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Coveted #0.5

Collected

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Natalya Stravinsky, the charmingly neurotic werewolf from Coveted, is featured in this prequel novella. Before Thorn Grantham returned to South Toms River, New Jersey, Natalya lived alone with her stash of holiday trinkets. Her life takes an interesting turn when she faces a difficult challenge: to find a stolen figurine she'd recently won from a magical creatures auction website. It should be simple, just demand it back from the pesky thief. But a set of events occurs that puts not only her life at risk, but her family's as well.

53 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 30, 2012

20 people are currently reading
360 people want to read

About the author

Shawntelle Madison

39 books479 followers
Shawntelle Madison is a web developer who loves to weave words as well as code. She’d never admit it, but if asked she’d say she covets and collects source code. After losing her first summer job detassling corn, Shawntelle performed various jobs—from fast-food clerk to grunt programmer to university webmaster. Writing eccentric characters is her most favorite job of them all. On any particular day when she’s not surgically attached to her computer, she can be found watching cheesy horror movies or the latest action-packed anime. She lives in Missouri with her husband and children.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
Profile Image for Madison Warner Fairbanks.
3,414 reviews495 followers
June 29, 2023
Collected by Shawntelle Madison
From the Coveted series #.5. A prequel paranormal novella.
Natalya made an online purchase and is waiting anxiously for it to be delivered but the package goes missing before she can get home. Nat uses her werewolf skills to track down the thief.

Intriguing with only some basic world building and background. We know Natalya has OCD. We know she collects holiday decorations. We know it’s a magical world that still has a postal delivery service.
It’s a bit strange but also heartbreaking that she is separated from her family and clearly unhappy though we don’t really know why or what happened.
It’s an event and a clear ending but so many questions that I now will have to read first book in the series. A successful hook.
668 reviews2 followers
January 30, 2024
This is a quick read. It's an interesting start to the series. You get some background on Natalya who is a bit OCD. She loves to collect antiques. This gets her into a bit of trouble. Although she's separated from her family, she goes to her brother for help. The story has an ending, but it raises somes questions. I am interested to see where the series goes.
Profile Image for Paris.
Author 15 books66 followers
November 8, 2012
So excited that I finally got to read this (damn life and challenges getting in the way).

I love Nat. She's such an interesting, complex character. Although I do prefer her surrounded by Thorn and Nick and Aggie, I did love seeing her interacting with her brother before he got wrapped up in starting a family. And it was also nice to see someone else interested in Nat, showing her that she's worth more than she thinks she is. All I know is I can't get enough of this series and I want more!
Profile Image for SheLove2Read.
3,107 reviews204 followers
November 15, 2015
Amusing yet sad at the same time. Natalya is a character you can't help but take sides with. She's been hurt, and badly, in the past. I want to know what happened. Great job to the author.
Profile Image for Carmel (Rabid Reads).
706 reviews392 followers
November 22, 2013
Reviewed by: Rabid Reads

I wasn’t a huge fan of Coveted, the first installment in this series, because I didn’t particularly enjoy Madison’s OCD heroine. So imagine my surprise when the very things that annoyed me about book 1 actually endeared me to Natalya’s character in Collected. This audiobook is a prime example of how some stories are just better when read aloud. Audio Élan does a great job of capturing the essence of Stravinsky’s disorder and giving it form through her tone and rhythm. Her version of Shawntelle’s protagonist is way better than the one I originally inside my head. What a great way to spend an hour and a half!

I enjoyed the triviality of this novel’s plot line; it’s a cute story about a nutcracker gone missing and what lengths Natalya is willing to go to in order to retrieve it. Those of you who’ve read this series know how much this girl LOVES her Christmas ornaments and for those of you who haven’t met Stravinsky yet, this novella is a great introduction to the quirky heroine. The ridiculousness of Natalya’s mission continues to escalate as this tale progresses; one minute she’s making deals with dangerous supernaturals and the next she’s breaking into the leprechaun factory! The hilarity of her using her werewolf senses to help track down her missing treasure wasn’t lost on me either. If I had preternatural powers I certainly wouldn’t waste them on something as mundane as nutcracker sniffing!

I’m glad that Shawntelle Madison gave readers another opportunity to better understand Natalya; I disliked her in the beginning but she’s been slowly growing on me with each new installment. The Collected audiobook is a fun listen that’s sure to leave you with a wolfish grin on your face!
Profile Image for Carey Sabala.
370 reviews15 followers
November 3, 2012
Let me just say this, I really enjoyed Collected. I definitely love the Coveted series so far and can't wait for the next one, Kept to come out (due 11/27/12), so this was a great little appetizer to keep me tied over until then. Collected is a great little prequel/novella that takes place 7 months before the first book Coveted. Nat has a bad case of OCD and collects holiday decorations to help bandage some pretty soul deep issues. She wins an online auction for a figurine and is supper excited about it. When it's due to arrive, it's stolen off her doorstep. Now as a collector myself, I totally can sympathize with her. I know I've been driven half mad waiting for something to come in the mail and become a total witch when it doesn't arrive when it should. I can't imagine my "precious" being stolen from my doorstep, the nerve! Anywho, in order to get it back, the perp makes a bargain with her and chaos ensues.
Shawntelle writes a fun, fast-paced story that anyone who collects can surely sympathize with and for those that don't collect, well you'll love the story too.
It's a wonderful story that basically boils down to the moral....be careful what you buy at an online auction, you might just get more then you bargained for.
BTW the story is a free ebook for download at most places
Profile Image for Meigan.
1,377 reviews77 followers
May 1, 2014
I picked this up as a freebie on Amazon, mostly because I am interested in Madison's Coveted series, but also because it was free :)

I really liked the main character in this one, Natalya. She's a werewolf with quite a few quirks. Besides her obsession with online auctions which she uses to collect Christmas ornaments (she practically salivates at a nutcracker), she also has some OCD tendencies and detests getting dirty. Pretty big "quirk" to have if you're a werewolf :)

One of her packages goes missing, and the lengths she will go to to retrieve her collectable was pretty amusing. I also like the different characters she meets while trying to recover said item.

All in all, not bad for a freebie, especially if you are looking to try this series. Based on this novella alone, I definitely will be starting the Coveted series in the near future.
Profile Image for ButtonsMom2003.
3,775 reviews41 followers
February 8, 2024
Audiobook Review:
Overall – 5
Performance – 5
Story – 5

My first book by this author.

This is a very short audiobook and I don't judge short stories the same way I would a full novella/novel. I won't give a low star rating just because a book is short (like I think some people do).

I loved the audio performance by Audio Elan. I thought they did a wonderful job with the various character voices, especially the ones for the three-headed creature who stole Natalya's package.

A werewolf collector was a very different character than I've read before. I was intrigued by this story; I really wish other books in this series were available as audiobooks.

Profile Image for Tammy.
1,037 reviews8 followers
October 31, 2025
Collected introduces readers to Natalya Stravinsky, the main character of Shawntelle Madison’s Coveted series. Natalya is a great character. She is a werewolf, an avid collector (hoarder) of holiday trinkets and has OCD. She is estranged from her pack but is still in contact with one of her brothers. When her latest acquisition is stolen from her, she enlists her brother and his friend to help her get it back. The story is action packed and fast paced. I look forward to reading more about Natalya and her world.
Profile Image for Jodi.
1,782 reviews
June 25, 2023
I'm a bit confused about this story. I thought this prequel would give me a feel about this story line, however it just left me with so many questions. Why is Nat shunned by her family is my biggest question. Hopefully book 1 Coveted will explain and keep me interested in this series.
Profile Image for Dawn Cavenee.
514 reviews2 followers
December 12, 2021
The story seems a little jerky. I didn’t get a clear picture of what was happening or a solid feel of the characters true make-up. Not sure I want to read full length story. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Maybe in time.
Profile Image for Jen (That's What I'm Talking About).
1,743 reviews312 followers
December 14, 2012
My Rating: 3.5 stars: Liked it - recommend (B+)
Originally Posted: http://www.twimom227.com/2012/12/revi...

The novella, Collected, takes place about 7 months before Coveted, the first book in Ms. Madison’s wolf-shifter urban fantasy series. Although technically a prequel to the series, it was released after the Coveted, and I think can be enjoyed either before or after the first book. However, for me, already knowing the idiosyncrasies of our heroine made this story more enjoyable.

Once again, our story is told from the first person point of view (POV) of Natalya (Nat) Stravinsky. Nat is a rogue werewolf, kicked out of her pack and virtually alone. She is also a tad neurotic and suffers from OCD, making her an even greater outcast. She lives to feed her collection of hard-to-find or one-of-a-kind holiday decorations. Nat was looking forward to the delivery of her newest “treasure” only to discover its package has been taken from her home. She begins to track down the culprit with a single-mindedness that is fierce, although she battles her need for cleanliness and order against the "unsanitary" conditions of the woods, which makes for entertaining reading.

After successfully tracking down the thief, Nat agrees to a dangerous mission in which she works with/for not one but two different nefarious creatures. Nat recruits her younger brother Alex and his buddy Miles to help her break into a Leprechaun-run factory and fulfill her bargains to win back her prize.

I like our heroine, Nat, so much more in Collected than in Coveted. Although she's got her disorders and is far from perfect, she doesn't come across as the broken, beaten-down woman she did in Coveted. This time around she's determined and no longer wishy-washy. She goes up against a dragon creature, a water-based demon, and very dangerous leprechauns to fulfill her commitments. She follows through and stands up for herself. I found myself cheering for Nat this time around.

I also enjoyed reading more of her younger brother, Alex. We see how and why he ends up in the situation he finds himself in Coveted. The brother-sister bond is tight and special, something that wasn’t really present in the first book.

The overall plot was a fun adventure. There wasn’t anything too tricky or difficult. The action was just right for the shorter-length story. It was entertaining to learn more about some of the other supernatural creatures in Ms. Madison’s world.

All in all, Collected is an enjoyable novella. The story provided solid background information about Nat. I loved seeing Nat as a strong and almost defiant woman, since we don't see much of that version of her in Coveted. Sure, Nat is broken and has her illness, but she can fight to get pass its effects on her.
Profile Image for Miki.
1,030 reviews42 followers
October 25, 2012
This review was first published on my blog Lecture Toute une Aventure

A surprising prequel. Coveted is a series that caught my interest months ago but so far I haven’t had the opportunity to read Coveted, book 1, I just enjoyed excerpts so when a few days ago, I saw Shawntelle offering the prequel for free I jumped on the occasion.

This prequel can be read without any knowledge of the world Shawntelle has created, it’s a funny introduction to it. Natalya is a werewolf really different from others first she lives alone apart from the pack, not that common, and she has quite a lot of compulsions: she is afraid- to say thing lightly- of germs, dirt, filth and collects trinkets in a compulsory way too, spending big amount of money of them . It‘s the first time I come across a shifter so maniac and clean, one who doesn’t like blood I knew – like Dali from the Kate Daniels series, white tiger , she faint or become frantic when smelling or seeing blood- but one like Natalya never.
Even more curious, it seems that she wasn’t always like that even though we don’t get a lot more information in this novella. I really would like to know more about that. This dichotomy between her wolf part: for which running in the wild is fun and great, and her conscious traumatized by the idea of touching something dirty gives us at least a smile if not a full laugh

We also learn that she is not completely over her ex, Thorn, who left her and it seems to be one of the reasons she choose to live alone. She is a bit independent but is responsible enough to know when to ask for help even if her reasons can seem futile, with her personality getting that thing was a priority. No matter the risks.
However, those psychological flaws aside, she is not a werewolf like the others; she seems to be attuned to magic when her brother and his friend are completely blind to it. I think it will be something capital in the future like the aquatic creature made an allusion to it.

I really spend a good time and I recommend it to fan of urban Fantasy, if you have read Coveted it will give you more insight in Natalya and if, like me, you still have to discover it, this prequel makes an excellent introduction. So enjoy it .

Profile Image for Sandy S.
8,257 reviews206 followers
December 1, 2012
COLLECTED (Coveted .5) by Shawntelle Madison (3.5 stars)

COLLECTED is a short story that takes place 7months before COVETED. Natalya Stravinsky is a female werewolf with a few OCDs and psychological problems among them her penchant and obsession for collection Christmas ornaments. When her recent order failed to arrive, Natalya used her werewolf senses and went on the hunt, looking for the ‘thing’ that had stolen her latest online acquisition.

The zmee is a three-headed dragon-like creature-the stuff of wicked fairy tales, and Natalya scented a trail that led directly to the zmee. When Natalya confronted the thief, she was surprised to discover there is some background information about the antique Christmas ornament and a series of hidden trinkets, that had not been revealed. As a member of the supernatural world, she is well aware that not everything is as it appears. The zmee was willing to negotiate a price with Natalya in exchange for the holiday bauble for some information contained on another antiquity.

Natalya needed help. To retrieve the information, she requested assistance from her brother Alex and his friend Miles, but Alex was not pleased when she revealed who and what they were after. But in order to retrieve the information, Natalya and her brother would have to face bigger problems and even more powerful supernatural creatures. Everyone wanted the same information-for a price.

COLLECTED is a prequel novella that adds some background information into the world of Natalya Stravinsky and her obsession with everything Christmas. Natalya’s obsession will place the people she loves in danger and the price for online shopping is greater than anyone is willing to admit. Collected is a wonderful addition to Shawntelle’s Coveted series.

see all of my reviews at ; thereadingcafe.com
Profile Image for Melindeeloo.
3,268 reviews158 followers
August 14, 2013
2 stars = okay. I do have to say that Collected was different- an OCD werewolf is pretty original - but the neuroses really kept me from connecting with leading lady Nat, an outcast werewolf who collects Christmas decorations.

It might have been that in the short space, I didn't really get a chance to see her charm but in a first person POV story I just have to like the character for the story to work for me. The author can definitely do a great character in a short space because I liked Bitter Disenchantment, the other Coveted preview short starring Nat's werewolf friend Aggie who also has issues - but Aggie's constant quest for snacks wasn't as off putting as Nat's germ-phobia. So, where Aggie's story had me looking for more, Nat's didn't even though there is actually a decent little adventure here.

So, I may peruse the other reviews and try a sample before I decide if I'll buy Coveted and whether Nat is just not the main character for me or if it's just that the length didn't do her justice.
Profile Image for Estara.
799 reviews135 followers
Read
November 10, 2012
This short introductory adventure was interesting on the paranormal creature front because other than the werewolves the creatures involved didn't seem from the usual Anglo paranormal canon so much. I didn't get a good grip on the heroine, apart from her collecting shtick, because the action of the plot took over.

And there were too many hints about something awful having been done by her in her past which made her father throw her out and her lover and pack repudiate her. The little vignette about the original start to her collection - a treasured keepsake of her grandmother - was lovely though.

I sort of might read the full first novel, but it won't be a priority.
Profile Image for Karin.
546 reviews
August 17, 2017
Prequel to the Coveted series.

This is a fun novella about Nat and her brother. She comes home to find that someone has stolen her package. After tracking the theif down, she must complete a task for him to receive even more trinkets. With the help of her brother and Miles, she goes after her prize.

If you're looking for a cute intro to the Coveted series, a fun short-story and/or a quick treasure hunt, this is the book for you!

Audio Review:
Audio Elan narrates this short-story. She uses several voices for different characters and really brings them to life. There were a few places where it was a bit hard to understand her immediately, but those were not overly troubling.
Profile Image for Sabrina.
339 reviews114 followers
December 16, 2012
Edit 16th December 2012:
Many thanks to the author for providing me a copy of this; it's nice to know that kindness can achieve what kindle-ness can't! ;)


--------------------------

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Profile Image for Jordan Erika.
63 reviews3 followers
November 12, 2012
While a nice story, it seemed a bit off for the first part. A different sort of Nat, a different sort of style, one that didn't really hold the attention and pull you in with each sentence like Coveted did, but it seemed to fall back into it by the end and definitely made up for it. I loved what she did for Grandma Stravinsky, even though it does seem a bit out of character being set before Coveted, but I guess it's kind of a first step to being the Nat that develops in Coveted.
Profile Image for Jaclyn .
377 reviews13 followers
May 24, 2013
Fun story! I got this free on my nook awhile back and thought it was about time I read it considering how much I loved Coveted. I was a fun little adventure. Even though it was short and started a bit kooky with Natalya obsessing over her latest acquisition, it quickly evolved into something more, and gave us a peek into some of the deeper emotions and relationships that we see in Coveted and Kept. Great job Shawntelle, can't wait to read more in this series!
Profile Image for Crazy for Books (Stephanie).
1,913 reviews234 followers
January 15, 2013
Didn't really tell me much. I would have prefered the novella to tell me either more about Natalya disorder and/or how she and Thorn ended up where they were in Coveted.

You get to see that she's stronger than she think's she is, but not much. More like what her compulsion brings her to do than anything else.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Jean ~ Kindle Queen.
586 reviews38 followers
January 8, 2014
Ms. Madison had me at "werewolf with OCD." How could I pass that up? This was a fun story with interesting characters, and I'm looking forward to checking out Coveted (Coveted, #1) by Shawntelle Madison .
Profile Image for Cheryl Duval.
466 reviews14 followers
February 24, 2015
Natalya is obsessed with collecting christmas items, a little strange for a werewolf. She is so obsessed that she willingly puts herself in danger with Leprechauns to retrieve one that was stolen by a three headed dragon. This is an interesting and delightful story that introduces us to Nat's strange behaviors. I enjoyed it.
Profile Image for Tasha.
1,490 reviews26 followers
June 27, 2015
OMG this series is just getting started for me but I am so anxious to learn what happens around every corner in every one of the books. I can’t resist but read one after the next. From what I read in the previous book it seems that Natalya has a bit of a ‘Problem’. Nat is awesome at being a wing(wo)man for her brother and Miles LOL.
Profile Image for Frankie Ness.
1,699 reviews96 followers
November 27, 2012
All the trouble with dragons & leprechauns over Christmas ornaments! So not worth risking your life for. A day in the life of a werewolf with OCD. The sting of Nat's family's ignoring her is a little painful to read, glad some of them still loves her.
Profile Image for Audio Élan.
Author 2 books1 follower
Read
September 20, 2013
A neato twist on urban fantasy. Loads of fun seeing the world through the eyes of Natalya Stravinsky, OCD werewolf, while bringing to life colorful wingmen alongside select creatures of folklore--wish there were more of them!
Profile Image for Ashley Teagle.
253 reviews13 followers
December 1, 2012


I loved it!!! I enjoyed the female werewolf protagonist Natalya. I liked how Madison put her own spin on the supernatural. I hope to read more of her work soon.
Profile Image for Lindsey.
623 reviews24 followers
December 3, 2012
I love how with Shawntelle's books you can't help but feel for Nat. So looking forward to more books of her.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews

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