I got this book because I have been reading Nalini Singh's Psy/Changling series. The main characters were DarkRiver Leopard Zack and a human named Annie. Lucas, Sascha and Mercy, from previous books, were heard from in this short story. I must admit that it was my favorite story in the anthology, but then again, I just finished reading Ms. Singh's other 5 books, so I have been immersed in that world.

The Lora Leigh story continued her Breeds storyline with one of the enforcers and a human librarian from the town just outside of Sanctuary. I was very pleasantly surprised with this story. It had sensual elements without the going graphically overboard as I have found in some of her other books.

The story by Erin McCarthy I had a hard time getting into. I ended up basically scanning the story and hitting the highlights. The story was okay, but just didn't grab my attention. There were parts that just didn't ring true to the story and several sections that felt rushed and choppy.

Linda Winstead Jones' story was quite good once I got past the first few pages. Ruby is being targeted by a demon who must consume his 9th and final soul to be free to roam the earth. She doesn't know it but Zane, her stuffy professor neighbor, can help her if she can just learn to trust him.

All 4 of the stories take place around Christmas time and involve a cat in some form. Lora Leigh's story focuses on Christmas the most of any of the stories and it is a major theme in her plot line. Overall, this was a great book, especially if you have been reading the Psy/Changling or Breed series.

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The Nalini Singh story about a shape-shifting leopard was by far the best story in the whole anthology. The characters were more fully developed than I expected and their playful bantering was excellent. I loved it!

The Lora Leigh story about a shape-shifting jaguar was pretty good, too, although, as I've never read any other stories from her series, I felt like I missed out on some important background, but overall it was a nice story.

Erin McCarthy's story was about a witch finding love, with a little help from her black cat was ok. Not great, but not terrible.

Linda Winstead Jones story in the book was awful! The cat in the story is an evil soul-eating black cat! I'm sorry, but if I read a book called "The Magical Cat Christmas" it's because I like cats and I don't think they are evil, especially around Christmastime! Aside from that, the story was poorly written and didn't hold my interest at all. This was the first and last time that I'll read anything by this author!

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This has stories from three authors I've already enjoyed. I hadn't read anything by Linda Winstead Jones before, and based on this sample I will be unlikely to read anything by her in the future.

Nalini Singh - Stroke of Enticement. Part of the Psy/Changling series. DarkRiver leopard Zach meets schoolteacher Annie when his nephew gets in trouble at school. My favorite in this collection.

Eric McCarthy - Christmas Bree. A sequel to the story in the anthology An Echanted Season. The Murphy sisters are all witches, and in this story middle sister Bree finds her unlikely match. Cute.

Linda Winstead Jones - Sweet Dreams. A soul-eating demon cat is looking for his ninth and final victim needed to become part of our world. The hero starts out as kind of a cold fish who doesn't eat white flour or sugar, so rejects the heroine's Secret Santa gift of Christmas cookies. It's a bit hard to redeem that in only 77 pages.

Lora Leigh - Christmas Heat. Part of the Breeds series. Overlaps with Mercury's War, and ties up a loose end from that book. Librarian Haley is in the wrong place at the wrong time, and finds out something that puts her life in danger from enemies of the breeds. Jaguar breed enforcer Noble Chavin is not about to let the woman he knows is his mate get killed.

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Really enjoyed the stories in this book. Pretty developed and satifying. The Nalini Singh story was interesting with a couple of poignant moments. Lora Leigh was a breed story with the heroine falling for the hero before any kissing!, Linda Winstead Jones had a fascinating paranormal story and Erin McCarthy followed up an earlier story about a witch who is one of three sisters -- another sister was in another anthology my least favorite but even that one wasn't that bad.

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This book was a nice mixture of stories. I liked them all. This was my first for Nalini Singh and it won't be my last. I like reading stories like this from different authors because if I like one story it gives me a chance to try another book from that author that I would have never read before.

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Paranormal erotic romance anthology, all Christmas themed, revolving around cats. This is a pretty good anthology from well known authors: Nalini Singh's story features a Dark River sentinal who falls for a physically challenged human woman. Very sweet, romantic. Erin McCarthy's story is very light, funny tale about Corporate attorney who has it bad for a goth, free spirited witch. The sex scenes are hot, and I enjoyed the story. Winstead Jones' story is the darkest of the four, about a demon cat who steals souls. In the end, our heroine, and intended victim figures out the key to saving herself. It has a Happily Ever After ending of course, but I was hoping she'd kick him to the curb, instead. Lora Leigh's tale is about a Breed panther and his human mate. Lora Leigh fans will love it. I enjoyed this anthology. Worth a credit.

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Not what I expected. Lora Leigh's cat is one of her Breeds. Other cat characters could just as easily be any other species, even full-human. Christmas is incidental to the stories.

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The Singh story was the best, part of her Psy-Changeling series.

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Nalini Singh really delivers in this short story of the uber alpha male who sets out to win the heart of his mate. Her reluctance comes from seeing her own Mother live in a world of disappointment. The whole mating theme is such a strong attraction because it is so certain. There is real character growth in this little story - very satisfying.
Erin McCarthy laid an egg with her story of unlikely attraction becomes irresistable because of erotic dreams. It was just flat, not the usual perky fun Erin McCarthy I enjoy.
Lora Leigh comes through on this short story. Nobel, a jaguar breed, does his best to live up to his name by letting the wiley librarian make her own choice to be his mate. Good hot sex scenes.
Linda Winstead Jones - go ahead and skip it.

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Read this because I am reading the Lora Leigh Breed Series in order. Enjoyed the story, I have noticed that some of my favorites in this series are actually in these anthologies. They tend to focus more on falling in love first than just sex (exception to this would be Wolfe's Hope). After reading the other reviews going to probably skip the other stories.

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I ordered this specifically for the Lora Leigh Breed story; however, the Erin McCarthy story was a great surprise!

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Absolutley love this book.

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This was ok. Nalini Singh and Lora Leigh's short stories were good but the other two were merely average. Please keep in mind that I'm not a fan of anthologies. I like my stories with a little more development and a little more meat to them.

Stroke of Enticement - Nalini Singh
Excellent story with a sweet romance. Human Annie has trust issues and shifter Zach falls instantly in love.

Christmas Bree - Erin McCarthy
I didn't like this one...too trite. Strangers Bree and Ian have been having the same dream for a year and finally meet and re-enact the dream. I couldn't connect with either character. blah blah blah.

Sweet Dreams - Linda Winstead-Jones
A strange story about demons coming back into power through Ruby, a woman Zane has been secretly watching. Now Zane doesn't know whether to continue with the plan or stop it from happening. Pretty boring with hard to like characters.

Christmas Heat - Lora Leigh
If you like Lora Leigh's Breed stories, then you will like this one too. It's pretty much the same scenario - the whole mating heat thing but with two new participants - Haley and Noble. Enjoyable but nothing new.

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If you're expecting cute, holiday love stories, with a sweet domestic cat - this is not the book for you. Don't be fooled by the cover (domestic cat with a snow globe) which has nothing to do with any of the stories. This book is in the genre of SciFi/Fantasy, where there's a damsel in distress who needs to be protected/saved by the hero. Although I liked some of the stories, it completely missed the mark when it came to what I was expecting them to be. Christmas is a very minor background player in all but one of the tales. Despite what a previous reviewer stated these are sexual/erotic tales. Especially the one by Lora Leigh. I'm a fan of romance, not detailed sexual fantasies/acts.

Stroke of Enticement: Set on an earth where there are Humans, Psy and Changelings. Annie is a school teacher and her man is the human/leopard changeling uncle of one of her students.

Christmas Bree: Bree is a witch. Her cat/familiar is the manipulator who orchestrates things to put her together with her man. I only read the first couple of chapters as it just wasn't interesting. The plot was centering on his sexual fantasies of her over the past year and her recent sexual dreams (though not of him specifically). They are such complete opposites there's really no reason they should ever be together.

Sweet Dreams: Demon cat imprisoned in a cat figurine, must kill Ruby to capture his ninth soul to be released upon the earth. Her neighbor is a member of a brotherhood who's job is to keep the demon imprisoned. They have no chemistry, she's a baker and he's such a health fanatic that he doesn't eat refined sugar or white flour so why are the matched up?

Christmas Heat: Haley is a human librarian in a world where there are genetically created animal/human hybrids (breeds). She's a witness in a case against people who are trying to kill the breeds. Her hero is a leopard breed. This story is very graphic sexually and is on the brink of sex between humans and animals. Yuck! I passed over the pages of sexual detail. This is the only story in this book that actually incorporates Christmas to any real degree.

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I love a good story about Christmas and if theres a cat involved, even better! Heres what the back cover said: New York Times bestselling author Lora Leigh and top-selling authors Nalini Singh, Erin McCarthy, and Linda Winstead Jones have a special gift for readers this year: heartwarming holiday stories featuring passionate romance, paranormal adventure, and a distinctly alluring feline touch. This sounded right up my alley four short stories about romance at Christmas with cats.

Nope. Not what you get. Definitely not heartwarming. This book was such a huge disappointment to me and the book is being marketed all wrong. I mean the cute looking house cat on the cover with a snow globe? How friendly! Theres nothing friendly about these stories.

The first involved a shape shifting leopard who finds his mate in his nephews fifth grade teacher. They sort of fall in love out of necessity because evidently these shape-shifting, large-breed cats have a bond with one person who they must mate with for the rest of their lives. Think imprinting like in Twilight but less romantic. They have to deal with her parents who are racist against shape-shifting cats. Also, a very smutty story.

The second story was not as bad, since it involved an actual pet kitty cat. But it had magical mistletoe that made anyone who was near it fall into huge fits of lust. Since said witch could not afford her house due to back taxes, she was forced to lust after her lawyer, but dont worry, he was just as lustful towards her. More smutty than the first story.

The third story was scary. The cat involved was a small stone sculpture, which, under certain circumstances would turn into a real cat and suck the soul of a woman. When it collected nine souls it could take over the world. Heroine received the statue as a Christmas present; then a shape-shifting jaguar saves her from becoming the ninth soul sucked. More imprinting and mating.

The fourth story was pretty dark, too. None of these stores were light and Christmas-y at all except that they happened to take place in December. At this point I just didnt care but I had to finish the book just to finish the book. I had a hard time following the plot as a result, but this one was even more smutty than the previous three. I mean it was awkward. In this one the heroine resists the fact that the cat shape shifter, this time a leopard, has chosen her as a mate, but in the end succumbs because she neglected to take the pills that will keep her lust in check and prevent her from having weird 1/3 cat, 2/3 human babies. WTF.

Did not enjoy this book at all.

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Great book

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This was a little different with having all the cats in each stories. I liked it - the only thing was that it took me a little longer to read. I picked up different books and thought I better finish it. LOL

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loved this book! wow the library got this on an intre-ilbrary loan in less than a week!

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I mainly got this for Lora Leigh story. All was very good read.

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This book is far too smarmy and erotic for my tastes. I'm not a big fan of sex driven literature.

Katz

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17TH IN LORA LEIGH'S BREED SERIES

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