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Holidays Are Hell (The Hollows #5.5)

by Kim Harrison (Goodreads Author), Lynsay Sands, Marjorie M. Liu (Goodreads Author), Vicki Pettersson (Goodreads Author)

3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 · rating details · 3,885 ratings · 208 reviews

This holiday, spend quality time with family and loved ones—living and dead . . .

There's no place like home for the horrordays—unless you'd prefer a romantic midnight walk through a ghost-infested graveyard . . . or a haunted house candlelight dinner with the sexy vampire of your dreams. The (black) magical season is here—and whether it's a solstice séance gone demonically...more

ebook, 384 pages

Published October 6th 2009 by HarperCollins e-books (first published January 1st 2007)

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Dec 23, 2010 Lady Danielle aka The Book Huntress rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of the Hollows series and Marjorie Liu fans

Shelves: christmas, urban-fantasy, owned-copy, short-story-collection, favorite-or-autobuy-author, christmas-reads-2010, holiday, part-of-a-series, ghost, eastern-mysticism, superhuman, shapeshifter, witch-sorcereress-healer, asian-hero-or-heroine, asian-setting, police-federal-agent-law-enforcemen, necromancy

My favorite stories in this anthology were "Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel" by Kim Harrison and "Six" by Marjorie Liu. Ironically, they weren't Christmas stories.

"Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel" by Kim Harrison

This story looks into Rachel's past, when she was eighteen, fresh out of community college, and determined to recover from her childhood of severe illness and to get a job working for Inderlander Security. Her brother Robbie is in town for Solstice Night, and wants her to go back to west coas...more My favorite stories in this anthology were "Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel" by Kim Harrison and "Six" by Marjorie Liu. Ironically, they weren't Christmas stories.

"Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel" by Kim Harrison

This story looks into Rachel's past, when she was eighteen, fresh out of community college, and determined to recover from her childhood of severe illness and to get a job working for Inderlander Security. Her brother Robbie is in town for Solstice Night, and wants her to go back to west coast with him and go to a four year college to continue her Earth Witch studies. Rachel isn't interested. Her life is in Cincinatti. They make a deal that if Rachel can raise her father's ghost and he will agree to her going into the IS, and sign her permission slip, then Robbie will support her decision. In the process, Rachel raises the spirit of Pierce, a male witch who was working for the older version of IS, tracking a vampire who preys on young girls. This was a great story. I liked how Rachel got to strut her young stuff, showing the strong woman she would one day grow into. I liked the sweet chemistry between Rachel and Pierce. It was also nice to see Rachel's family. Her brother is kind of bossy, but Rachel holds her own against him and Pierce's inbred chauvinism very well. Kim Harrison's excellent writing skills are ably-demonstrated in this short story. 5 stars.

"Run, Run Rudolph" by Lynsay Sands

At first, I wasn't sure I'd like this story. It seemed too pedestrian. Heroine owns a clothing shop. Hero owns a shoe shop. At first I wasn't sure of the tone, and the Kim Harrison story gave it a hard act to follow. Forgive my non-paranormal contemporary snobbery. As always, it helps to keep reading. It was actually really funny. I was giggling and laughing out loud like crazy! Jill was a pretty sharp heroine. She figured out pretty soon how to use the abilities that had been forced on her by a crazy scientist who used to work with her brother. This story is related to "The Claire Switch Project", which is in Dates From Hell. In that story, Jill's brother creates a machine that can destabilize molecules to allow a person to change their form to whatever they visualize. This story has a little bit of the goofy vibe of the previous story, but I liked it much better. The humor found me at a good time, I guess. I thought that Nick, the guy that Jill had been sweet on for months, was a very nice guy. I liked that he accepted Jill for what she was, helped to protect her from her pursuer, and he had felt the same way about her for months, but was waiting for the right time to declare his feelings. This was a nice, fun Christmas short story. 4 stars.

"Six" by Marjorie Liu

Marjorie knows what us comic book/action-adventure movie/romance novel-reading fangirls want! In this story, the heroine is a police officer who was trained from a young age to be an invincible fighter. She has no life outside of her work, and suppresses her longing for anything more beneath cold, hard determination. Her whole body is a weapon, and she knows how to use it. The hero is a necromancer, and they are fighting vampires that are straight out of Chinese folklore. I felt like I was watching one of those awesome Hong Kong action movies, which I love! I loved the intense bond between Six and Joseph. I loved that this book was set in China, and that the heroine is Chinese and the hero is Chinese and Russian. This book takes place on New Years' Eve, and it was interesting to see how that holiday is celebrated in China. Boy, I wanted some dumplings after I read this story; since one of the characters makes them, making me drool in the process. I think Marjorie Liu is a highly talented author, and I am kicking myself for letting all her books accumulate on my tbr pile. I plan to rectify that in the New Year. 5 stars.

"The Harvest" by Vicki Pettersson

This story took so long for me to read. The idea is intriguing but the execution was fairly tedious. I think that it would have benefited from lots more dialogue and action instead of explanatory narrative. I did like the idea of a war between good and evil and how it's been told in comic books, which the forces call 'manuals'. Zoe was a strong, vivid character. I thought she showed a lot of mettle, striving to protect her daughters and granddaughter, even at the price of giving up her own legacy. The relationship between her and her ex-lover and comrade was bittersweet. It was interesting how Ms. Pettersson built this story around Thanksgiving, and how she integrated it into this story. The Buddhist spiritual aspects are underutilized in urban fantasy. I think I would have loved this story if had been more active, with more showing. As it was, it was kind of boring. I'm sad about that. 3 stars.

Overall, this was a good collection and a nice holiday read.
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Aug 23, 2008 Janice (Janicu) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For the most part I liked this anthology better than the first one, Dates from Hell. I think most were on the "good!" side.

"Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel" by Kim Harrison. In Dates from Hell we got a story about Ivy set before she meets Rachel, and in this story, we get a story about a young teen-aged Rachel before she ever joins Inderland Security. I thought this was well done because you don't have to have read the Rachel Morgan books to understand the world (much less confusing than the story...more For the most part I liked this anthology better than the first one, Dates from Hell. I think most were on the "good!" side.

"Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel" by Kim Harrison. In Dates from Hell we got a story about Ivy set before she meets Rachel, and in this story, we get a story about a young teen-aged Rachel before she ever joins Inderland Security. I thought this was well done because you don't have to have read the Rachel Morgan books to understand the world (much less confusing than the story in Dates from Hell), plus there are a lot of new things to learn for those who read those series. We learn about Rachel's family dynamics, and about Rachel's reasons for joining IS. I was also surprised to see how different Rachel is physically in this short story than what I was used to seeing in the series, but her stubbornness and trying to do things seemingly beyond her abilities seems very familiar.

"Run, Run, Rudolf" by Lynsay Sands. If you look at the link to the first anthology, and check out the "Claire Switch Project", this is a continuation of that short story. A couple of scientists gets zapped by a "destabilizer ray" that allows them to shapeshift if they concentrate really hard. I thought that story was goofy and I think this continuation is equally so. I have checked out reviews from this book and this was many people's favorite story so I don't know.. For me, this was my least favorite of the bunch and it did not fit in with the rest of them.

"Six" by Marjorie M. Liu. I think this one is a stand alone, unconnected to an outside series, and it manages to have great world-building, action, characters, and plot in a short space. Six is a elite Chinese agent trying to track down terrorists when she stumbles upon the paranormal - vampires - not the western myth I'm used to reading about, but the Chinese version - Jiang Shi. This was a refreshing twist. Possibly my favorite of the bunch because I liked the setting - urban China. Liu has several romance novels out but I really like her urban fantasy.

"The Harvest" by Vicki Pettersson - Another one based in the world where a series is set. This is the story of Zoe Archer - the mother of the protagonist in the Signs of the Zodiac series, Joanna Archer. I thought this was a great side story to go with the series which fills us in on the motivation of Zoe's mother as well as learning about her personality and how she was able to do what she did. But, if you haven't read this series, I'm not sure how lost you would be reading this story. It's possible the answer is - quite lost. Though there are several hints that explain the world, the Zodiac world is very complex so it's hard for me to say how confused someone would be. Definitely a must-read for a Zodiac series fan though.

more detailed review at my book blog here - http://janicu.livejournal.com/22528.html (less)

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Aug 18, 2008 Seth rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: modernfantasy, shorts, themed-anthologies, borrowed, sf-f-h

My overall rating (3) is for the book as a concept and based on the two (of four) stories I've read. This is a theme collection for stories set in modern fantasy series and I don't read the other two series, so jumping in with these stories seems unwise.

I'm not sure I'll ever get around to reading the other two stories, so here are comments on the two I did read, Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel by Kim Harrison (in the Hollows series) and The Harvest by Viki Pettersson (in the Signs of the Zodiac se...more

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Nov 05, 2007 Schnaucl rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: anthology, fiction, owned, read_2007, urban_fantasy, science-fiction, november

Honestly, I was a little disappointed by this anthology. I'd really been looking forward to Kim Harrison's story because I love her Rachel Morgan series and this story was supposed to explain why Rachel is the way she is. I'm not sure I buy that this story explains that, even if Kim Harrison thinks it does. It was nice to get a look at Rachel's brother and mother, but I think Ivy's back story in Dates from Hell was much more interesting and revealing.

Lynsay Sand's story was straight up romance...more

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Nov 25, 2008 Heather G Gentle rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Kim Harrison-- decent-- I enjoyed seeing Rachel as a teen before she got into being a runner. I liked getting to know Rachel's brother a little since we don't get to know him in her Hollows series much at all. I don't know how much you'd get out of this if you don't read the series though.

Lynsay Sands-- a little too much of a straight romance for me but good humor and at least mildly entertaining.

Marjorie Liu- I found this to be the most interesting. Seems like this could be a stand alone and th...more

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Jan 03, 2011 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal-playthings, witchy-ones, worldly-weres

This was a fantastic collection of very different but entirely amazing stories. I literally couldn't put it down til I was finished last night. I would've finished earlier if darn it, I didn't have to work. However, my nose found its way back between the pages come lunch time. If you haven't ever read these authors, I highly recommend picking it up and seeing if you like their styles. If you're already a fan, this is a read you simply won't want to miss.

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Dec 03, 2007 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy, anthology

Kim Harrison and Marjorie M Liu produced to well-written novellas that can be read and appreciated by any lover of urban fantasy, even if those unfamiliar with their works. Vicki Patterson's short is excellent, but might be a harder read for those not familiar with her freshman series - but is a must-read for anyone who reads her books (explains the mysterious disappearance of Zoe Archer). The only disappointment was the short by Lyndsey Sand - written at a level best suited for a intermediate r...more

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Feb 01, 2013 Katie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I picked it up 'cause I'm trying to finish off all the Kim Harrison stories/novels. It was just ok.

Harrison: The story of how Rachel (a witch from Harrison's series) attempted to bring back the ghost of her father to ask him his opinion on what she should do with her life.

Sands: She was in the last multiple-author books w/ Harrison. She continued the story she started in the last book...yep, still kind of stupid. Now the scientist's *sister* gets hit by the science-ray and now SHE can shapeshift...more

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Dec 24, 2012 Kathy Davie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, paranormal, romance, urban

Series: "Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel" (The Hollows, 0.2)
"The Harvest" (Signs of the Zodiac, 1.5)

Four paranormal short stories with Christmas as the theme.

The Stories
Kim Harrison's "Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel" is a snapshot into Rachel's life before she joins Inderland Security and is her first meeting with Gordian Pierce.

You can find this short in Into the Woods: Tales from the Hollows and Beyond---a much better deal as it provides all the current Kim Harrison short stories for The Hol...more

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Oct 24, 2012 Fangs for the Fantasy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Like all anthologies review, we’re going to look at the stories in this separately and then consider the book as a whole.

Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel by Kim Harrison

This story follows Rachel Morgan from the Hollows series, as a teenager before she joined the IS. This is the moment, mentioned in the book, when the young Rachel accidentally summons the ghost Pierce when trying to summon her father and with him manages to foil a crime for the IS. This is where Rachel’s path is set where, still rec...more

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May 27, 2010 Cathy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban, read-in-2010, romance, zz-challenge-library-borrowed-2010, ebook-library-available, vampire, magic-users, fantasy, shifter-not-wolf, ebook-read, paranormal, anthology, short-stories

Kim Harrison's story was very good. I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed it as much before I read Black Magic Sanction. Although it is clearly intended to be read first, I think I was more intrigued because of the references to the story made in the book (and Pierce being a main character in both). Either way, I think it's a good story that should be enjoyable to Rachel Morgan fans and newbies alike. I enjoyed getting insight into Rachel's past.

Lynday Sands' story was awful. I was disappointed...more

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May 19, 2009 Tammy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romance-paranormal, urban-fantasy, witches-and-magic-users, christmas-and-holiday

I picked this up because of the backstory for both Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series and Vicki Pettersson's Zodiac series. I liked three of the four stories in this book, which is one more than I expected to like. I would have kept it for the Harrison and Pettersson stories alone, and the Liu story made me want to check out her books.

"Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel" Kim Harrison--It's Rachel Morgan as a teenager. Seriously, how was I not going to love this? We get some time with her mother, the...more

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Sep 04, 2009 Lmb rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal-pnr

I give this 3.5 just for the Vicki Pettersson story. Which is the only one I am going to talk about.

I HIGHLY suggest reading this short BEFORE moving on to book 3 of her Signs of the Zodiac series, even though it is technically a prequel.

It is pretty integral to the series. Gives us a huge amount of background information that I know I very much needed as a reader. And over all the story is very cool. ***SPOILERS BELOW****

The story is about Zoe Archer, right after her daughter Joanna's rape. Zoe...more

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Jun 02, 2011 LL rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Let's be honest upfront, I'm rating this book based on only 3 of the 4 short stories I read in the book. I was in a rush to finish this book (since it was due back to the library) and more importantly, I had just received Ilona Andrews' Magic Slays in the mail and I just had to finish up this book quickly in favour of Kate Daniels and Curran. No offense to the authors who contributed to this book in anyway, but I'm simply a HUGE fan of the Kate Daniels series...

I really enjoyed Kim Harrison's st...more

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Dec 06, 2010 Norma rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: christmas

The first story was by Kim Harrison and it was called “Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel”. If you have ever read any of her books about the I.S. runner, Rachel Morgan, then you will love this story. It takes you back to the days before she entered the I.S. She was only 18 and hadn’t fully come into herself yet. Her brother was trying to talk her into going to the University instead of following in her dad’s footsteps and joining the I.S. He convinces her to cast a spell at the huge Winter Solstice ev...more The first story was by Kim Harrison and it was called “Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel”. If you have ever read any of her books about the I.S. runner, Rachel Morgan, then you will love this story. It takes you back to the days before she entered the I.S. She was only 18 and hadn’t fully come into herself yet. Her brother was trying to talk her into going to the University instead of following in her dad’s footsteps and joining the I.S. He convinces her to cast a spell at the huge Winter Solstice event in hopes of bringing their fathers ghost back. It may be a short story, but it is every much as action packed as her full fledged novels. A must read for all Rachel Morgan fans!

The second story is Run, Run Rudolph by Lynsay Sands. It’s Christmas time and Jill should be focusing her attention on being Mrs. Claus on the parade float next to Mr. Sexy Shoes, Nick, as he plays Santa. However, everything starts to crumble around her when a mad man tricks her under the molecular destabilizer. Now she is on the run from him and has no where to turn. However, she feels duty bound to remain in the parade.

The third story takes us away from the winter holidays. It is now the time of the Chinese New Year. Six is undercover in the hopes of ending a terrorist plot to undermine the very fabric of the Chinese government. She soon discovers that things aren’t as they seem. With all her years of training, she wasn’t quite prepared to take on vampires. Thankfully, she now has Joseph by her side.

The last story in the book is The Harvest by Vicki Pettersson. Like I said earlier, I just could not get past the few pages of this story. For me, if an author can’t hook me in early, that is a bad sign of things to come. Especially when you are dealing with a short story. There are already fewer pages to write a great story in and you can’t waste time telling it. So unfortunately, this last story will be going unread by me. And as this was the first one I had ever attempted to read by her, it leaves me weary to try out any of her full novels. (less)

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Dec 20, 2011 July rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, fantasy, urban-fantasy, short-fiction

Kim Harrison's story was really the reason I bought this book. Love, love, loved reading about Rachel Morgan's first meeting with Pierce. The story was really well-written and showed Rachel's character so well. It also gave really good insight into her family, which was very welcome.

I was also pleasantly surprised that the other stories in the collection were very high quality too. Though I hadn't previously read Liu or Sands, I liked their contributions and will likely check out their other wor...more

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Sep 06, 2010 AH rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library-finds, anthology, zzread-sept-2010

Anthologies are always hit and miss for me. I'm usually happy if one story makes an impression. I picked up Holidays Are Hell because of the Kim Harrison story. Surprisingly, it was my favorite story in the book.

Here is my breakdown:
Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel by Kim Harrison - 4 stars
This is the story of an 18 year old Rachel Morgan. It takes place before Dead Witch Walking, before Rachel joins the I.S. and before she meets Ivy. We learn more about Rachel's illness as a child, her talents as a...more

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Jul 20, 2009 Amanda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-magic, fiction, mystery-suspense, read-in-2009, vampire-books, authors-kim-harrison

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 31, 2011 Nicole rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This completes my 35th book of the year and I am really psyched to have met my goal. This is a compilation of 4 novellas written by 4 well known women authors in the paranormal genra. Kim Harrison's was of course my favorite and now I finally know how she first met Pierce. I was pretty disappointed in Lynsay Sand's, I have read some of her paranormal romances which have been pretty good, but this novella was really slow and somewhat boring. My favorite next to Kim's was the tale Six, written by...more

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May 03, 2011 Morgan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Holiday Are Hell was not what I was expecting. Instead of all Christmas stories, each novella revolved around a different holiday. In addition, it wasn't the holiday that was the focus or center of each story, but they were simply a common thread to loosely link the novellas. I loved the story by Kim Harrison, but of course I am a bit biased because I love her Hollows series. In this story set at the Solstice, we get a glimpse into Rachel's family life before the Hollows series begins. It's inte...more

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Dec 15, 2012 Larry Mulcahy Mulcahy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Female readers

I was hoping for Christmas horror, maybe something like
Rare Exports.
Didn't get it.

This is a pretty uneven collection but generally oriented towards
the female reader, with more of a romantic emphasis than I really
cared for. Every one of these is in some way a love story.

Kim Harrison: Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel. I've read some of these stories before.
OK, but I wouldn't want to make a steady diet of this. Set in a world where
witches and vampires aren't necessarily evil.

Lynsay Sands: Run, Run, Ru...more

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Jan 11, 2012 Vicky rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: créatures-et-cie, nouvelles-shorts

Great story for those who have read the series! We already knew the big lines, the story of Rachel's first encounter with Pierce having been told before but it was a pleasure to revisit it in details and to discover a younger, more vulnerable Rachel. It had an emotionally charged ending that simply delighted me. It was simply a pleasure to revisit that story from a different time and angle.

RUN, RUN, RUDOLH - Lynsay Sands

A very good chase, fast paced, funny and even a little sexy! Not exactly li...more

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Dec 09, 2011 Kathy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-romance, ghost, short-stories, vampire, werewolf-shapeshifter

get the next Marjorie Liu book

Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel - Kim Harrison
Rachel and Pierce and Robbie and Mom... Rachel is one of a few who survived a childhood illness that has kept her weak - though she struggles year by year to get stronger, pushing herself, mastering martial arts, etc. She is a strong natural witch, but rather than train more she wants to join the I.S. - paranormal police, following in her father's footsteps. She is 19 and of an age to apply, though too yuoung to do it with...more get the next Marjorie Liu book

Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel - Kim Harrison
Rachel and Pierce and Robbie and Mom... Rachel is one of a few who survived a childhood illness that has kept her weak - though she struggles year by year to get stronger, pushing herself, mastering martial arts, etc. She is a strong natural witch, but rather than train more she wants to join the I.S. - paranormal police, following in her father's footsteps. She is 19 and of an age to apply, though too yuoung to do it without mother's signature. Brother Robbie returns from the west coast to take her back to join the university to develop her talent. When he shows her a mster level witchcraft book, she sees a spell to bring back a ghost for a night to talk to... and her brother promises to help her into IS if she can call forth her father and her father gives his blessing... but if she fails or if dad says no she will go to university with him... So she spells the spell, and uses a pocket watch for a piece of her dad, and brings out a ghost - but a 150 year old ghost, Pierce, (original owner of the watch) who had fought a vampire for a child's life, and died - and together they face that same vampire (who has taken another child)... and she captures the vampire in a circle - and with Pierce's gentle encouragement holds onto it until others come to take over before she succumbs ... and her mother throws her support to her, explaining to her brother that she is capable and accepts the challenges ... and the last moments before dawn she spends in Pierce's arms - out of pergatory and to heaven? and and in the watch, Pierce releases a paper from her dad, where dad tells her how proud he is of her. ahhhh

Run, Run Rudolph Lynsay Sands
2nd part of previous short story, about a molecule displacement machine gone wild. Kyle and wife Claire have built a 2nd machine so as to test its long term effects - but evil John (who worked with Kyle) figured out about the new machine, 'hid' Kyle's toddler under the machine in the basement, zapped Jill when she was retrieving toddler... and when she leaves the house, tries to kidnap her (to perform his own tests on her shapeshifting abilities - cruel one, freeze, fire, etc)... Jill is scheduled to play Mrs. Claus to Nick's Santa in a parade - Jill owns a clothing store, Nick owns the shoe store next door - they have been having lunch for 6 months, really enjoying each other's company - but he hasn't asked her to the next step... except after the parade, he has invited her to a christmas party at his sisters, so she has hope.

She escapes John, can't get a hold of her brother, goes to the store, and is guilted into the parade anyway... and concentrating on a calendar mrs santa she shifts into a sexy mrs santa, tells all she is filling in for Jill who had an emergency... and she gets Nick to confide inher when she tells him she is worried about Jill - and finds out that Nick was married - in process of divorcing, and decided off dating for 1 year to give himself time to recover... and that year was up - and he was making his first steps for Jill - and then Jill shifts - and he steps up to help her to evade John... and at one point she shifts to Rudolph to escape John...hmmm and then into a dog hmmmm... and John's psychiatrist sister & brother in law misinterpret John's ramblings about Jill - and take him into custody... ahhhh

Six - Marjorie Liu

Six - Chinese anti-terrorist agent - orphan, raised with other women to be fighting, unfeeling machines...and on an opt, she meets Joseph Besud, necromancer, vampire hunter - and they join together, and she finds a seed inside herself of her own person in his arms... ahhhh

The Harvest - Vicki Pettersson

a strange mythology - hard to work in its precepts in a short story - based on light and dark superpeople, connected to the 12 signs of the astrology... and Zoe Archer (sagitarius) - love of Warren - yet as an agent she becomes the lover of the dark creation - and another spy - and gives birth to each of their daughters without Warren knowing (though he knows the sex) - and I don't think she raised her daughters, and the daughter of the lover of the dark has a baby - and the lover kidnaps it, and she must rescue her - and engages Warren in helping her - She had to give him up, give up her powers, because of the prophecy that this granddaughter of hers is of light and dark, and has the potential of restoring balance... she places her granddaughter with a very loving couple... and makes plans to ultimately destroy the dark creation with the human powers of Tao... but... hmmmm strange story...(less)

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Jan 17, 2013 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I purchased this for one reason only - Kim Harrison! In this there is a story called Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel which is a story that goes along with the AWESOME series (the hollows) that I love. It introduces us to a character named Pierce who we later learn to love in the series.

I was thrilled to read this story that was touched on in the series. My only complaint is that I wish it had been longer! It went way too fast which is why I gave it four instead of five! :-) She could have made thi...more

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Aug 14, 2012 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As much as I agree with the title of this book, I only read it for the Marjorie Liu story, so that is what my rating is based on.

Kim Harrison, "Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel" - I don't see a lot of difference between teenage Rachel and adult Rachel, except teenage Rachel gets tired more. Same amount of whining.

Lynsay Sands, "Run, Run, Rudolph" - No. What? No. Just.....no.

Marjorie Liu, "Six" - In a book supposedly about kickass heroines, Six is the only standout. What an awesome character. Six is...more

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Jan 26, 2012 Kilgallen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reads, paranormal

The stories in this collection all have to do with a holiday. That is the theme that ties them all together and works quite well in my opinion. The intresting thing was that I found the stories to be too long to be true short stories and too short to be novellas.....they sort of fell somewhere between. The only author with whom I have previous experience was Kim Harrison and her contribution(Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel) was well done. I was not thrilled with the story from Lynsay Sands (Run, Ru...more

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Dec 27, 2009 All Things Urban Fantasy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed-by-abigail, xmas

Review courtesy of AllThingsUrbanFantasy.blogspot.com

Kim Harrison - Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel - I had a bit of a falling out with Rachel Morgan's The Hollows series after book four. I've long maintained that Ivy is in need of some serious staking, and as her relationship with Rachel increasingly became more of the focus of the series my enjoyment decreased (if a guy pulled half the possessive, needy, territorial garbage that Ivy does Rachel would never have put up with it). Plus after what ha...more Review courtesy of AllThingsUrbanFantasy.blogspot.com

Kim Harrison - Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel - I had a bit of a falling out with Rachel Morgan's The Hollows series after book four. I've long maintained that Ivy is in need of some serious staking, and as her relationship with Rachel increasingly became more of the focus of the series my enjoyment decreased (if a guy pulled half the possessive, needy, territorial garbage that Ivy does Rachel would never have put up with it). Plus after what happened with Kisten...But after reading Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel, I remembered why I loved this series so much to begin with. Nobody, and I mean nobody does better world building than Kim Harrison. I loved getting to read about Rachel as a teenager brimming with excitement about following in her late father's footsteps as a runner for Inderland Security (basically the paranormal police). But Rachel nearly died as a child, and at this point in her life she is still struggling with chronic fatigue and weakness from any type of physical activity, a fact her older brother uses to encourage her to pursue an alternative career as an earth witch. When the two strike a bargain to decide the issue, Rachel accidentally calls forth the ghost of a murdered witch (handsome Peirce) who has some unfinished business with the dead vampire who condemned him centuries before. Together he and Rachel hope to save not only Peirce's soul, but the soul of the young girl the vampire is about to condemn as well. This is a fun quick read sprinkled with holiday magic that will entertain both new and familiar readers, and might even re-hook those of us who had given up on this series for one reason or another. (plus no Ivy!)

Sexual Content:
None

Run, Run, Rudolph by Lynsay Sands - I haven’t read anything by Lynsay Sands before, but I’m a little surprised that her story was included in this anthology because its basically a typical contemporary romance with an added sci-fi element. Jill gets struck with a destabilizing ray by an evil scientist and goes on the run through a parade and Christmas party with her longtime crush Nick. Jill new superpowers include being able to take on the appearance of anyone or thing (remember the title?) that she sees. Of course while on the run, Jill and Nick take a few breaks for a steamy make out session, and a near coupling in the parking lot. For a story that was only 90 pages long, the sexual content felt abruptly introduced and overly emphasized.

Sexual Content:
A scene of heavy petting, a graphic sex scene that isn’t quite consummated.

"The Harvest" by Vicki Pettersson. Vicki's story focuses on Zoe, the mother of the main character Joanna in her Signs of the Zodiac series as she tries to rescue her infant granddaughter from the evil Shadow agents during Thanksgiving. The Zodiac series has an extremely complex and unusual paranormal world involving an endless battle between good and evil personified in comic book-like heroes of the Light and Shadow. I wouldn't recommend starting this series with this prequel novella as the paranormal elements will likely be confusing (and there are a few spoilers from the main series in here). But if you have at least read Scent of Shadows already, you should enjoy the back-story this provides and a deeper look at the inner workings of both sides of the Zodiac.

Sexual Content:
A reference to a rape. A non-graphic sex scene
(less)

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Jan 20, 2013 ☂ ℬrandi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: christmas, contemporaries, french-novels, eh, pnr, read-2013, short-story-novellas-anthologies, special-powers, vampires, zombies

❤❤❤

I thought this book was going to be more romance and less action-adventure. I was wrong. I thought it was going to be about Christmas specifically, hence the Santa-esque dress on the cover, ok, with a graveyard and dagger, but still, I was wrong. It was about the Holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. That actually ended up being cool. I thought I'd hate it. I was wrong. While I didn't love it to pieces, it was good for what it was, even if it's not my cuppa ☕. But if you...more

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Aug 31, 2011 Judy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Run Rudulph Run by Lynsay Sands
This story begins in Dates From Hell with the story of Kyle and Claire. I did not read that one yet.
Jill's brother Kyle as invented a machine, a destabilizer. Kyle's old co-worker, John Heathcliffe, wants to test it out. He has his chance when Jill wanders into the basement. When she bends down to look for her niece, who is hiding under the table, Jill feels a sharp pain on her head and than blacks out. Jill does not realize that John has zapped her until he tries...more

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Sep 13, 2010 Yvensong rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookcrossing, vampire, fantasy

3 1/2 stars

Four novellas, 2 of which I really enjoyed.

The first story, by Kim Harrison didn't appeal to me as much as the Rachel Morgan stories I've read in the past. I couldn't feel any empathy for Rachel as a teenager.

The Lynsay Sands story was cute and silly, though, since that's not my usual taste, can't rate it too high.

The Marjorie M. Liu story really surprised me. I've read a Crimson City story by her, and really didn't care much for it. Six was well-written, full of tension and exciteme...more

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About Kim Harrison

Kim Harrison, dark urban fantasy author of the New York Times bestselling The Outlaw Demon Wails, was born and raised in the upper Midwest. After gaining her bachelors in the sciences, she moved to South Carolina, where she has remained since. She is currently developing a new young adult series between working on the Hollows books, and is a member of The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Ame...more

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Books by Kim Harrison

Every Which Way But Dead (The Hollows, #3)

The Good, the Bad, and the Undead (The Hollows, #2)

The Outlaw Demon Wails (The Hollows, #6)

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Holidays Are Hell (The Hollows #5.5)

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