The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance [Paperback]

The phrase `dark gift' springs to mind whilst reading this truly mammoth anthology of vampire orientated short stories, there's 25 in total. Many deal with the transition from mortal to vampire, others with the troubles with being one. Almost all centre around the vampire bite; whether it means a transformation, a disease, a connection or pain and suffering. Some manage to be genuinely engaging and reflective, others read like deleted scenes from established series and others are simply poorly written. Although sex is present in most, the majority aren't romance, in fact the ones that try for a more conventional love story fail miserably because they aren't given enough pages to make it work. In fact there's a good mix of horror, action, gore, lust, sex and romance, with not only established paranormal romance writers but urban fantasy and horror authors contributing.

`Fade to Black' - Sherri Erwin - A teacher gets a little more than she bargained for from her overly pale student ; ) *3.5 stars* Not bad, well written apart from the abrupt ending and silly imagery.

`Ode to Evdard Munch' - Caitlin Kiernan - A man shares his blood periodically with a mysterious stranger. *2.5 stars* Dreamy, surreal prose. O.k but there was no connection with the characters.

'Fangs for Hire' - Jenna Black - A vampire mercenary finds her target to be more than she expected. *2.5 stars* I found the leads irritating and the plot pretty darn dull.

'The Righteous' - Jenna Maclaine - The balance between humans and vampires is established, with the help of a sorceress and a King. *4 starts* A fuller, more interesting story.

'Knowledge of Evil' - Ravent Hart - A vampire intellectual experiences a meeting of the mind and soul. *2 stars* This concentrates on the turning, it tries to be disturbing but was just annoying, with transparent characters.

'Viper's Bite' - Delilah Devlin - Equally lonely a vampire and mortal connect through a bite that brings lost memories to the surface. *4 stars* About loss, memory. Both sad and reflective.

'Dreams' - Kerri Arthur - Riley Jensen stars with vampire Quinn. *2 stars* Dreams and their connection are the focus with a tiny bit of action (and plot!), reads like an extra scene.

'Love Bites' - Kimberly Raye - A vampire slayer or `SOB employee' is unable to complete her first kill, instead she takes her hansom target home to heal and well you know.... *2 stars* Poor characters with little chemistry.

'What's at Stake' - Alexis Morgan - A chancellor decides to help a past vampire friend and almost lover when he gets charged with murder. *3.5 starts* The leads had great chemistry but the world could have been built up more.

'Coming Home' - Lilith Saintcrow - skimmed it...something about the lead being hired to kill an old flames nemesis. *2 stars* Couldn't get into it. Features characters from her Dante Valentine series.

`To Ease the Rage' - CT Adams & Cathy Clamp - To help her old police partner, whose now a vampire, Sylvia might need to go through some changes. *3.5 stars* Very good, solid writing and engaging characters.

`Dancing with the Star' - Susan Sizemore - A vampire finds her soul mate through a series of dream sequences. *2 stars* Irritating prose and dull plot.

'Play Dead' - Dina James - Vampire finds soul mate and fights to keep her. *2 stars* Entertaining enough.

'In Which a Masquerade Ball Unmasks an Undead' - Colleen Gleason - The hunt is on! *2.5 stars* More lust than romance, good but reads like a stuck on scene to an established series.

'A Temporary Vampire' - Barbara Emrys - A vampire finds someone unexpected and alluring in New Orleans. *3 stars* Nice atmosphere but could have been longer.

'Overbite' - Savannah Russe - Dentist meets vampire! *3 stars* pretty good.

'Hunter's Choice' - Shiloh Walker - A newbie to the slaying game seeks help from an old flame, who happens to be a vampire. *4 stars* This works quite well as the leads had an established connection.

'The Sacrifice' - Rebecca York - A beautiful princess will give her own life to a powerful monster to save her father's kingdom. *2 stars* Terribly uninspired writing, beyond boring.

'Remember the Blood' - Vicki Petterson - Two vampires lovers have to face periodically losing their memory. *2.5 stars* I expected more from Petterson, not great.

'The Midday Mangler Meets his Match' - Rachel Vincent - A teenage vampire must protect her little sister in a world where vampires are the established species. *3.5* stars* I liked this, felt like the beginning of a new series.

`The Music of the Night' - Amanda Ashley - Our obsessive lead gets to meet her very own phantom. *2 stars* Blah

`The Day of the Dead' - Karen Chance - Will Thomas be able to finally destroy his former evil master once and for all? With the help of a certain fiery mercenary maybe. *4.5 stars* My favourite, I love her Cassie books and this added to it. (can be read on Chance's website for free!)

'Vampire Unchained' - Nancy Holder - A vampire's secret dealings my cause trouble for him and his human lover. *3 stars* A spin off from an established series, I found it quite engaging though.

'A Stand-up Dame' - Lilith Saintcrow - A PI returns from the dead to settle unfinished business. *2 stars* Unoriginal and dull.

'Untitled 12' - Cailtlin R. Kiernan - A sick women will undergo anything to live. *2 stars* Concentrates on the turning, I didn't like this.

Overall it's o.k but there were too many stories I didn't care for in the least and the ones I did enjoy were too short to fully engage. As a package it's varied enough to entertain but I think dedicated readers of PR will be disillusioned and others looking to get into the genre would be much better off reading someone like J. R Ward.

The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance contains tales from some of the most famous supernatural authors around, including: Karen Chance, Keri Arthur and Lilith Saintcrow. That alone was enough to make me buy it. I'm a huge fan of Karen Chance, in particular. Anyway, I digress. The book contains 25 short stories on the theme of - yes, you've guessed it - vampire romance. You'd think it was a pretty niche theme that wouldn't give much scope, but this book proves otherwise. The stories are wildly varying and told from both sides of the fence, or mortal realm, whatever you like to call it. And to be honest, the quality of the stories varies wildly too! Some of the stories are marvellously told, containing the sexy and seductive vampires we know and love, and giving them a more human element, because they're not all bad guys.

However, on the flip side, some of the other stories failed to light my fire. They were flat and uninspiring. I didn't believe in or care about the characters at all, and for me, that's crucial to my enjoyment! It's a shame, because the good stories are in there, but the bad ones have obviously dampened my appreciation of the book as a whole. In its defence, I'd say the good stories definitely outweigh the bad - and the good ones are excellent.

Overall, I wouldn't dissuade any avid vampire fan from buying this book - I'd just tell them to be aware that there are some bad apples nestling between the sexy covers of this anthology. But I suppose that is the very nature of an anthology, and people's opinions vary. On the whole, it's still worth buying, but if you get it discounted, all the better, because that'll make up for the rubbish stories!

Generally speaking, I'm not a huge fan of short stories. I find it rare that someone can create a short story that has me intrigued because most of the time, it takes me a while to become invested in the so-called story/book. I have to say this collection of short stories did not impress me at all. There are only two stories in it in which I enjoyed - 'Viper's Bite' - which I felt was sad and original and because the characters already knew each other, the story didn't have to take ages introducing the characters to each other as well as us. I also enjoyed 'Hunter's Choice' because it was another story in which the characters already had feelings for each other.

Most of the stories I felt were most lust than love which made me wonder why the book was called 'romance' instead of Vampire 'lust'. I felt that the majority of stories were either boring, abrupt (there would be action throughout the story and then all of a sudden the protagonists would proclaim to be in "love" with each other right at the end) or disturbing - 'Untitled 12' - now I'm all for disturbing stories, but this is too much even for me. 'The Music of the Night' was another disturbing story, but it DID have potential. I also thought 'The Midday Mangler Meets his Match' had potential, but there was a lack of romance, something this anthology is supposed to focus on, and again I felt finished abruptly. I do, however, believe this would be a great starting point for a new series, if the author hasn't already got one for this.

Overall, very disappointed with this, but again I'm not surprised. I'm a fussy reader and this just wasn't for me. I give it two stars because the writing style in very impressive, regardless whether I enjoyed the stories or not, and the two stories I mentioned deserve to be acknowledged.