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Immortal: Love Stories With Bite (Evernight 0.5)

by Rachel Vincent (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Leah Wilson (Goodreads Author) (Asst editor), Cynthia Leitich Smith, Kristin Cast, Rachel Caine, Tanith Lee, Richelle Mead (Goodreads Author), Nancy Holder (Goodreads Author) , more…

3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 · rating details · 3,257 ratings · 237 reviews

WHEN YOU'RE IMMORTAL TRUE LOVE REALLY IS FOREVER

Rachel Caine revisits the setting of her Morganville Vampire series, where the vampires are in charge and love is a risky endeavor, even when it comes to your own family

Tantalize author Cynthia Leitich Smith gives us a love triangle between a vampire, a ghost, and a human girl, in which none of them are who or what they seem...more

Paperback, 264 pages

Published October 6th 2009 by BenBella Books (first published August 1st 2008)

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Aug 30, 2009 Arlene rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2009, paranormal, vampires, ya-paranormal, young-adult

Immortal is an anthology of seven stories all revolving around vampires. Overall, it was entertaining, but there were some I enjoyed more than others. I liked how P.C. Cast provided a prologue that dived into the whole vampire phenomenon and explored the allure people have with vampires. She talks about how vampires represent immortality, youth and the possibility of forever, which is what most people find attractive because when it comes right down to it biting and blood is just gross, so there...more

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Jul 21, 2010 Lauren aka John Matthew's Girl rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-teen, senseless-death-of-a-tree, library-has-a-copy

Dreck! Sheer and utter dreck. And proof positive that just because you're an NYT bestselling author does not mean you should be let within spitting distance of an editor's pen or (this being the 21st century) keyboard. I am sorry to P.C. Cast fans, but a 10 year old could have done a better job of editing this book than she did. Half of the stories never should have made it into this book. They either weren't romance at all, or had almost no romance in them whatsoever. In one, the guy dies at th...more Dreck! Sheer and utter dreck. And proof positive that just because you're an NYT bestselling author does not mean you should be let within spitting distance of an editor's pen or (this being the 21st century) keyboard. I am sorry to P.C. Cast fans, but a 10 year old could have done a better job of editing this book than she did. Half of the stories never should have made it into this book. They either weren't romance at all, or had almost no romance in them whatsoever. In one, the guy dies at the end, I would hardly call that romantic. Now mind you they aren't bad stories per say, but they ought to have been part of an urban fantasy anthology or this anthology should not have been called Love stories with bite. Either way though, they really should not have been included in this anthology. As for the ones that where romance, they where too short and rushed to really be believable. Out of this entire collection, there was only one story that I wouldn't have minded seeing as a full length novel and that's the one by Richelle Mead called Blue Moon, it was good and I wouldn't have minded reading more. And the story by Claudia Gray is also pretty interesting. But those two don't make it worth buying, if you want to read this. Check it out of the library, and skip all but the Mead and Gray stories. Bottom line: there are some really good paranormal/vampire romance anthologies out, and this is not one of them. If you don't read this you're not missing out on anything great or even semi-decent with the exception of the Mead and Gray stories. I know from reading other reviews that some of these stories are prequels or back-stories to a series that that person writes, it would have been helpful if that was stated beforehand, and I was not particularly interested in reading those series, although I have read the Gray and Mead series. Regardless the title of this anthology is Love Stories with bite, not back stories or prequels to something I write, nor is it crummy urban fantasy short stories. A lot of these would have been better served being released either as a free read on the author's website or released as e-novellas.(less)

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Apr 30, 2010 Hilda rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: momo, zaizai

Shelves: anthology

Unexpectedly amazing.

As Richelle Mead's big fan, I read this anthology in hope of finding another good story from her.

And well, I find more.

Only God knows that I will fall in a story about Siren. Oh, and a Muse girl. The ending is, wow. Find it yourself on Rachel Vincent's story: Binge.

Blue Moon from Richelle Mead amazes me like I have thought. Famed by her Vampire Academy series, Richelle Mead makes another vampire story in this anthology. It's a good story, even without strigoi stalking.

As P.C...more

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Mar 10, 2013 Tasha rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, books-i-own, about-vampires

Ok first of all, I'm kind of ticked off because I got this book at Borders as a 'Borders Exclusive', and now there's a regular edition out that's being sold at Barnes & Noble, and IT has an extra story in it.

There are 7 short stories in this book:
Haunted Love by Cynthia Leitich Smith - She also wrote another of my favorite books, Tantalize, but I'm not so sure how I feel about this short story - I think it's a little too much for my imagination. It's about a vampire who loves a ghost - how...more

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May 21, 2012 Shannon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Haunted Love" Cynthia Leitich Smith ***1/2 a young man decides to open up a haunted theater in his small town

"Amber Smoke" Kristin Cast * a girl relives her evening, including the strange young man she meets at the end of it

"Dead Man Stalking" Morganville 4.5 Rachel Caine ***1/2 the delectable Shane has a run in with his dad...and a zombie?

"Table Manners" Tanith Lee ***1/2 interesting take on the vampire myth, as a girl tries to prevent a vampire from feeding

"Blue Moon" Richelle Mead ***1/2 a p...more

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Sep 08, 2011 Kit rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: anthology, paranormal, young-adult

This grouping of tales was a bit more imaginative than some. Not a bad read…

Haunted Love by Cynthia Leitich Smith * * *
While I enjoyed the nostalgia surrounding the old movie theater, this story was a bit odd and a little convoluted. Still, it was an enjoyable read overall and it was an interesting twist on the vampire/ghost crossover.

Amber Smoke by Kristin Cast * * * *
Kristin Cast gets props for her fun concept with the Greek fates and their wayward “son.” The time re-dux was both disorienting...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Casandria rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Most of these stories were awesome, but some stank it up! I was really impressed with "Blue Moon" by Richelle Mead. It takes place in an alternate universe where vampires are kindof like mob bosses who treat humans like second-class citizens. The main character is a vampire named Lucy, who begins to see her own race through the eyes of humans. I wish it were a full novel! I also really enjoyed "Table Manners" by Tanith Lee, where vampirism is a kind of mental illness, with a twist. Several go al...more

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Mar 09, 2011 Monster added it · review of another edition

Shelves: vampires-ya, reading-bites-ya

The first book in the Love Stories with Bite anthology collections is Immortal, edited by P.C. Cast, and chock full of vampire stories written by some of today’s finest authors. This collection includes tales from Rachel Caine, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Claudia Gray, Richelle Mead, Nancy Holder, Rachel Vincent, Tanith Lee, and Kristen Cast. P.C. Cast gives a fantastic introduction full of insight into the genre’s appeal and laced throughout with her legendary humor. The introduction segues perfectl...more

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Oct 30, 2010 Milena March rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: vampire lovers, fans of supernatural romance

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Originally posted here. :)

Immortal was a book I picked up in the hopes of finding some inspirational material for my Nanowrimo novel. I was looking for a variety of vampire love stories which could perhaps expose some of the reasons why teenagers love reading vampire fiction so much. What I didn't expect to find, upon opening the book, was an introduction by the editor P.C. Cast, which actually answered so many of my own questions. Aside from the perhaps forgivable plug for her own series of vam...more Originally posted here. :)

Immortal was a book I picked up in the hopes of finding some inspirational material for my Nanowrimo novel. I was looking for a variety of vampire love stories which could perhaps expose some of the reasons why teenagers love reading vampire fiction so much. What I didn't expect to find, upon opening the book, was an introduction by the editor P.C. Cast, which actually answered so many of my own questions. Aside from the perhaps forgivable plug for her own series of vampire stories, Cast suggested the reason so many teenagers identify with vampire stories is the seductive idea of immortality. I must admit this hadn't really crossed my mind, so I was pleasantly surprised.

But the book itself; it's an anthology of vampire stories by contemporary writers. To sum it up is difficult considering there were stories I liked much better than others. So I'll just look at each of them in turn.

Haunted Love by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Smith is the author of Tantalize, and in this short story, set in Texas (where a remarkable number of vampire stories, and a fair proportion of the ones in this book, seem to be set) in an abandoned movie theatre which is re-opened by a recently turned vampire. The ghost of a long-dead girl and a new human arrival in town compete for his attention in this cinema, and I must admit this first story didn't give me too much hope for the rest of the anthology. It was a little patchy - towards the end of the story dismembered heads randomly make an appearance, which was a bit of a shock for me at 11 pm at night. XD

Amber Smoke by Kristin Cast

Cast, who is co-author with her mother on the House of Night series, contributed a story in which the ancient Greek Fates send up a vampire to save a human girl from a death, to fulfil an unnamed Revenge. It was an interesting idea, I have to admit, but the writing was a little choppy in places and the bloody scenes were a little disturbing right before I went to bed. :D

Dead Man Stalking by Rachel Caine

Set in the same place as her Morganville Vampires series, this story recounts the encounter of a young man with a zombie of his former schoolmate. The main character's father returns to town as a vampire-slaying bikie. I liked the idea of a town run by vampires. The writing was much more suspenseful in this story, but I didn't actually figure out the main character was a guy until the story was more than half-over, which I think was a major oversight on Caine's part, especially as I'm unfamiliar with her other work.

Table Manners by Tannith Lee

This story, in which vampirism is more a state of the mind to be treated through psychotherapy, intrigued me. I enjoyed it a lot, as the main character, who is herself a sort of vampire, encountered a new vampire and tried to convince him to visit her father, the therapist.

Blue Moon by Richelle Mead

I was looking forward to this piece greatly, as I love the Vampire Academy books, and I wasn't disappointed. Mead handled the short story format very well and I found myself more drawn to her characters than most of the others in this book. The main character is a vampire on the run in a city where vampires are boss. Her unsuspecting partner is a human who hates vampires for what they did to his family. It's fast paced but we still get a sense of the characters and come to like them very quickly.

Changed by Nancy Holder

Vampires invade New York and turn it into an apocalyptic nightmare. One girl struggles to survive and reach her best friend and 'love of her life' on the other side of the city. This story was certainly interesting and different, but I found myself confused by the main character. Apparently only sixteen she has already gone through drug abuse and rehab and a two-year relationship with her (now gay) best friend. For a sixteen-year-old in New York City, I think, she's certainly had a busy life. On the whole this story kept my interest but I found I couldn't like the main character or her love interest, though I could at times feel sympathy for them.

Binge by Rachel Vincent

'Binge' has a very interesting premise, dealing with sirens who drink human energy as they sing. I found this fascinating. At a party the main character and her siren friend meet a young musician who the main character quickly realises is a 'genius' that she can act as a sort of deadly muse to. It's a fascinating idea and I enjoyed reading this.

Free by Claudia Gray

I had already formed a less than favourable impression of the author of Evernight's writing; I think judged solely on what I had heard about the books from others. But 'Free' surprised me. Set in the 1800s in New Orleans it is the tale of a young woman destined to become a concubine for a rich white man. But the likeable heroine has other ideas. I loved this short story, which is the background of one of Gray's characters in her Evernight series and found myself drawn to the characters and deeply sympathising for them. Perhaps this has a lot to do with the tragic death of the heroine's chosen lover, Amos. Either way, this was a good read.

All in all, Immortal depicted the wide world of vampire fiction and shows just how dynamic and varying it can be. At times it's a nice deviation from the perhaps all too kid-friendly Twilight and I think that was part of the reason I found it unexpected when I began reading. The stories improve markedly towards the end of the anthology, but in retrospect, that might have less to do with the authors and more to do with my own reading preferences when it comes to the genre. For lovers of the vampire genre there's quite possibly something for everyone.(less)

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Sep 24, 2010 Melanie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A book of short stories :) i like short stories and some of my fave authors are in this book.
Haunted love- Cynthia Leitich Smith
A supernatural love triangle between a vamp, ghost and human in a small town. A sweet story with a twist.
Amber smoke- Kristin Cast
A good story about a young girl trying to get to a party, meeting a mysterious stranger and reliving the day over with an awful lot of changes to it and her life. I really liked this story and would really like to see it developed into a whol...more

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Sep 20, 2010 Sheila rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Immortal, edited by P.C. Cast, is worth buying even if just for P.C. Cast’s initial essay on that thing teenagers seem to have with vampires. Not just lust nor raging hormones, she identifies some fascinating points of contact between teen reader and vampire lore, and leaves this long-gone teen thinking yeah, that does make sense. And then there’s the stories.

I enjoyed this introduction to a fine mix of authors: Kristin Cast writing on her own to combine vampire and other ancient myths into an i...more

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Aug 07, 2010 Angela rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: vampires, young-adult, anthology, urban-fantasy, read-in-2010, pn-romance

Bitten by some stories, untouched by others

In IMMORTAL: LOVE STORIES WITH BITE, editor P. C. Cast brings together eight short stories about the everlasting kiss, the bite of a vampire, from some of the most popular young adult paranormal authors today, including Kristin Cast, Richelle Mead, and Rachel Vincent, among others.

Similar to other anthologies, IMMORTAL was a great way to experience the style and writing of multiple different authors in only one book, and it was easy to pick up and read...more Bitten by some stories, untouched by others

In IMMORTAL: LOVE STORIES WITH BITE, editor P. C. Cast brings together eight short stories about the everlasting kiss, the bite of a vampire, from some of the most popular young adult paranormal authors today, including Kristin Cast, Richelle Mead, and Rachel Vincent, among others.

Similar to other anthologies, IMMORTAL was a great way to experience the style and writing of multiple different authors in only one book, and it was easy to pick up and read a single story at a time. With each story running only 30 - 35 pages, it was perfect for lunch breaks or right before bed. Among the stories, there was some strong contributions, most notably Rachel Vincent's "Binge" about a siren and leenan sidhe fairy and Claudia Gray's "Free" about vampires and race in pre-Civil War New Orleans. Both stories were linked to the authors' existing series, SOUL SCREAMERS and EVERNIGHT respectively, and I liked both enough to want to seek out the authors' other books. Other well-done stories included Richelle Mead's "Blue Moon" about a vampire on the run, which had a tone and style similar to her VAMPIRE ACADEMY series, and Rachel Caine's "Dead Man Stalking" that provided a glimpse into the dysfunctional families of Morganville from her ongoing series.

Unfortunately, I found only half of the stories in this collection to be enjoyable or memorable. The stories by Kristin Cast ("Amber Smoke") and Tanith Lee ("Table Manners") were particularly weak, and those by Cynthia Leitich Smith ("Haunted Love") and Nancy Holder ("Changed") were just unmemorable. Many of the stories concluded with unhappy or unfinished endings, and very few of the entries were love stories in the traditional sense, which may be misleading to some readers based on the subtitle of the book. The lengthy introduction by P. C. Cast was also rambling and patronizing.

Even with this lack of balance in story quality, IMMORTAL proved to be a quick and inexpensive way to sample the work of multiple authors, and it provided me with some new authors to check out. I'm looking forward to the sequel, ETERNAL: MORE LOVE STORIES WITH BITE, which comes out later this year. If you're looking for something similar in the meantime, consider THE ETERNAL KISS: 13 VAMPIRE TALES OF BLOOD AND DESIRE.

(NOTE: Be sure to buy this edition of the book. An earlier, limited edition of the novel was available exclusively from BORDERS, but it did not include the story by Vincent and it cost six dollars more.)(less)

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Jul 29, 2010 Amanda rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Cynthia Leitich Smith's Haunted Love: This story wasn't exactly bad but it wasn't good either, it was "blah." It was ok for a short story, nothing special though.

Kristen Cast's Amber Smoke: Ugh, where to start? Just like the House of Night series she tries WAY too hard to sound teen friendly, like a cool hip teenager. It is ridiculously over the top, no teen actually talks like that. It is cheesy and irritating, Kristin really needs to tone it down. Being in touch with teens is one thing but sou...more Cynthia Leitich Smith's Haunted Love: This story wasn't exactly bad but it wasn't good either, it was "blah." It was ok for a short story, nothing special though.

Kristen Cast's Amber Smoke: Ugh, where to start? Just like the House of Night series she tries WAY too hard to sound teen friendly, like a cool hip teenager. It is ridiculously over the top, no teen actually talks like that. It is cheesy and irritating, Kristin really needs to tone it down. Being in touch with teens is one thing but sounding like that sad middle-aged mom trying to fit in with her teen daughter’s friends is another. As for the story itself, awful. The author took every overdone, cliché story idea and threw it into one story. She also put way too much random info into the story and it got to the point where you were like "wtf?! why did that happen, how did that happen" every few sentences. It was the type of storyline that needed to be a novel so that everything could be explained, instead its a short story that doesn't make sense and doesn't flow smoothly at all. It wasn't much of a short story at all, just random nonsense thrown together with no meaning at all.

Rachel Caine's Dead Man Stalking:
Excellent! I haven't read the Morganville series but now I want to. The author's tone was great, the story was interesting, plus clear and solid and it made sense. It was what a short story should be, a whole story in just a few pages, not too much but not too little either.

Tanith Lee's Table Manners:
Very well written. A new interesting look on vampires. I enjoyed it.

Nancy Holder's Changed:
Another excellent, well written story. Showing a different kind of love and a different kind of vampire world. Instead of the dark brooding romantic vampires, you get the evil apocalyptic ones. A great read.

Richelle Mead's Blue Moon:
I really liked this one. I almost always love vampire stories where the vampires are known to the world.

Claudia Gray’s Free:
I loved this one. It was a great story about a strong woman doing what she needs to do to make herself happy. It was also the only story that wasn’t set in the present which was a nice change of pace from the other stories.(less)

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Jul 23, 2011 Sapphyria rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book contains 8 short stories:

"Haunted Love" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
This is a neat story about a vampire, a ghost, and someone who isn't what she seems.

"Amber Smoke" by Kristin Cast
An interesting twist on vampirism and Greek mythology with the ability to alter time and space.

"Dead Man Stalking" by Rachel Caine
Welcome to a Morganville Vampires short story with Shane, his dad, and....zombies??

"Table Manners" by Tanith Lee
What if the traditional vampire rules where more psychological than fac...more

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Feb 17, 2010 Tez rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ordinarily, I'm not much for anthologies. Generally speaking, the more contributors, the less bothered I am to read every story. Thus this collection of eight YA vampire romances is a welcome surprise. It hasn't made me chase up every author's backlist, but I read each short.

Cynthia Leitich Smith's "Haunted Love" is memorable and cringe-free. Kristin Cast's "Amber Smoke" is good, before readers' attention wanes. Rachel Caine's "Dead Man Stalking" gives insight into effed-up family relations. Tan...more

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Dec 08, 2009 Heather rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

From Amazon: "In Immortal: Love Stories With Bite, edited by New York Times bestselling author of the House of Night series P.C. Cast, eight of today's most popular YA vampire and contemporary fantasy authors offer new short stories that prove that when you're immortal, true love really is forever."

I have found that I am not a fan of short stories. First, I get frustrated that when the story is just getting good, it ends. I don't get enough detail, enough character development, enough plot. Seco...more From Amazon: "In Immortal: Love Stories With Bite, edited by New York Times bestselling author of the House of Night series P.C. Cast, eight of today's most popular YA vampire and contemporary fantasy authors offer new short stories that prove that when you're immortal, true love really is forever."

I have found that I am not a fan of short stories. First, I get frustrated that when the story is just getting good, it ends. I don't get enough detail, enough character development, enough plot. Second, I just can't get motivated to read this way. I know I only have 30 or so pages to read a whole story, so I read it, then quit. My reading habits were severely diminished by this. Now, if you are someone who doesn't have a lot of time to read and don't finish stories quickly, then this is a good book for you! I'll break down each of the 8 stories with a quick opinion.

Introduction by PC Cast: I love her analysis of why we are so fascinated with vampire stories.

Haunted Love: "Cynthia Leitich Smith (Tantalize) gives us a love triangle between a vampire, a ghost and a human girl, in which none of them are who or what they seem" This was an interesting story - definitely would have liked more detail and to have been made into a long story.

Amber Smoke: "Kristin Cast (the House of Night series) introduces us to a new kind of vampire: one with roots in Greek mythology, and the power to alter space and time" This was best as a short story. Not much more could have developed from it. It was okay.

Dead Man Stalking: "Rachel Caine (the Morganville Vampires series) revisits the setting of her popular series, where the vampires are in charge and love is risk." This short story made me want to pick up the Morganville Vamp series ASAP!

Table Manners: "Tanith Lee (Black Unicorn) shows us what happens when a bright young woman with some supernatural savvy encounters a misguided (but gorgeous) young vampire." This story was utterly stupid - a waste of reading time.

Blue Moon: "Richelle Mead (the Vampire Academy series) brings us the tale of a young vampire on the run from the rest of her kind, and the human boy who provides the getaway car." Um, yes please! I want more! So, I guess I'll be reading the Vampire Academy series very soon as well.

Changed: "Nancy Holder (the Wicked series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) immerses us in a post-apocalyptic New York where two best friends are forced to make a choice that may kill them both." Holder is definitely not shy of killing innocent humans off! I'm not crazy on her writing style, but the story was okay.

Binge: Rachel Vincent (Shifters series) tells the story of a siren and a muse, both best friends, who struggle with self-control and lust within that self control. This was my first exposure to sirens since The Odyssey. I found it quite interesting.

Free (A story of Evernight): "Claudia Gray (Evernight) takes us into the world of her Evernight series, in which a pre-Civil War courtesan-to-be is courted by a pale, fair-haired man whose attentions are too dangerous to spurn." This was my favorite story of them all, probably because I really like the Evernight series. It tells the story of Patrice and how she became a vampire. If you have read Evernight, you will definitely like this one.

Overall - I give the anthology 3 stars. Some stories deserve 4, while others deserve 1 or 2. Take your pick: read them all or just a few.(less)

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Jan 23, 2011 Christie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library, paranormal, ya, anthology

Overall a great book. P.C. Cast had a really interesting intro relating vampires to teenagers. Relating the things we see in vampires…the invincibility and the feeling of knowing everything, being in charge, in control…to the feeling you have as a teenager. Some of the stories are better than others. I will defiantly be looking at additional books from Cynthia Leitich Smith, Rachel Vincent and Tanith Lee. Some of the stories I would not really consider “love” stories, but I enjoyed them none the...more

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May 20, 2010 Ginn rated it 3 of 5 stars

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

I picked this up on impulse. I tend to dislike anthologies, and most of the time I detest vampires. But Rachel Vincent has a story in here, and I enjoy her Soul Screamers world. I'm reading the other short stories just to get a taste of what's out there.

Haunted Love by Cynthia Leitech Smith
2/5
Boring, with a completely ridiculous ending. The writing could have been better.

Amber Smoke by Kristin Cast
0/5
Good God, what an insult to my intelligence. Atrocious writing, horrible characterization and...more

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Mar 09, 2010 CorLostForWords rated it 4 of 5 stars

1. Haunted Love - Cynthia Leitich Smith. Interesting premise, had some good twists to it. Good story though it didn't quite keep me 100% captivated. 3/5

2. Amber Smoke - Kristin Cast. I like this author. I thought this story was poorly executed. It had great potential, but I disliked the main character, and thought everything was poorly explained (MC's reactions to her situation). 2/5

3. Dead Man Stalking - Rachel Caine. A good background story for Shane. Loved this one, and was happy to see Shane...more

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Feb 14, 2012 Erin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I would actually rate it 2 1/2 stars but since that option wasn't available it only gets 2! I really really detest short stories but this book had some of my fav. authors in it so I decided to give it a try and it helps that someone bought it for me. Of course the only stories I really enjoyed were from them....and they were too short!
So here are my ratings for each:

Haunted Love by Cynthia Leitich Smith I give 3/5 star rating. I liked the story line and its unique ending.

Amber Smoke by kristen...more

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Apr 01, 2011 Jamie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: vampires-werewolves

The book is a bunch of short stories. Some were really good but all were decent. P.C. Cast did a good job getting a variety of different stories. My only complaint is the title. Many of the stories had little romance (just some attraction) or love. But just a small detail. Below are my thoughts on each story individually.

1) Haunted Love by Cynthia L Smith. This was a story about a newly turned vampire who kills his uncle and starts to run a small theater. The theater is haunted by a ghost named...more The book is a bunch of short stories. Some were really good but all were decent. P.C. Cast did a good job getting a variety of different stories. My only complaint is the title. Many of the stories had little romance (just some attraction) or love. But just a small detail. Below are my thoughts on each story individually.

1) Haunted Love by Cynthia L Smith. This was a story about a newly turned vampire who kills his uncle and starts to run a small theater. The theater is haunted by a ghost named Sonya. Cody (the young vampire) also hires a girl named Ginny. He is drawn to both. This story has interesting connections between the 3 of them but I would have liked a bit more detail and emotion in the story. Overall-3.5 star rating.
2)Amber Smoke by Kristin Cast. An odd vampire twist wit a touch of very off beat Greek mythology. A young girl dies by falling and hitting her head, is turned into a vampire upon getting kissed while dying. Each vampire has unique powers. They don't feed off blood and when they bleed their blood is amber. Very odd story.Not exactly my cup of tea but I am sure others would like it. 2.5-3 star rating
3) Dead Man Stalking by Rachel Caine. This story takes place in the Morganville series. It focuses on a young man named Shane. He is kidnapped by a zombie-type guy named Jerome and brought to face his father who is trying to kill all the vampires. Although I have yet to read this series this story stood well as a stand-alone and actually left me even more interested in reading Rachel Caine's other books. 4 stars
4)Table Manners by Tanith Lee. A good story about a girl at a party. She comes across a vampire and starts question him on his habits, weaknesses as a vampire (sunlight, blood, mirrors, etc). In Lee's story here vampires are not obligated to any of the lore that is made about them. That its psychological. Very nonstandard vampire traits but is slowly becoming a more common theme in newer books. I like the first person perspective this story was written in. 3.5- 4 stars.
5)Blue Moon by Richelle Mead. A good, likely futuristic story. Here, vampires are the upper class and run things. Humans are servants and lower working glass. The story focuses on a young girl trying to escape the city. She uses a human to do this. AN interesting story about the relationships between humans and vampires. 4.5 stars!
6)Changed by Nancy Holder. Great short story. Well-written and captivating! This story takes place in the city when one night vampires attack and over then next several days the city is in chaos. Survival is hard death is everywhere. A teen girl looking for her best friend amidst the fires, surrounded by those who would drain her blood. 5 stars!
7)Binged by Rachel Vincent. Not Really sure this is a vampire story. Its about 2 girls, one being a siren and feeds off others (energy?) while singing. The other seems to give and take opposite energies of music. Very strange and hard to follow what and how their abilities work. Especially the second girl who goes after a guy she feels drawn to. However the story was well written otherwise. 3 stars.
8) Free by Claudia Gray. Set in the 1800's in New Orleans. Focus's on Patrice's struggle as she learns what it really means to be free in those days. Well written for the most part but was a bit tricky to believe the time period based on writing style and description at times. However the story was very good. 3.5-4 stars.(less)

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Feb 25, 2010 Regan ♥ rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own

Haunted Love: A pretty good start to the book. It was kinda weird and freaky, but I like it.

Amber Smoke: This reminded me a lot of the House of Night books. The girl reminds me so much of Zoey that it's not funny. So, being like Zoey, this character really annoyed me.

Dead Man Stalking: I really like this one. It kept me reading, and I wanted to know what happened. But if this girl called Claire was in it more, it would've been more interesting and there would've been more drama. ;D

Table Manners...more

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Dec 31, 2012 Mo rated it 3 of 5 stars

Haunted Love by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Mediocre teen vamp owns/runs a haunted old theater in a small town story.

Amber Smoke Kristin Cast

Intriguing new supernatural characters/mythology in what felt like the start of what should be a full-length novel. I would read more of this venture.

Dead Man Stalking (A Morganville Vampires Story) by Rachel Caine

Decent glimpse into her popular vampire series that I'm still interested in reading. Plus a bit of non-gory zombie inclusion.

Table Manners by Tanith L...more

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Feb 15, 2013 Shannon rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cheesy-romance, crappy-books, fantasy, vampires, young-adult

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This was one of those books I had picked up for $1 when Borders was closing. To be fair, I didn't expect much from it, but this was even worse than I expected. However, since it's an anthology, let's go story by story.

Haunted Love by Cynthia Leitich Smith (2/5 stars): I was excited for this, because I really liked Tantalize. However, this was just dull. There was an attempt to build up that Ginny was in grave danger, but it didn't really work. Plus, if she's the one who killed the ghost girl (I...more This was one of those books I had picked up for $1 when Borders was closing. To be fair, I didn't expect much from it, but this was even worse than I expected. However, since it's an anthology, let's go story by story.

Haunted Love by Cynthia Leitich Smith (2/5 stars): I was excited for this, because I really liked Tantalize. However, this was just dull. There was an attempt to build up that Ginny was in grave danger, but it didn't really work. Plus, if she's the one who killed the ghost girl (I can't remember her name), why they hell did she want to work there? I don't really get it. And how did Cody not know she was a vampire? I feel like that would be a thing you notice.

Amber Smoke by Kristin Cast (1/5 stars): ...I don't really even know what happens in this story. There's some cool background information in the beginning with The Furies, but then the rest of the story had nothing to do with that. I feel like there was way too much crap going on and that Cast didn't know what to do with all the ideas she had, so she just dumped it all in and expects you to figure it out.

Dead Man Stalking by Rachel Caine (4/5 stars): This one, I liked, actually. I think it's because there's actual depth to the story. It's more about the relationship between Shane and his dad, with a bit of zombies and vampires thrown in there. And it's obviously a smaller part of a bigger story, but I still know what's going on, which is pretty impressive on Caine's part.

Table Manners by Tanith Lee (3/5 stars): It was a very interesting take on vampires, that's for sure. And I didn't guess what Lel's part in it all was right away, so that was cool. I just wish it could have been longer, because the ending was really, really anticlimactic. Really.

Changed by Nancy Holder (2/5 stars): I feel like this could have been my favorite story, if it weren't for a few things. One, enough with the longing for the gay boy. We get it. She was his beard, she love him still. He loves her differently. Two, What the hell was that ending? The last half of the story when she finds Eli, makes very little sense. His family isn't being attacked by vampires for some reason, and they're arguing about crap like Eli being gay as if nothing is happening? From what I understand, half of the city is up in constant flames, and they're acting like 5 year olds? AND HIS PARENTS LET HIGH SCHOOL KIDS OUT TO FIND ANOTHER HIGH SCHOOL KID LIKE IT'S NO BIG DEAL.

Blue Moon by Richelle Mead (2/5 stars): There was almost nothing I liked about this story. It kept a "big secret" from you the entire time, and it turns out that the secret makes Lucy more or less the chosen one and she goes from 0 to 60 on the power scale in a matter of 2 paragraphs. Bleh.

Free by Claudia Gray (5/5 stars): This story was so bad ass. Patrice is my hero. I may be biased because I love historical fiction, but Goddamn she is sooooo awesome. I can't even put it into words. She gets forced into a terrible situation by a male vampire, but instead of relying on him once he changes her, she fucking kills him the first chance she gets for all the terriblie things he's done to her. I can't help it, I'm a sucker for strong female characters. If Gray's Evernight series is anything like this, I may just fall in love.(less)

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Apr 23, 2013 Caitlin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-reads

Because these are short stories, I'm going to review as I go.

1. Haunted Love. A nice good mystery story. It kept me intereged.
2. Amber Smoke. This short story reminded me of really bad fanfiction. I did not like it at all.
3. Dead Man Stalking. I felt that I was dropped into a story that clearly could have been a longer story that was paired down to make it a short story. It was decent, but again it lacked because it was paired down.
4. Table manners. It was okay. I'm always interged by what autho...more

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Jul 07, 2012 Angie (Mind Malfunction) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own

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

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Mar 12, 2012 Shirlyn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One of my favourite stories are Table Manners by Tanith Lee, (of course) my all times favourite Shane and Claire (Morganville Vampires) and Evernight's story. I have to say, I am most impressed by Table Manners. I am intrigued by Tanith's uniqur writing style. As for Rachel Caine, duh, she is always awesome. And I found that Evernight's story really brings out who Patrice is, when her hope is still young and her dream is still big. I can understand why she never has a lover after the incident. A...more

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Aug 07, 2011 Julia rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mainly there wasn't much to these stories. I mostly read it for the Morganville novella. I decided to give the others a shot, but there wasn't much to go on.
The worst offender was "Amber Smoke" by Kristin Cast. Um how this got published goes back to one word - nepotism - I assume. I assume it is supposed to go with a more detailed world, but the snippet we got was just weird. And I'm sorry but this girl is all enamored of this guy who scared her so badly that she fell in her heels (really?) and...more

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Mar 02, 2012 Juanitah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Imortais" é tudo menos uma obra de PC Cast, pois esta apenas se encarrega da introdução, onde nos apresenta as diversas escritoras e nos possibilita uma antevisão do que vamos ler.
"Imortais" é uma colectânea de contos vampíricos de diversas autoras, por nós bem conhecidas.
Fiquem a saber o que penso, de conto a conto:

"Amor de Fantasma" de Cynthia Leitich Smith

Opinião:

Cody sempre fora um solitário e bem discreto.
Com a sua habitual discrição, oculta a sua verdadeira natureza, mas quanto à solidão...more

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May 30, 2010 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've reviewed each of the stories individually with a summary of the whole book at the end.

Haunted Love by Cynthia Leitich Smith
★★★☆ I liked it
This follows a newly-turned vampire who tries to reopen a theatre in a small town. Things get a bit messy though when the stories of the theatre being haunted turn out to be true. I liked the way the characters are presented with mysteries to be discovered about them. There's a couple of nice twists at the end. I only wish that all the space the explanati...more

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[Note: Though Rachel's blog entries are cross posted here, she does not frequent Goodreads. The best ways to contact her are FB, Twitter, or her Wordpress blog. PLEASE DO NOT SEND HER MESSAGES HERE. SHE DOES NOT CHECK THEM.]

A resident of San Antonio, Rachel Vincent has a BA in English and an overactive imagination, and consistently finds the latter to be more practical. She shares her workspace wi...more

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