Many Bloody Returns

Dracula Night by Charlaine House - 3
Halloween night the vamps celebrate Count Drakula and Sookie gets an invite.
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I worried starting this book. Because we live in the "twilight" generation, vampires are everywhere and their mythology is messed with more than other supernatural creatures. So i was expecting some quite cheesy stories that would make me bang my head on the wall, wishing to be back in the days with proper, classic vampires. But i was shocked. Though some stories weren't great (which is normal reading a book with various authors), most of them i enjoyed. I hoped to finish this book with a new author that i wanted to read more of. I got more than one. [a:Kelley Armstrong|7581|Kelley Armstrong|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1199068298p2/7581.jpg] and [a:P.N. Elrod|723801|P.N. Elrod|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1318578709p2/723801.jpg] already have books on my to read shelf since reading their stories and [a:Jim Butcher|10746|Jim Butcher|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1205261964p2/10746.jpg] and [a:Tanya Huff|1967|Tanya Huff|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1207242126p2/1967.jpg] are also on the wish list. Was annoyed that [a:Toni L.P. Kelner|81016|Toni L.P. Kelner|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66-4df4c878d4149c45fac159e88cb784ad.jpg]'s story "How Stella Got Her Grave Back" was a stand-alone because i would love to read more. So, yeah, it was really successful. I enjoyed it and i left with a pile of new authors and series to read, which was the real purpose of me reading this. ( )

Dracula Night: anther Sookie Stockhouse short story. Ok.

The Mournful Cry of Owls: Donika's 16th birthday is approaching. He mother will have to reveal the truth about Donika's birth. It has to do with a different kind of Vampire.

I was a Teenage Vampire: Kate want to have a vampire themed birthday party. Her brother invites a "real" vampire. Carleton doesn't believe in vampires. He finds out how wrong he was.

Twilight: A vampire struggles to make a kill in time.

It's My Birthday Too: Harry just want to give his brother a birthday present. Thomas just once to have a nice night. But of course trouble finds them.

Grave-Robbed: Jack Fleming helps a young girl who widowed sister is being taken advantage of by a fax medium. Very good and funny story.

The First Day of the Rest of Your Life: I was dissatisfied with the ending. What is Michael's story? Why is Eve safe at his house?

The Witch and the Wicked: I figured out that Mr. Deveraux's death was no accident right away. It was funny how things worked out for Sophie.

Blood Wrapped: Henry tires to find a birthday present for Vicki and becomes involved in a missing child case.

The Wish: a woman is obsessed with the death of her child.

Fire and Ice and Linguine for Two: I had never heard of the idea that being born on Christmas was bad - that your parents engaging in earthly pleasures at the same time of year the Virgin Mary had been divinely conceiving. The guy stated his birthday was Thanksgiving really spoiled the end for me. Thanksgiving does not fall of the same day every year.

Vampire Hours: Katherine gets revenge on her husband who wants to leave her.

How Stella Got Her Grave Back: Stella and Mark become involved in solving the mystery of her grave and a Jane Doe. ( )

I love these Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance anthology mashups focusing on themes. I have now read the one with weddings (My Big Supernatural Wedding), now here we are with birthdays.

Charlaine Harris opened the anthology with a Sookie book (be still my heart.) Oh my, Dracula Night was SO much fun. It was a delight to read an old-school style Sookie story with Eric there in all his original glory, before Harris decided to flatten with a hammer into a one-dimensional toon. Plenty of Sookie detailing her clothes and hair, Pam's wit, a freaking party at FANGTASIA, hilarious moments, and a fun ending. Loved it, even with the typo on page 1.

The Mournful Cry of Owls by Christopher Golden sometimes seemed awkwardly written, but the story itself is inventive. I guessed something with the owls - title alone! - but didn't expect in. Not a great story, but it's a passable one; it seems oddly placed in this anthology, not quite fitting, just like the character in the story.

I was a teenage vampire was cute and quirky, but not too significant and was meant more as a tongue-in-cheek kind of offering.

Twilight by Kelley Armstrong fit the birthday theme perfectly with an urban fantasy/paranormal twist. It was serious, introspective, but I had trouble holding my interest as I didn't know anything about the characters and there wasn't much action/tension.

It's My Birthday, too - was from the Harry Dresden series. I don't know if it's because it has characters I don't recognize since I'm not far in the series, or what, but I just couldn't get into this story.

Grave-robbed was in the top three for the best. Loved the storyline of breaking up a fake seance. The main character was an intriguing male vampire lead. PN Elrod writes well; curious about reading more of her work.

Speaking of the best, The First Day of the Rest of your life is the winner. I seriously have to start reading Rachel Caine novels - not only did her story win this one, it also won another anthology I read this year. Writing quite simply rocks, the main character is feisty without being obnoxous, individualized but realistic. The story of the town Morganville sounds absolutely fascinating - MUST.Read.Series.First.

The Witch and the Wicked - Look out, a witch is catering a vampire's birthday party. Awesome story because of the humor and quirkiness, all working to make a fun tale. Not particularly eventful but adorably funny - in a wicked way, of course. Really enjoyed this one, a solid 4/5. I hadn't heard of this author before; checking out more of their stuff is now a priority.

Blood Wrapped wasn't necessarily awesome because of it's story - a small, but serious mystery happening at the same time they are planning for a funny birthday, but because of the characters. I've read the five book Blood series from Huff, and her three book spinoff with Tony. It was cool to see he and Lee stayed together, although that character was not in the book. Henry is the main, which = delight.

The Wish by Carolyn Haines was more formally written than the other short stories. I could be wrong, but it seems to be a stand-a-lone short. There is a nifty twist at the end that made it worthwhile, the writing style felt stilted at first but then became beautiful, and I dig the nod toward a Grim Reaper theme.

Obviously the short story, Fire Ice and Linguini for Two must be part of some series. The characters are humorous and likeable, as is the writing style. I like the different element creature added into the mix. Birthdays may make you feel like you're cursed, but at least they can provide interesting stories as in Sebastian's case.

Vampire Hours was...awesome. Not in it's plot, but in the full force effect of "Hell Hath No Fury like a woman scorned." There's wicked revenge and redemption at the end - *evil fist pump?* - so this was a worthy, albeit different, one.

How Stella got her grave back contained not only an interesting mystery and decent characters, but the end was a great, sweet wrapup to this anthology.

Overall an excellent anthology, even better than 'My Supernatural Wedding'. Now I need to get to 'Death's excellent vacation' sometime.
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A collection of short stories, mostly from the big guns of the paranormal romance/urban fantasy genre (Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris, Tanya Huff, Kelly Armstrong...), all relating to vampires and birthdays. They weren't bad short stories, but after reading it last night I can't remember a single one that really interested me. Mostly I think it's because the authors are used to writing novels (and series novels, at that) and aren't used to having so little space. The other problem is most of the authors chose to use characters from their series, so I'm introduced to characters I'm supposed to already care about. Since I don't, and since I don't have any vested interest in whether Character A makes up with Character B, I was bored and frustrated with many of these stories. ( )