Petting the Cat by Robin Danner

Jillian Welch has been pledged in marriage to the Earl of Evansdale, a man rumored to be evil.  Since she’s a witch, and well prepared for the marriage bed by watching her Coven’s mating rituals, she’s not too worried about her upcoming marriage—until her future husband’s brother appears unexpectedly, warning her his brother is power-hungry and cruel.  Can Jillian get out of her engagement and gain a husband she truly desires instead?

Petting the Cat is an interesting tale of witches, warlocks, and shifters.  I liked Jillian’s boldness, and her fearless approach to desire.  Colin, her fiancé’s brother, was strong and protective.  The evil fiancé wasn’t terribly well-developed, however, and I would have liked to see more interaction between the three of them before the all-too-easy resolution.  Still, this is an unusual tale with a very hot scene at the end.

Spell-Crafted for Pleasure by Darragha Foster

Salem Grier, witch and proprietress of Salem’s Fine Collection of Sins, an occult and antique-sex-toy shop, has just received a shipment of merchandise in which she discovers the Viking Member, a whalebone dildo, and an Odin Stone.  She’s excited about getting these valuable old artifacts.  In fact, because she’s been single for a long while, she decides to have a bit of fun with the Viking Member before she puts it up for sale.  When she uses the toy, however, two Viking spirits emerge.  What’s a witch to do after she accidentally releases two Viking spirits, one of whom has a very unpleasant plan for ending his curse?

Spell-Crafted for Pleasure had an intriguing premise, but unfortunately ended up falling a bit flat for me.  I liked the tough, resourceful heroine, and I loved the idea of her shop!  The hero wasn’t really fleshed out—I learned more about the evil brother.  The story had quite a bit of action, especially when the two brothers were each trying to convince Salem to help them.  I was hoping that since sex toys and broken curses were involved, the sex would be really hot, but since the good brother wasn’t fleshed out their coming together seemed forced and not very romantic.  The addition of a very creepy ménage scene at one point was probably supposed to drive home how evil one of the brothers was, but I definitely could have lived without it. Spell-Crafted for Pleasure includes some interesting characters and a very cool heroine, but it was definitely not my favorite story in this anthology.

Hounded by Xandra Gregory

Rex is one of the Goddess Diana’s Hounds, enhanced humans with shapeshifting abilities.  He’s trying to escape his Pack when he stumbles upon Moon-dweller Lin, who’s portraying Diana in a parade.  With police pursuing them, they must rely on a disreputable-looking pilot to get them to one of Mars’ moons, where Lin must return Rex to Diana.

Hounded was a combination of futuristic, paranormal, and mythology.  I liked the way Lin was unashamed of her appetites for food and sex.  Young Rex was sexy, honorable, and loyal.  Max, the pilot, turned out to be an unexpected ally and a third to their ménage.  There was a very hot scene between Rex and Max that I definitely enjoyed!  Unfortunately, the futuristic world the characters lived in wasn’t very well-defined, and the inclusion of Greek gods and goddesses, while interesting, was also rather confusing.

Overall, A Witch in Time was entertaining enough but not as good as I had hoped.  I really liked the heat level of the stories, but none of them explained enough to make me feel truly connected to the characters and immersed in the stories.  If you really like witches, you will probably enjoy this book, but don’t expect deep plots and characterization.