From the Bookshelf of Study Buddies…

The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance

Trisha Telep (Editor),

C.T. Adams (Contributor)

Start date: August 1, 2009

Finish date: August 31, 2009

Discussion: Monthly Book Group

Why we're reading this: MVS short story in this anthology: "Night Vision"…more
[close] MVS short story in this anthology: "Night Vision"

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Monthly Book Group

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last updated Mar 04, 2010 11:02AM

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What Members Thought

Nov 21, 2009 Lexie rated it really liked it

Shelves: review-blog-pr, books-owned-read

Unlike with The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance I've read almost all of the authors present in this collection to some degree. Obviously some of them more (Maria V. Snyder, Rachel Caine, Mary Jo Putney and Ilona Andrews), but I've read at least one story per an author before now.

Even though I knew I would enjoy the authors more in this collection then the other, I was still hesitant to think I would enjoy the collection more. I read a lot of paranormal--for fun and review--and I've been dis Unlike with The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance I've read almost all of the authors present in this collection to some degree. Obviously some of them more (Maria V. Snyder, Rachel Caine, Mary Jo Putney and Ilona Andrews), but I've read at least one story per an author before now.

Even though I knew I would enjoy the authors more in this collection then the other, I was still hesitant to think I would enjoy the collection more. I read a lot of paranormal--for fun and review--and I've been disappointed before in far shorter anthologies. I'm happy to say that I was not at all disappointed this with this book as a whole. Individual parts perhaps, but not as a whole.

Kelley Armstrong ("Paranormal Romance Blues"), Jean Johnson ("How To Date a Superhero") and Ilona Andrews ("Grace of Small Magics") were my favorites. Armstrong's story was a fun balance of paranormal issues and dating issues--two things that have perhaps more in common then most people think. Johnson's is just a fun superhero love story and the foibles of being able to see the future (note to authors and publishers: we need more superhero romances! A.J. Menden is doing a fine job with the Elite Hands of Justice but come on folks!). And Andrews is the fun of underestimating the small guy (or girl in this case). They always surprise you in the end.

I enjoyed Cheyenne McCray's "Taking Hold" as well. It was a werewolf story, but it was really less about that (romance wise at least) and more about two outsiders coming together. Mac is a funny mix of strong silent type and 'Did I say that wrong?' under-confidence. I wanted it to be longer however--I liked Mac a lot and wanted to know more about him.

The other authors and stories I enjoyed reading, but they didn't spark my interest as the others did. The collection surprised me with just how many different paranormals you could fit into one anthology. There's angels, demons, succubi, inccubi, werewolves, vampires, selkies, mermaids, superheroes, Gods, immortals...it was astounding and so much fun. Some of them don't get enough love, others are so overdone we are all screaming for something different, but each author presents them in a different light.

The only story I didn't quite gel with as well as I would have originally thought was the selkie story by Vaughn ("The Temptation of Robin Green"). Vaughn does a good job of everything but Robin Green. We're told she's very committed to her work, very proper and strait-laced, but we're not shown that really. It was perhaps the short nature of the story that ultimately made this happen--if the story had been longer there would have been more time to build up to Robin and the selkie's encounters.

This was a fun, entertaining anthology however and sure to please many fans of the varied authors present. In fact it might make fans of several other authors as well. ...more

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Mar 10, 2009 Maria V. Snyder rated it it was amazing · (Review from the author)

Of course I'm going to give this 5 stars even before I read it ;> Did you see the list of authors??? It's a no brainer :)

Kidding aside - this book's publication date has been moved up to March 9th - so anyone who pre-ordered should be getting a copy soon. I ordered mine from B&N.com and got it last week on the 6th. ...more

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Dec 31, 2008 Devon marked it as to-read

this is a like dream come true!! some Of my favorite's all in one book ...more

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Sep 25, 2010 Mary rated it it was ok

Skipped around in this. None of the stories really grabbed me.

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Nov 11, 2009 Suzanne rated it really liked it

I really liked this book!! Some of the stories I absolutely loved and some were only so so for me but overall I really liked and it helped me identify more authors that I would like to read their stories.

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Feb 26, 2010 Liz H {Redd's Reads} rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-2010, vampire, anthology

I mostly picked this book up to read a few select stories by my favorite authors, but there are many very good stories to choose from in this anthology.

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Dec 24, 2008 A marked it as to-read