Holidays Are Hell

This was a compilation of four novellas edited by Kim Harrison. Overall I thought it was a great set of stories. I zipped through this book so fast. My favorite story was the Kim Harrison one; my least favorite Six by Liu. - Two Ghosts for Sister Rachel by Kim Harrison This was a great prequel to the Rachel Morgan series by Kim Harrison. It was a lovely stand alone story, but had more impact if you have read that series. It was fun to read about a younger Rachel who is still struggling to recover from Rosewood syndrome and trying to decide if she should join the IS or not. It was nice to read about a time in her life that helped get her to where she is at the start of the series. Great quality of writing, excellent, just like all of Kim Harrison's stories. - Run, Run Rudolph by Lynsay Sands This story was a surprise for me. It was funny, light-hearted, and I really liked it. I have never read anything by Lynsay Sands before. I liked her light writing style. There is nothing heavy or contemplative here, but it was a fun read all the same. I might check out more of her writing based on this story. Basically it tells about a woman who gets zapped by a molecular experimental machine and can change shape. She ends up being hunted from someone from her brother's past and what ensues is pretty funny. - Six by Marjorie M. Liu This was my least favorite story. I have never read anything by Liu before. This story was about a Chinese agent, your basic trained from birth assassin, and how she ends up getting involved in the paranormal community. Liu did a good job of switching writing style when she switched character perspective. Still, I didn't care for the writing style and I though the heroine was a bit boring. The Harvest by Vicki Pettersson This was a prequel to the Signs of the Zodiac by Vicki Pettersson. The story is told from Zoe Archer's (Joanna's mom) point of view. It tells us more about what happened to Joanna's daughter and gives interesting insight into both Zoe's relationship with the Tulpa and her relationship with Warren (the leader of the Light Zodiac). I am not sure how good of a stand-alone story this is; but if you have read some of Pettersson's books you will absolutely love this story. It explains so much about why Zoe did what she did and sheds a lot of Light on why Warren and Joann interact the way they do. All in all a great combination of stories. I plan on ordering some of the other Hell compilations that have been edited by Harrison. Hopefully those will be as high of quality as this book was. [...]

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 w

Loved every story. Perfect in so many ways! Thanks Kim Harrison, great story in that awesome world; The 'Rachel Morgan Series.' And thanks Lynsay Sands for a 2nd part to that story found in the previous short stories 'Dates From Hell.'

This is a totally incredible book. We have four major authors who are writing stories that either contribute to their leading series or are writing a new one. Harrison writes of a younger Rachel, Pettersson writes of Joanna's mother at a time when she was just a teenager and the others develop a different story all together. All get tied to the holidays, ones that we know and some that we may not know. It is awesome read, especially since we are in the holiday season now. All fans of any of these authors should seriously consider adding this to their collection.

I love Kim Harrison and Vicki Pettersson so I decided to check this book out. It was better than I hoped.. Other times I have read books compiled with novellas from a variety of authors and walked away extremely bored or disappointed - not this time! There was only one novella that did not hold my attention and that was by Marjorie Liu.. I read a few chapters into it and just gave up. But the other three more than made up for it! This is a definite must read.. Plus Kim Harrison's and Vicki Pettersson's (if you read their series) take you back into the past and fill you in on the beginnings that are only mentioned in their series.