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lkubed's review against another edition
2.0
A couple of the short stories were quite good; others not so much.
labunnywtf's review against another edition
3.0
Picked up on a lark after the annotated Dracula nightmare. Just flipped it open, and found it's dedicated to Joss Whedon.
I'm feeling much more warm and fuzzy towards this book now.
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The dedication is deserved. Not all of the stories are winners, but combined like this, they're all worth a read. Individual thoughts below:
Dracula Night: I've never read any of the True Blood novels. This...doesn't exactly make me want to run right out and get all of them, but it's not terrible. Kind of a basic story telling format, so... But the story isn't awful. Actually kind of funny.
The Mournful Cry of Owls: Solid mythology. Love Christopher Golden to itty bitty bits, and love the main characters here.
I Was a Teenage Vampire: Echos of Catcher in the Rye, which I despised.
Twilight: Despite the unfortunate title, another solid mythology. Love the idea of killing only once a year, and the vampire just slowly dying off. Love the hesitation.
It's My Birthday, Too: Yay, Dresden. This is the first Dresden book I've read, rather than listened to. The upshot being that I still heard James Marsters reading it in my head. It holds up in the written form, I'm pleased to note. A wonderful little aside to the series, but boy am I behind on said series. I just got the hell spoiled out of me. Worth it.
Grave-Robbed: If this is an aside to a series, I need to look into reading the rest. A lovely little noir involving vamps who can go invisible, and shifty mediums. Loved it.
The First Day of the Rest of Your Life: This makes me excited to read the Morganville Vampire series my friend Lisa sent me. I wasn't really looking forward to it, but this gave me a little tease of it, and now I'm intrigued.
The Witch and the Wicked: Interesting. I love the idea of a fresh vampire killing her husband with her birthday cake. Though the idea of vamp dust = forever beauty is quite a bit far fetched for me. If this was a series, I would read it.
Blood Wrapped: I'm irritated by this one, because I want to like it so much. FFS, Henry VIII's bastard son as a vampire and apparently some kind of bad guy hunter? What is there not to enjoy? Mmm, that would be the writing. I want to try reading a full novel featuring these characters, but I'm hesitant.
The Wish: 100% my favorite of these stories. Far and away. Any story that gives Death the big FUCK YOU (other than Gaiman's Death, of course) is wonderful in my book.
Fire and Ice and Linguini for Two: Twilight. That's all it is. I love the idea of this ice demon goddess, but would prefer it without goth Barbie and Angel/Louis/Edward.
Vampire Hours: This reminds me of a poor man's Richard Matheson. A very very poor man's Richard Matheson, but still. The idea is fantastic.
How Stella Got Her Grave Back: Clever idea, fun characters, but not as engaging as it probably should have been. Something was missing.
I'm feeling much more warm and fuzzy towards this book now.
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The dedication is deserved. Not all of the stories are winners, but combined like this, they're all worth a read. Individual thoughts below:
Dracula Night: I've never read any of the True Blood novels. This...doesn't exactly make me want to run right out and get all of them, but it's not terrible. Kind of a basic story telling format, so... But the story isn't awful. Actually kind of funny.
The Mournful Cry of Owls: Solid mythology. Love Christopher Golden to itty bitty bits, and love the main characters here.
I Was a Teenage Vampire: Echos of Catcher in the Rye, which I despised.
Twilight: Despite the unfortunate title, another solid mythology. Love the idea of killing only once a year, and the vampire just slowly dying off. Love the hesitation.
It's My Birthday, Too: Yay, Dresden. This is the first Dresden book I've read, rather than listened to. The upshot being that I still heard James Marsters reading it in my head. It holds up in the written form, I'm pleased to note. A wonderful little aside to the series, but boy am I behind on said series. I just got the hell spoiled out of me. Worth it.
Grave-Robbed: If this is an aside to a series, I need to look into reading the rest. A lovely little noir involving vamps who can go invisible, and shifty mediums. Loved it.
The First Day of the Rest of Your Life: This makes me excited to read the Morganville Vampire series my friend Lisa sent me. I wasn't really looking forward to it, but this gave me a little tease of it, and now I'm intrigued.
The Witch and the Wicked: Interesting. I love the idea of a fresh vampire killing her husband with her birthday cake. Though the idea of vamp dust = forever beauty is quite a bit far fetched for me. If this was a series, I would read it.
Blood Wrapped: I'm irritated by this one, because I want to like it so much. FFS, Henry VIII's bastard son as a vampire and apparently some kind of bad guy hunter? What is there not to enjoy? Mmm, that would be the writing. I want to try reading a full novel featuring these characters, but I'm hesitant.
The Wish: 100% my favorite of these stories. Far and away. Any story that gives Death the big FUCK YOU (other than Gaiman's Death, of course) is wonderful in my book.
Fire and Ice and Linguini for Two: Twilight. That's all it is. I love the idea of this ice demon goddess, but would prefer it without goth Barbie and Angel/Louis/Edward.
Vampire Hours: This reminds me of a poor man's Richard Matheson. A very very poor man's Richard Matheson, but still. The idea is fantastic.
How Stella Got Her Grave Back: Clever idea, fun characters, but not as engaging as it probably should have been. Something was missing.
mgouker's review against another edition
4.0
I only read the Dresden Files story. It is pretty good, showing evolution on all the characters after the excellent White Night.
desert_rose's review against another edition
5.0
Although I didn't expect I will enjoy short stories since I haven't been reading many for a while but this was an awesome collection. I just loved it! It was so much fun!!
It consisted of 13 stories so I kinda wrote a note about each one.. It was hard to pick a favorite, since I really enjoyed them but my least favorite were #2 and #10
1. Dracula Night by Charlaine Harris
Sookie Stackhouse is invited to a party where the guest of honor would like a taste of her.
I liked it very much although since I only read one book of the series it kinda had some spoilers that I didn't care to know about! They should have warned me! More Eric :D
2. The Mournful Cry of Owls by Christopher Golden
Vampires are a myth, Shtriga is the real deal!!
This story was ok although not good enough for me.
3. I Was A Teenage Vampire by Bill Crider
A birthday party with a vampire as a guest of honor turns sour. Nice!
4. Twilight by Kelley Armstrong
Nice new idea for vampires, they have to make an annual kill to live another year! One life lost, one year gained :)
5. It's My Birthday, Too by Jim Butcher
A Harry Dresden short story fighting some vampires with his brother vamp Thomas.
I never read any Dresden books, so I guess I would have understood it more if I did, I just might start reading them. It was action filled fun!
6. Grave-Robbed by P.N. Elrod
It's about the undead detective Jack Fleming from the Vampire Files series. I liked him so I'll check his series.
A girl comes complaining about her sister trying to communicate with her dead husband, and gets carried away.
7. The first Day of the Rest of Your Life by Rachel Caine
Nice theory about vampires being protectors. You sign a contract with one and earn his protection. NICE! Can I have Eric ?!
8. The Witch and the Wicked by Jeanne C. Stein
A caterer/self employed/witch gets herself in a predicament when she enhances her night cream with vampire ash. Interesting !
9. Blood Wrapped by Tanya Huff
Since I love Blood Ties (the TV series) this is the author who wrote the books that the series is based on. This was a short story about some of the main characters, but since I didn't read the series I guess I tripped on some spoilers .. But it was refreshing.. mmm Henry the vamp :)
10. The Wish by Carolyn Haines
A mother looses her twins in front of her eyes and then gets angry with death for taking them. Not bad!
11. Fire and Ice and Linguini for Two by Tate Hallaway
A witch and a vampire meet an energy sucking demon. Nice and cute!
12. Vampire Hours by Elaine Viets
A soon to be dumped wife seeks refuge in turning to the dark side and considering revenge!! VERY GOOD!
13. How Stella Got Her Grave Back by Toni L.P. Kelner
Stella the vampire went to check on her grave on her birthday only to find someone else buried there. A bit of mystery here :)
It consisted of 13 stories so I kinda wrote a note about each one.. It was hard to pick a favorite, since I really enjoyed them but my least favorite were #2 and #10
1. Dracula Night by Charlaine Harris
Sookie Stackhouse is invited to a party where the guest of honor would like a taste of her.
I liked it very much although since I only read one book of the series it kinda had some spoilers that I didn't care to know about! They should have warned me! More Eric :D
2. The Mournful Cry of Owls by Christopher Golden
Vampires are a myth, Shtriga is the real deal!!
This story was ok although not good enough for me.
3. I Was A Teenage Vampire by Bill Crider
A birthday party with a vampire as a guest of honor turns sour. Nice!
4. Twilight by Kelley Armstrong
Nice new idea for vampires, they have to make an annual kill to live another year! One life lost, one year gained :)
5. It's My Birthday, Too by Jim Butcher
A Harry Dresden short story fighting some vampires with his brother vamp Thomas.
I never read any Dresden books, so I guess I would have understood it more if I did, I just might start reading them. It was action filled fun!
6. Grave-Robbed by P.N. Elrod
It's about the undead detective Jack Fleming from the Vampire Files series. I liked him so I'll check his series.
A girl comes complaining about her sister trying to communicate with her dead husband, and gets carried away.
7. The first Day of the Rest of Your Life by Rachel Caine
Nice theory about vampires being protectors. You sign a contract with one and earn his protection. NICE! Can I have Eric ?!
8. The Witch and the Wicked by Jeanne C. Stein
A caterer/self employed/witch gets herself in a predicament when she enhances her night cream with vampire ash. Interesting !
9. Blood Wrapped by Tanya Huff
Since I love Blood Ties (the TV series) this is the author who wrote the books that the series is based on. This was a short story about some of the main characters, but since I didn't read the series I guess I tripped on some spoilers .. But it was refreshing.. mmm Henry the vamp :)
10. The Wish by Carolyn Haines
A mother looses her twins in front of her eyes and then gets angry with death for taking them. Not bad!
11. Fire and Ice and Linguini for Two by Tate Hallaway
A witch and a vampire meet an energy sucking demon. Nice and cute!
12. Vampire Hours by Elaine Viets
A soon to be dumped wife seeks refuge in turning to the dark side and considering revenge!! VERY GOOD!
13. How Stella Got Her Grave Back by Toni L.P. Kelner
Stella the vampire went to check on her grave on her birthday only to find someone else buried there. A bit of mystery here :)
ameserole's review against another edition
3.0
Many Bloody Returns: Tales of Birthdays with Bite was an okay kind of book. I guess I'm into vampires..but not that into them? I don't know if that makes sense but I'm writing this review after several glasses of win (trust me the day called for it) so bear with me?
Now this book had a bunch of short stories wrapped into this book. However, not all of them stuck out to me. I remember the Sookie Stackhouse one mostly because I've seen a couple of episodes of various seasons.. and also read some books from that series. Even though I remembered this book doesn't mean that it was my favorite. It really wasn't. I was actually underwhelmed and disappointed. Then again, nothing really stuck in my brain after finishing this entire book.
Apart from not really remembering much about this book, Jim Butcher's book about Harry Dresden was really good. Probably my favorite out of them all. I don't believe I've read any books by this author (mostly 'cause I read so many books in a year but I'm not looking on GR to verify either #lazyAF) but I will definitely be looking into more books by him.
Overall, these stories were just meh to me. I definitely kept flip flopping about my rating for this because one good book can't make me love all of the ones I didn't care for.
Now this book had a bunch of short stories wrapped into this book. However, not all of them stuck out to me. I remember the Sookie Stackhouse one mostly because I've seen a couple of episodes of various seasons.. and also read some books from that series. Even though I remembered this book doesn't mean that it was my favorite. It really wasn't. I was actually underwhelmed and disappointed. Then again, nothing really stuck in my brain after finishing this entire book.
Apart from not really remembering much about this book, Jim Butcher's book about Harry Dresden was really good. Probably my favorite out of them all. I don't believe I've read any books by this author (mostly 'cause I read so many books in a year but I'm not looking on GR to verify either #lazyAF) but I will definitely be looking into more books by him.
Overall, these stories were just meh to me. I definitely kept flip flopping about my rating for this because one good book can't make me love all of the ones I didn't care for.
bikes_books_yarn's review against another edition
4.0
This took me months to get through, but I really enjoyed almost all the stories in this book and found several new authors I want to explore further.
cake_cats_books's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
jlaynereads's review against another edition
5.0
Great collection of Short Stories including on in the Sookie Stackhouse world!
jasmiinaf's review against another edition
2.0
I love vampire stories a lot, but I was maybe a bit disappointed with this collection. I found some interesting new authors though. I just wish the stories would have been more different. My favorite story was probably from Rachel Caine, I may have to try to find some of her books.