Familiar Diversions

The three stories in this anthology each involve different types of paranormal characters that readers who've read Davidson's various paranormal series will recognize. Overall, this is a humorous paranormal romance anthology involving vampires, werewolves, and mermaids."Undead and Wed: A Honeymoon Story":Betsy and Sinclair are now married, and all Betsy wants to do is have an enjoyable honeymoon in New York, having sex with her new husband and shoe shopping. However, her friend Jessica and Jessica's boyfriend Nick unexpectedly tag along. Jessica's excuse for this is that she hopes the experience will make Nick get along with Betsy better - he hates and fears her and Sinclair for messing with his memory after Betsy inadvertently made him her willing slave. Betsy still feels guilty about what she did to Nick, so she agrees to let him and Jessica stick around.Unfortunately, the hotel everyone is staying at is staffed mainly by vampires, not something Nick is glad to hear. When someone starts killing children near the hotel, Nick is convinced that one of the vampires at the hotel, maybe even Betsy or Sinclair, is the killer. Sinclair isn't happy with Nick, but he agrees that the killings must stop, so everyone tries to find the killer, only to discover the hotel's dark secret.Davidson's explanation for Nick and Jessica's presence in this story wasn't terribly convincing, in my opinion. Nick has a perfectly good reason to fear Betsy, Sinclair, and other vampires - I don't see how a little exposure to them while they're on their best behavior is supposed to make him forget what they can do when they want or need to. I also don't see why Jessica had to arrange for this during Betsy's honeymoon - you'd think there'd be other times when she could trick everyone into being together, maybe during a vacation later on. Davidson tries to make it seem as though the events of this story might have initiated some sort of change in Nick's feelings for Betsy, maybe made him hate and fear her less, but I've already read the most recent book in the series, and he's so venomous towards her that this story might as well not have happened."Survivors":Con is the star of a survival show. The latest episode of his show is supposed to be about survival techniques out in the ocean, but the boat he's on ends up getting separated from the filming crew and all the food. Although he's supposed to be a survival expert, he's not doing too well on his own until he's approached by silver mermaid who offers to help him. She does her best to feed him, keep him hydrated, and tow him to land. While they're on land, she changes her tail into a pair of legs and continues to keep him fed. The two of them soon have sex, and it isn't long before Con starts wondering if he really wants to be rescued. Once he's found, he'll have to go back to doing his show, and mermaids can't be far from water for long.I might get made fun of for saying this, but I actually enjoyed this story. Con came across as a bit of a likable idiot - I mean, come on, a survival expert who refuses to do things he knows will save his life and doesn't make sure to be properly equipped for ocean survival? The mermaid, Reanesta, pretty much stole the show, and I'm so glad that Davidson alternated chapters written from Con's point of view with chapters written from Reanesta's point of view.Because of her coloring (which she calls a noncolor), Reanesta is convinced that she's ugly, so she's sure that Con wouldn't find her attractive or want to sleep with her. Those who find "woman who thinks she's ugly finds guy who thinks she's hot" stories to be appealing will probably enjoy that aspect of this story. I particularly found Reanesta's non-humanness appealing. Since she hadn't ever interacted with humans before, she didn't really grasp why Con would be uncomfortable with her biting the heads off fish, and she had no problems with nudity. She also didn't have a great grasp of humor - at one point, she teases Con by calling him her pet, because she has to care for him and he's helpless without her. She doesn't mean what she's saying, but he doesn't know that (actually, I wasn't even sure she was kidding, at first)."Speed Dating, Werewolf Style: Or, Ow, I Think You Broke the Bone":Cain is a competitive werewolf who's just realized that she's almost the last of her friends from childhood not to be married. She determined to fix that, but she's only got 22 days. She enlists the help of her best friend Saul, who's her only remaining single friend and who doesn't seem to mind that status. Saul sets up a speed dating event for her, but none of the werewolves he's found for her are suitable. When she goes on a blind date with a werewolf who's heard she's looking for a mate, she almost gets raped and is saved by Saul. The experience scares Cain a bit, but it scares Saul, too, and he starts making it even harder for her to find a mate. The truth is, Saul has never married because he's loved Cain for years, even if she's never noticed.If I hadn't known who this story was by, I might not have figured out that Saul loved Cain and was sabotaging her attempts at finding a mate as quickly as I did. As it was, I figured it out almost immediately, which made Cain seem like an even bigger and blinder idiot. Overall, though, I enjoyed this story. I'm a big fan of "the guy who's right for her is right under her nose" stories.(Original review, with read-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)