The Werewolf by Angela Carter
Oh Grandma, what big teeth you have! And now I shall cause you bodily harm and take your place.
The Company of Wolves by Angela Carter
The ultimate story of seduction over the wild beast. Kind of a spin on Little Red Riding Hood but with a far cooler ending. After all, the big teeth ultimately lead to a happily ever after… of sorts.
The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter
I started reading this book over a year ago. And after the first three stories, I felt completely overwhelmed. Honestly, they are hard going. But, after having a very long break, I decided to return to the world of Angela Carter. And I don’t know if it’s that I was in a better frame of mind for it, or maybe my reading tastes have developed, but there is something about Carter's lyrical writing style that made it almost impossible to put this down.
Read more The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter
The Lady of the House of Love by Angela Carter
Sleeping beauty with a dark twist. And not in the slightest what I expected. Actually, it kind of gave me the heeby jeebies. The beautifully lyrical and intense words seemed to completely offset the dark, twisted nature of this vampiri-fic (yes, I went there) story. It was actually so unsettling that I’m glad I read this early in the morning, not late at night. After all, who ever heard of sleeping beauty as a reluctant vampire?
The Corsers’ Hinge by D.M. Cornish
There is something about D.M. Cornish’s writing that takes a lot longer for me to process. It’s a combination of the convoluted writing style, and the creation of a totally new world that seems to stump me, and, when I’m struggling to concentrate, I find it epically difficult and almost impossible to read at times.
The Gauntlet by Karen Chance
I loved the way that this novella flicked between two different points of view – the vampire and the witch’s. Although originally it is easy to take the witch’s side, it quickly becomes possible to not only see the blossoming romance between the two, but also why each acts as they do. No matter how odd and absurd riding across a battle on a keg may seem.
The Highest Justice by Garth Nix
Who decides on justice? Where does it come from? What on earth is the highest justice?
Mona Lisa Betwining by Sunny
This novella sends goosebumps running up my arms – the raw sensuality of the words is enough to make you glance sneakily around for an audience. But the emotive descriptions of the night, the moon and the forests add to this heightened sense of reality which Sunny is able to so effortlessly create. This heady combination left me speechless and dreamy for a long time after finishing this novella – something that is incredibly difficult, believe me!
Dark Sins by Jenna Maclaine
The employment of the Morrigan in a story about vampires was not something that I expected. Neither was the merging of a vampire and a witch into one incredibly powerful being. However, it worked brilliantly! Cin Craven is everything that I love in a heroine – and the fact that she is a vampire was a different twist. Unlike a lot of vampire stories that have become popular in our modern culture, her condition as this type of paranormal creature is not fully romanticised, nor is it portrayed as something that all simpering teens desire. It was a lot darker and, due to this, felt a lot truer.
The Devil’s Left Boot by Faith Hunter
I enjoy anything set in the Jane Yellowrock world – it is always sassy, strong and constantly reminds you that no matter how odd you may be, there is somewhere in the world that you can fit in. If anything, I found this short story easier to relate to than the others so far – the twin Everhart witches are not only trying to cope with their sad past, but they are forced to confront a school bully. For those of us who have been bullied, we all imagine that day that we are reunited and can show that person how wonderful we are now that we’re not in school. When you’ve found a place in society that you can actually fit into, you want to show others that all of the hurt in the past doesn’t matter anymore (even when it does). The Devil’s Left Boot allows the twin witches to do this. And it works brilliantly.
