The Glassheart Chronicles is a short story anthology written by a talented cast of Paranormal YA authors.
Fisher Amelie (author of The Leaving series), J.L. Bryan (author of the Paranormals series), Courtney Cole (author of The Bloodstone Saga), Wren Emerson (author of the Witches of Desire series), Amy Maurer-Jones (author of The Soul Quest trilogy), Tiffany King (author of the Saving Angels series) and Nicole Williams (author of the Eden Trilogy) come together in this captivating anthology to each write a short story about a character from their already existing novels.
This lively group of authors shine in this anthology. If you enjoyed the following books: Jenny Pox (J.L. Bryan) The Understorey (Fisher Amelie) Fated (Courtney Cole) I Wish...(Wren Emerson) Soul Quest (Amy Maurer-Jones) Meant To Be (Tiffany King) Eternal Eden (Nicole Williams)
Then you will love these short stories, each of which provides a further look at the characters you have already grown to love.
The authors of The Glassheart Chronicles will be donating their profits from this anthology to Save The Children, an amazing organization that strives every day to help impoverished children in over 120 countries, including the United States.
I’ve never read an anthology before, but I can say that, with a group like this, it’s a great way to sample the tasty treats of each and find out what you’ve been missing. And what’s more, all these talented authors are writing about love—in all its forms.
Fisher Amelie immersed me in the depths of a soul-searing love that stayed with me long after I’d finished, while JL Bryan thrilled me with a creepy fascination that could quite easily be addictive. Emerson served up a delicious helping of bitter love and revenge, Cole an evil side-dish of subterfuge. Jones demonstrated the pain of disappointment while King drew me in with a hauntingly beautiful tale of true love and ultimate betrayal. Williams capped the anthology off with her unique spin on a classic story of love at first sight.
Throughout this anthology, these authors captured the myriad emotions that can make a human heart feel as though it’s made of glass, but in their larger works they prove that the heart is much more resilient. It will hold out for true love, eternal love, the kind of love we swoon over and die for, the kind that always hurts, always wins and never dies. And that, my friends, is what makes love worth reading about. So by all means, take off your rose-colored glasses and pick up this collection. I feel certain that it will leave you wanting more.
I bought this in Kindle format to read J.L. Bryan's Jenny Pox addition. What I ended up getting was six more authors to add to my Kindle Wishlist. The writing from all the authors was engaging, interesting and I am definitely hooked!
Edit on 8/28/11: I have spent the last few weeks reading books by all of the authors who have work in The Glassheart Chronicles and let me just say one word... WOW. I liked the writing before but I LOVE it now! After reading each book (or series of books), I went back and read the author's piece in this book and came out with a new appreciation of The Glassheart Chronicles.
I really love short story collections and anthologies plus two of my favourite indie authors have stories in The Glassheart Chronicles. So when I saw it on Amazon I just had to buy it right away!
This collection has seven different stories in it. Some of the authors I had heard of before and some of them I hadn't. This review is going to be on the collection overall, rather then individually critiquing seven short stories.
The stories all work well together, they all have the same YA paranormal vibe to them. I actually really enjoyed reading them all one after another although you could easily read one then go back to the book later on to read another story. I think that is one of the main things I enjoy about short stories, you don't feel rushed to finish the book in one sitting. Readers can take their time and just read one story at a time and still get the true feelings behind the individual story and the entire collection.
Now I'm not going to lie, I bought this collection solely for two stories, Courtney Cole's and Wren Emerson's. As both their short stories tie in with their current book series, The Bloodstone Saga and The Witches of Desire, which I have read and loved! Along the way though I soon discovered the J.L Bryan story which relates to his Jenny Pox/Paranormals series. I have had Jenny Pox on my Kindle forever and still have not got around to reading it yet, reading his short story in this collection has given me the kick I needed to finally start it! I also loved Tiffany King's short story. I had heard of her before, but never really looked into any of her work. I now have a copy of her book Meant To Be to read as well after this collection.
I also loved the other stories in the book, I just haven't had a chance to research the authors or their work yet, but believe me I will!
I think The Glassheart Chronicles is a great addition to any YA reader's Kindle. It certainly introduced me to some new indie authors I didn't know about before and the stories themselves give a great taster of each author's writing styles and books. Not everyone will love every single story in this collection, but there is a great mix and I do believe that there is something for everyone in here. For people who are wondering about indie authors, but are not really too sure where to start I think this would be a great starting point to break into the world on indie books.
Since purchasing my Kindle, I have asked my friends to recommend books to me that are "out of my comfort zone". I've never gone out of my way to read Paranormal or Science Fiction but I am glad I did. I'm slowly but surely reading through the authors' full books and I have been nothing but pleased.
I picked this up because I love Fisher Amelie and I wanted to read her short story in this, The Wonderboom (which of course was nothing less than fantastic).
The Glassheart Chronicles is a collection of YA short stories by Fisher Amelie, J. L. Bryan, Courtney Cole, Wren Emerson, Amy Jones, Tiffany King, and Nicole Williams. All of these stories fall within the "paranormal genre" but some focus on magic, others on mythology, and some supernatural. All of these stories with exception of the last had a dark twist to them; many ending not so happily. Most of them, if not all of them, are somehow connected to the authors' main works.
My favorite two in this collection were the first two. The first, by Fisher Amelie, was a paranormal story about 28 year old Sawyer who stumbles upon a head (literally on both accounts). One thing leads to another and Sawyer has a moment with an old acquaintance, Madeline Gray. And not just a moment, but a moment. A powerful and magic filled moment that indicates to Sawyer they might share the gift. Now, I can't say more because it is after all a short story, so I'd give it all away much to fast. But go read it, its first in the book.
My other favorite in this collection was The Monster in the Garden by J. L. Bryan. This story dips slightly into the darker realm of the paranormal. Isabel is a monster; she is kept in a garden and not allowed to see or touch anyone. Pascal is curious, and wants to know about this monster that everyone is afraid of. When he talks to her through the wall that surrounds her, she seems like a normal girl. He seeks her through a hole, and she looks like a normal girl. And now, he can't stay away. But why is she so guarded, and how can this normal girl really bring terror to his life?
Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous. I ended up adding quite a few of these authors to my to-read list. I got attached to the stories and characters pretty quickly, but let me just say...come on, why not more happy endings! So much pain!
So, I read this anthology ages ago - and never got around to writing a review. This book was the start of my adventure with some amazing authors.
The first short is from Fisher Amelie and is entitled The Wonderboom. This is an extension of her amazing novel The Understorey. We are introduced to Sawyer "Tut" Tuttle who makes an appearance in the novel The Understorey as a classmate/friend of Elliot and Jules....withouth giving too much away, Sawyer undergoes a very similiar and CRAZY WILD connection with Elliot's baby sister, Madeleine. He calls Elliot to confide and explain to him what he's experiencing. Since I read this before The Understorey I wasn't quite sure what it all meant. I definitely recommend reading The Understorey first, but this is a nice taste of the awesomeness that is Fisher Amelie.
The second short is The Monster in the Garden by J.L. Bryan. I found this a rather intriguing story and it made me anxious to read his Jenny Pox series which I have heard WONDERFUL things about. This was a nice taste of what I expect will be an epic series.
The third short is "Wicked Enchantment" by Courtney Cole. Oh MY WOW!! This was an awesome short. I have sinced read the related series "The Bloodstone Saga" and out of all the series that I've read, this still rates as one of the tops!! I went back and reread this after I read the series and it brings so much clarity to some questions that I had during the series. Courtney is a talented writer and this is a great introduction to her amazing writing style.
The fourth short is by Wren Emerson called "The Second Daughter's Second Daughter". This was a good read with an ending that I wasn't really quite expecting. I have Wren as an up and coming on my TBR list.
The fifth short is by Amy Maurer Jones and is called "Tunnel of Love (or Heartbreak)". I really enjoyed this story and loved that there was a shout out to my hometown of Pittsburgh, PA!!! I do look forward to exploring some of her other work specifically The Soul Quest Trilogy.
The sixth short is by Tiffany King and is entitled "The Dark Angel". Now this really really really was a great story and I am ashamed to say that I haven't had a chance to explore any of Tiffany's novels. This was one of my favorite's in the anthology and I had a hard time putting it down. Good thing it was a short!! Or I would have been up all night trying to finish it!! I have heard amazing things about Tiffany and I think that this was a good introduction to her writing style.
Ok - and they surely saved the best for last in this anthology. "The Woman in My Dreams" by Nicole Williams is an absolutely amazing addition to this. It is related to her Eden Trilogy. This short caused me to buy the Eden Trilogy and to this day it is at the TOP of my list. Nicole introduces us to the studliness that is William and is oh so hunky sounding brothers. It gives us the point of view of the first time he meets Bryn...which we hear from her side in the actual series. William and Bryn's relationship turns out to be epic...I'll just leave it at that.
To sum this up - for anyone that's looking for a nice introduction to several AMAZING authors - this is a great read. I give it 5 stars!! Awesomesauce for sure!!
I absolutely loved this collection of short stories! The collection whetted my appetite for sequels to some of my favorite series in some cases and helped me discover a couple of new authors in others. Definitely worth the read!
A good short story book, with the stories not being that short! I'm not usually into reading a book full of different stories because they seem to take a long time drawing the reader in, only to come to an abrupt finish two pages later. In most parts, this book didn't do that, and I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of dark stories.
Short Stories by six authors of fantasy haunting horror adventure thriller, each with its own characters and story line and conclusion. I would recommend this novella to readers looking for a quick fun read. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or listening 🎶 to Alexa as I do because of eye damage and health issues. 2022 😮👒⏰
I thought this would be a collection of short stories but nearly every entry is simply a fragment. I’m unsure what the point is. If it’s to sell books by these authors, my frustration and disappointment with this collection makes me unlikely to seek out their books.
I mainly picked up The Glassheart Chronicles because one of my favorite authors has a story in it. (Not telling, you guys can guess which one if you want) Altogether I did enjoy the anthology, but some of the stories frustrated me. Don’t get me wrong they were all well written. They all to one degree or another drew me in and kept my attention. I think if I had previously read the authors works that related to the short stories I would have enjoyed them more. If I had already read the authors work I might have been able to say “oh that’s this characters back story” or “oh, yeah, now that whole reason for her being a crazy sociopath kinda makes sense”. But because I hadn’t some of the stories just seemed too short.
As I said above the writing is good and the stories did draw me in and hold my interest. I did add a few books to my wish list based on the authors work here so it didn’t turn out all bad. If you are a fan of any of the authors I would definitely recommend picking this one up. But even if you aren’t familiar with any of them I think the collection provides a nice introduction to these authors, their styles and their novels and is worth the read.
I don't know what to say about this. I think 2.5 stars but I'm feeling nice so I'll round it to a 3.
I didn't really enjoy most of the stories, but the last one was probably one of the better ones, so I'm feeling nicer about this little collection now after finishing than I was in the middle. I was seriously considering giving up, which is rare because I really do hate doing that, but there was a couple of stories in the middle that just weren't for me. I think the main problem was they weren't what I was expecting, and I usually much prefer happy endings to my stories, and I really didn't get that from these. Also I haven't read any of the books that these short stories belong to, I just found this for free and thought I'd give it a try I guess. Not inspired to go find them either really.
So basically I just didn't like it, but hey I'm sure there are those that would enjoy, particularly if you've read the series they belong to.
The only story that I did like was the Nicole Williams one which was William's prespective of his and Emma's first meeting. Once we got to know him in the first book, I thought that having all those girls around him wasn't his style, and with this little chapter you see that it was Patrick's (which makes total sense). So it was just nice to read that William was just as lost as Emma was. As for the other stories, none of them really floated my boat, I wasn't impressed with their writing. I did look at other samples from Fisher Amelie, but they didn't entrige me enough to buy the books. I wanted to like the short stories b-cuz that would give me new authors to follow, but it was not to be.
The Glassheart Chronicles is a collection of short stories. I believe this is the first anthology that I have read.
I enjoyed some of the stories more than others. A couple of the stories are part of series that I have read so was a bit more drawn towards those. There were some that I just couldn't get into.
These are a quick read with some fun stories. So if you have read books by any of these author or would like to discover a new author, this is a good anthology to start with. This e-arc was provided to me by one of the authors for review. This did not affect my review in any way.
The Glassheart Chronicles is a collection of short stories from a talented cast of Young Adult Paranormal Romance authors.
Each contributing author spins a captivating short story involving a character from one of their already existing novels, providing an extra glimpse into that character's world.
Fans of these authors and their books will eat these stories up and breathlessly ask for more.
My Review - this was just an okay book for me. I did discover a few new authors but there were a few that weren't for me.
I mainly picked up this book because it had Nicole Williams in it. I enjoyed the stories well enough, I like how each short story so adequately displayed each author's individual tone.
This book was more in way of a grab bag, where you get goodies from several different authors and get to see what you like or don't like. I already knew I liked Nicole Williams, so I moved through the stories with something of a one track mind, but each story left it's particular imprint on me, and so many of them were so unique and fun.
Some of these stories I really enjoyed and some I didn't. I have a feeling I would have enjoyed some of the stories more if I read the series that is attached to it, but honestly some authors couldn't captivate me. Since I have only read The Saving Angels Trilogy by Tiffany King I was very hooked on her story story. Some authors had me wondering what happens next. Lets just say that now I have more books to add to my TBR.
I bought this book to read Nicole Williams excerpt, which was amazing, as always. I was hoping by reading this book I would be introduced to new authors. Unfortunately, none of the other stories grabbed my attention.
Not what I was expecting. Rather than being a collection of short stories these felt more like deleted scenes/intros/epilogues of books I hadn't read. May have enjoyed the book more if I had read the other novels and had previous knowledge of the characters involved.
Great mix of short stories by all my favorite authors. I really enjoyed the extended versions off of some of the characters that I have come to love and loathe :)
I like these little short stories... it introduces you to authors whom I might not have known about otherwise, as well as give me a cherry on top to some of my already favorites!