I am predisposed to romance, mystery, and M/M, so this is right up my alley.

Nicole Kimberling - Entree to Murder - Chef and Cop, both pretty likable. Unfortunately the ending was weak. The careless traipsing into danger was already a stretch of all decent sense, but then to be told very pointedly that the entire case had already been solved and that there had been no benefit whatsoever to risking their lives, was kind of a nail in the coffin. (If the situation had been made so that his friend would have perhaps been killed in the meantime it would have at least been something, but she was unlikely to have ventured that far without him). I think this was entirely from the Chef's POV if I'm recalling right, which I get with the mystery, but it kinda keeps me a bit on the outside with the love interest. I would consider reading something else by this author though. Rounding up, 3 stars.

Meg Perry - Twelve Seconds - Journalist and southern ex-cop (he's like a special agent with the airforce or something now but also a civilian? I didn't get a firm handle on it.) I enjoyed the dynamic between these two more than the mystery, but the mystery facilitated their budding relationship well, so I'm fine with it. Dual PoV. 4 stars.

S.C. Wynne - Reality Bites - Cop and TV producer(?) Single PoV from the cop. I found these two likable enough, but I think there was more of a focus on the mystery than developing their characters, (and the mystery was only so-so). Still I had sort of mild feelings of happiness when they got together. 3 stars.

L.B. Gregg - Blind Man's Buff - Meh, this one was a little weak, but perhaps not down to a 2. 1st person single PoV. Two high school teachers I believe. PG. I wasn't invested enough to care that much about their trials and danger, and that was 95% of the story, so... I hadn't read anything quite like this scenario before though, and the leads weren't unlikeable. Rounding up to 3 stars.

Dal Maclean - A Country for Old Men - This one was especially interesting to me, and I always feel like novellas lend themselves well to 2nd chance romances, (complete strangers to soulmates is harder to believably pull off in so limited of pages). Their hurdle was very buyable, and the danger in the end was well plotted. It was kinda touching as well. I hadn't read this author before, but I will seek out more. 5 stars.

Z.A. Maxfield - Pepper the Crime Lab - Meh, I didn't hate this, but it just didn't reel me in at all, and I was kind of indifferent, at best, to both leads. Forgettable. 2 stars.

C.S. Poe - Lights, Camera, Murder - P.I. and actor, single PoV. The mystery and plot were kind of meh, but I did like the characters alright, so I'm okay rounding up. 3 stars.

Josh Lanyon - Stranger in the House - Artist/Heir, class difference and first crush tropes. Single PoV. I liked these two and felt satisfied with their HEA. 4 stars.

Mostly new to me authors, it's nice to get a taste of their writing and storytelling abilities. I probably wouldn't write anyone off, even from the middling ones here though, because writing a short story is a whole different skill set from writing an entire novel and not everyone shows to best advantage in so few pages. Still, a couple have intrigued me, and I'll follow up with more of their work. Overall I'm pleased to have read it. ( )

The review for this with 8 books in one is WAY too long to put in this space so I will just say this about it. There were 8 stories in the book written by most of the M/M romance authors that I read over and over. The description called them "short stories" but they were decent lengths...each at least 100 pages. The entire book has 808 pages. I bought the book from Amazon for $7.75 a month or so ago, checking today if was $29.99, so I got a really good bargain and some really good stories from that deal. I averaged the 8 stories to come up with the4.5-star rating. The lowest star rating I gave any of them was 3 and the highest was 5. ( )

5 stars for A Country of Old Men by Dal Maclean
( )

4.5 ( )

Entrée to Murder: 4*
I adored Big Mac. Clever twist on the mystery which was already keeping me guessing. Hated Drew's best friend. Loved the elderly couple. Did I say I adored Mac?

Twelve Seconds: 3.5* Another solid entry in the anthology. Not sure about the logistics of a cop giving info to a reporter he's only just met but I liked both guys, thought they were a good match and the mystery was interesting and not something I'd heard of before. Appreciated older MCs.

Reality Bites: 3.5* Decker was an unreliable narrator, down on himself in everything from his age to his wage to his taste in food and wine. He certainly didn't think he was good enough for a tv producer with a big house and mega bucks and because it was only in his pov it was hard to know what Jax really saw in him. But that's part of what I liked about this story, Decker's insecurities, his reluctance to get involved, his denial he wanted more. The mystery was good too.

Blind Man's Buff: 3* Struggled to get into this one at first, but once it hit its stride I was hooked. The romance is very low key.

A Country for Old Men: 5* Beautiful, lyrical, heartbreaking. I sobbed ugly tears during this one. Mystery was good too.

Pepper the Crime Lab: 4* This was fun. Relationship style reminded me very much of Kit and JX. I kinda pegged the killer from the first meeting but the story was lots of fun.

Lights, Camera, Murder: 4.5* This is first CSPoe I've read. I'll definitely be picking up more. Really enjoyed this.

Stranger in the House: 4.5* Yeah. Great writing, interesting plot. I could have done with a scene or two more to fully commit to the romance but I think they'll make it :) And I like both of the MCs. I'd love a catch up at dinner point (Christmas coda?) ( )