Moonlight: A Limited Edition Paranormal Romance Anthology

by Zelda Knight, Aliyah Burke, Kendra Mei Chailyn

Shifters rule the night, vampires lure prey during dusk, and magicians cast dark spells under moonlight. From modern witches to fated mates, each page is overflowing with intrigue, romance, and magic. Fall in love with the paranormal in this limited edition collection of enchanting romances brought to you by thirteen USA Today bestsellers, as well as hot new authors!

FEATURING:
Come Fly With Me © 2021 Aliyah Burke
Umzingeli Bodyguard © 2021 Kendra Mei Chailyn
Animal Instincts © 2021 Taige Crenshaw and McKenna Jeffries
Bring Me Back To Life © 2021 Diane Jones
Eve © 2021 Jotham Austin, II
The Vampires of Faro © 2021 Kat Parrish
A Curse For The Road © 2019 Dee J Holmes
Familiar Haunts © 2021 Nova Blake
Urban Voodoo © 2021 W.M. Dawson
Crimson Promise © 2021 N.J. Ember
The Satisfaction Spell © 2021 Margaux Carroll
Omega's Sanctuary © 2020 Zelda Knight
Forsaken © 2021 Tempestt Chantel

871 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 31, 2021

About the author

Zelda Knight is a USA Today bestselling author of steamy romance, a British Fantasy Award-winning, and NAACP Image Award-nominated editor, as well as a diverse bookseller. She’s also the publisher and editor-in-chief of Aurelia Leo, an independent Nebula Award-nominated press. Zelda co-edited Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora (Aurelia Leo, 2020), which has received critical acclaim, and Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction (Tordotcom, 2022). Keep in touch on social media @AuthorZKnight. Or, visit her website authorzknight.com. You can also email z@authorzknight.com.

Reviews

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had originally picked up this anthology due to the paranormal theme - I was not super familiar with any of the authors included other than short stories in other anthologies I may have read.

Overall, it was an okay anthology with a few new authors and series that I might be willing to check out to explore the writing and universe more. Most stories were mediocre or not well edited at all. There was a large variety of romantic stories from slow-burn and fast-burn to poly, omegaverse, mpreg, and erotica, so someone checking out the anthology will probably find at least one story to appeal to them.

Come Fly With Me by Aliyah Burke
34 pages
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Tags: shifters, detectives

This was (a very short) book 4 from the author's The Protetors universe and followed the developing romance between the human Jo and the younger falcon shifter Kenan after a chance meeting during the last week of Jo's solo month long vacation in Belize. You could definitely tell that this was the middle of a series since there was not much character development. However, overall, I found it to be a super cute and hot fast-burn (delayed) fated mate romance. The story ended on a cliffhanger for another character, and I would be interested in checking out rest of series. I did notice that either this story or the anthology as a whole needed a better editor - there were quite a few typos.
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Umzingell Bodyguard by Kendra Mei Chailyn
106 pages
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Tags: assassins, hunters, kitsunes, magic, mercenaries, monsters, reincarnation, shifters, slaves, telekinetics

This story followed the FMC Ayanda after she was hired to protect the billionaire software engineer MC Solomon from assassins that were revealed to be related to her old life and curse.

The action and world setup was interesting, but the backstory and abilities of major characters seemed to be missing or extremely slow to be explained. It took quite probably half the story before the writing revealed that Ayanda's business partner Kuji was a kitsune shifter and why he was so close to her, when it was more appropriate to have learned all this information when he was first introduced in the story.

There were a lot of typos such as fiancée instead of fiancé, and my most confusing one -- "mounted me like a queen on her throat." The story did not have not much character or relationship overall, and OW drama escalation came out of nowhere. Additionally, the monster assassins weren't even that significant in the end.

Based on this example, I probably wouldn't check out any other of the author's writing.
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Animal Instincts by Taige Crenshaw and McKenna Jeffries
62 pages
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ / DNF
Tags: assassins, dragons, magic, shifters, telepaths

This was book 3 in the author's Legend Cover series and followed the shifter FMC Synda after she met her fated mate Shadower MC Jaden while seeking Sanctuary for her hunted clan in the city of Legend Cove. There was an excessive amount of info dumping of all the characters in Legend Cove and the realms in universe that my eyes glazed over, especially in combination with the shallow character development with lots of telling. Multiple time skips occurred and new relationships were introduced with no other explanation. DNF at Chapter 2 of 4 - I got bored of nothing happening, whether it was trying to solve who was killing Synda's clan or any progression of romance between the main couple.
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Bring Me Back to Life by Diane Jones
54 pages
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Tags: vampires

This story followed the ambitious 30-year-old store assistant human FMC Anna after she met the 1500-year-old angel billionaire investor vampire Quinn. It was overall very dry narration and very intellectual decisions on both sides. I didn't really like either main character even though Anna's boss was cast as the unlikeable villain. The story ended up more horror than romance IMO, which wasn't my cup of tea.
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Eve by Jotham Austin, II
122 pages
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Tags: shifters, monsters

This story followed a 79-year-old widowed werewolf FMC Eve as she kindled a romance with the human writer MMC Ben without revealing her supernatural status while simultaneously facing a werewolf war against her daughter.

I did not enjoy it - the FMC was physically abusive to her love interest, and the werewolves described were more monstrous and animalistic than I expected and focused on feeding on blood and sex. The character development hit like a bullet train and was not very realistic and gave me whiplash. Everyone fell into insta-love quickly with shallow dialogue and unattractive descriptions like "her shoulder is covered in peach fuzz." The story ended with no resolution on the main war described, which was very unsatisfying.
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The Vampires of Faro by Kat Parrish
32 pages
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Tags: vampires, hunters, prisons

This was the first book of the Vampires of Faro series and followed the vampire hunter FMC Riley with 175-year-old vampire (and secret vampire hunter) MMC Christo as they attempt to hunt down an ancient vampire that killed another hunter in Riley's organization. The chapters were super short as unnecessary breaks, and everything dryly narrated to us. The action was spoon-fed, info dumped, and nothing I read showed any competency from Riley. Riley's name only showed up once in the story even when new characters were introduced. The poor writing makes this author and story a pass for me.
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A Curse for the Road by Dee J. Holmes
66 pages
Rating: ★★★★☆☆
Tags: shifters, magic, vampires

This was a cute short story (#2.1 in the series The Four Houses) and followed the magical cleanser witch FMC Prudence with the human MMC Axel as they went on road trip together from Washington State to Louisiana. There was nice relationship development even if I was a bit clueless about the background stories and world building, and I'd be interested in checking out the full series.
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Familiar Haunts by Nova Blake
49 pages
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Tags: magic, animal sidekicks, detectives

This story was a sneak peek with an open ending that followed the witch FMC Tori with human jeweler MMC Leo. Leo's jeweler shop had been robbed multiple times lately, and they had a stakeout together with Tori's two familiars to find the culprit. I found the characters, world, and pacing to be okay and will pass on reading the full story.
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Urban Voodoo by W.M. Dawson
73 pages
Rating: ★★★★☆☆
Tags: demons, detectives, fae, m-m-romance, magic, menage, vampires

This short story followed the voodoo priestess FMC Titania as she was called to investigate the murder of another voodoo priest and ended up possessed by a demon. Hot shenanigans ensued between her and living vampire MMC Drake and fae warrior MMC Michael as they tried to draw the demon out. I found it to be a well-paced read, but there was lots of interesting backstory that was glanced over or introduced for no obvious reason. Unfortunately, it seems like there aren't another other novels from the author in this universe.
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Crimson Promise by N.J. Ember
27 pages
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Tags: vampires, holidays, m-m-romance, f-f-romance

This short story was a prequel to another novella A Heart As Black as Midnight and was mostly an introduction to the cast without a plot resolution. It followed a polyamorous vampire household led by the vampire FMC Cosette and later included drama with ex-lover vampire FMC Elliot. Elliot was revived at the beginning of the story to research a cure for some sort of deadly vampire virus and also wanted to get revenge on Cosette for betraying her and putting her under in the first place. I didn't really understand all the underlying politics going on and didn't really like Cosette's personality, so I'm passing on the subsequent novella.
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The Satisfaction Spell by Margaux Carroll
31 page
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Tags: magic, sentient-object, dragons, f-f-romance, menage

This erotic short story followed the FMC Melanie who was trying to deal with her straying 29-year-old lover MMC Charlie by visiting a magic shop and buying a spell to use on him. I can't say that I liked Melanie at all for the sexual coercion with the spell. I also didn't understand why she bothered staying with Charlie if he couldn't be faithful or properly satisfy her. The story ended up reading like a porno by adding a young third female neighbor participant in their relationship to deal with the consequences of the spell and ended with a type of HFN where Melanie got her HFN by drugging the rest of her relationships into oblivion. I can't say that this could really be counted as a romance when two of the participants weren't 100% willing when not under the influence...
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Omega's Sanctuary by Zelda Knight
72 pages
* skipped *

This was book 1 of the duet Omegas of Alaska. As a gay omegaverse story with mpreg, I skipped the story due to my lack of interest.
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Forsaken by Tempestt Chantel
131 pages
Rating: ★★★★☆☆
Tags: shifters, single-mother

This story was the prequel to the Shadow Shifters series and followed 27-year-old virginal wolf shifter FMC Ivy as she went on blind date with 32-year-old wolf shifter MMC Ethyn. Their growing romance ended up involving them in a developing cold case murder plot. It was a very action-packed and exciting read, and I was interested in checking out rest of series. However, it seems like 3 years later in 2024 at time of reading, it doesn't seem like there has been a full novel release (or will be).

[Debbie Eyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is and intriguing and interesting boxset with different supernatural stories written by some fantastic authors. From vampires to magicians, from witches to fated mates, there’s drama, there’s action and there’s some romance!

[cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

perfect read for halloween

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A definite intriguing book of different characters in their own world. Written by many outstanding authors.

[Marjorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology was a total mixed bag no matter how you look at it. Every story featured a woman of color becoming empowered and finding love without looking for it. All included some type of magic or shifting but past that, that was a mix of genres, settings, heat levels, and more importantly quality. There was everything from romantic vacations to thrillers to road trips. From romance that took a backseat to the action or was barely more than a chaste kiss to full on seduction and STEAM. From comedy to horror. From beautifully crafted and executed stories to a couple that weren't even spell checked let alone edited for continuity.

There were a few absolute stand out stories in this that made me want to look up the authors and read more. I really want to spend more time in a few of these worlds and was delighted to find that I could. Overall, I enjoyed most of the stories and found a couple new to me authors to follow.

[Janice Drake · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really thought this would be a good book. The first story by Burke was great. After that things went downhill and I was very disappointed. The stories from Parrish, Holmes and Blake were very good. Chantel's story was good, it just had two chapters the same. The other stories were just okay. A couple of them needed a proof reader. I find it hard to believe the editor of the book did not notice it and let the authors know.