You know, I really do owe Doug Meeks quite the thanks. Not to sound whiny, but on the weekends I work long shifts and sometimes I can’t quite find something good to post. Doug has been kind enough to send over great reviews, and it can be quite the blogging lifesaver when 99% of the work is already done for you. Looks like tonight is one of those nights, since this is his review for the e-book anthology Vampires Gone Wild, featuring Kerrelyn Sparks, Pamela Palmer, Amanda Arista and Kim Falconer. The e-book version was released on February 12th, and the print version will follow on March 26th.
What Doug said…
Summary:
Vampires Gone Wild brings together four paranormal romance novellas by Kerrelyn Sparks, Pamela Palmer, Amanda Arista, and Kim Falconer, authors and bloggers at Supernatural Underground.
Kerrelyn Sparks’s demure Pamela and sexy vampire sidekick battle the Malcontents in “V is for Vampwoman.” Kim Falconer’s aqueous San Francisco vampires in “Blood and Water” want nothing from “landers” — unless it’s dinner, but that’s until Stellan meets Angelina. Pamela Palmer carries readers to Vamp City in “A Forever Love” where trapped Lukas pines for his lost love. When she appears, Lukas will fight to keep her alive. It’s been a hundred years since Valiance has dated; all is great until they’re attacked, but quiet Esme will shock Valiance in Amanda Arista’s “First Dates Are from Hell.”
Vampires Gone Wild is a good collection of stories that have to be addressed separately:
“V is for VampWoman” is a typical silly but entertaining story in the Kerrelyn Sparks style of her Love At Stake series, fluffy, light, funny, and entertaining. Pamela has been somewhat of a coward all of her long life and Mikhail has never run from anything in his life. They make the perfect mismatched couple, great story. 4/5 Stars
“A Forever Love” has the potential to be one of the best stories in the book, from a romantic sense anyway BUT the author decided to leave us with a unresolved love story and when I wrote her to ask if it would be completed in the next Vamp City book she basically said she did not know if it would ever be revisited???? WTF? So if you like a great love stories that has no real ending other than what you can dream up on your own, this is your book. In my opinion I was frustrated with the lack of a resolution so 2/5 maybe a bit more since it was a good story.
“First Dates Are Hell” is possibly the most entertaining story in the book since it had a lot more humor and some very interesting characters and read like a complete story. Valiance is a loner by choice, he has gotten used to being alone but for some reason Esme has some pull on him that he can’t let go. Great story and was so good I am going to have to find out more about this author and it turns out I have the first 2 books of the Urban Panther series which this story takes place in my unending TBR stack. 4.5/5
“Blood and Water” – This was a great story but it takes place in San Francisco of the early 1900s, which is not my favorite but has little effect on the quality of this story. Stellan meets Angelina quite by accident and it is one of those ‘love at first sight” stories with a lot of twists, not the least of which is that the Mer people in this story are also vampires when on land. I liked the new twist and the story was very well done, the ending was a typical never ending romance ending which was short but satisfying. 4/5 and I might have to see about this series.
Bottom Line: This is a good buy for an anthology, many of which are waste of money, the stories are captivating for the most part and if you desire to read more you can check out the authors other works and the best thing was I did not feel like I had missed a ton of background like many short stories/novellas leave me. 4/5 overall for this collection and would have been higher if “A Forever Love” had a better ending.
I didn’t realize until just now that this one was being released in print. I thought it was e-format exclusive, so that is great. Anthologies can be so hit or miss, but this does sound like a good one.
