Kiss Me Deadly: 13 Tales Of Paranormal Love [Paperback]

Kiss Me Deadly is a new young adult paranormal romance anthology containing 13 new stories. It is, sort of, the follow up to 'The Eternal Kiss' YA vampire romance anthology that was out last summer. TEK was awesome and completely worth the money, which not all anthos are, and this one had another great line up of authors so I was really looking forward to it.

It is a decent anthology. Lots of different tales, different styles and some interesting romance options. Probably not the best anthology I've read, or rather not the one I've most enjoyed. I actually liked the majority of the stories, but it was more a case of them being great and loving them, or not thinking much of them at all, no real in-between stories. I still think its well worth owning, for the stories from Rachel Vincent, Karen Mahoney and Maggie Stiefvater alone!

The stories in order:
1. The Assassin's Apprentice by Michelle Zink - 8/10 - descendants of angels hunting demons on earth. Nice short, wish it had been longer, liked the characters and the ideas a lot.
2. Errant by Diana Peterfreund - 4/10 - strange story featuring odd unicorns. Not much paranormal love to it, mostly just strange. Just didn't really work for me.
3. The Spirit Jar by Karen Mahoney - 9/10 - Moth, the vampire girl from Karen's short 'Falling To Ash' in TEK, is back and this time in London after a rare book for her maker, and she's not the only one after it. Great short story, I completely love Moth and really hope there is a full book from her POV in the future!
4. Lost by Justine Musk - 9/10 - fantastic short about a girl good at finding lost things, who meets a guy who's not quite human in an abandoned house.
5. The Spy Who Never Grew Up by Sarah Rees Brennan - 5/10 - Peter Pan working for Her Majesty's secret service. Bit strange, but fun as well. Liked it.
6. The Dungeons of Langeais by Becca Fitzpatrick - 5/10 - short set in her Hush, Hush world. An angel, the man tied to him, and the two women who they try to protect. Okay, but nothing great.
7. Behind The Red Door by Caitlin Kittredge - 5/10 - girl meets ghost who is not as great as first appears. Not bad, but felt quite detached. Wasn't too bothered which way things would go.
8. Hare Moon by Carrie Ryan - 8/10 - focuses on Sister Tabitha from The Forest of Hands and Teeth as a teenager, showing where she came from. Great story explaining how she came to be the way she is. Really liked it.
9. Familiar by Michelle Rowen - 8/10 - a reluctant witch has to pick out a familiar. She chooses a little runt of a kitten, who turns out to be a shifter and not a kitten at all. Fun and sweet. Loved it.
10. Fearless by Rachel Vincent - 9/10 - set in Rachel's Soul Screamers world, this story introduces us to Sabine Campbell, in a short set before the SS series begins. Sabine is a mara, someone who feeds off of nightmares to survive, but finds herself somewhere that's oddly empty of them. Really great short and I love Sabine. Looking forward to seeing more of her in SS #4 My Soul To Steal (out Jan 1st 2011), even if she and Kaylee are going to be enemies.
11. Vermillion by Daniel Marks - 4/10 - ghosts causing chaos, or not causing it. Basic idea was fine, but I didn't like the main character. The girl was just too volatile, going from calm happy to enraged too quickly and she wasn't too smart either, though she was meant to be. Could have been better.
12. The Hounds of Ulster by Maggie Stiefvater - 9/10 - beautiful, sad tale of two best friends and the fey girl who comes between them. Wish it had been longer! Loved the characters and the story and would have loved more about all of it.
13. Many Happy Returns by Daniel Waters - 8/10 - very sad tale of a father hoping, wishing, his daughter will rise again as a zombie after she and her boyfriend, and other friends, are killed in a car accident. Not often a zombie fan, but like the ideas and it's enough for me to look in to his Generation Dead series which is the same world as this short.

Overall, 7/10 but like I said, few of the stories would be worth owning the whole antho for on their own!

First things first, from the moment I heard of this book I could not help but salivate over it just at the thought of so many of my favorite authors all within the same book. Here is a quick synopsis of the stories inside:

The Assassin's Apprentice by Michelle Zink - This was actually one of my favorites stories. It deals with vengeance, danger and love. I really hope Ms. Zink will endeavor in creating a series or even a stand-alone about these characters. I'm definitely interested in learning more about them.

Errant by Diana Peterfreund - If you've read Ms. Peterfreund's Rampant, then you'll definitely recognize this world. It's a story about two very different individuals who can find a common ground - their love of a unicorn.

The Spirit Jar by Karen Mahoney - This is the first that I've read by Ms. Mahoney. She's very clever. I loved her witty characters that were snarky and sarcastic (my favorite type). Not to mention any girl with the name Moth gets two thumbs up in my book. The story did feel a little long, but I think Ms. Mahoney used her space wisely.

Lost by Justine Musk - This is also the first time I read anything by Ms. Musk. Sasha is good at finding things. With Haiden's assistance she'll learn to find lost souls. Very beautifully written. But also very sad. I really hope Ms. Musk writes more on this - my interest was definitely piqued.

The Spy Who Never Grew Up by Sarah Rees Brennan - What a fun story. In The Spy Who Never Grew Up, you will be surprised to find that the infamous Peter Pan is a spy. Ashley, who just happens to be one of Wendy's ancestors, comes along for the ride.

Dungeons Of Langeais by Becca Fitzpatrick - This story takes place about 300 years before Patch meets Nora. This is the history between Chauncey and Patch. I really liked this one because you learn of what life in Cheshvan is like. Plus, I'm a big fan of Hush Hush and Crescendo so this one could do no wrong.

Behind the Red Door by Caitlin Kittredge - This is a ghost story. When Jo's best friend dares her to enter a house that is believed to be haunted, Jo can't help but take the dare. There she meets Nicholas whom she falls head over heels for. But Nicholas is not who she thinks and she finds herself in deadly trouble. This one was hands down my favorite. It was very creepy and had some unexpected twists that I did not see coming.

Hare Moon by Carrie Ryan - For fans of Ms. Ryan's previous works The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead-Tossed Waves (like me)... this is a treat, one that will hopefully hold you over until the next book in the series. In Hare Moon you read about Tabitha and Patrick and their forbidden love. Living in separate towns, they meet at the gates to talk and dream of marriage, but when Patrick stops coming around, Tabitha has no other option but to become a nun. Then Patrick returns - claiming that his whole family has perished from an unknown virus. Everyone except him and his little brother. Tabitha takes the chance of hiding him away in the church but we all know what "virus" affects the souls in Ms. Ryan's tales. As always, Ms. Ryan's stories are bittersweet, heartbreaking but so beautifully told. And for those of you who have read her previous novels, then you'll be glad to read more about the detested Sister Tabitha and get insight into what made her the tough and unforgiving woman she is when we first meet her.

Familiar by Michelle Rowen - I really liked this one too. In it Brenda needs to find a familiar (a pet that is used to enhance magic) in order to follow in her mother's footsteps as a successful witch. She picks Owen, a near death kitty - but Owen turns out to be something unexpected. This was the cutest story ever. I really liked Brenda and Owen. There were some swoon-worthy moments in this one.

Fearless by Rachel Vincent - Sadly I haven't read any of Ms. Vincent's books so I wasn't fully understanding of banshees and whatnot. But this was still a good story. It held somewhat of a mystery and I liked how it all resolved.

Vermillion by Daniel Marks - There was a bit too much going on in this one for me to fully enjoy. This happens sometimes with short stories where an author tries to give you too much information and the reader just ends up getting confused. The premise was good though - I like the thought of ghosts having otherworldly missions.

The Hounds of Ulster by Maggie Stiefvater - This story is about faeries! I love Maggie's faeries. Also one of the best stories in the book. This is the story of Sullivan and Bryant. As always, brilliantly told and talk about a shocker ending. One of my faves.

Many Happy Returns by Daniel Waters - This story ties into Mr. Waters' Generation Dead series. I think Mr. Waters poignantly captures one fathers love for his daughter after she is in a car wreck that claims the lives of four teenagers. I teared up over Cal's loss of his beloved daughter Mandy - but even more so at his expectancy of her return.

The stories were all good - some better than others, of course, but relatively all of them were readable. I know that I loved the introduction to new authors that, if these stories are any indication, are definitely going to be added to my to be read list. As with all short stories, most of them leave you wanting more - but all in all, I found them to be very satisfying. Overall this was a very enjoyable anthology that for many will be the introduction to a vast variety of new authors. I recommend to lovers of the genre as well as to those that are looking for a glimpse into those worlds that they already know and love.

Kiss Me Deadly, Ed. Trisha Telep
Running Press Teens, 2010
401+ pages*
YA; Short Stories; Paranormal Romance
3.5/5 stars

Source: ARC from publisher

Summary: A collection of short stories from some of today's most popular authors including Maggie Stiefvater, Carrie Ryan, Michelle Zink, and more!

Some spoilers but I tried not to ruin the stories if they have twists.

Thoughts: I always find it easiest to talk about short story collections by just going through them and listing what I did and didn't like so this will be LONG. I had a quibble with these "short" stories as many of them were quite long; I was expecting twenty pages to be the max but that was more like the min. I'm not complaining because of course I want more to read but it made it difficult to fit in to the little snatches of time I have to read throughout the day unlike say the short sections of Terry Pratchett's books.

I'm evaluating these stories on the paranormal elements and the romance given the subtitle of "paranormal love" although writing and sheer enjoyability play a part.

The Assassin's Apprentice by Michelle Zink: It felt rushed-I was unsure of the mythology surrounding the story. And most disappointing to me, I didn't really feel the romance as there wasn't much build-up: they saw each other and they knew. Very unsatisfactory for me. 3/5

Errant by Diana Peterfreund: I think this is connected to her series of unicorn books, which I have not read, but the story still made sense. The romance was also lacking in this but it ended with the empowerment of Elise who was able to draw unicorns to her land for protection against the vile men while Gitta will continue to travel with her unicorn Enyo. 4/5

The Spirit Jar by Karen Mahoney: This features vampires, or rather one named Moth who apparently was in The Eternal Kiss but I don't think you need to have read this in order to follow the story. I liked Moth who is conflicted over being a vampire, specifically whether or not she has a soul. But the romance wasn't very good and I didn't love it. 3/5

Lost by Justine Musk: I would classify this as an updated version of a Greek myth (I think it would be spoiled if I told you which one). Sasha (I have loved this name ever since I first heard it as the name of Sasha Cohen the ice-skater) is good at finding things and Haiden helps her develop and strengthen the those abilities in paranormal terms. The romance was a little half-baked although I can see it growing and flourishing. 4/5

The Spy Who Never Grew Up by Sarah Rees Brennan: This took me a while to get in to but I liked it, probably the second funniest story. It is a sort of sequel to Peter Pan, incorporating spy thriller elements. There are references to Wendy, Captain Hook, Tinker Bell, and Tiger Lily although sadly no Crocodile. It was interesting to see how Pan might be after approximately six generations have passed in human years. 4.5/5

Behind the Red Door by Caitlin Kittredge: An incredible ghost story: I would say both elements of paranormal and romance were probably strongest in this one. Jo and the ghost Nicholas had a unique relationship that culminated in some frightening moments. 5/5

Hare Moon by Carrie Ryan: I believe this is the story of the character Sister Tabitha from The Forest of Hands and Teeth who was once in love with a boy named Patrick. I felt their love but I'm still not a fan of the world and the Unconsecrated. If you loved the book, you'll probably love this story. 3/5

Familiar by Michelle Rowen: I would call this the funniest story although not many even included any funny bits. Brenda is a witch who needs to get a familiar who ends up being Owen. This had a strong romantic element with a light sprinkling of several paranormal elements. 5/5

Fearless by Rachel Vincent: Another rather scary story: Sabine is a mara, someone who feeds on humans's nightmares and Nash is another paranormal creature who understands and loves her. Sabine is sent to a halfway home to help her straighten up but she finds it even worse there 4.5/5

Vermillion by Daniel Marks: This was another outstanding story about Velvet and Nick who had one of the best romances of the stories. The paranormal elements also kicked my butt which I'm sure would please Velvet. 4.5/5

The Hounds of Ulster by Maggie Stiefvater: Bryant's best friend Sullivan is a brilliant musician who also happens to fall in love with one of Them, thereby destroying their friendship and their usual jam sessions. Another great story from Stiefvater 4/5

Many Happy Returns by Daniel Waters: I didn't really like this story but I'm not familiar with the Generation Dead universe where it takes place. It's one of the sadder stories, which I think accounts for why I didn't like it very much. 3/5

Dungeons of Langeais by Becca Fitzpatrick-when I started this I was worried I wouldn't be able to follow it since it's a Hush, Hush story and I haven't read that yet. It focuses on Chauncey who is apparently in Hush, Hush but I could follow it anyway. Because it is about Chauncey, one quite hates the evil angel who bamboozled him; said angel being Patch who is apparently the romantic hero. I already don't like him. But it was very readable. 3.5/5

Overall: Because I didn't like the first few stories that much, it lowered the rating of the book as a whole. However I would still recommend the collection especially if you've had the pleasure of reading books by these writers and are familiar with the universes. I definitely felt that romance was lacking in a few stories but they all had their unique mythologies which made the paranormal aspects pleasing to me.

Cover: Kind of creepy which is appropriate.

*I received this from the publisher with Becca Fitzpatrick's story typed on regular pages and inserted folded in to the book.

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