Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Love Is Hell (Short Stories from Hell)

by Melissa Marr (Goodreads Author), Scott Westerfeld, Justine Larbalestier, Gabrielle Zevin (Goodreads Author), Laurie Faria Stolarz

3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 · rating details · 3,472 ratings · 309 reviews

Sure, love is hell. But it,s totally worth it.

In these supernatural stories by five of today's hottest writers—Melissa Marr (Wicked Lovely), Scott Westerfeld (Specials), Justine Larbalestier (Magic or Madness), Gabrielle Zevin (Elsewhere), and Laurie Faria Stolarz (Blue is for Nightmares)—love may be twisted and turned around, but it's more potent than ever on its quest to...more

Paperback, 263 pages

Published November 25th 2008 by HarperTeen

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Young Adult Romance

268th out of 1,699 books — 5,580 voters

Hearts on Cover

13th out of 105 books — 194 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Jul 24, 2009 new_user rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

All right, this anthology should be easy to sum up. First off, the quaint title is completely misleading. Three out of these five stories were disturbing or sad and certainly not happily-ever-after. Scott Westerfeld and Melissa Marr's stories are among the lighter of the bunch, and I get the feeling that lot of readers were more dismayed about the sad tone to the stories in this anthology than anything else. To rate each one...

Sleeping with the Spirit by Laurie Faria Stolarz: Ghost love. The wri...more

18 likes · like · see review

Nov 22, 2008 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: paranormal and YA fans.

Recommended to Julie by: saw it on the shelf at work, and saw Scott Westerfeld and Justin

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult, romance, paranormal, 2008, signed-out

I picked this up pretty much entirely for the fact that it includes a story by Scott Westerfeld. I've also read Justine Larbalestier's How to Ditch Your Fairy, so she was a draw too. I'm not sure what I was expecting, since I'm not much of a fan of short stories and I didn't know any of the other three authors, but I was pleasantly surprised!

A brief rundown by story, without any spoilers if I can help it:

"Sleeping with the Spirit" by Laurie Faria Stolarz - Not quite your typical ghost story. I l...more

7 likes · like · see review

Dec 26, 2008 Paige rated it 3 of 5 stars

I would give this book a 3. It's hard when it comes to anthologies, to rate the book as a whole, so here is what I thought of each story. 1. I never really liked Laurie Faria Stolarz's writing or stories, and that hasn't changed. Her contribution was bland, things were too cheesy or coincidential. I'd give it a D. 2. Scott Westerfeld has the most brilliant plots, but his writing is only okay. I'd give his story a B- or C+. 3. Justine Larbalestier owned this anthology. Her writing was surreal and...more

5 likes · like · see review

Feb 11, 2009 Jessie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Melissa Marr 5 stars
Scott Westerfeld 5
Laurie Stolaz 4
Gabrielle Zevin 3
Justine L..... 2.5

As with all of these compilations, some of the stories were great and others okay. I liked the happy endings better, and some of the stories were just weird.

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 10, 2009 Mai rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: paranormal, sf-fantasy, ya, romance, anthology, fantasy, fantasy-contemporary, mythology, sf-futuristic, social-issues

I've heard of all these authors, or noticed their books around my library at some point or all. I've never read anything by them, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to get a feel of their writing style. Most of these miss the mark. The one story that amazed me saved this anthology from getting a two star rating.

Sleeping the Spirit (2/5 stars)
The plot has been done, and better, with better writing, and more memorable characters.

Stupid Perfect World. (4.5/5 stars)
I need a full length...more

2 likes · like · see review

Apr 27, 2013 clearpaperanddirtymind rated it 3 of 5 stars

I bought this anthology because I'm a fan of three out of five authors ... and my two favorite stories are the one by the other two authors. Dammit.

Sleeping with the Spirit" by Laurie Faria Stolarz Nice story, nicely written and developed, and ghost-loves are always enjoyable, but I was expecting a bit more from this author. Didn't catch my attention as I thought.

Stupid Perfect World" by Scott Westerfeld So, I adore Westerfeld, and this story was really cool, but the setting would be more approp...more

like · see review

Aug 29, 2012 Lix Hewett rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: short-story-collection, supernatural-elements, high-school

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Okay, how do you review short story books where you feel differently about each story? I've never done that before. Briefly:

Sleeping with the Spirit (Laurie Faria Stolarz) is comforting in the familiarity of its concept, and I really liked--not the ending per se, but how the main character dealt with the ending, and her friendship with Raina and that other dude. The writing was a bit outline-y, though, sparse and shallow (and including, at one point, the words 'finally rest at last') and the sto...more Okay, how do you review short story books where you feel differently about each story? I've never done that before. Briefly:

Sleeping with the Spirit (Laurie Faria Stolarz) is comforting in the familiarity of its concept, and I really liked--not the ending per se, but how the main character dealt with the ending, and her friendship with Raina and that other dude. The writing was a bit outline-y, though, sparse and shallow (and including, at one point, the words 'finally rest at last') and the story didn't resonate all that much. Still, comforting. 2/5

Stupid Perfect World (Scott Westerfeld) is set in--well, a perfect future world, which is not my kind of setting, but I ended up enjoying it a lot. It wasn't particularly deep, and there was a misunderstanding I don't think was actually cleared up, but the story as a whole was really entertaining and fun. 3/5

Thinner Than Water (Justine Larbalestier) was sad and disturbing and more fantasy world-like than the other four, but it was also possibly the most atmospherically written of the whole book. I found myself fairly invested, and I liked that the main character chose herself against everyone who was against it. I also liked the way the main character and Robbie circumvent sex that might get her pregnant. I'm not sure how I feel about the whole, you know, racist mob violence thing, or about Robbie turning out to be fey after all (though then it turns out near everyone in town is, on some level), but overall I was engaged. 3/5

Fan Fictions (Gabrielle Zevin) has a title that doesn't inspire much confidence in me, to tell you the truth, but the story was just... I felt like I'd read it before, and there was nothing new about it, and the ending was too ambiguous for my liking, and the parallels too repetitive? Then there was the bit about how if a book is really great, you want to savor it, which brought extra attention to the fact that I just wanted this story to be over already. It was just not good. 1/5

Love Struck (Melissa Marr) was by far my favorite of the bunch. I have no particular interest in selkies, but I loved Alana and I loved, loved, loved the ending, the way the one misunderstanding is reversible and the choices made by the characters--it's all about choices in the face of magical soulbonding and it was just really enjoyable and actually engaging (I wanted to know what happened next!) and satisfying. 4/5(less)

like · see review

Sep 13, 2011 JoYee Chu rated it 4 of 5 stars

It appears i am currently addicted to short stories. Well, i bought this book ages ago, because i really enjoyed the first of the many popular-authors-short-stories-about-something-Hell starting first with Prom Nights from Hell. I have also read Vacations from Hell and so felt that it was obvious that i would purchase this one. But i haven't read it until now, i think it must've been about 9 months or more since i bought the book.

My personal favourite, i must say, is [authorScott Westerfield]'s...more

like · see review

Jun 25, 2011 Murphy's Library rated it 4 of 5 stars

from Murphy's Library

Love isn’t always just flowers, right? Sometimes it can be a little hellish, and thinking of it some authors have done a collection with little stories about how love can be a tad too paranormal sometimes. I first thought the stories would be scary, but I was wrong… Some of them were sickeningly sweet!

In Sleeping with a spirit we are presented to a girl who can’t sleep without having very strange dreams that make her wake up startled since she’s moved to her new house. She i...more

like · see review

May 11, 2011 Em-em rated it 4 of 5 stars

Love is hell is a collection of short love stories written by different authors. It shows the various sides and circumstances on which love might suddenly appear.

Love is truly hell! Most of the stories ended with the boy and the girl not being together there were only two stories upon which the characters ended being together physically. What I mean when I said physically is that although the characters might have gone away or died, their love was not diminished nor was it gone. It remained in t...more

like · see review

Apr 17, 2011 Cristy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopian-post-apocalyptic, faeries, ghosts, humorous, magic, paranormal-supernatural, sci-fi, vamps, compilation-anthology

LOVE IS HELL is a collection of short stories from various popular YA authors and as so I thought it only fair to rate each story independently. But first I’d like to state that I’m not usually a fan of compilations books and was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one as a whole. So here we go…

Laurie Faria Stolarz’s SLEEPING WITH THE SPIRIT is a well told and very sweet, touching ghost story; setting great pace and a promising start for this style of book… think The Ghost Whisperer. 4 stars

Sco...more

like · see review

Mar 30, 2011 Jenna Christy rated it 4 of 5 stars

LOVE IS indeed HELL. BUT not all the time.
collectively, the short stories entertained me.

INDIVIDUALLY:

"Sleeping with the Spirit" by Laurie Faria Stolarz
There definitely was no sleeping with the spirit that happened. I liked the story, but the ending was like "what?". If you think about it, it wasn't really a happy ending with both of them, but each of them got a happy ending on their own. But that's just me.

"Stupid Perfect World" by Scott Westerfeld
I was quite confused at the beginning, then a...more

like · see review

Feb 24, 2011 Say rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: february-2011-reads

5 stories in one book.....

story one: sleeping with the spirit by laurie faria stolarz (3 stars). it was ok, has the same theme as blue is for nightmares series. a girl haunted by a ghost asking for her help to be able to move on.

story two: stupid perfect world by scott westerfeld (2 stars). ok, i havent read any books by this author and this was the first one. i totally didnt get this story...kinda weird in a way. sorry!

story three: thinner than water by justine larbalestier (4 stars). same her...more

like · see review

May 29, 2010 Claudine LeBosquain rated it 5 of 5 stars

I picked this book up not quite knowing what to expect. It was remarkably thin for a collection of short stories, and I wasn't quite sure if each author would have enough time to completely develop their stories.

As has been mentioned in past reviews, it is extremely difficult to rate an anthology, but all said, I really liked this book. Before obtaining this collection, I'd already read works by several of the authors, both short stories and full length novels, and was pleasantly surprised to f...more I picked this book up not quite knowing what to expect. It was remarkably thin for a collection of short stories, and I wasn't quite sure if each author would have enough time to completely develop their stories.

As has been mentioned in past reviews, it is extremely difficult to rate an anthology, but all said, I really liked this book. Before obtaining this collection, I'd already read works by several of the authors, both short stories and full length novels, and was pleasantly surprised to find a book with so many of them included!

Personally, I enjoyed "Thinner than Water" by Justine Larbalestier and "Fan Fictions" by Gabrielle Zevin the best. They made my heart ache for the main characters, who were relatable and real. "Thinner than Water" left me almost in tears at various points, and while I admit that I'm not exactly the toughest cookie, anyone who isn't at least somewhat saddened must have a heart of stone. "Fan Fictions" was so unbelievably easy to relate to. When I began reading, the first thing that came to mind was how often I had felt like the protagonist, Paige. And of course, when the ending came about, I was thoroughly shocked, and somewhat worried that perhaps I too would end up like her!

"Stupid Perfect World" was also very good, and I found the story line to be very unique. The setting and the development of the characters were nicely done, and I enjoyed the fact that the chapters alternated between each of the 2 main characters. This was another story with characters to which I could relate...

"Sleeping with the Spirit" and "Love Struck" were the 2 stories that I was least satisfied with. "Sleeping with the Spirit" seemed too ... shallow. I did not feel any relationship with the characters. The story was superficial and left me almost bored by the end. I had been hoping for a little bit more from the story, and I was bitterly disappointed.
"Love Struck" was the story I'd originally gotten the book for, because it was written by Melissa Marr, Author of the Wicked Lovely "series". Unfortunately, I didn't find anything particularly noteworthy about the story. It was bland, and uninteresting, and seemed like it required further development. There didn't seem like there was much of a plot, and when I reached the end, I was not at all satisfied.

All in all, the good outweighed the bad, but there were definitely some disappointing performances by well-know, and well-loved authors.
(less)

1 like · like · see review

Nov 13, 2009 Angela rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: paranormal, young-adult, faeries, vampires, ghosts, anthology, urban-fantasy, apocalyptic-or-dystopian, 3-5-stars, pn-romance, good-ones, read-in-2009

Great way to sample YA paranormal authors, 3.5 stars

LOVE IS HELL is a neat little anthology composed of five paranormal romances from five popular young adult authors: Melissa Marr, Scott Westerfield, Justine Larbalestier, Gabrielle Zevin, and Laurie Faria Stolarz. The stories include a tension-filled romance about a ghost with unfinished business, a futuristic perfect world where hormones and sleep are turned off, and a seal faery's struggle with the two tugs on his heart, the sea and his mort...more

like · see review

Oct 10, 2009 Ashlee rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I had been bugging my local library about this for ages, I was really keen to see what these authors would write about for this one I was slightly worried however concerned about the "love" theme. I'm not a big fan of romances, but suprisingly I acutally enjoyed it imensely.

Sleeping with the spirit: I have had some bad experiences with stories about spirits, i seem to have an unnatural talent for picking the worst of the crop. Yet this proved different, I can't say it's my favorite story of all...more I had been bugging my local library about this for ages, I was really keen to see what these authors would write about for this one I was slightly worried however concerned about the "love" theme. I'm not a big fan of romances, but suprisingly I acutally enjoyed it imensely.

Sleeping with the spirit: I have had some bad experiences with stories about spirits, i seem to have an unnatural talent for picking the worst of the crop. Yet this proved different, I can't say it's my favorite story of all time but it was good in it's own way, I'm just not a fan of literature involving ghosts.

Stupid Perfect World: As usual Scott Westerfeld delivers, his amazing talent of story telling really shows in this simple yet amazing tale, he has an amazing talent for writing about futurisitic worlds, this one in particular would have to be among my favorites of his, different and insanly perfect yet as the same time utterly crazy. Different and is one of the few stories in this collection to feature a happy ending. One I was completely pleased with.

Thinner Than Water: Brilliant, frightening and of course quirky. It had a very different feel from the other stories and truly it was one of the stand outs in my opinon. It was interesting and of course kind of unique in it's own way. I was interested in how her family acted all innocent but they knew of magic and means in which they could tie her to the town. It was truly an interesting and left me thinking.

Fan Fictions: One word sums this one up: Weird. I was so confused, I couldn't understand what had happened, and how it happened, it may just be me but the ending threw a perfectly good story into absoloute chaos. It was well written but the ending just annoyed me - plain and simply.

Love Struck: Melissa Marr is fast becoming one of my favorite authors, she is proving that she has a talent for intriguing her readers, I actually after this found myself researching Selkies, I was absoloutely intrigued about these creatures! I would be interested in reading something similar to this if she were ever to write something along these lines again.

Overall, different, unique, dark and of course full of suprises, this collection of short stories by these talented authors proves to be an intriguing and quirky read.

4 Stars.(less)

like · see review

Feb 01, 2012 Nicole R rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-young-adult, anthologies, short-stories, beautiful-cover, paranormal-supernatural, romance, 2012

Sleeping With The Spirit by Laurie Faria Stolarz: I thought it was just okay, but didn't stand out.

Stupid Perfect World by Scott Westerfield: I loved the world-building, and I wanted it to be longer just so I could learn more about a world where sleep doesn't exist and people can teleport to Mars in a manner of minutes. This is my favorite of the 5.

Thinner Than Water by Justine Larbaleister: It was just okay, and it's one of my least favorites.

Fan Fictions by Gabrielle Zevin: It's definitely th...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 17, 2011 Rose rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Those who love YA paranormal short stories

Shelves: anthology, short-story, paranormal, romance

"Love is Hell" follows a list of young adult paranormal romance short story anthologies (alongside "Vacations from Hell" and "Prom Nights from Hell", if I'm not mistaken), with a diverse array of authors and subjects approached within. I'll say that much like other books in this scheme of anthologies, certain works appealed to me much more than others, and I think it depends highly on personal interests as to what story most appeals to the reader.

For me, Scott Westerfield had the best work in th...more "Love is Hell" follows a list of young adult paranormal romance short story anthologies (alongside "Vacations from Hell" and "Prom Nights from Hell", if I'm not mistaken), with a diverse array of authors and subjects approached within. I'll say that much like other books in this scheme of anthologies, certain works appealed to me much more than others, and I think it depends highly on personal interests as to what story most appeals to the reader.

For me, Scott Westerfield had the best work in the anthology with both an intriguing universe, concept, and set of protagonists within the story "Stupid Perfect World". The story alternates between the voices of a boy and a girl who must learn to do without specific amenities in their lives, and end up learning lessons about life, love, and how technology can't always give you everything you want in life. I would easily give his work 4.5/5 stars for the resonating themes and voices. I wouldn't even mind a full length novel of this story. Granted, part of its ability to stand out may be that it's speculative fiction/sci-fi rather than urban fantasy, but the way its conceptually developed and executed was fascinating.

The second best story in my eyes belonged to Justine Larbalestier with "Thinner than Water". The story revolves around a young woman who falls in love with an outsider of her controlling village and family. I felt for the character's struggles and hardships, and her determination to rise above them. Granted, part of me felt that after one of the major twists within the story, the ending didn't measure up quite as much as it began, but it was still an interesting read.

"Sleeping with the Spirit" by Laurie Faria Stolarz was a typical, but enjoyable ghost story about a young woman haunted in her dreams by a boy long deceased in her family's home. It does have a sweet yet eerie feel to it in places, and I liked the added touch of resolution where the protagonist tries to make amends so that the ghost can finally be at peace.

The stories that didn't really work with me may surprise some or none. I've read Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely and found much to like in it, but her contribution "Love Struck" didn't quite hit me with as much potency. I think the short story format was part of the reason (might've made an interesting novella or novel with more time to develop the characters and situations), not to mention the familiar premise to me (which I've seen handled quite a few times in better context). I give her credit though, it started out with enough intrigue to keep me reading, but didn't quite deliver.

"Fan Fictions" by Gabrielle Zevin didn't live up to my expectations unfortunately. I think the twist on events would've been more effective if certain elements of the story hadn't felt so forced. I understood what the author was trying to do - establish the story of a girl so caught up in this mysterious boy who happens to come straight from a fictional story, but her mania isn't really justified and doesn't come across as much eerie as it does haphazard. Great premise, though could've had better execution.

I did enjoy Love is Hell for what it offered, and I think the stories will intrigue those who love Paranormal Romance in a variety of different settings. I'd recommend it for a relaxing read.

Overall score: 3/5

(less)

like · see review

Dec 08, 2009 Stefanie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to Stefanie by: Came across it looking 4 Melissa Mar's "Wicked Lovely" @ Library

Shelves: 2009, ya-and-juvenile, romance, fantasy, paranormal-romance, short-stories, library, reviewed

I picked up this book because I'm familiar with two of the authors, Scott Westerfeld and Laurie Faria Stolarz. Both are authors of series that I really enjoy: The Uglies (Scott Westerfeld) and Blue is for Nightmare (Laurie Faria Stolarz).

The five short stories in this book were interesting enough to continue reading to the end but none of theme stuck out as being fantastic. Two of the five stories end in a positive light but the other three end sadly and/or tragically. I guess that's something y...more

like · see review

Feb 01, 2012 Kindred Spirit rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a pretty good anthology of short stories. They were all fantasy, but not overly 'supernatural' or 'paranormal'.

My two favourites were Justine Larbalestier's 'Thinner Than Water' and Melissa Marr's 'Love Struck' and they were both fey oriented, which was so refreshing to see in todays seemingly vampire-and-other-supernatural/paranormal-being dominated market.

Scott Westerfeld's 'Stupid Perfect World' was set in a very similar world to his Uglies series (I don't *think* it was the same one...more

like · see review

Feb 17, 2011 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-from-library

Absolutely amazing is all I can say! I truly enjoyed each and every one of the stories in this compilation! :) I do have a question about the title though. Why "Love Is Hell"? It makes me want to think that all the love stories in the book are bad ones, like abusive ones or something equally hideous. I mean, all, if not most, of the stories have somewhat happy endings. The rest have bittersweet endings, which in my opinion, are good endings sometimes. I suppose "Love Is Hell" just takes to mean...more

like · see review

Apr 10, 2010 Siti rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 10grade-shelf

3RD QUARTER
Siti H.M. Khairi

Love is Hell
by various authors
263 pages
HarperTeen $9.99
ISBN: 978-0-06-144304-6
(Ages 12 & Up)

Love IS hell. At least, that's what it seems like in these five short stories by Laurie Faris Stolarz, Scott Westerfeld, Melissa Marr, Gabrielle Zevin and Justine Larbalestier. Each story demonstrates how love does more bad than good but people still choose to fall for it.

Brenda is in love with a ghost, Maria is in love with Kieran who likes someone else, Jeannie loves a pe...more

like · see review

Mar 05, 2012 Marilag rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reads, fairy-tale, fantasy, modern, romance, supernatural, young-adult, short-stories

After I'd been resolved to not liking this book, it was probably the last story that made me rethink it and go: "You know, the stories aren't all that bad."

Well, in a YA-"omg love" sense. Not all the stories ended well (I was particularly fond of how "Fan Fictions" ended up, it was just so odd, but so interesting!). I think overall, however, Scott Westerfeld and Melissa Marr had my favorite stories.

Okay, yes, I picked the book up because I saw Westerfeld's name on the list of authors, so there w...more After I'd been resolved to not liking this book, it was probably the last story that made me rethink it and go: "You know, the stories aren't all that bad."

Well, in a YA-"omg love" sense. Not all the stories ended well (I was particularly fond of how "Fan Fictions" ended up, it was just so odd, but so interesting!). I think overall, however, Scott Westerfeld and Melissa Marr had my favorite stories.

Okay, yes, I picked the book up because I saw Westerfeld's name on the list of authors, so there was always going to be bias there. His "Stupid Perfect World" was written in his YA Uglies style, so I wasn't exactly blown over by the change of style from his Leviathan trilogy (and while I certainly preferred the latter, the former worked fine with this story). He managed to put in a little info about a scifi-world, created lovely repeat-phrases (like "meeker", which I'm not particularly what it means still), and put in two characters whose points of view were entertaining.

And yes, I've heard of Melissa Marr and Wicked Lovely is probably in my reading list somewhere. So I'm actually pleased at how her "Love Struck" turned out, mostly because it was all about selkies! I really can't resist a fairy tale-related story, oh no. And the story was adorable, albeit I could have used a bit more story with the brother (there was so much background unsaid that I would have liked the story to go for more than 40-something pages!).

The other three stories had something interesting to say about love as well, though again, perhaps not my favorites. "Thinner than Water" had to do with falling in love with the fae folk and the repercussions after living with a all-too traditional family; it was nicely done (again, my same complaint goes to the fact that the story was too short). "Fan Fictions" dealt with a girl crazy in love who appears to be morphing a story to meld with her own life (who wouldn't want their favorite fictional guy to literally come out of the page and serenade her?). And "Sleeping with the Spirit" started the anthology off with the supernatural feel (think a YA Ghost with no need for a physical Whoopi Goldberg medium).

Yeah, I think that sums it up.(less)

like · see review

Feb 09, 2013 Izzy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-teen-books

Sleeping with the Spirit by Laurie Faria Stolarz (1 out of 5)
The dialogue was stupid. The "social suicide" thing was funny in Mean Girls because it was a comedy. In my mind, these type of stories can never match Meg Cabot's Mediator series.

Stupid Perfect World by Scott Westerfeld (0 out of 5)
Rushed and given no explanation about this world at all. I had to re-read the first two chapters to figure out who the main characters were. The idea was great but everything else was rubbish. Considering I'...more

like · see review

Feb 02, 2009 Sandy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009

This book is five love stories by five authors.

Sleeping with the Spirit by Laurie Faria Stolarz ***
This story was about a girl who meets the ghost of a boy in her dreams. After Brenda and her parents move into a house that is haunted by a Travis, who was killed there, she has to help him move on.
It was okay, I didn't think the story was very complete. There could have been more there. Also, it was odd trying to read in the first person present tense.

Stupid Perfect World by Scott Westerfeld ***...more This book is five love stories by five authors.

Sleeping with the Spirit by Laurie Faria Stolarz ***
This story was about a girl who meets the ghost of a boy in her dreams. After Brenda and her parents move into a house that is haunted by a Travis, who was killed there, she has to help him move on.
It was okay, I didn't think the story was very complete. There could have been more there. Also, it was odd trying to read in the first person present tense.

Stupid Perfect World by Scott Westerfeld *****
Set in the future, Kieran and Maria are both in a class called Scarcity that focuses on history. Specifically diseases and such. For a class project, they had to choose something from the past to experience for two weeks. Other teens chose things like the common cold and hunger. Kieran chose sleep (people don't need to sleep in the future) and Maria chose to suspend her hormonal balancers so that she could feel real teenage feelings.
I liked this story, it was very interesting. The first chapter was written from the point of view of Kieran. So, when I started the second chapter, it took me a minute to realize that it was from Maria's point of view. Every chapter switches back to the other.

Thinner Than Water by Justine Larbalestier ****
This story is set in a little tourist trap village that still follows traditions of the past. Jeannie is supposed to be handfasted and married by the time she is sixteen and have kids by eighteen, according to her family and their old time traditions. But, when she becomes handfasted with a boy that they do not approve of, everything goes wrong. Jeannie wants to go to university and be a doctor, but she also wants to be with Robbie.
I really liked this story, although it made me cry in the middle.

Fan Fictions by Gabrielle Zevin *****
Paige is an average girl. So average that nobody ever notices her. She prefers books over people. One day in the library, she meets a boy who actually notices her. He also likes books. A very strange relationship ensues.
I really liked this story. I like stories about books. Very weird, and sad, and interesting.

Love Struck by Melissa Marr *****
Alana meets a selchie who wants her to be his mate. He wants to woo her before she finds out that he is a selchie, but it doesn't work out the way he planned.
This was my favorite story of the five.(less)

like · see review

Jul 12, 2011 CekMoNSter rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: english, fantasy, romance

Okay..So, I had finished with reading this anthology..

I`m not particularly sure to why it was named as Love is hell, considering that most of the endings end happily..Except for two stories which ended quite sad.

The first story wasn`t really engaging in my part..It puzzled me in some way to why it was choosen as the opening story. I feel like reading some school essays..The predictability of it, somehow made me lost interest..

For the second story, I must say saved the day..It tells us about the...more

like · see review

Feb 19, 2012 Katherine rated it 2 of 5 stars

I know, I know, I thought Prom Nights From Hell was bad, so why read this? I thought I'd test it out, see if a different book was better. But this, like PNFH, was filled with underdeveloped stories that never got over 2 stars. The only good thing is the author of Toilet wasn't in it.

"Sleeping With The Spirit" by Laurie Faria Stolarz
I liked the original premise of the story: Girl is haunted by ghost in her dreams that will stop at nothing to get help from her because she can talk to the dead. How...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 23, 2009 oliviasbooks rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: swapped-or-given-away, young-adult-fiction, urban-fantasy-paranormal, mermaids-selkies, gods-demons-angels-immortals, ghosts-dead-people, scifi-dystopian-apocalyptic, faeries-elves-pixies, read-2009

Surprisingly good. Out of the five stories I liked four. That's good for an anthology. In contrast to others, I enjoyed the Westerfeld-story the most. But I have to admit, it stands out a bit, because it is the only Science Fiction story in the midst of urban fantasy: In a future classroom students attend "scarcity class" and have to chose a self-experience project lasting for two weeks. It is a future in which hunger, illness, long-distance between places, exhaustion and other problems have bee...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 18, 2009 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars

Firstly, I ordered this book because I was craving something new from Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalestier - and having the two of them side-by-side in an anthology was too good to resist!

But novelty aside...

I enjoyed this collection a lot.

Stolarz eases us into the genre of supernatural romance, with a slightly-cliched, but still sweet and well-written story of a girl who falls in love with a ghost.

And then, bang! We're dropped into the world of Scott Westerfeld. Anybody who's read his "Ugl...more

like · see review

Sep 01, 2012 Brigid Keely rated it 4 of 5 stars

A collection of YA short stories about love, this was a mixed bag of average and awesome.

"Sleeping With The Spirit" by Laurie Faria Stolarz was over written and predictable, the bored ghost of a genre that flourished in the mid-80s with nothing new added to the mix except a bit of purple prose.

"Fan Fictions" by Gabrielle Zevin started out strong but soon became mediocre and, again, predictable. Oh, a crazy teenaged girl. That is certainly not a tired stereotype endlessly regurgitated.

"Stupid Per...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (21)

More editions...

Genres

Young Adult

131 users

Fantasy

81 users

Fantasy > Paranormal

77 users

Romance

74 users

Anthologies

72 users

Short Stories

62 users

Fantasy > Urban Fantasy

27 users

Romance > Paranormal Romance

26 users

Fantasy > Supernatural

25 users

Paranormal > Ghosts

21 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

Vacations from Hell
by Libba Bray
Kisses From Hell
by Kristin Cast
Immortal: Love Stories with Bite
by P.C. Cast (Editor)
Prom Nights from Hell
by Meg Cabot
Teeth: Vampire Tales
by Ellen Datlow (Editor)

About Melissa Marr

5 stars= If I love you, I'll buy you a copy from this list of books. (Pls note, if you are my family or dearest friends, feel free to remind me to do so. I am lousy w remembering birthdays/holidays.)

4 stars= Don't even ask to borrow it. You should prob buy it though.

3= If you borrow it, you better not lose it, mangle it, or keep it too long.

2 or 1 star= I don't use these. If it's not a 3 star or...more

More about Melissa Marr...

Books by Melissa Marr

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Love Is Hell

1 trivia question

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from Love Is Hell

“You know this girl.
Her hair is neither long nor short nor light nor dark. She parts it precisely in the middle.
She sits precisely in the middle of the classroom, and when she used to ride the school bus, she sat precisely in the middle of that, too.
She joins clubs, but is never the president of them. Sometimes she is the secretary; usually, just a member. When asked, she has been known to paints sets for the school play.
She always has a date to the dance, but is never anyone’s first choice. In point of fact, she’s nobody’s first choice for anything. Her best friend became her best friend when another girl moved away.
She has a group of girls she eats lunch with every day, but God, how they bore her. Sometimes, when she can’t stand it anymore, she eats in the library instead. Truth be told, she prefers books to people, and the librarian always seems happy to see her.
She knows there are other people who have it worse—she isn’t poor or ugly or friendless or teased. Of course, she’s also aware that the reason no one teases is because no one ever notices her.
This isn’t to say she doesn’t have qualities.
She is pretty, maybe, if anyone would bother to look. And she gets good enough grades. And she doesn’t drink and drive. And she says NO to drugs. And she is always where she says she will be. And she calls when she’s going to be late. And she feels a little, just a little, dead inside.
She thinks, You think you know me, but you don’t.
She thinks, None of you has any idea about all the things in my heart.
She thinks, None of you has any idea how really and truly beautiful I am.
She thinks, See me. See me. See me.
Sometimes she thinks she will scream.
Sometimes she imagines sticking her head in an oven.
But she doesn’t.
She just writes it all down in her journal and waits.
She is waiting for someone to see.” — 19 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Love Is Hell
avg rating	preview: Love Is Hell Goodreads rating: 3.67 (3472 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2761829-love-is-hell?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347844256l/2761829.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2761829-love-is-hell?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Love Is Hell by Melissa Marr[/url]

Love Is Hell (Short Stories from Hell)

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website