Fall under the intoxicating spell of their hex appeal…. In the magical world that lies hidden beneath our own, witches and conjurers play deadly games. They know just the right spell to kill a man with one kiss—or raise him back again. And they’re not afraid to exact sweet revenge on those who dare to cross them. But what if you’re the unlucky soul who falls victim to a conjurer’s curse? And if you had the power to cast a magic spell of your own, would you use it? 
In this bewitching collection, nine of today’s hottest paranormal authors tell all-new, otherworldly tales. Spellbinding stories featuring bigfoot, albino vampires, professional wizards, resurrected boyfriends, and even a sex droid from the 23rd century named Silicon Lily. But as our conjurers are about to discover, it’s all fun and games until someone gets hexed. And sometimes, even the best spun spells can lead to complete and utter mayhem.

If audiobooks collected dust, opening this one would have had me sneezing. It’s been on my shelves since 2013. Somewhere along the way, I lost track of it. The cover and the title seem very dated now. 
It doesn’t help that they misspelt Ilona Andrews’ name
The collection itself was a bit of a disappointment. Of the nine stories in the collection, only the ones by Ilona Andrews, Jim Butcher and Carrie Vaughn, stood out. They were all entertaining and demonstrated how much fun Urban Fantasy can be. Three of the stories I abandoned before the end and one of the ones I finished was an uphill struggle. 
I’ve commented on each of the stories below in the order they appear in the collection. 

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RETRIBUTION CLAUSE by Ilona Andrews ★★★★★

I skipped this one because I read it recently in ‘Small Magics‘ Here’s what I said then:

“This is a story about two supernaturals working for an insurance company. That may sound dull. It wasn’t. The two supernaturals were tasked with executing a ‘Retribution Clause’ which is when a client pays a premium so that, in the event of their death, the person who killed them will be killed by the insurance company’s agents.

I love these excursions into the lives of subsidiary characters in the Kate Daniels universe. They show me how thoroughly imagined that universe is. They pull me into the lives of the characters, just as I was pulled into Kate’sworld when her first words to the Beast Lord were “Here, kitty kitty. kitty”. 

‘Retribution Clause’ had lots of violence, a few neat plot twists, a puzzle to be solved and unresolved sexual tension between the two agents. What more could I ask for? The story worked as a standalone and left me wishing there was a spin-off novel out there.”

BIGFOOT ON CAMPUS by Jim Butcher ★★★★★

Tnis was fun. It’s a story from when Harry was easy to like. When he hadn’t died yet. When he wasn’t the Winter Knight. When he was still hopeful. I liked that Harry was telling the story to the police officer who had arrested him on campus. The police officers you’re-actually-serious-about-this-aren’t-you? questions made it easy for Harry to explain what was going on, allowing the story to be read and enjoyed without any prior knowledge of the Dresden Files. 

Harry was on campus looking for Bigfoot’s son (Harry has history with both of them) who Bigfoot thinks is in danger. The danger turns out to be the cute, pleasant, loving girl that Bigfoot’s son, Irwin, has fallen in love with. She’s not what she seems, although neither she nor Irwin knows that.

Trying to keep Irwin safe from a threat he doesn’t see and which Harry isn’t sure is there, gets comically complicated.Until the bad guys turn up and the fighting and explosions start. 

I liked that Harry, even though he’s a wizard, wasn’t even close to being the most powerful person in the melee but he keeps swinging anyway. 

I enjpyed the humour and the optimism as much as the fighting and the magic. This was classic Dresden. 

HOLLY’S BALM by Rachel Caine ★★★

There were some clever ideas in this, like the dead having no legal rights so killing revenants wasn’t murder. The text felt a little stodgy and the romance felt like it was trying too hard. The plot worked well enough to keep this an entertaining piece. 

SNOW JOB by Carole Nelson Douglas DNF

Nope. The humour in this didn’t work for me. It felt more like a skit than a story. I set it aside. 

OUTSIDE THE BOX by P. N. Elrod ★★★

I liked the originality of the premise: a powerful but secret company with a mission to greet, document and constrain the newly risen undead, sends a team of one witch and one vampire to wait for a rising foreseen by their seers. The two-person team is a low-level witch, still on probation with the company and an experienced vampire. The start of the storyfelt a little like a documentary, with the witch explaining what she was there to do. It was deliberately undramatic, with a focus on explaining that even dying doesn’t exempt you from bureaucracy if you come back. That was amusing but not compelling. Then came the plot twist and everything changed. Suddenly the story was packed with action and danger, made all the more powerful because it was unexpected.

HOW DO YOU FEEL by Simon R. Green DNF

I tried this, even though I don’t normally like Simon R. Green’s work. I didn’t like this one either. I don’t like the Nightside world his stories are set in. It’s not the details of the world that I dislike but the tone of it. The storytelling has a self-consciously hard-boiled style but the view it’s pushing is a romantic one. It glamourises the sleaze, desperation and despair of Nightside and its residents. I have no sympathy for the place or the people. The glamour Green projects doesn’t work for me. So, I guess it’s time for me to stop stepping into Nightside.

THERE WILL BE DEMONS by Lori Handeland ★★

This was well enough done that I finished it but it was an uphill struggle. I’m not a fan of Urban Fantasy based on Christian myths, especially when they involve fallen angels. I find them harder to believe in than vampires (I blame my Catholic education). I’m also not a fan of paranormal romance, especially when it stays within the conventions of Romance Writers of America. Still, the pace was fast, the main character’s voice was unconventional and the Navajo setting was pretty. 

CHERRY KISSES by Erica Hayes DNF

This was another one I couldn’t finish. It was a trek through Hell. This Hell was a fairly conventional imagining of the Christian myth. The main character has to hack her way through it to retrieve a magical object. I stopped reading because I was bored. I think elements of the story, particularly the opening scene in the nightclub, were meant to feel transgressive and our heroine was meant to be seen as a chancer. I was unconvinced. The atmosphere and the actions were seedy in a dreary way but with none of the impact of the truly transgressive. The passion in the story felt manufactured. The violence was clichéd. The quest plot was tediously predictable. The upside is that I can cross Eric Hayes’ ‘Shadowfae Chronicles‘ off my wishlist.

THE ARCANE ART OF MISDIRECTION by Carrie Vaughn ★★★★

This was fun. I enjoyed meeting Odysseus Grant, the Las Vegas magician who really can do magic, again. Seeing him through the eyes of a blackjack dealer who knows something strange is happening at her table and is determined to find out what it is, kept the tale fresh.