114) Death's Excellent Vacation by Charlaine Harris & Others

Blurb -

New York Times bestselling authors Charlaine Harris, Katie MacAlister, Jeaniene Frost-plus Lilith Saintcrow, Jeff Abbott, and more-send postcards from the edge of the paranormal world to fans who devoured Wolfsbane and Mistletoe and Many Bloody Returns.

With an all-new Sookie Stackhouse story and twelve other original tales, editors Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner bring together a stellar collection of tour guides who offer vacations that are frightening, funny, and touching for the fanged, the furry, the demonic, and the grotesque. Learn why it really can be an endless summer-for immortals.

Review -

I am not a huge fan of anthologies (as some of you already know) but the previous selections edited by Charlaine Harris & Toni L.P. Kelner have been well put together with some really good short stories. So when I saw Death's Excellent Vacation on Amazon it immediately got added to my pre-order wishlist and I was very excited about a new Sookie story!

As with Wolfsbane and Mistletoe and Many Bloody Returns, Sookie fans are rewarded with a short story about our favourite barmaid. This time around the story involves a trip with our favourite female vamp, Pam. 'Two Blondes' is the first story and by far the best in the book. Sure there are other stories in the book that shine but Sookie will always win. Especially with Pam along for the trip. It is worth buying this book for this story alone.

Up next was an author I haven't come across before, which seemed to be a 'thing' in this collection. Sarah Smith's offering called The Boys Go Fishing was not my favourite in this book and even though her books sounded interesting I wasn't feeling the same after finishing this short story.

Jeaniene Frost was a part of this collection and one of the big names that appears on the cover. Of course there is nothing to moan about here. As always Jeaniene wrote a great story with her famous characters Cat and Bones taking the lead. 'One for the Money' is definitely the second reason for buying this book. Fans are rewarded once again.

The second author that meant nothing to me was Daniel Stashower with his story called 'Meanwhile, Far Across The Caspian Sea'. Another miss and not so short. This was followed by another unknown called A. Lee Martinez with 'The Innsmouth Nook'. This wasn't a bad story and actually would have made a nice novel. It is a shame it was squashed down into this anthology.

The fourth unknown author came next (yes I am keeping count 2 big names to 4 unknowns) and that in the form of Jeff Abbot and his story 'Safe and Sound'. This was surprisingly good. A little long-winded but in the end quite a nice read. This is one of the unknown authors that I actually may look up.

Next came a name we all know! Thankfully! L.A. Banks didn't get her name on the cover but she did add a very fascinating story. Well done to her for taking the book back into something readable!

Then the next author needed no introduction. Katie McAllister treats us with a story from Jim's perspective and gives us a little snippet of Aisling and Drake life. How I enjoyed 'The Perils of Effrijm' and Katie's witty style! Oh how I mourned it being over! I hope Aisling will be back someday. I really do miss her!

So where are we? 4 big names to 4 unknowns. So now comes a 'I kind of know him'. Christopher Golden is an author I have heard of but for the life of me I am not sure where. That aside he writes a bloody good story! I liked this one a lot and was a bit annoyed when it was over. I wanted to know what happened next. 'The Walls' was a nice sexy but spooky story that could be extended on.

Lilith Saintcrow was next up and if you don't know who she is then you must have been sleeping under a rock for the last few years. Lilith really manages to make an impression with her books and this short story was no exception. For a second I was surprised that she wrote a gargoyle story but I was quickly elated because there are definitely not enough gargoyle stories in the paranormal genre. Nicely done!

The next two stories were more unknown authors. That makes it 6 to 6 and 1 I kind of know. However these two unknowns really made up for the previous unknowns. 'The Demon in the Dunes' by Chris Grabenstein (Chris Gravestone? Really?) wasn't so much paranormal but very scary and 'Home From America' by Sharan Newman was worth its weight in gold. Quick nice reads.

Last up was Toni L. P. Kelner. Another author that I don't really know except for the previous anthologies she has edited with Charlaine Harris. So that makes it 6 to 6 and 2 I kind of know authors in this collection. The last story wasn't too bad. Pirates, vampires and weres mashed together in a story that could also do with being expanded on.

So all in all this isn't a bad anthology but it wasn't great either. Compared to the previous two put together in this series this wasn't the best. However there are quite a few rewards in there for fans and also a couple of nice little stories to spook you before bed. However if you want to wait for the cheaper version then do so. There isn't anything in here that won't keep except maybe the Sookie and Cat stories. However you can read them in the bookstore ;)

175) Zen and the Art of Vampires by Katie MacAlister

Pia Thomason is on a singles tour of Europe. Nearly forty, she is hoping the trip will bring some romance into her life. She is enjoying Iceland but nothing remotely romantic has happened so far. So when one of the other women on the tour dares her to talk to two handsome men she decides she has nothing to loose.

That action alone starts a series of events that will leave Pia able to see ghosts, on the run from the police and married to two men. However that isn't all Pia has to put up with while in Iceland. Those two handsome men are also very undead. Pia finds herself in the world of vampires and that romance she was looking for.

I have been following the 'Dark Ones' series for what seems like years but this series somehow went off my radar for a while. I found this one today, was quite surprised I had forgotten about it and started it straight away. It was great to get back into the Dark Ones world and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Katie MacAlister has a great knack of making her stories fun, mysterious and a little spooky. She also has some great settings for her books. There is never a dull location and Iceland is just one of many interesting countries that she has used in her books. A huge thank you has to go to the author for being adventurous and not keeping to the US norm!

Chick-lit, Romance, erotic, mystery, suspense, humour and the paranormal all rolled into one. It is a long genre roll call but it is a brilliant mixture that only this author seems to be able to pull off. If you haven't tried the Dark Ones yet then pick one up. If you like Dragons then try her Aisling Grey or Silver Dragons series. They are all amazingly good.

The next book in the series, Crouching Dragon, Hidden Fang is moving its way up my to be read list. Another Dark One book which was also hiding on my shelf and should see the light of day sooner rather than later.

94) Ghost of a Chance by Kate Marsh

If you have any transmortis anomalies that you need to get rid of then Karma Marx if your gal. Exorcising haunted houses and sending troublesome spirits into the ever after if her thing even though she usually just takes the strays home with her. Spider her nasty cheating husband uses Karma and her skills to get him ahead in the real estate game. However Karma is ready to throw him out and makes a deal with him. One last house cleaning and she gets a divorce.

Although cleaning the house doesn't go as well as it should. Adam the ex-owner of the house still believes he owns the house and isn't happy about the current events. So when Spider turns up with his business partner and wife, Adam seals the house using his poltergeist powers, locking them in for twelve hours. Karma has her new foster child with her and also her dad. Without them she knows she would be in a lot of trouble. As things turn out it isn't Karma who gets into trouble when someone locked in the house is found dead.

Why this book says Katie MacAlister writing as Kate Marsh is beyond me. This is Katie's style and putting another name on it seems unnecessary. However getting beyond that this is most likely the best book by this author that I have read. I love her Aisling Grey series and have read alot of her other books but this one was something different and unusual.

I loved Karma from the word go and her life, while hectic, is very cool. The other characters were also great and I really hope that they will appear again sometime in another book. The twist at the end nearly took me by surprise but it was something I started to suspect. Wonderfully written this poltergeist fun filled book was action packed and made for exciting reading. I want more!

Yet another book that I have had on my bookshelf for far too long. I am sure I have some other gems there gathering dust but ther is always the same old problem. Too many books, too little time.