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Love Is Hell (Infernais #2)

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

3.67 · rating details · 2,156 ratings · 244 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

...more

Hardcover, 263 pages

Published November 25th 2008 by Harper Teen

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Jul 24, 2009

new_user rated it

· review of another edition

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 l...more

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Nov 22, 2008

Julie rated it

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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 q...more

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Dec 26, 2008

Paige rated it

· review of another edition

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

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Feb 11, 2009

Jessie rated it

· review of another edition

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.

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Feb 10, 2009

Mai rated it

· review of another edition

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...more

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Sep 13, 2011

JoYee Chu rated it

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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 Weste...more

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Jun 25, 2011

Murphy's rated it

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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 ...more

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May 11, 2011

Em-em rated it

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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 r...more

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Apr 17, 2011

Cristy rated it

· review of another edition

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...more

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Mar 30, 2011

Jenna Christy rated it

· review of another edition

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"...more

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Feb 24, 2011

Say rated it

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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...more

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May 29, 2010

Claudine LeBosquain rated it

· review of another edition

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 su...moreI 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.
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Nov 13, 2009

Angela rated it

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Shelves: paranormal, romance, young-adult, faeries, vampires, ghosts, anthology, urban-fantasy, apocalyptic-or-dystopian

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...more

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Oct 10, 2009

Ashlee rated it

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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 ...moreI 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)

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Apr 24, 2009

Samantha rated it

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Shelves: favorites

From quirky to chilling, in this collection of short stories there's something for everyone. I really enjoyed these stories by five of todays hottest teen authors. They were well written and each one was surprisingly different. The first story, Laurie Faria Stolarz's "Sleeping with the Spirit" is the least remarkable of the five. But it's still an entertaining if predictable tale about a girl in love with a ghost. Next is "Stupid Perfect World" by Scott Westerfeld. It's set i...more

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Feb 01, 2012

Nicole R rated it

· review of another edition

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 ...more

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Apr 17, 2011

Rose rated it

· review of another edition

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, ...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

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Dec 08, 2009

Stefanie rated it

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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...more

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Mar 07, 2011

Claire rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, sci-fi, short-stories, young-adult, paranormal-romance, read-in-2011

This was a surprisingly entertaining and well put together anthology. It wasn't exactly gushing with awesomeness like some others I've read, but it was still pretty enjoyable and I was still thinking about it the day after. It's definitely an improvement on Prom Nights From Hell, mostly because of the presence of Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalestier. It's so awesome that they're married. Their stories were back to back in the book, and complimented each other surprisingly well.

Any...moreThis was a surprisingly entertaining and well put together anthology. It wasn't exactly gushing with awesomeness like some others I've read, but it was still pretty enjoyable and I was still thinking about it the day after. It's definitely an improvement on Prom Nights From Hell, mostly because of the presence of Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalestier. It's so awesome that they're married. Their stories were back to back in the book, and complimented each other surprisingly well.

Anyway, here are some individual reviews....

Sleeping with the Spirit by Laurie Faria Stolarz: I didn't exactly love this one, it was probably the weakest out of all the stories. It's basically about a girl who moves into a haunted house and finds herself in a sticky situation when she falls in love with a teenaged ghost, who was murdered there years before. Naturally, ghosty wants some closure and is also very attractive....so yeah, sucks for you, dumb protagonist. It was cliche-riddled and sort of harrowing but it still made me sad and the mushiness wasn't too over the top. I didn't really understand the love story aspect of the story though, it seemed kind of rushed. I'll give it a 4/10.

Stupid Perfect World by Scott Westerfeld: So this was totally my fave. I just found it funny and imaginative, with a fantastic futuristic setting and vivid characters. I admit, they're a bit undeveloped and I totally wish there was a book series about this or something. But then again, the ending felt rightfully resolved and made me grin like I was on happy-drugs. And yikes, this story makes out that teenage hormones are a good thing....I shall go cry into my ice cream now. Rating: 8.5/10

Thinner Than Water by Justine Larbalestier: This was probably the most intricate and well-written of all the stories, and had strong themes of prejudice, ignorance and mob-violence. It was about a girl from an old-fashioned and controlling family, and how her life is thrown into discord when she falls in love with a boy who they disapprove of. Reading it was definitely really nerve-wracking, and made me hate the people in the village for treating the main character and her lover the way they did, just because it wasn't what their society perceived was 'right'. I wouldn't exactly call it a thought provoking story (I mean....wtf was with the ending...) but it definitely was brilliantly thought out and played on my heartstrings like a harpsichord. Rating: 8/10

Fan Fictions by Gabrielle Zevin: This story CREEPED me out. And usually, it's hard to find a book which can really disturb me. I think it's party because I actually know that people can easily fall into this state of mind (I'm looking at you, Twilight and Justin Bieber Fans). This book was obviously about Twilight Fans. No doubt about it. If you want an idea of the whole story imagine this: the manic, almost psychotic, nature of some Twilight fans hidden beneath the layers of a plain and invisible girl. Then imagine her picking up a book about some 150 year old immortal, perfect man. Then imagine her thinking it's all real, and watch her madness unfold. It really did creep me out, especially the ambiguous ending. Rating: 8/10

Love Struck by Melissa Marr: This was probably the most 'meh' of the stories to me. I didn't really care about what was going on until halfway through the story. I think I just generally have a problem with Melissa Marr's writing style, but I can't put my finger on what exactly I find wrong with it. Her lead female character is strong and suspicious and stubborn. And yet, she manages to be insanely boring. Her lead male is typical and brooding and I feel like kicking him up the arse. I'll definitely give her points for her mythology though...despite being kind of weird, it was sure interesting. Rating: 5/10

All in all, a quick and entertaining read :]
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Feb 01, 2012

Kindred Spirit rated it

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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 *th...more

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Feb 17, 2011

Melissa rated it

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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"...more

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Apr 10, 2010

Siti rated it

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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, Mar...more

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Feb 02, 2009

Sandy rated it

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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 P...moreThis 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)

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Jul 12, 2011

CekMoNSter rated it

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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 t...more

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Oct 23, 2009

oliviasbooks rated it

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Shelves: swapped-or-given-away, young-adult-fiction, urban-fantasy, mermaids-selkies, gods-demons-angels-immortals, ghosts-dead-people, science-fiction-dystopia, 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 problem...more

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Jan 18, 2009

Andrew rated it

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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 ...more

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Sep 19, 2011

Christine_v rated it

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Recommended to Christine_v by: Completes From Hell collection

Shelves: fantasy, romance

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

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Nov 10, 2010

Zuleika rated it

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Shelves: 11november, 2010, ya, ya-paranormal-modernfantasy, anthology

5 short stories on supernatural (and one futuristic) YA romance

Sleeping With The Spirit by Laurie Faria Stolarz - 3/5

Stupid Perfect World by Scott Westerfeld - 3/5
Awesome setting and interesting plot, but the characters lacked depht to me. I liked the ending, it was very cute.

Thinner Than Water by Justine Larvalestier - 4 stars
My favorite from the whole batch. It had a darker/heavier feel to it and I did cry at some scenes. It had a very beautiful,...more

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Feb 13, 2010

Holly rated it

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Shelves: fairies, death-ghosts, romance

Well, Valentine's Day is tomorrow, so why not kick it off with a book called Love Is Hell for those of us who don't have a boyfriend to spend it with? I love the idea.

In this collection, there are five stories. I personally only liked two of them. Stupid Perfect World by Scott Westerfield was my personally favorite, but Melissa Marr's came in second. Perhaps it's because those are the only two authors I'm big fans of, I don't know. I thought the first story (I think it was writt...more

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Jan 05, 2009

Ron rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, horror, short-stories, young-adult

I haven't read this entire collection yet, but I did read Justine Larbalestier's beautifully haunting story, "Thinner Than Water," about a young village girl whose parents object to the boy with whom she handfasts, a story which ought to be remembered when they start making nominations for the next World Fantasy Awards. I also read Scott Westerfeld's "Stupid Perfect World," a goofy, highly entertaining high school romance in one of those future societies (like in a Twilight Z...more

· see review

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Other Editions (16)

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Young Adult

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Anthologies

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Fantasy

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Romance

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Fantasy > Paranormal

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Short Stories

43 users

Romance > Paranormal Romance

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Fantasy > Urban Fantasy

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Fantasy > Supernatural

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Paranormal > Ghosts

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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'...more

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Love Is Hell (Infernais #2)

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