The Eternal Kiss: 13 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire

My daughter is dyslexic and these short stories were just the right mix to draw her in and keep her interested.

For the record, I really don't like the back cover blurb. It wouldn't interest me at all if I wasn't already a fan of most of the authors herein. Stories are reviewed individually as well as an overall comment at the end. "Falling to Ash" by Karen Mahoney Moth is a (fairly) new vampire returning home for her mother's memorial service. Unfortunately her sire, Theo needs her to do a job for him that involves reclaiming the ashes of a dead vampire master from a deadly vampire killer. I really liked Moth and her ways of handling the various situations thrown at her. I want to know more about her, read more about her adventures. The only part I wasn't too happy about was the end, after her run-in with Vamp Slayer Jr, when it handles her family. It was rushed and we're not really given a lot of depth to understand why it was as sorrowful as I feel the author was going for. "Shelter Island" by Melissa de la Cruz A young girl meets a former resident of her house and the danger that has kept him from leaving. This was short, sweet and entertaining. Hannah is a level-headed girl, not prone to hysterics (thankfully) and the vampire boy she meets and befriends has angst issues, but they're understandable and not annoying. The story flowed easily and didn't seem like it was in a rush. The end came when the end came, but it was a satisfying ending. "Sword Point" by Maria V. Snyder Ava dreams of training under the Italian fencing master Bossemi at his illustrious school. She does not, however, dream of vampires ending that ambition before it even begins. This is only my second taste of MVS's writing outside of the Poison Study/Storm Glass world and I found this one to be as engrossing as her others. Ava is a likable character and Jarett is a fairly likable guy (dressed all in black, which is a sure marker for hero designation I sometimes think when reading her stories). You get a real sense of Ava from the story and fair sense of Jarett as well--who they are, their motivations and ambitions. The vampires (vampiros) were gruesome, creepy and totally deserving of their ending. "The Coldest Girl in Coldtown" by Holly Black Matilda used to be a normal girl, until she was bitten and made Cold. Now as she fights to keep her humanity by saying perpetually drunk, the friends she left behind may need her help. This was a different look at vampires and vampirism. I liked that you could, in theory, not turn into a vampire if you could hold out from drinking human blood for 88 days. The idea of Coldtown, where the vampires lived and where humans could go and party by bartering their blood for life, was also an interesting concept. While I was rooting for a different outcome to the story, I found the ending to be...poetic. It fit perfectly. "Undead is Very Hot Right Now" by Sarah Rees Brennan All Christian wanted to be a rock star--he got his wish, but is being the vampire gimmick of a boy band really what he wanted? Alternatively I think this should have been titled '

I bought this anthology for the short Morganville story by Rachel Caine. I was not disappointed. Almost all the other stories were over too fast though. I felt like their was a lot of build up in them and that they ended very suddenly. Most of the time I was just left with the feeling of "Okay, next one" which is not what I should be feeling. None of these stories made me want to go check out the authors' other work (with the exception of Caine). A few stories had interesting premises but perhaps were limited by page/wordcount. Buy it if one of your authors are in their, it's only 10 dollars and I felt that Caine's story was worth it. If you like any of the other authors in here, I'm sure you'll feel the same.

The Eternal Kiss: 13 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire edited by Trisha Telep gets high marks for managing to fill its pages with high quality fiction. There was only one story here that I skipped over after making it partway through, the rest held my attention to the end, with a few that stood out as wonderful stories. My favorites were the stories by Black, Brennan and Bray. Holly Black's story "The Coldest Girl in Coldtown" merges vampire fiction with that of near-future science fiction to create a world where segregated vampire enclaves, Coldtowns, have been set up to help control the spread of vampirism. "Undead is Very Hot Right Now" by Sarah Rees Brennan is a funny story about a boy band with a vampire member who longs for a nice, normal life. "The Thirteenth Step" by Libba Bray takes us to a drug treatment center with an unusual addiction cure. All in all, this anthology is a winner. With its vampire theme it will appeal to fans of the immensely popular Stephenie Meyer, even if she did not contribute a vampire tale of her own to its pages.