This book is a collection of eight separate stand-alone short stories. These stories will take you on a journey of suspense, adventure, mystery and horror. There is something for everyone, whether you like gritty detective stories, mythological adventures or enticing horror, all that and more in this Menagerie.

Vanessa Ramirez, a 28-year-old employee at a beauty salon, wants to leave Mexico for greener pastures in the United States with her children, 10-year-old Lucía and 5-year-old Joaquín. With cartel violence spilling closer and closer to her doorstep every day, she seeks the help of the local coyotes—people smugglers—but is unable to afford the rising fees for their services. So, she reluctantly turns to Mexico’s criminal underworld to fund her escape and finds herself intertwined with the cartels she was so desperate to avoid.

Theo Mathis doesn’t regret defying the general manager during his brief stint on the Seattle Rainiers last season. The rainbow tape on his stick cost him dearly, but he’d do it again in a heartbeat… even though it means he’ll never get called up from the minors again while that GM is at the helm. Then a flood of injuries leaves Seattle desperate for players, and Theo gets called up after all. But he’s warned: provoke the GM again, and he will regret it. Except stick tape wasn’t the only line Theo skated over, and the temptation to cross it again has nothing to do with spite.

There’s nothing wrong with admiring a work of art, or so I tell myself…even when the admiring is more like peeping out my bedroom window, and the work of art is the shirtless, sweaty, body of the man who’s been mowing my lawn once a week every summer for years.

Dragged unwillingly back to her childhood home by the death of her estranged mother, Leda must endure strange visions, family secrets, and terrifying occurrences that lead her deep into her family's history. Forced to confront the childhood memories of her mother's frightening possession, her brother’s tragic death, and the unexplainable horrors happening during her return 15 years later, she is led down into the depths of a dark and dangerous place she may never escape from. The perfect listen for fans of "The Haunting of Hill House” and “Wishmaster.”

They call me the Ink Master. Sounds badass, right? I come from a long line of monster hunters, so why not? Don't get too excited. It's just a fancy word for librarian. In reality, I'm the most inept witch who ever had the nerve to call Salem her home. And I've just possessed myself with a demon. Yep, I accidentally invited him in, trapped him in my head, and I don't know how to get him out. And let me tell you, he is pissed. He's not just any demon either. When I flub, it has to be epic, so I summoned Chaos himself. As if I'm not enough of a hot mess on my own.

I may not know where I come from, or who I am, but I’ve done my best to build a life for myself. I know a handful of people in town, I have a nice place to live, and I enjoy my job. I look just like everyone else. But I don’t feel like everyone else, because I feel…everything. The emotions of others get tangled with my own as they race through my heart and sink into my soul.

Fred Brennan's father was a brutal man, both professionally and personally. When the kingpin died, Fred welcomed it, but not the brutal role he was thrust into. As a doctor, he's devoted his life to helping people. The last thing he wants is to fill his father's shoes, but after three years, he's no closer to offloading his dad's title onto someone else. As a mafia boss, he's forced to deal with the elite assassin organization, Lex Talionis . . . bringing him face to face with the man who runs it.

Ash is technically a fire mage, but he can't do much. Turning his bedroom lights on and off without having to get out of bed isn't exactly awe inspiring, not when anyone with the right gadget could clap and do the same thing. Worse, sometimes he senses something bigger and brighter lurking under his skin, and it feels so familiar he knows it has to be his magic, but then he burps or sneezes, and the feeling passes. So it's probably just allergies . . . or gas. Yeah . . . Not exactly brimming with magical oomph. Not anymore. It sucks.

I wasn’t a keeper. Guys just didn’t pick me, and after one too many threw me away, my heart couldn’t take it anymore. When I was traded to the Buffalo Warriors, I knew things wouldn’t be any different. Skate. Score goals. Work out. Repeat. That’s my life. I’m living the dream by playing professional hockey, and I have some amazing friends. I’m happy. Really, I am. Or at least I’m trying to be. Until the night I run into Luca.