| Title | : | The Mammoth Book of Special Ops Romance |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0762438436 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780762438433 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 530 |
| Publication | : | First published March 1, 2010 |
Stirring romance featuring the heroes of the Navy SEALs, Delta Force, Air Force Pararescue, the Green Berets, the Army Rangers and other special forces: men and women who live and fight in extreme danger to preserve our freedoms, defenders and protectors of all we hold dear.
This collection includes the work of bestselling romance writers such as Shannon K. Butcher and Stephanie Tyler and Larissa Ione, writing as Sydney Croft. Sydney Croft's special forces couple, Annika and Creed, work for the Agency for Covert Rare Operatives (ACRO), all of whose members have special powers, while Shannon K. Butcher's hero is an ex-Navy SEAL. But these fighting men and women have a gentler, protective side; hard-edged weapons when on active duty, they can be caring lovers, of special forces teammates or the civilians they protect.
The Mammoth Book of Special Ops Romance Reviews
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Dangerous quickies - for lovers of alpha males of the human variety
If you like your romance hard and fast and your heroes tall, dark and deadly this collection of dangerous quickies may be just what you've been looking for.
Even though I don't read a great deal of special ops romances, I do love to read them when I am looking for an alpha male who is deadly but still human as a change of pace from my normal shapeshifters, vamps, and other worldly paranormals. And even not having actually read stories by most of the authors featured here, I have to say that I recognized all of their names - so fans will likely find quite a few of their favorite special ops authors here.
I love short stories so I've read five or so of these BIG short story collections and though this actually wasn't my favorite of the Mammoth Books, there is a good variety of stories. Cheyenne McCray's story was one of my favorites in this bunch - it starts out rough and gets the sex out of the way first thing but what I loved was the way the heroine responded to the hero's reason behind the encounter - violent but good.
Most of the rest of the stories didn't leave me with a strong impression but here's the blurbs to give you an idea of what's inside.
1. Once Burned (Penny McCall)- The last time they worked together was on the mission that went oh so wrong, but now she must work with the man who cost her her career to save a family held hostage by terrorists
2. Caine River (Rinda Elliot) - When a brainy but beautiful woman's hacking puts her in danger, the Marshall who was former object of her teenage lust will be the one to save her from criminals bent on silencing her forever.
3. Surrender at Dawn (Laura Griffin) - A woman seeks out a former Navy SEAL to help her rescue her missing journalist brother from terrorists.
4. Into the Night Sky (Charlotte Mede) - A woman is prepared to risk everything to destroy the man who killed her sister
5. A Kept Man (Shannon K. Butcher) - He quit his job as bodyguard to avoid succumbing to his attraction to the boss' niece but when she turns up looking for a gun to save her now kidnapped uncle, he doesn't know how he will be able walk away again.
6. Russian Roulette (Rachel Caine) - Her cover blown, she is captured by an enemy determined to torture her for her knowledge, pain she expects but falling for the enemy? Now that's a big surprise - this one was interresting and I think I read somewhere that this short is a prequel to a new series which continues the story of the leads, I will certainly be keeping an eye out for that.
7. VeriSEAL (Marliss Melton) - Something about her "SEAL" boyfriend seems just a little off, but will the background check reveal the truth before it's too late - I didn't much care for this one, because the true hero of the piece doesn't get enough time with the heroine to make this a romance.
8. Shoot To Thrill (Charlene Teglia) - When an operative's mission to blow up a virus lab runs into a hitch in the form of a lovely scientist preparing to sacrifice herself with the same result in mind, he will discover that Plan B has so much more potential - a life affirming connection leads to more.
9. Angels of Punishment (Michele Albert )- The child of fallen angels must join up with a justice angel to foil a plot which could tip the balance between good and evil - This is a little prequel to an urban fantasy series the author is planning and both the leads are promising.
10. Dark Force (Cheyenne McCray) - A special ops team leader plans on leaving a distactingly sexy team member behind on rescue mission that's personal - this is the one that I thought had such a great punch at the beginning
11. Lipstick Spy School (Gina Robinson) - An gorgeous assassin intends to take out the hunky instructor of a fantasy spy school for women.
12. Don't Walk Away (Shiloh Walker) - He ruined her cushy life by exposing her father as a deadly criminal, but he's never been able to forget the woman he lost who he now watches from a distance.
13. Heat of the Night (Jordan Summers) - Posing as a priest to get near his target, a sniper goes under cover with a medical team and inspires a 'forbidden' attraction in the lovely doctor in charge.
14. Overkill(E C Sheedy) - A truly strange mission brings an assassin back to where it all began and the woman he's always wanted - I liked this one a lot even though the setup is too hard to explain here.
15. Grey Man (Caitlyn Nichols)- While doped out on pain meds, a soldier has a very strange 'dream' one which changes his future - this is one of the the least special force-y ones of the bunch.
16. Good Guys (Liz Muir)- A thief with awesome fighting skills gets a chance to go undercover and do some good for her country - I love the thief, she's truly great and smart, and I loved how she gets the best of her British spy 'husband'.
17. Code Word Storm (Sydney Croft) - Annike reluctantly teams up with the fellow ARCO agent Creed who drives her to distraction in order to accomplish a mission in which her special powers are liable to get her possessed - a nice little fill-in to Croft's series (Sydney Croft is aka Larissa Ione and Stephanie Tyler) I think this story falls in the middle of the two Storm books.
18. TAG Team (Nicola Marsh) - Forced to work together again, a Special Ops team leader and an operative who specializes in the War on Terror find the attraction between is still electic.
19. The Game(Gennita Low) - I'm not sure what the heck was going on here. A woman is playing the long game and maneuvers the lover who refused her ultimatium into marriage as part of a mission and then leaves him behind.
20. The Traitor (Debra Webb)- 'Betrayed' by the only man she's ever let close, a scientist destroys her work to keep it out of enemy hands knowing that the life she's worked so hard at it is over.
Somehow I missed adding the author names above before I passed the book on to a new home - So I tried to connect the author's and stories together after the fact by scouring the web and had to guess on a couple, so hopefully I got them right. -
Penny McCall - Once Burned. B+. I thought there was too much action and not enough romance.
Rinda Elliott - Cane River. B. New author for me. Good dialog and writing. I'm just not a big fan of "little sister/big brother's friend" romance.
Laura Griffin - Surrender at Dawn. B+. Another new author for me but I liked the writing. The ending was open ended but left me with a smile.
Charlotte Mede - Into the Night Sky. DNF. Nothing wrong with the writing, just wasn't my cuppa. I found it a little bit boring.
Shannon K. Butcher - A Kept Man. C. I usually love SKB but there was something about this story that just didn't work for me. I can't put my finger on it though.
Rachel Caine - Russian Roulette. A+. I really enjoyed this one. It was smart and ruthless and fast paced. I wish it was a full length novel!
Marliss Melton - veriSEAL. A. Loved this one! I wish it had been a full length novel, I would have bought it for sure.
Charlene Teglia - Shoot to Thrill. B. I haven't read much by her to compare but this was good. Just not great.
Michele Albert - The Angels of Punishment. DNF. While I thought the characterization was inspiring, the actual dialog and story was offensive to me. I just can't see the male character acting that way, sorry.
Cheyenne McCray - Dark Force. A-. I liked this but it just needed to be longer than 20 pages. Not enough time for character development.
Gina Robinson - Lipstick Spy School. A. Cute story. Had a "Mr & Mrs Smith" feel to it.
Shiloh Walker - Don't Walk Away. B. The writing itself was excellent, dark and brooding. I just didn't connect with the characters the way a good book grabs me.
Jordan Summers - Heat of the Night. DNF. I found it uninteresting.
E.C. Sheedy - Overkill. DNF. Wasn't my cup of tea.
Caitlyn Nicholas - The Grey Man. A- New author for me and it was a good story. Australian special forces hero.
Liz Muir - Good Guys. A+. Really enjoyed this British spy caper! I could easily picture Clive Owen as the hero.
- TAG Team. DNF. I didn't care for the heroine at all, turned me off the story.
Gennita Low - The Game. C+. This was a strange story for me. It felt like I was coming into the middle of an ongoing storyline with no clue as to what was going on.
and finally
Debra Webb - The Traitor. A. I enjoyed this one and would have liked it to be a full length book. Good "on the run" romantic suspense.
Overall, this was a much better anthology than some of the other Mammoth books I've read, but I think the editor needs to make a more concerted effort to weed out the "iffy" stories. -
Boring and the stories are not that memorable. -
*This rating is only for the Sydney Croft story, Code Word: Storm*
Immediately one of my all-time keepers simply because this short story entry by Sydney Croft centers on my all-time favorite romance couple, Creed and Annika from the successful paranormal series about a secret government agency ACRO that employs agents with special abilities to capture some of the deadliest, most dangerous criminals on the planet. In this story, which is set between book 1 Riding the Storm and book 2 Unleashing the Storm, Annika and Creed are once again deployed on a mission together. This is a problem since they hate each other. Even bigger problem is that they're secretly hot as hell for each other, and in a cruel twist of fate, ghost whisperer Creed is the only man Annika, who possesses a powerful electric ability, can sleep with.
I loved this story because in a very limited number of pages it showcases all the best aspects of this couple and their relationship, as well as the series as a whole. Annika is trying awfully hard to maintain her hostility, but as she's coming to depend on Creed, and not just on missions, we see amazing character development. They work well together, and they definitely play well together. I was impressed that there was a love scene within the parameters of such a tight page limit, and one no less that moved the story forward and really served a purpose. Finally, the best part of all comes at the very end, when we see how close these two really have become, how Annika is melting and Creed is falling, on their way to being the most incredible couple I have ever read. -
A fantastic book that gives you all the Special OPs romance you can think of.
I bought the book for Shannon K Butchers novella, A Kept Man, and it was up to par, as usual. My only regret was that is was to short. But I am biased. I just love Shannon K Butcher!
But I was pleasantly surprised by Code Word: Storm by Sidney Croft. It was my first read by her. I loved the way she described the triangel between Creed, Kat and Ani (I just can´t use her whole name. Annika Svensson is the name if a not so liked boss at work).
But other stories like Michele Albert´s Angel of Punishment just left me confused. Entities I have learned to be benevolent is suddenly evil (i.e. the tiny, chubby baby angels in Renaissance paintings). I liked the spunk of the Heroine in the beginning but that sort of disappeared in the middle of the story. Michele Albert just tried to put to much in.
But most of the stories are good, really good.
The Game av Gennita Low was real hit and Jordan Summer´s Heat of the night and Caitlyn Nichols fantastic Grey Man that begins in a nunnery in East Timor.
I just love the hard hitting men and women of Special Forces. -
Read the ACRO Short, "Code Word: Storm," Only
This was a great short story featuring Annika and Creed after their mission in the mansion in ACRO #1, but before they truly became a couple. As always, the chemistry with these two is just fantastic, even though Ani is still trying to deny her desire for him (why she would ever want to do such a thing is beyond me!).
They are working together to battle an evil kid trafficker who has ensconced himself with demons for protection. Ani continues to put up her wall and fight her attraction to Creed, but her desire becomes unhinged, and they have a very sexy interlude in order to keep the demons out of Ani's mind. Go Creed for his creative form of battling demons!
Further, Creed tells Ani to think happy thoughts in order to keep the demons out, and at the end of the successful mission, he asks her what she thought of. Her response:
"You know it was you, Creed. Always you." -
I only read the stories by Shannon K. Butcher, Charlene Teglia, Jordan Summers, and Sydney Croft.
The Croft story is the only one that is set within a series, you should read the ARCO series to understand this one.
The others were just fun sexy stories where someone is in danger and needs rescuing bring a couple together where they realize they can't live without each other. A light fun read. -
I'm really mixed up about this book. Some of the stories are good, some are bad, and some are just awful. I even found a couple stories that I don't understand how they belonds in this collection...
There is quite a bit of action going on, a little bit of sweetness, and even some sexytimes. Given the premise of the kind of book this is, I was expecting more porn and less plot. So far from what I've read, it's been 90% plot and a mere 10% porn - which is great! Sometimes it's what the author doesn't write that makes the sexy times sexy.
A few stories made no sense at all. It's like the authors throw us smack in the middle of a story, and the yank us out again before the whole thing is completely told. Which makes me think that if you've read all the other books that particular author has written, you might make some sort of sense out of it. But if you've never heard of this author before, you'll be as lost as I was.
I don't like that authors make use of of storylines from other books in order to write a short story for a book like this. It's confusing, very annoying, and leaves me feeling like I've paid to let them piss me off. Stunts like these are really off-putting. And there is no way in hell I'll be buying any books written by these authors. -
I was really disappointed. I was really looking forward to Sydney Croft's story. It was too short. It was way at the end so I had to skip all the other stories. It just wasn't worth the purchase. :(
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Read this just for the novella 'Code Word: Storm' that is part of the ACRO series. I absolutely love Annika and Creed!! <3
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I have to wait a whole year for this????
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Only read ACRO #4.5, a super short mission for Creed and Annika, but as always, I love these two!
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Before I begin this review I want to note that this is not my normal genre at all. I only picked up this anthology for the ACRO story, which is PARANORMAL Special Ops. So yeah, that was why I only ended up reading two of the stories other than the ACRO story. I just couldn't get into them. So I decided I wouldn't force myself through them. My rating reflects the three stories I read. I will revise my review/rating if I ever come back to this.
Once Burned by Penny McCall: (2.5 stars)
Kate is reunited with a former teammate, and bedmate, when one of her clients and his family is being held hostage. After five years of mourning the loss of Reese from her life, she must now work side by side with him.
This was okay. The suspense part of it wasn't all that suspensful and I would have appreciated more romance between the two main characters. But how much can you ask for in 30 pages. I gave it an extra half a star because it did hold my interest mostly, but not really for me.
Cane River by Rinda Elliot: (3 stars)
Erica's in trouble. She's hacked into a big-time criminal's files and now her life is in danger. Her brother asks his teammate Marcus to watch after her and get her to safety. But they have history. Will they be able to get the job done without bringing emotions into it?
This was pretty good for only about 15 pages. I was pretty interested in their romance and what was going to happen. The only thing that bugged me was it's shortness. It seems like there could've been a few more pages at least to wrap up the story instead of kind of ending it abruptly.
Surrender at Dawn by Laura Griffen: (_ stars)
Into the Night Sky by Charlotte Mede: (_ stars)
A Kept Man by Shannon K. Butcher: (_ stars)
Russian Roulette by Rachel Caine: (_ stars)
Veriseal by Marliss Melton: (_ stars)
Shoot to Thrill by Charlene Teglia: (_ stars)
The Angels of Punishment by Michele Albert: (_ stars)
Dark Force by Cheyenne McCray: (_ stars)
Lipstick Spy School by Gina Robinson: (_ stars)
Don't Walk Away by Shiloh Walker: (_ stars)
Heat of the Night by Jordan Summers: (_ stars)
Overkill by E.C. Sheedy: (_ stars)
The Grey Man by Caitlyn Nicholas: (_ stars)
Good Guys by Liz Muir: (_ stars)
Code Word: Storm by Sydney Croft: (4 stars)
(ACRO, #4.5)
This story was the reason I picked up this anthology. It is about Creed and Annika, which are regulars in the ACRO series. However, I would place this story after either book one, or possibly book two in this series instead of book four. The reason is that the place Creed and Ani's relationship is in at this point doesn't fit with where they're at in books three and four.
Anyways, aside from that I really liked this story. Annika is on a mission to take out a man who's been traffiking children. But, when she gets to his hideout, she finds that it isn't guarded by just your average muscle, but by demons. So Dev calls in Creed to help out, to Annika's dismay. But whenever these two are together, the sparks fly (literally) whether she wants them to or not. :)
Story-Specific Shelves: paranormal-romance, sci-fi
Tag Team by Nicola Marsh: (_ stars)
The Game by Gennita Low: (_ stars)
The Traitor by Debra Webb: (_ stars) -
Once Burned 4/5*
Caine River 4/5*
Surrender at Dawn 5/5*
Into the Night Sky 4/5*
A Kept Man 5/5*
Russian Roulette 3/5*
VeriSEAL 4/5*
Shoot To Thrill 4/5*
Angels of Punishment 3/5*
Dark Force 3/5*
Lipstick Spy School 3/5*
Don't Walk Away 3/5*
Heat of the Night 3/5*
Overkill 3/5*
Grey Man 3/5*
Good Guys 3/5*
Code Word Storm 3/5*
TAG Team 3/5*
The Game 3/5*
The Traitor 3/5* -
Stirring romance featuring the heroes of the Navy SEALs, Delta Force, Air Force Pararescue, the Green Berets, the Army Rangers and other special forces: men and women who live and fight in extreme danger to preserve our freedoms, defenders and protectors of all we hold dear.
This collection includes the work of bestselling romance writers such as Shannon K. Butcher and Stephanie Tyler and Larissa Ione, writing as Sydney Croft. Sydney Croft's special forces couple, Annika and Creed, work for the Agency for Covert Rare Operatives (ACRO), all of whose members have special powers, while Shannon K. Butcher's hero is an ex-Navy SEAL. But these fighting men and women have a gentler, protective side; hard-edged weapons when on active duty, they can be caring lovers, of special forces teammates or the civilians they protect.
Stories are all listed in updates - I liked the stories with the kickass woman best - I did not like the stories that didn't have a couple together at the end - fortunately their were not many - I will be checking out some of the authors for more stories -
I confess I am still reading this - it is a palate cleanser before I move onto the next book. With 12 of the 17stories read I'm leaning toward a 3.star rating overall for now and will update when i get back to reading the remaing stories.
Once Burned (Penny McCall): 4stars; not a lot of romance and quite bit of action. I think I would have enjoyed this as a novel.
Cane River (Rinda Elliott): 3.5stars; started out well but rushed ending. Wasted potential.
Surrender at Dawn (Laura Griffen):3.75stars; rushed romance, good flow.
Into the Sky (Charlotte Mede):2stars; This is a short story and 75% was explanation which didn't leave a lot of room for romance or action. Most disappointing effort so far.
Kept Man (Shannon K. Butcher): 3.5stars My first SKB and unfortunately I wasn't overly impressed. This story was light on action and very heavy on "romance". I'll give this author another chance.
Russian Roulette (Rachel Caine) 2stars; might have been me but I just didn't get into this one. The only one I didn't finish.
Veriseal (Marliss Melton): 4stars; my favorite so far This is one I wish was longer.
Shoot to Thrill (Charlene Teglia):3stars. This story felt forced as the lone female of a Special Forces squad had to deal with her feelings for its leader. There was sex but not really romance.
Dark Force (Cheyenne McCray): OMG, I just don't know. Anything.
Lipstick Spy School (Gina Robinson):2.5stars. A woman decides to take classes in "spydom" to get close to her target
Don't Walk Away (Shiloh Walker):I can say absolutely nothing nice about this
Heat of the Night: (Jordan Summers):
Overkill (E. J. Sheedy):
The Gray Man (Caitlyn Nicholas):
Good Guys (Liz Muir):
Code Word Storm- Acro 4.5(Sydney Croft: 3.5stars not my favorite of the series as this isn't my favorite couple - Danika & Creed. But the story felt out of place in the series.
Tag Team (Nicola Marsh):
The Game (Genita Low):
The Traitor (Debra Webb): -
If you don't dig the whole 'tall, dark and deadly' hero thing - plus a few of the heroines who are deadly as well - stay away. This anthology is not for you - but you probably know that just from the title. Like most anthologies the stories run from great to not so great. There's an ACRO story in there [Sydney Croft, Code Word Storm, with a nice little story with Annika and Creed - I didn't even want to smack Annika this time, at least not often] but it's the only one I recognized as belong to series. I really liked the doubled and tripled plot line in Sheedy's Overkill. Robinson's Lipstick Spy School was a fun send up of spy movies in general and Bond movies in particular, with a heaping helping of 'what do you do when your spouse has a really dangerous job?' coping techniques.
Some of the stories didn't work for me but hey that's what anthologies are for, isn't it? If you don't like it just turn the pages for the next... Recommended read. -
Some of these were better than others, after a few disappointments I just read the ones by authors I favor and skipped the remainder.
Later I went back and read them all.
The format limits each author to a few scenes, barely enough to make more than a scenario with a bit of realization. There is not enough room to develop a deep character or allow for growth and development, so I probably will not be looking for other books in the series unless they contain a bit of continuation of a series I already follow.
I did enjoy some of these tales enough to recommend it for a beach read or chemo-brain.
I think these Mammoth Book of collections ought to be treated like a cookbook...skim through it, read carefully what attracts interest. -
3.8* overall
Once Burned PMcCall 3.8*
Cane River RElliott 3.2*
Surrender at Dawn LGriffin 3.5*
Into the Night Sky CMede 3.2*
A Kept Man SKButcher 4.2*
Russian Roulette RCaine 3.7*
VeriSEAL MMelton 3.8*
Shoot to Thrill CTeglia 3.9*
The Angels of Punishment MAlbert 4.5*
Dark Force CMcCray 4*
Lipstick Spy School GRobinson 5*
Dont Walk Away SWalker 3.9*
Heat of the Night JSummers 4*
Overkill ECSheedy 3.8*
The Grey Man CNicholas 3.9*
Good Guys LMuir 3.4*
Code Word: Storm SCroft (#1.5 not #4.5) 4.1*
Tag Team NMarsh 3.4*
The Game GLow 3.2*
The Traitor DWebb 4* -
Shannon K. Butcher - A Kept Man - 3
ok story, something about it just made it seem off to me, nothing I can exactly say. Nice intimate scene, man protests too much
Cane River by Rinda Elliott - 4
saving the girl, save girl from evil mob thugs. Liked it, ending felt off
Once Burned by Penny McCall - 5
well done complete story, dealing with past mistakes, saving folks kidnapped by terrorists
Good Guys by Liz Muir - 4
thief helps gov't, pretending to be wife of undercover agent
The Grey Man by Caitlyn Nicholas - 3
while doped up on pain meds these two become intimate, when he finds her again there are surprises -
Shiloh Walker's "Don't Walk Away" is about an ex-couple Ethan and Celeste after 10 years of regrets, longing, and not knowing what to think.
Charlene Tegelia's "Shoot to Thrill" was a good story of Gabe, a Delta Force solider, goes in to set up and air strike of a bioterrorism camp only to find a missing Dr. Miranda Gray.
Jordan Summers's "Heart of the Night" has two soliders pretending to be a Priest and a nurse, but FATHER Ken is not thinking very priestly thoughts about Dr. Lily Houser. -
This review is only for Code Word: Storm by Sydney Croft.
3.0 Stars.
This is a short story about Annika and Creed, one of my fave couples in the ACRO series. It's really short and an easy - but unnecessary - read. So feel free to skip it if you want. As a housekeeping matter, please note that this novella is incorrectly numbered 4.5 in the series. The story predates book 3; therefore, it should come either between 1 and 2 or 2 and 3. -
This is an enjoyable read. I love books like this because I can get a feel for a new author or enjoy a short story from an author I already like. Because the stories are so short this isn't for everyone. I did feel a couple of the stories were way to short and felt unfinished, but as a whole the book was good.
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For a while I was really into the special ops/military romance genre but I think that I wasn't interested in the genre enough to continue this anthology. The stories where too short and felt rushed but thats the limitation of a mammoth book of series. I tried and I liked some stories and not others. Love Shannon K Butcher's work.
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1) Penny McCall "Once Burned"
2) Rinda Elliott " Cane River"
3) Laura Griffin "Surrender at Dawn"
4) Charlotte Mede "Into the Night Sky"
5) Shannon K. Butcher "A Kept Man"
6) Rachel Caine "Russian Roulette"
7) Marliss Melton "Veriseal"
8) CharleneTeglia "Shoot to Thrill" -
I liked 5 stories out of 20, so it's not really good. Some stories seem to be extracted from a book, without a real beginning and above all without a real ending. And what is this fantasy story by Michele Albert doing in a special ops anthology ? Or are angels and demons new military ?
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Good for reading at leisure, short stories that can be read quickly if you need to fill half an hour. Or just to be read nod after another. Filled with plenty of too good to be true fit men to take the reader away from reality!
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Rel. 6/10/10 - Sydney Croft story (Larissa Ione/Stephanie Tyler pen name)
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As the title says - Mammoth. So many short stories stuck into one volume. Some were good but most just ok. Most were too short to really develop the characters and plot.
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As with all anthologies, some of these stories were better than others.
