Title: Kiss me Deadly

Author: Edited by Trish Telep with 13 contributors (listed below)

Genre: YA/Paranormal

Publisher: Running Press Kids
Publication Date: August 3, 2010
Paperback: 432 pages

If you can possibly thirst for more mysterious metaphysical accounts of love, Trisha Telep has organized some of the greatest and most thrilling tales of paranormal paramours since The Eternal Kiss. She presents the acclaimed literary talent of thirteen unique authors, creating a collection of stories that will undoubtedly capture the imagination of every soul who dares to read them. Werewolves, ghosts, zombies, vampires, and fallen angels drive the plot of these riveting romances.

Kiss Me Deadly includes the exceptional writings of several authors, including:

• Sarah Rees Brennan (faeries)
• Becca Fitzpatrick (angels)
• Caitlin Kittredge (witches)
• Karen Mahoney (vampires: sequel to story from The Eternal Kiss)
• Daniel Marks (ghost kids)
• Justine Musk (sorcerers)
• Diana Peterfreund (unicorns)
• Michelle Rowen (demons)
• Carrie Ryan (zombies)
• Maggie Stiefvater (werewolves)
• Rachel Vincent (banshees)
• Daniel Waters (zombies)
• Michelle Zink (gothic ghosts)

Why did I read this book: I loved Telep’s previous anthology, The Eternal Kiss and had been waiting for this one anxiously.

How did I get this book: I got an ARC at BEA

Review:

Kiss Me Deadly is an anthology with all new stories by several YA authors, some of them new-to-me. It is edited by Trisha Telep who also edited The Eternal Kiss anthology published last year. I read (and reviewed) The Eternal Kiss and was extremely impressed by the quality of the stories and it was a no-brainer that I would be picking up this new one as well. As with its predecessor, this new anthology has a well-balanced collection of short stories. Out of the 12 stories I read (the collection is supposed to have 13, but my ARC did not contain the story by Becca Fitzpatrick, which will only be a part of the finished product) , one I intensely disliked, 3 I enjoyed to a certain extent and the remaining 8 were, for lack of a better word, completely and totally awesome.

I find myself more and more attracted to short stories these days: a completely different animal from a novel, yet still a perfectly viable form of storytelling. I would even say that when a short story is good, it is really good and I admire authors who can write both shorts and full-length novels. The feeling I had reading those 8 stories aforementioned was that the authors took their time really thinking about them. Diana Peterfreund’s, Carrie Ryan’s and Dan Water’s for example are set in the same world as their full length novels but can be perfectly read as stand alone, because the world-building was less important than the characters and story. This is not to say that attention was not given to the background, it is just that it was integrated in the stories in a way that it never overshadowed the storytelling. It this vein, it didn’t matter to me that I never read a Dan Water novel before, because everything I needed to know about his world came from his main character’s feelings (and I have to say that now I completely understand why Thea is bananas about both Carrie Ryan and Dan Waters’ books) .

A final word before I proceed to examine each story on its own. The Eternal Kiss had a “theme” as all stories had vampires in them. Kiss Me Deadly is supposed to be about “paranormal love” , except that I think this description builds a certain expectation that all stories will be about romantic love when they are not. All stories are paranormal stories, with a great diversity of paranormal creatures and within different genres too but I can’t say that romance is a thread that links all of them and some of them don’t have romance at all. “Love” makes an appearance in the majority of stories, but it can be parental love or the love of a nun for her unicorn. I would go as far as to say that the stories that are supposed to be the most romantic ones are the weakest ones in my opinion – if there is one thing that is really hard to build in the confines of a short story is a believable romance.

Having said that, the stories as they appear in the anthology are:

The Assassin’s Apprentice by Michelle Zink

Rose comes from a long line of Descendants (from Angels) and her entire family has been killed by a demon. Bent on revenge, she is about to attack said demon when she comes across an Assassin’s Apprentice named Asher with whom she forms an alliance. Assassin are usually in charge of protecting the Descendants but Rose is fully capable of taking care of herself, thanks very much. I thought this story had an interesting premise and mythology although the historical setting was not in depth enough for me to know when it was set exactly. I like Rose as protagonist, but felt the romance that started between her and Asher too rushed and artificial, almost like an after-thought to the story. 6 out of 10

Errant by Diana Peterfreund

Part of Peterfreund’s Unicorn Hunters series, Errant is set in the 18th century French when a nun , sister Gitta (a Unicorn Hunter) , accompanied by her unicorn, arrives at a chateau just before the wedding of a girl named Eloise. As part of the celebration, a traditional Unicorn Hunt is to be enacted with Gitta’s help. This story is excellent as it develops, quite well these two characters. Starting with animosity from Gitta’s side – her frustration with these people and this girl who know nothing about tradition and sacrifice, expect yes, yes she does and Gitta slowly realises that and the relationship that builds between the two girls is incredible. There is a communion of spirits between them (and the unicorn) and I would like to use the author’s own words to describe this story:

18th century French feminist killer unicorn story about a nun and a bride and a forest full of monsters.

Perfect. 8 out of 10

The Spirit Jar by Karen Mahoney

This story by Karen Mahoney once again follows her character, the vampire Moth which was introduced in a story in The Eternal Kiss anthology in her struggle to get rid of her Maker, Theo. She keeps going on missions to rescue certain objects for Theo in the hope that one enough difficult missions will buy her freedom. This time around, she travels to London after a book when she meets a part-djinn boy named Adam who is also after the book – he needs it to release his girlfriend’s soul who is entrapped in a spirit jar. Moth is conflicted as to whether help him or just get the book and go away – is she Moth or is she still Marie, the girl she used to be? I loved Moth when I first read about her and I loved her even more here with her reluctant (or is it?) willingness to help the boy. 8 out of 10.

Lost by Justine Musk

I love the opening lines of this story:

“I’ve always been good at finding lost things, but three weeks after a car accident dumped my best friend in a coma, I was the thing that felt lost. And nobody knew where to find me.
Except for one person.”

This is a bittersweet, quite dark-ish tale, a remaining of a well known (and to me, well-loved) Greek myth, which I will leave unspoiled as part of the fun in this story is to slowly realise together with Sasha, the main character, what is her role. Although I liked the premise and enjoyed the writing, I felt that on this case the short format did not help, a longer story was needed to properly develop this. It does work as a teaser though and I would definitely be more interested in learning more. 7 out of 10.

The Spy Who Never Grew Up by Sarah Rees Brennan

It is no surprise that Sarah Rees Brennan, the author of the Demon Lexicon series is one of my favourite writers right now. This story is another reason why. It is funny and terminally clever and maybe even creepy. Peter Pan has been co-opted by the Queen of England to become a spy for the Country in exchange for a “mother” who turns out to be Wendy’s great-great granddaughter.

What I ADORE about this story is how the author totally, completely “gets” Peter Pan. From

“To die for your country,” said Peter. ” “Would that be an awfully big adventure?”

to his creepiness evidenced here by how he has sort of grown up a little bit yet he still has his baby teeth and his need for a mother, any mother. I loved how the girl has been prepared by generations of girls who have been used by Peter and when she faces him it is with a pepper spray in hand. But the thing about Peter Pan, the boy who never grow up (that’s because he has no memories) is how terribly titillating the promise of adventure with him is. Plus you guys: NINJA FAIRIES. Seriously.

“The name’s Pan,” said Peter, who I must admit was showing off. “Peter Pan.”
Neither of them was really on their best behaviour. Spies rarely are.
“What will you have?” asked the bartender.
“Martini,” said Ivana. “shaken, not stirred.”
“Milk,” said Peter. “Warm, not hot.”

8 out of 10 and possibly my favourite story.

Behind the Red Door by Caitlin Kittredge

Small town boredom leads the main character Jo to be dared by her friends to visit decrepit Ash House where she meets the ghost of a boy named Nicholas Day with whom she starts a relationship – which ends up consuming her thoughts. This is part proper ghost story – terrifying and sad – part coming of age as Jo needs to decide what she wants for her life. I loved it. 7 out 10.

Hare Moon by Carrie Ryan

This is definitely another favourite. It is part of Carrie Ryan’s Forest of Hands and Teeth series. I have yet to follow this series but Thea is a HUGE fan and now I understand why. This story follows a girl named Tabitha, trapped in a village surrounded by zombies torn between the mysteries of the outside world and the possibility of love and sex with a boy from another village and her duty. The writing is evocative and beautiful about a very fundamental conflict between love and duty, history and memory and choices. 8 out of 10.

Familiar by Michelle Rowan

A story a reluctant teenage witch who, prompted by her mother, must pick a familiar. She chooses a kitten who turns out to be a shape shifter boy hiding from a clan of werewolves. Witches and their familiar are magically bonded and the bond on this case, the bond is created between the two kids – with eventually extrapolated into a romantic bond and in this case, wholly artificial. I was unimpressed by this story. 5 out of 10.

Fearless by Rachel Vincent

Part of her Soul Screamers series, and the only story in the anthology that seems to be connected with the rest of the series it belongs to. It is set about two years before the first book starts. It follows Sabine, a mara, or living nightmare. The girl is currently under arrest in a Correctional facility and there she where she lives off consuming fears from other girls while they sleep. Some of the scenes with Sabine feeding off fears are absolutely terrifying but not near as terrifying as finding out that all that stands between Sabine and madness is….Nash who seems to love her. A promise made by Nash in the last page seems to be foreboding of DOOM. 7 out of 10.

Vermillion by Daniel Marks
This was my least favourite story in the entire anthology – in fact it made me downright angry. The set up is quite vague….in Purgatory dead people take care of problems caused by spirits in the living world. Velvet is the narrator and member of a team which includes her boyfriend (and undertaker) Nick. Called to investigate some disturbances, they have to side with another team led by a girl who from the first time she sets foot in the story is met with hatred and anger by Velvet because she might be after Nick. Regardless of whether this is true or not, the story is filled with girl-hate and with Velvet being focused solely on her relationship with Nick. That does not a good story make. 4 out of 10.

The Hounds of Ulster by Maggie Stiefvater

Bryant and Sullivan are the best of friends, and they want to be rock stars. Bryant narrates this story, which is an elegy for Sullivan who is lost to Them. It is about their dreams and who they are shattered by this one Girl. This story is typical Maggie Stiefvater affair and it sparked the typical reaction in me after reading her stories. Beautiful writing, incredibly powerful setting and a highly frustrating ending and characters. I am not sure how I am supposed to feel about this story and the punch it packs in the end but I know that I somehow felt cheated. In any case, it is actually a good story. 7 out of 10.

Many Happy Returns by Daniel Waters

Another contender for favourite story. Part of Generation Dead series in which teenagers who die might come back to life albeit in a very constricted manner (slower, difficulty of speech), not exactly zombies per since they keep their personality. In this series, a small town tragedy occurs after there is a car accident and several teenage kids die. From the point of view of one of the parents, Cal observes as his friends’ kids come back to life while he hopes and waits for his daughter Mandy to wake up. I don’t care about what is it that makes the kids come back, I only know what this possibility makes it for a very suspenseful read in many ways: is it a good thing to hope for this to happen? What sort of life would Mandy live if she does? But if she doesn’t , how can Cal possibly move on? Grief, envy, lost love it is all mixed in this bag of absurdly good and sad delights. 8 out of 10.

Verdict: All in all, an excellent anthology which I highly recommend in spite of a couple of less than good stories. The excellent ones more than make up for those.

Rating: 7 Very Good (leaning towards an 8 )

Reading next: Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Our good friend, Honorary Smuggler, and Altogether Awesome Individual Karen Mahoney has her debut novel, a young adult fantasy titled The Iron Witch scheduled for release in February 2011 – and it is with the deepest, most profound JOY that we unveil her MOST EXCELLENT COVER! Behold!

The Most Excellent Cover:

Seriously, isn’t it GORGEOUS? The fonts, the color, the girl’s pose. It is all pretty awesome and we cannot wait to read it (is it February yet?).

For now, we have a few extra tidbits for you to feast your eyes upon.

The Blurb:

Freak. That’s what they called seventeen year-old Donna Underwood in high school after a horrific fey attack that killed her father when she was just a child. Her injuries and rehabilitation resulted in magically enhanced strength, thanks to the iron tattoos branding her hands and arms. As a child of the alchemists, she is both blessed and cursed with a magical heritage that permeates her life with duty and sacrifice.

Now, after ten years of wishing for a normal life, she finally has to
accept her role in the centuries-old war against the darkest outcasts
of Faerie: the Dark Elves. Aided by a gorgeous half-fey dropout, Donna must race to save her best friend’s life – even if it means betraying the secret of immortality and confronting the very thing that destroyed her family.

The Exclusive Excerpt:
Please note: excerpt is pre-copyedits and subject to change

They let themselves out of the house and Donna toed an empty beer bottle out of the way as she glanced across the street. And then she gasped as she saw a skinny shadow duck down behind the low wall surrounding the opposite house’s front yard.

Her mouth was suddenly dry and she stopped walking.

“What’s up?” Navin had his hand on the heavy iron gate, ready to step out onto the sidewalk.

“Wait,” she replied, grabbing his arm and wincing as she squeezed too tightly.

He frowned and made a big show of rubbing his arm as she released him. He studied her face for a moment. “Donna, what is it?”

She scanned the street, swallowing past the lump in her throat. Her
heart was pounding. There! There it was again.

A small silhouette moved with uncanny grace, sliding through the
shadows as it climbed over the wall into the next yard.

“Do you see that? Something just went over that wall, I saw it.” She was whispering and knew she must sound like she’d lost the plot, but she couldn’t help it. Donna was certain that whatever she’d just seen slithering through the shadows was something a lot more sinister than a Really Big fox.

“There’s nothing there, Donna.” Navin fixed her with a strange look.
“Are you sure you haven’t been drinking?”

“Shut up, you know I haven’t.”

“Actually, I have no way of knowing that considering how you decided to spend most of the evening wandering around upstairs in a strange house. On the roof.” He raised an eyebrow, something Donna had always wished she could do. The single-eyebrow raise was, sadly, not something she had ever been able to master. Not even with Nav’s expert tuition.

“Oh, just forget it.” She let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d
been holding. “Maybe I really am going nuts.”

“Going nuts? I’m sorry to inform you that it’s far too late for that, Underwood.”

Resisting the temptation to demonstrate just how strong she really
was, Donna couldn’t hold back a sigh of relief when their cab pulled
up. At least Navin was teasing her again. The tension between them
from moments before seemed to have lifted. But she still couldn’t help
looking over her shoulder as she climbed into the backseat of the cab,
and she knew she wouldn’t feel happy until they’d gotten out of there.

Donna was almost certain that something had been watching them from across the street, and the crawling sensation in her stomach stayed with her all the way home.

The Iron Witch will be published by Flux in February 2011 and Random House Australia in March 2011.

Welcome to Smugglivus – Day 28!

Throughout this month, we will have daily guests – authors and bloggers alike – looking back at their favorite reads of 2009, and looking forward to events and upcoming books in 2010.

Today’s Guests: Liz and Mark of the speculative fiction/horror/fantasy blog My Favorite Books. Liz and Mark are quite the married couple – they promote a lot of the finest up and coming books in the UK and KNOW EVERYONE. It’s staggering! So, naturally, we had to have ‘em over for Smugglivus.

Please give it up for Liz and Mark!

Retrospection and the Future

Events 2009

2009 for MFB (read for Mark and myself) has been a very interesting year. We set out to become as active as we possibly could within the blogging and reviewing community. We attended as many signings as we could, we created an autograph book and took it around to every event we attended, we took photos and we reported on various events.

It’s been a blast. When it comes to the adult events, the highlight was definitely the unexpected and very flash invite to attend the Gollancz Autumn party which was a fantastic evening. We got to hang out with some of the coolest and most creative people in the industry today – I got to say “hi” again to the amazing Robert Holdstock and found him to be as gracious and friendly as ever. I got to embarrass myself utterly by having the most cringeworthy conversation with Sam Sykes, debut Gollancz author, ever and then got rescued by Ana, Gav and Mark. Thank the gods.

Here it is to illustrate why I should not be left alone with people:

ME: You look a bit like Jack Black. I agree with Alex. (that would be Alex Bell)
HIM: Really? I am not sure I am happy with that…should I be insulted?
ME: You shouldn’t be – Jack Black was hot when he was younger.
HIM: !!!!
ME: Actually, more like Leo Di Craprio now, to be honest. It’s the eyes.
HIM: !!! What, I hate him.
ME: Oh, look at that: the earth just cracked open to swallow me. *dies*

On the kids’ side, the coolest event has to be a tie-up between Random House Three Author evening and the Puffin event. Both totally exceeded my expectations and I’ve now become fans of even more authors and am now unhealthily fascinated by Jason Bradbury…

The largest event we attended this year was definitely Eastercon. It. Was. Amazing. And for the record, I booked our tickets for 2010 already. Not only do you get to hang around with some cool writerly types, publisher types, and readers and fan-types, there is the traders hall and zomg, the lovely beautiful books they were selling was just ace!

Here are some choice photos from various events and some photos of some autographs from our autograph book.

2009 in retrospect

I read my first ever Eoin Colfer novel: Airman – and loved it. I thought that if this was the way the new year is starting, things are only going to get better. Mark discovered Brent Weeks and fell in love – embarrassingly he’s now quite a fan-boy but is still torn about his Joe Abercrombie/Brent Weeks allegiance. Mark also got the chance to get stuck quite heavily into his Black Library books and keeps raving at me about them and all you have to do is look at his reviews and you can tell that he’s a fan of the authors and their writing. He’s currently reading Gav Thorpe’s The Shadow King and it does sound simply amazing.

One of my many highlights for 2009 was Tom Lloyd’s The Stormcaller. I couldn’t believe the complexity and depth of character, political plotting and force of storytelling. It blew me away. I’ve not read the other novels as yet – I’m waiting for them to be in travelsized editions as lugging the oversized books around is just way too heavy. But I’d heartily recommend Tom’s writing. Definitely an author who deserves a larger profile for writing proper epic fantasy that makes you want to swing a sword yourself.

Probably one of the most illustrious people we got to meet this year was Raymond E Feist. Who sushed me. Yes, you read that correctly. I got all fan-girly and got him to sign my various books and I took photos and I then stood to the side, giggling with Danie Ware from Forbidden Planet and Kaz-Mahoney-soon-to-be-very-famous-author, and we made so much noise he looked up from his signing, scowled deeply and said “Can you please be quiet?” we were dumbstruck. Then he laughed and said “only kidding” and then did the rest of the signing whilst chatting to us and his various fans. *phew*

In May I tackled one of the most difficult books I’ve ever read and although I didn’t want to, I decided to put the review up regardless. The Atlantis Code by Charles Brokaw just did not sit well with me at all. It broke my heart because it was badly written, the story was unrealistic and the characters were flat and awful. He had managed to destroy one of my favourite genres. I have subsequently had a great number pop by the blog to leave their own negative comments and although it’s not something I’m proud of, I’m just relieved to have found that I’m not the only one who has issues with it.

We had the chance to attend – as volunteers – The Gemmell Awards. The event was a stunning celebration of one author’s strength of personality and determination to write larger than life fiction. So many authors and publisher peeps were there and we all felt very glamourous, swanning around in our fab outfits. Naturally, we got to swing axes around after the fact and needless to say, it’s been grand and if the inaugural Awards were this well received, we’re hoping for an even better year in 2010.

Looking at this entire year’s reading and things we got up, we’ve had a bumper year. I’ve read and reviewed in excess of a hundred books. Which I’m quite proud of but I know others out there who have read vastly more than that!

Goals for MFB for 2010:

Read more books to review, run even more competitions and stalk authors mercilessly for interviews.

On a personal level I want to read more fantasy. I’ve not read much fantasy this past year and I feel the need to sink my teeth into big books and experience some epic battles. I also want to read / try to read science fiction regularly – I’ll try a book a month, I think! I can see Ana and Thea laughing their heads off already. Shush! I also want to try and establish a level playing field for myself when reviewing. At the moment I’ve been swept off my feet by so many great childrens’ and YA books coming up that I’ve completely let all my adult reading fall by the wayside. Not good! Mark mentioned that he’ll be focussing on reading more sci fi this year too, along with some non-fiction books, which will be interesting for us as we tend to share books we’ve read and then we have little arguments about them…maybe I take a leaf out of The Book Smuggler’s forest and we do co-reviews!

Something I’m also thinking of bringing onto the blog is relishing “older” books and authors we’ve somehow managed to miss reading. I think highlighting these authors we feel passionate about, and who we owe our love of reading to, is a good idea! If we can garner these guys a new audience, then we’ve won a little bit, at least.

We’ll be doing as many events as we can in 2010 and we’ll try and blog about as many as we can and give away random goodies from these events, if there are any to be had. Stay tuned for that.

Overall, I’m incredibly excited about 2010 as a reader – forget reviewing, that’s accidental (and a happy accident) – but having had the chance to see some of the amazing novels coming out from the big names and the indies, I can’t wait for it all to happen soon dammit! One of the crowning moments for 2010 – for me personally as a big fan and reader of his books – is the publication of Phil Rickman’s novel: The Bones of Avalon with the main character being Elizabeth I’s conjuror and alchemist and maybe the original 007, John Dee. I’ve read the opening chapters and people, it’s amazing.

I can go on and on and on about upcoming books but to be honest, it’s going to get tedious and dull. All I want to say is: support your authors and bookshops. Without us, their readers and clients, these talented people won’t have jobs. Show your love by buying books from independents bookshops too, keep talking about authors and where you buy, and challenge yourself by trying a new author or a new genre and to just keep on reading!

Thanks Liz & Mark!

Next on Smugglivus: Gav of Next Read

Karen Mahoney ( a.k.a. Official Honorary Book Smuggler) is a Young Adult writer whose first story, Falling to Ash has been published in The Eternal Kiss Anthology (reviewed today by Ana) . She is also one of the Deadline Dames and can be found writing about writing, reading and other cool stuff in her livejournal. When we were organising the YA month ,we just knew we would invite her over.

We are more than happy to give the floor to Karen Mahoney and her post on writing YA.

____________
Eternal Teenagers

I write YA fiction because every time I sit down to write something, my characters turn out to be 17 or 18. Apparently, this means I write YA. I think I’m drawn to these ages because this is when a lot happened in my own life, and those experiences always seem more important and powerful when you’re going through all the inevitable changes that the teenage years bring. All those ‘first times’ that we go through… It makes for wonderful drama and conflict in fiction. The potential for emotional writing is huge, and I love writing big emotional scenes. I remember how brave I could be at 17 – there’s a fearless quality to being a teenager that I wish I could get back.

I used to work with older teens, as a student advisor, and I learned so much during that time. I think it was then that I realised I wanted to focus on the teenage years in my fiction. Now that I’m writing YA urban/contemporary fantasy, I can allow my imagination to soar while still grounding myself in the very real issues of what it’s like to be growing up in today’s society. To think that I’m writing books and stories that might one day be read by young adults who experience things so passionately… that just blows me away!

My story in THE ETERNAL KISS, ‘Falling to Ash’, is about an 18-year-old vampire called Moth. She was Turned into a vamp over a decade ago, so she’s really a 28-year-old woman stuck in the body of a teenager. I love thinking about all the questions and issues that raises: imagine being trapped as a teenager for eternity… How would you change and grow? Would you develop as a regular human being should do, or would you always be just a little immature? (Moth can be quite immature and impetuous, but at the same time the wisdom of her years shows through when she needs it.) How would it feel to see ‘real’ teenagers enjoying life, while you just continue on the way you’ve always been? Never growing physically older, but perhaps feeling the weight of years as each one passes. Imagine how it would affect your family and friends. What would you tell them? Would you tell them? All these things I’ve explored with Moth, and packing it into 32 pages wasn’t easy! Luckily, I’ve now written a novel about her (BEAUTIFUL GHOSTS) which I hope will be picked up by a publisher one day. Watch this space…

______________

In her varied career Karen Mahoney has been a professional Tarot reader, a college counsellor, a dating agency consultant and a bookseller. Ever since she was six years old what she really wanted to be was Wonder Woman, but has instead settled for being a writer which she thinks is the most fun you can have without bulletproof bracelets.

Her YA contemporary fantasy, THE IRON WITCH (Book 1 of The Ironbridge Chronicles), is currently on submission in the US. Among other work she has recently completed a companion novel, BEAUTIFUL GHOSTS, which is set in the same world but completely stands alone. It continues the adventures of Moth, the teenage vampire who was introduced to readers in her recently published short story, ‘Falling to Ash’.

A huge thank you to Karen for the great post.

Now for the giveaway:

Karen is generously offering a signed copy of The Eternal Kiss to one lucky reader! The contest is open to anyone, and will run until Saturday August 1st 11:59pm (PST). To enter, simply leave a comment here. Good luck!

Title: The Eternal Kiss

Author: Various – see list below.

Genre: YA (all vampire stories)

Publisher: Running Press
Publishing date: July 28, 2009
Paperback: 416 pages

Stand alone or series: both. Some stories are stand alone some are part of series.

Summary: There’s an allure to vampire tales that have seduced readers for generations. From Bram Stoker to Stephanie Meyer and beyond, vampire stories are here to stay. For those fresh-blooded fans of paranormal romance or for those whose hunt and hunger never dies, these stories have what readers want! This collection of original tales comes from some of the hottest, most popular, and best-selling YA writers.

Why did I read the book: FULL DISCLOSURE – I don’t usually read anthologies but I just had to read this one mainly for two reasons: my friend Karen Mahoney has a story in it (hooray!) and I was very happy and proud about it! And because of Sarah Rees Brennan ‘s story –she is now an instant-buy for me.

Review:

The Eternal Kiss is a new anthology for Young Adults with 13, vampire-themed short stories. In all honesty, usually I find that anthologies have one or two stories that are REALLY good and the remaining ones, mediocre at best (unless we are talking about Neil Gaiman and the book Smoke and Mirrors, but I digress). To my surprise, I found The Eternal Kiss to be a really well-balanced collection of stories and I ended up enjoying all of them (although some more than others, of course). It also worked really well for me as a taster for I had never read any book by most of these writers before. I particularly enjoyed Maria Snyder, Rachel Caine and Kelley Armstrong’s writing – Thea has been raving about these writers for some time now and I am yet to pick up their books. Their stories here gave me the final push, definitely.

Another aspect that is relevant to mention is how diverse these stories are: some of them are self-contained, others are clearly connected to other stories by the authors or the beginning of a larger tale. There is also a great variety in the way the vampires are approached (good vampires, bad vampires, romantic vampires, etc) and with regards to the genre of each story: there is Comedy, Romance, a lot of Horror and Urban Fantasy.

Now, for the stories themselves in the order they appear in the anthology :

Falling to Ash by Karen Mahoney – a Vampire called Moth reunites with her sire (whom she may or may not love) and he tasks her to get the ashes of a staked vampire kept by the vampire hunter who killed him. He meets with the hunter’s son and they have a stand-off. I really liked Moth and her attitude – how can you not love a young(ish) vampire girl named Moth. Really? – and there are a couple of cool fighting sequences and an interesting spin on vampire lore. This is clearly an open-ended story and the author has been working on Moth’s story.

Shelter Island by Melissa de la Cruz – a 15 year old girl who lives in a mysterious holiday place – Shelter Island – and one night is visited by a vampire boy who is terrified of someone out there. This is a very short story and although I liked the writing well enough and the idea behind the story , this was also the one tale that frustrated me the most. Note to Young Adults out there: if you find that there is a vampire living inside your closet you run for help, you scream for your parents, you pick up a lamp and throw at him, you FREAK OUT. You do not, I repeat, do not, keep it a secret and then offer your neck as a sustenance. Just saying.

Sword Point by Maria V. Snyder – Ava is a very driven teenage girl who loves fencing and wishes to make the Olympics. She starts training at the Academy of the Sword and then meets a guy named Jarrett who is a martial arts instructor and who ends up introducing Ava to the supernatural world. This is one of the stories where vampires =BAD. I was surprised at how in such a short amount of pages, Maria Snyder was able to convey a lot about Ava and I really liked this character and her voice.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black – Ah. Easily one of the best stories in the book – another one where vampires are not really GOOD. A young girl tries to fight becoming a vampire after she is bitten. If she manages not to drink blood for a number of days, the venom is expelled – she does that by being constantly drunk. But it is hard and even harder when she finds out that a friend and the guy she loves have gone to Coldtown, where the vampires live. This is a pretty atmospheric and horrific self-contained tale. I loved it.

Undead is Very Hot Right Now by Sarah Brennan – Hands down my favourite story in the anthology and worth the purchase just for this one. I have read Sarah Rees Brennan’s book The Demon’s Lexicon (recently released) and found that I really like her brand of sarcastic humour, something that is really evident in this short story. Basically, a young vampire joins a boy band and hilarity ensues as he tries to fit in this new world. Do you know how in each boy band, there is always one that is the “hot” one, or the “cool” one? Christian is the “gimmick” and every single cliché about boy bands and vampires are explored here to maximum laugh out loud factor.

Kat by Kelley Armstrong – I thought this to be a very interesting story as Kat and her vampire guardian flee some unknown pursuers. Kat is the result of a genetic experiment and she knows that she is a paranormal being of some sort (she wishes she could be a were-cat) but so far there is no evidence of WHAT she is. I like the dynamics between Kat and her foster mother and the fighting scenes were cool too. It reads like the beginning of a new series.

The Thirteenth Step by Libba Bray – Another one of the more “horrific” variety in which a girl finds a job at a House for recovering addicts. She is driven there because of her own, unhappy family story with drugs and her need to do something. Unfortunately things are not what it seems and there is a thirteenth step that all must go through. There is a bit of romance to counterbalance the horror of a self-contained story.

All Hallows by Rachel Caine – This is the only story that is part of a larger series, The Morganville Vampires series. I have not read any of them but I was not lost when I read All Hollows. It did make me wonder about the overall story arc though – seems pretty interesting. Eve Rosser dates a vampire and then he goes missing and together with some friends (including a hunter) she goes after him.

Wet Teeth by Cecil Castellucci – I loved the opening sentence of this one, with a vampire musing about how pieces of skin always remain on his teeth after he bites someone. It is a very appropriate opening to a creepy story – it sets the mood just fine. Another horror story and a sad one at that. Boy meets girl and there is no happily ever after.

Other Boys by Cassandra Clare- there is a new guy in school and he says he is a vampire – attracting the girl who is the main character. Things are not what they seem though and there is a twist. This one is another horror story and even though it wasn’t bad, it didn’t rock my world either.

Passing by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié – Now, this one has an interesting premise. In a post Vampire -apocalypse world, a group of students go to the Academia, in Spain (love the setting) to learn how to become hunters. There is a lot of background that was left out but the story is interesting enough and I wouldn’t mind reading more about it. Here is hoping for a series.

Ambition by Lili St. Crow – I think this is the darkest of the stories in the anthology, one that has an ending open for interpretation and no matter how much I think of it, I only come up with this terrifying feeling. This is a story of bullies and high school separation of class – and also about a girl who ends up being seduced (and dazed) by the dark side. I sort of liked it, in a totally creepy kind of way. Reminded me of Heathers.

All Wounds by Dina James – another one that seems to be the beginning of a new series with a girl struggling to make do with going to school and taking care of her grandmother who seems to be losing her mind. Then, she discovers that there is more to her family than she thought and that things like vampires and hellhounds are very much real. And …there is a set up for a Love Triangle of Doom and god damn me, I liked both guys.

And check out the Australian cover:

Which one do you prefer?

Additional Thoughts: Karen Mahoney will be here later today guest blogging about writing for Young Adults and you will have a chance to win a signed copy of The Eternal Kiss.

Verdict: overall, a pretty good collection of short stories. Horror seems to be the main genre though, so if you are looking for HEA and Romance you won’t find it in here.

Rating: 7 very good.

Reading Next: Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink

Yesterday I received a VIP for dinner. It was one of the Deadline Dames, our Good Friend, Official Honorary Book Smuggler, Pimp Extraordinnaire and as of yesterday, one of Ana’s Soul Mates, Karen Mahoney.

I was super nervous, couldn’t sleep. I mean, how do you prepare yourself and your house to welcome a proper Dame? I woke up at 6 to slave around the house, scrub the floors and cook a feast fit for a queen. She arrived and….I will let her tell you the story in details and with photos:

The One Where Ana and Kaz Go to Cambridge

Thanks for a most excellent day dude!!!

I believe one of the best things about blogging is the friendships that have been born since we started. One such good friend is Karen Mahoney – a few months ago, this Karen person started to comment on the blog and then one day she emailed us to talk about our Neil Gaiman, an author she also loves. We started exchanging emails back and forth and of course, we now read her own Livejournal as much as she reads our blog. Karen is super cool, a geek such as us and she is a writer as well, with her first story about to be published in an anthology.

This whole post is to say that luckily, Karen lives in England as I do and today I went to London to finally meet her in person! We had a splendid time, chatting over coffee for 3 HOURS about all sorts of things.

This is a picture of us, at Murder One, where she works. I am holding in my hand, the “excuse” we had for meeting up: the collection of Manga she lent me for a Manga Appreciation Week we have in the works!

It was really great and I can’t wait to see her again – which I am sure, will happen soon, right Karen?