsome mortal man. However, she’s thrown a curveball – he resists her, and her immortality is taken from her as a result.

"Paranormal Romance Blues" by Kelley Armstrong

Half-demons looking for love in all the wrong places. ❖ A half-demon walks into a trashy vampire bar…and finds herself in the middle of a chase to hunt down a killer vampire.

"John Doe" by Anna Windsor

Celebrating her 30th birthday working the late shift at the Riverview Psychiatric Hospital would be really boring for Dutch Brennan if it weren't for the interesting new arrival. ❖ A psychologist receives a very unusual patient, who turns out to be rather otherworldly—and has a life-changing revelation about her past.

"Taking Hold" by Anya Bast

Human nurse, Lily, has volunteered to help in the search for a lost young werewolf with Mac, the wolf she's got a jones for. ❖ A werewolf loner and a human woman track a lost shifter pup through the winter wilderness but find much more than a missing boy.

"How to Date a Superhero" by Jean Johnson

Partnered superheroes struggle to find a way to balance their conflicted feelings toward each other without endangering the team. ❖ Carrie Vinson, AKA the Ascendant superheroine Foresight, might be a masked protector of human life, but that certainly doesn’t make her dating situation any easier. Dealing with her handsome partner, Steelhand, is an exercise in frustration, and when Carrie sees an intense vision of the future, it ends up flustering her to the point that the telepath notices.

"Daniel" by C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp

When a process server gets tangled up with a sexy vampire and his master things could get nasty. ❖ Lawyer Karen James has even more issues than how to properly serve up divorce notifications and restraining orders – she has made an enemy of a malevolent vampire, Alexander, and now the race is on to protect herself and her undead love, Daniel, from Alexander’s wrath. Very short; might have been better if it were a bit longer or there was a little more background on why Alexander and Karen had bad blood between them.

"Light Through Fog" by Holly Lisle

When Sarah's husband Sam died all that was left to connect them was their tree and a mysterious magic in the fog. ❖ After the death of her husband, Sarah was absolutely heartbroken. But a seemingly impossible encounter with her deceased love leaves Sarah pregnant—and many questions to be answered. An absolutely beautiful story and a real tearjerker.

"The Tuesday Enchantress" by Mary Jo Putney

It's not everyday Charlie meets a gorgeous fellow Guardian but this might be his lucky day... or a really, really unlucky one when the two are put in a hostage situation. ❖ Daemon Alexander, an ages-old man with a magical secret, finds some peace as he masquerades as the human handyman of a seemingly fragile woman in a small, New York town. But appearances can be deceiving. ❖ Charlie, a young doctor-to-be with magical Guardian blood in his veins, happens to be in the right place at the right time to save his friend Rajiv when his coffee shop is held up and Rajiv is shot. But they’re not alone – a bewitching female Guardian also happens to be in the shop, and the attraction between Charlie and Maggie is magical in its own right.

"Trinity Blue" by Eve Silver

Jen's love-life heats up when she hires a mysterious drifter to help with some painting around her grandmother's house, but could he have something to do with an equally mysterious murder? ❖

"Grace of Small Magics" by Ilona Andrews

When warring mage clans clash Grace not only discovers that her family is essentially owned by one of them or that she must now fight beside her new master but that there's a lot more to herself and her master than meets the eye. ❖ A game between opposing, magic-capable clans comes with a very deadly price, and Grace, a young woman of little magical ability, is caught in the middle of it. To top it all off, she finds herself in a long-standing family blood-debt to a wickedly attractive man from an opposing clan

"Once a Demon" by Dina James

Kyle prefers his solitude but when a friend offers a chance to speak of the love he lost it may lead to his salvation. ❖ A handsome demon-turned-vampire gives a special confession to a friend’s wife and finds some absolution in the process.

"Night Vision" by Maria V. Snyder

Most of her life Sophia has hidden from those who would use her unusual gifts but perhaps putting them to use in the right ways could be a good thing. ❖ Covert “light-bender”—a woman with a rare condition able to make herself invisible and see perfectly in the dark—is called out of hiding to save the life of a federal agent trying to save his sister who is afflicted in the same way she is.

"Pele's Tears" by Catherine Mulvany

Dillon Makua never forgot his first love and when she comes crashing back into his life to solve the mystery of her grandmother's suicide maybe Neolani hasn't forgotten him either. ❖ After her grandmother’s disappearance and apparent suicide, Noelani hires an investigator to determine what happened and finds the love of her youth in the detective.

"Pack" by Jeaniene Frost

Getting lost in the woods alone has definitely gotten Marlee in over her head when she gets attacked and rescued by two very different wolves. ❖ A hiker on her own in Yellowstone National Park gets more than she bargained for when she is attacked by a pack of wolves—but these canines are far from the garden-variety gray wolves the national park is famous for.

"When Gargoyles Fly" by Lori Devoti

When Mord the gargoyle is awakened by Kami after a hundred years of slumber the world of humans could be in mortal danger. ❖ In this sweet story with echoes of the Pygmalion myths, an enchanted gargoyle saves the life of the woman who returned him from stone to life and must decide whether an ancient war between gargoyles and chimeras is most important to him – or the possibility of love with the human woman.

"The Lighthouse Keeper and His Wife" by Sara Mackenzie

Sent back from purgatory to right a past wrong, Zek strikes a bargain to see his wife in her reincarnation one more time. ❖ Isabel, the wife of a lighthouse-keeper in another time, is brought into the past to battle the sea-god, Neptune and save the lives of all aboard an old-time passenger steamer doomed to die unless she and her husband of old, Zek, stop him.

"Blood Song" by Lynda Hilburn

Ethan is a vampire who gets stuck on clean-up duty when he meets the enigmatic sound-healer Grace and what their meeting brings is simply magic. ❖ A sound-healer has an unfortunate experience with a newly-awakened, out-of-control vampire, and her angelic rescuer haunts her dreams. But her hero is far from an angel himself…

"The Princess and the Peas" by Alyssa Day

A princess, 'peas' made of iron and a gathering of fae are all it takes for trouble and romance in this tale. ❖ A princess’s ruse to capture the most powerful fae leader for her husband goes awry, while her servant girl has her own adventures with the elvish guests

"At Second Bite" by Michelle Rowen

Evan Frost is convinced that Julia is his soulmate reincarnated and when his brother Henry tries to kill her things get even more confusing. ❖ Julia Donner never expected to meet a crazed vampire at the singles’ meet, much less two. One claims her as his soulmate, while the other attempts to kill her, but it’s the lethal one that catches Julia’s heart.

"Blue Crush" by Rachel Caine — Weather Warden series #7.5

Joanne and David from the Weather Warden series spend a day at the beach saving lives, kicking booty and getting a little frisky. ❖ A djinn and a weather warden – a woman with supernatural powers over the weather – set out into the ocean to rescue a human girl, but end up finding two terrifying creatures in the waters and a mystery to be solved.

"The Wager" by Sherrilyn Kenyon — Lords of Avalon

A strangely narrated Lords of Avalon tale of loving and pissing-off the wrong woman. ❖ A lord of Arthurian times finds himself in the modern era after being punished for mentally insulting a merlin — a woman of powerful rank — but it seems his trials are not yet passed.

"In Sheep's Clothing" by Meljean Brook

Five years ago Emma left Oregon and Nathan behind but when she comes home and faces off with a murderer she and Nathan will need one another to bring the bad guy down. ❖ A young werewolf female returns to her hometown, only to find a dangerous human stalking women—and the crush of her teenaged years. When she accidentally turns the killer into a wolf, the chase is on, and she must track down the menace before he kills any more women.

"The Dream Catcher" by Allyson James

Set in an unusual world where high society humans no longer have sexual relations a creature meant to fulfill fantasies of all kinds will awaken Natalia to the pleasure and joy of her secret desires. ❖ In a society where passion is frowned upon, a noblewoman craves more and finds it in the mysterious Dream Catcher – a preternatural creature capable of turning anyone’s fantasies into a powerful illusion. But will Natalia’s Dream Catcher seize more than her innermost desires and capture her heart?

Sources:

Cover Artist[]

Artist: Joe Roberts (Link)

Publishing Information[]

Publisher: Running Press
Book data: Paperback, 512 pages, Pub: March 10, 2009—ISBN: 0762436514

Cover Blurb[]

See description above

External Links[]

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Author Pages for Book:

Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance | Anya Bast

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