Short Story Collections – Earth and Skye

An Enchanted Season by Nalini Singh, Maggie Shayne, Erin McCarthy & Jean Johnson

Naw. This collection left me with such happy, Christmassy, gooey feelings. All four of these novellas are simple, cute and incredibly sweet. They encompass the feelings of love and giving that to me is the true spirit of Christmas. After finishing every single one of these novellas, I not only bought something by each of the authors, but I just sat there with a feeling of bliss and happiness that there is still goodness in the world.

110 Grimmer Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm

There seems to be a lot of stupid Hans’ in this collection. Or at least a patch towards the later middle that has a lot of stories that feature a dumb young man named Hans. And the recurrent theme seemed to be honesty, truth and fairness. Give to others. The typical ideas of fairy tales that I grew up with. Just with a far more twisted take and journey.

The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo

I found it almost impossible to put this damn book down. Which is a little problematic… since I have a whole heap of other productive things to do… the illustrations in this version just helped to make it ten thousand times more difficult to put down.

Wild Thing by Marjorie M. Liu, Maggie Shayne, Alyssa Day & Meljean Brook

nd to buy these small collections of novellas to contribute to one of the series on my shelf. And then when I read them, I get to discover new authors and series that just continue to expand on my collection…

The Mammoth Book of Irish Romance edited by Trisha Telep

I loved, loved, loved this collection. My heart melted. My soul sang. And I had a constant smile on my lips throughout the tale.

Stars Above by Marissa Meyer

There’s nothing better than discovering that a loved series has a short story collection that goes along with it. And the fact that I realised this before getting too far into the series meant that I actually got to read most of this series in chronological order. Which, let me tell you, made an already amazing series amazing-er (it’s a word now…)

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde & Other Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson

An amazing collection of lyrical tales of crime, psychology and the horrors of humanity. I love that Stevenson takes the modern setting of London at that time, the common, everyday livelihoods and creates a dark and twisted tale. There are so many layers within these stories that create a world in which I am constantly questioning my daily life. Even over a hundred years after these stories were published.

Must Love Hellhounds by Charlaine Harris, Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews & Meljean Brook

I feel so much love for this collection. Not only does it feature two of my already loved series, but it has introduced me to two more that I just have to get my hands on. The fact that all four novellas also feature a hellhound of some description… well, it just made me all the happier. And giddier. And just in general thoroughly enjoying this collection.

Lover Beware by Christine Feehan, Katherine Sutcliffe, Fiona Brand & Eileen Wilks

I bought this collection because I thought that it was a prequel to Tempting Danger. It turns out that the Eileen Wilks tale in this collection was just an original version of the much better novel. Although that tale kind of fell flat for me (as I said, the novel was much better), I loved the collection. It introduced me to three new writers I had never before experienced and took me away to a number of entirely new worlds filled with romance and love.

Inked by Karen Chance, Marjorie Liu, Yasmine Galenorn & Eileen Wilks

I love tattoos. I have two, I’m going to get more. I love stories that feature tattoos. I loved this collection which was basically all about tattoos. Actually, the most disappointing thing about this was how quickly it ended. After all, there were only four novellas in this collection, and I would have happily enjoyed far more.