Short Story Collections – Earth and Skye

That Holiday Feeling by Debbie Macomber, Sherryl Woods & Robyn Carr

This is a great collection. I probably should have read it closer to Christmas. But, in the midst of all of the insanity, it was nice to read something so uplifting. A collection that is all about family, love and spending a holiday together. Actually, I very rarely even concentrated on the Christmas aspect of these three novellas – I just liked the family and love themes that ran throughout and left me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.

The Monstrous edited by Ellen Datlow

This collection is brilliant. It is dark, creepy and intense. It is fun. It gave me goose bumps. And it is filled with monsters who come in ALL shapes and sizes. And I mean ALL. A wonderful, fantastic and seriously enjoyable collection filled with the things that go bump in the night. The things that you really hope aren’t hiding under your bed.

Black Thorn, White Rose edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling

After reading Snow White, Blood Red, I knew that I needed the other books which were edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling featuring fairy tale retellings. Because these aren’t the retellings that you would expect. And they’re not the kinds of retellings that make you feel all nice and fluffy on the inside. They’re dark and twisted in places. Sexual in others. And just downright make you think most of the time.

Lady Whistledown Strikes Back by Julia Quinn, Suzanne Enoch, Karen Hawkins & Mia Ryan

This was such a great little collection. Like The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown, the four novellas were intertwined in ways that you couldn’t quite imagine. But there was an extra complication / mystery in this collection – that of the missing bracelet. You don’t find out until the final story who actually stole it, but throughout all four novellas, you keep finding clues and wondering what actually happened at the party…

Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling

This collection isn’t quite toe curling, it isn’t quite horrific, but a nice mix between the two. It makes you think about the weirdness of sexuality. And the uniqueness of those things that go bump in the night. And thrive upon our sexual, deepest, darkest desires. I was honestly expecting this to be a little more of an uncomfortable read. However, mostly, I just found it intriguing.

The Mammoth Book of Dark Magic edited by Mike Ashley

It took me a little while to seriously get into this collection. But, once I did… I was completely hooked. I quite obviously love fantasy from the books that fill my shelves. But, as I’ve gotten older, I have found that I am drawn again and again to fantasy of a darker bent. Although not all of these short stories suited that desire, they just weren’t that dark… this collection was still seriously brilliant.

The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown by Julia Quinn, Suzanne Enoch, Karen Hawkins & Mia Ryan

I figured that I would thoroughly enjoy this collection just because it was created by Julia Quinn and featured the character of Lady Whistledown in some way, shape or form. What I didn’t expect was how brilliantly each of these four stories related in to one another. Mostly I was expecting four separate novellas with Lady Whisteldown’s witty repertoire at the very beginning. What I didn’t expect was to find each of the characters from the novellas in each other’s stories.

The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk edited by Sean Wallace

I’ve recently started to thoroughly enjoy steampunk. But this was my first excursion into Dieselpunk. And what an excellent introduction this proved to be! I was enthralled, mystified and totally sunk into some of the stories in this collection. And although it might not be my favourite collection of short stories… it certainly ranks up there.

Wicked Games by Angela Knight

This is definitely not a collection for the faint of heart. It’s pretty graphic and intense. Although, to be fair, Knight does warn the reader of that in her introduction. She admits that some of this is seriously intense and based on the approach to the genre in the past. Which isn’t exactly PG or really all that great to women at times… I love that this book comes with a warning though. Not only did it make me laugh, but it was also great to know exactly what I was getting into before turning the first page… and to know that you probably shouldn’t read this in public.

Stroke of Midnight by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Amanda Ashley, L.A. Banks & Lori Handeland

I absolutely adored this sensual, shapeshifting paranormal romance collection. There was just something about it that was completely impossible to put down. That got my heart pumping. That made me want to run to the nearest book shop and buy all the books. And spend days on end just reading. There was just something that made me fall head over heels with this collection.