Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Kisses from Hell by Kristin Cast, Alyson Noël, Kelley Armstrong, Richelle Mead and Francesca Lia Block

Kisses from Hell is an anthology novel set in the same universes and starring many of the same characters as past volumes in this series, including Vacations from Hell, Prom Nights from Hell and Love is Hell. This book contains five stories.

"Sunshine" by Richelle Mead takes the Moroi vampires to a party on a private island. One of the girls, Rhea, has drunk too often from the same blood donor and now he's in love with her, illustrating why Moroi can't drink from the same person over and over again. Her boyfriend is Stephen Badica, leader of their little party, but Eric Dragomir can't stop thinking of Rhea from the time he first meets her. So when Daniel, the obsessed blood donor, escapes from the castle and takes Rhea captive, Eric must find her and rescue her first if he wants to confess his own feelings to her.

"Bring Me to Life" by Alyson Noël takes a young artist named Danika to a new art school in a creepy deserted house in Scotland. At first she thinks she is the only one to have fallen into this place, where she is given free meals and old-fashioned clothing in exchange for simply creating art, but soon a male student named Bram comes to join her. But when she starts dreaming of being the past lover of a vampire and living in this very same manor house, can Bram save her from the insanity? Or does she even want to be saved?

"Above" by Kristin Cast is a story in poetic prose about a girl who has lived underground all her life who escapes to the upper world and finds love with a vampire. But when her own people abduct her back underground, can Sol, her vampire love, find her and return her to his embrace?

"Hunting Kat" by Kelley Armstrong tells the story of Kat, a girl genetically engineered to become a vampire on her death. Kidnapped and rescued by Marguerite, another vampire, Kat is hunted by the company that made her. but when she is kidnapped off the street by the company, along with two other boys named Neil and Chad, she will have to escape again with their help- and decide which one is the traitor.

"Lilith" by Francesca Lia Block tells the story of Paul Michael, a picked -upon outcast in his own school. When a new student, a girl named Lilith, arrives, she becomes interested in him and gives him the chance to become a vampire and take his revenge on the students who have always mistreated him. But can he keep her interest for long?

This was an okay anthology. I definitely liked "Sunshine", "Bring Me to Life" and "Hunting Kat", but "Above" was just nearly impossible to read for me. It reads very much like an experimental novel- something that's half poetry and half prose, but the layout was confusing, and I found the story somewhat hard to read.

"Lilith" also didn't appeal to me, mainly because a lot of it just felt like an abused kid's revenge fantasy. The ending was also rather abrupt, leaving the main character somewhat in limbo. I didn't particularly enjoy it, but the ending did leave me wanting to know more, like what happened to Paul Michael after that.

The other stories I found by turns tense, dreamy and interesting. "Bring Me to Life" had just the right mix of horror and romance to hit all my buttons right, and "Hunting Kat" had Kat struggling to survive on her own, which was good since she will have to do that any way at some point. And Sunshine was just good reading, with tones of suspense and mystery and romance as well.

I liked this anthology, even if the stories were something of a mixed bag. You may not enjoy the same stories I did, and may love or hate them all, but it's a good bet you'll find something in here to enjoy. Recommended.

1 comment:

Savannah13692 said...

I love the books you said you liked but i also liked Above as well. Its not as good as other books I've read but is not as bad as some other ones I've read.