Holidays Are Hell [Mass Market Paperback]

If you are a fan of Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan Series, this book is worth the price for Harrison's story alone. A prequel to the series, "Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel" is a much better stand-alone, than Harrison's Ivy prequel in anthology Dates From Hell, but it is even better for fans of the series. This story reminded me of how much I liked the series before the disappointing last book For a Few Demons More .

Harrison's "Two Ghosts" shows an eighteen year old Rachel, still struggling to overcome the disease that almost killed her as a child and beginning to discover her true power as she strives to garner the support she needs to meet her goal of becoming an Inderland Security runner like her late father. For fans, there is some real insight into what drives Rachel in later books. For newbies, there is still a great story, where Rachel will have to push past her limits to save two souls, one already dead and one soon to be if she fails.

I also enjoyed Lynsay Sand's contribution, "Run, Run, Rudolph". This is a follow on to the "Claire Switch Project" (also from Dates from Hell) and stars Jill who is caught in the same shapeshifter ray that brought both her brother Kyle and her best friend Claire love and trouble. Sand's story is silly at times but is still a fun romance. Jill somehow manages to make all her Christmas wishes starring handsome Nick come true, while shapeshifting to try and avoid an evil scientist who wants to use her as a lab specimen.

Marjorie Liu's effort was fine but I prefer her longer Dirk & Steele novels to her short stories. The heroine, Six, is has been trained since childhood as kind of a special ops agent for the Chinese government, but has hit a snag in her latest mission when she runs afoul of vampires. Six is saved by a sexy necromancer but not before being infected. Not truly understanding why, she gives up the only life she has ever known and discovers a love that may mean her salvation. There was romance here but it was too rushed to have much depth, but the basic storyline was interesting and I wouldn't mind seeing another story with these characters.

The final story, "The Harvest" by Vicki Pettersson is a prequel to her Zodiac series. It really captures the flavor of her other books (The Scent of Shadows (Sign of the Zodiac, Book 1) and The Taste of Night (Sign of the Zodiac, Book 2)) even in this short format. I have somewhat mixed feelings about this series but this was is a nice little fill-in giving a little more background on characters from the series, Warren, Tulpa, and Joanna's mother Zoe the former Zodiac archer, as Zoe tries to rescue Joanna's child stolen by the Shadow agents. There is a touch of bittersweet romance and I couldn't help but feel sorry for Zoe who has spent her entire life sacrificing love for duty and the fight against evil.

Not a fan of short stories, I nevertheless bought this book because of Kim Harrison. I'm behind on reading her Rachel Morgan series and thought this would be a good way to get back into it. Turns out it was an excellent way -- this short look at Rachel's background was extremely well done. If I hadn't already been into the Morgan series, this story would have been enough to make me seek out Harrison's full-length novels.

The Lynsay Sands contribution was too superficial. She had a neat plot idea, but her characters seem like they could be cut and pasted out of any average romance novel. Even though it was short, I got bored with the story and skipped to the end so I could get to the next author.

Which turned out to be Marjorie M. Liu, with a story set in China. A no-nonsense woman, raised by the government to be a human weapon and known only as "Six," meets a mysterious man with unusual abilities and has to partner up with him to battle vampires -- and try to avoid becoming one herself. Six is an awesome fighter, the kind of character that often sucks authors into making them too perfect (the "Mary Sue" syndrome). Liu resisted the temptation, though, and even in a short story still managed to give readers insight into Six's vulnerabilities and desires. I've never read Liu before but will definitely try one of her full-length novels next.

Vicki Pettersson was another new author for me. Apparently her story in this collection is part of her "Sign of the Zodiac" series. Readers who require a "happily ever after" ending will be disappointed, but I like the fact that she didn't try to cram such an ending in. I don't know all the rules of her Zodiac universe and its good-versus-evil superhumans. Maybe in a longer Zodiac novel she could have worked her characters around to that point, but the point where she left her characters at the end of this tale felt very honest. It also felt like it was laying the foundation for a sequel, so maybe the happily-ever-after readers will get their wish in a later installment.

Overall, the book was worth buying. I'm going to get back into reading Harrison's Rachel Morgan series next, but I'll definitely check out Liu's and Pettersson's other works too.

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

Whether your preference is Thanksgiving, Winter Solstice, Christmas, or New Year's, you'll find a paranormal adventure here to suit your spirit.

Kim Harrison shows us in Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel what happens when a spell to call a ghost goes haywire and brings the wrong one to you. Rachel Morgan is a teenager trying to prove she has what it takes to make it in her dream job at Inderland Security, in spite of her frequent illness growing up. When her brother challenges her, Rachel is determined to win, no matter what, even if it means fighting vampires.

If you are a fan of her Hollows series, or as in my case, are new to the series, you'll enjoy this prequel. Rachel is a spirited young woman full of spunk who won't take no for an answer, even when it means running around on the night of the Solstice celebration to help a young girl in danger. Rachel even gets to experience a little love and romance with the ghost she accidentally summons, which adds a little touch poignancy to the story.

Lynsay Sands gives us a humorous take on a psycho stalkers obsessed with studying shape shifting abilities, even if it means said stalker has to trick people into "participating" in his scheme in Run, Run Rudolph. Here we meet Jill, who is tricked into being blasted with a shape shifting ray while babysitting her niece. Now she's on the run just when her love life finally seems to be heating up neighbor store owner, Nick, in time for them to play Mr. and Mrs. Claus in the annual Christmas parade.

This story is a sequel to a novella featured in the book Dates from Hell. Having not read the previous story I still followed along fairly well, though I was missing the back story on why our villain was so desperate to trap Jill and use her in his science experiments. We had a very enjoyable, and funny, story here nonetheless and I'm going to now have to go read the preceding story. I especially loved watching Jill come to terms with her new ability and how to control it, when constantly changing her appearance (even becoming a reindeer at one point!)

Marjorie M Liu has us spend Chinese New Year with a young government agent who unwittingly finds herself caught up in a war against soul sucking vampires in Six. Orphaned at a young age, all Six has ever known is her training and later her career as a government agent. When her latest mission introduces her to hideous soul stealing vampires, her only aid is in the form of a sinfully seductive necromancer who has his own job to fulfill where the vampires are concerned.

This story probably had the most romance of any in the book. Be forewarned however, if you are a fan of the Dirk & Steele series, Six is completely different from the stories found there. This is a very dark and gritty story though it still showcases Liu's incredible talent for word building and character development. I've come to love Liu's books and found Six to be quite captivating, though I could see it working a little better as a longer novel.

Lastly, the story I was most waiting for, Vicki Pettersson's The Harvest rounds out the collection. Pettersson gives us a prequel to her Zodiac series when former Light Agent Zoe must spend Thanksgiving trying to rescue her granddaughter from her greatest enemy and leader of the Shadow Zodiac, the Tulpa, who happens to be the grandfather of this special child.

I love the Zodiac series and have been waiting for this story since I read the first two books earlier this year. I knew Zoe was a fascinating person and had so much story to tell. The Harvest only scratches the surface of Zoe's complex life, but it was enough to satisfy this eager fan, at least for a little while. Another added bonus was discovering more about Warren, the leader of the Light Zodiac. This story sheds a lot of light on his reasons for treating Joanna the way he does in the other books in the series. However, while fans of the story will be sucked right in, readers who are new to Pettersson's world may find themselves confused here and there, trying to keep all the details straight.

Holidays Are Hell is a wonderful collection of paranormal holiday tales. Keep in mind that while this is not a romance anthology, we do have a bit of romance in every story, some more than others. What a perfect book to read when needing some relaxation during the hectic holiday season.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, December 2007. All rights reserved.

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