Review updated for audio edition : Collected by Shawntelle Madison (UF)

Goodreads

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Book Blurb

Natalya Stravinsky, the charmingly neurotic werewolf from Coveted, is featured in this prequel novella. Before Thorn Grantham returned to South Toms River, New Jersey, Natalya lived alone with her stash of holiday trinkets. Her life takes an interesting turn when she faces a difficult challenge: to find a stolen figurine she'd recently won from a magical creatures auction website. It should be simple, just demand for it back from the pesky thief. But a set of events occurs that puts not only her life at risk, but her family's as well.

Check out other books in the Coveted Series:
Bitter Disenchantment (Prequel Novella #0.4)
Collected (Prequel Novella #0.5)
Coveted (Book #1)
Kept (Book #2)

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Toot's Review

Let me just say this, I really enjoyed Collected. I definitely love the Coveted series so far and can't wait for the next one, Kept to come out (due 11/27/12), so this was a great little appetizer to keep me tied over until then.  Collected is a great little prequel/novella that takes place 7 months before the first book Coveted. Nat has a bad case of OCD and collects holiday decorations to help bandage some pretty soul deep issues. She wins an online auction for a figurine and is supper excited about it. When it's due to arrive, it's stolen off her doorstep. Now as a collector myself, I totally can sympathize with her. I know I've been driven half mad waiting for something to come in the mail and become a total witch when it doesn't arrive when it should. I can't imagine my "precious" being stolen from my doorstep, the nerve! Anywho, in order to get it back, the perp makes a bargain with her and chaos ensues.

Shawntelle writes a fun, fast-paced story that anyone who collects can surely sympathize with and for those that don't collect, well you'll love the story too.

It's a wonderful story that basically boils down to the moral....be careful what you buy at an online auction, you might just get more then you bargained for.

Update: Shawntelle was sweet enough to ask Toot's to review the new audio version of this story. The audio version is narrated by Audio Élan, whom does a wonderful job bringing werewolf Nat to life. Audio expertly coaxes the listener into Nat's world via a mixed bag of beautifully narrated voices. As a frequent audio book listener, I know how important a good voice actor is to a story. They can either add to it or in some cases really, really ruin it but that is not the case here. Audio does a fabulous job bring depth and dimension to this unique world built by Shawntelle Madison. Definitely worth the download. 

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Audio version: Audible

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4 out of 5 books