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kathydavie's review
5.0
It's taken awhile (May 6, 2011) but, yes, Karen Chance's "Rogue Elements" is also #1 in the Lia de Croissets subseries which is part of her Cassandra Palmer series.
Charlaine Harris' "Gift Wrap" is part of her Sookie Stackhouse series; it's either 8.1 or 8.2---even Goodreads can't make up its mind as of May 2011. This story is also in A Touch of Dead.
Carrie Vaughan's "Il Est Né" is Kitty Norville, 2.2.
Charlaine Harris' "Gift Wrap" is part of her Sookie Stackhouse series; it's either 8.1 or 8.2---even Goodreads can't make up its mind as of May 2011. This story is also in A Touch of Dead.
Carrie Vaughan's "Il Est Né" is Kitty Norville, 2.2.
patchworkbunny's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not usually a fan of these short story compilations but quite liked the idea of a werewolf themed festive read. Wolfsbane and Mistletoe contains 15 stories by fantasy authors that you may or may not know. The Werewolf Before Christmas by Kat Richardson was probably the best festive story, where a werewolf finds out that he's eaten Rudolph. Also good reads are the ones with alternate Santa myths however many of the stories just happened to be set around the holidays and could be read any time of year. It's always nice to read stories in the worlds created by Karen Chance, Carrie Vaughn and Patricia Briggs but these were the least Christmassy of the lot.
There are always some misses amongst the hits but at the very least lets you know to avoid the full length novels by the same authors. In The Night Things Changed by Dana Cameron, supernatural beasts are sickening do-gooders and vampires recharge in the sunlight. For me this is too far from the original mythology for my liking so I wouldn't hunt out the series.
For those of you attracted by Charlaine Harris' name on the cover, her contribution is Gift Wrap which is included in the Sookie short story collection, A Touch of Dead. Overall the collection is a cut above the rest providing you don't want a festive feel to every story.
There are always some misses amongst the hits but at the very least lets you know to avoid the full length novels by the same authors. In The Night Things Changed by Dana Cameron, supernatural beasts are sickening do-gooders and vampires recharge in the sunlight. For me this is too far from the original mythology for my liking so I wouldn't hunt out the series.
For those of you attracted by Charlaine Harris' name on the cover, her contribution is Gift Wrap which is included in the Sookie short story collection, A Touch of Dead. Overall the collection is a cut above the rest providing you don't want a festive feel to every story.
sindri_inn_arsaeli's review against another edition
5.0
Since I'm still going to finish the last couple stories next year, this doesn't count as a DNF. Plus, anthologies I'm more lenient on with that label, as long as I give every author a good chance, because any collection of authors can have one or two duds. This one had one, I started and then skipped, it seemed to be the kind of story I had zero interest in.
That being said, I picked up an anthology about werewolves at Christmas time because the idea of it was just funny. I thought, oh, I'll have a little laugh, maybe read a good chunk, and that'll be it.
Reader, I bought it!
I listened to the audio of this collection, and yes, the first couple stories were exactly as expected, funny, kinda clever, nothing to crow about but enjoyable on cold winter walks. (Where I listen to most of my audio books.) And then came The Night Things Changed! WOW! And The Werewolf Before Christmas?? SO well detailed. Star Of David was also fascinating, and Lucy, At Christmastime was bittersweet. Fresh Meat was unexpected in a very sweet way.
The Night Things Changed is probably the only one ready to hook me into a whole new series, but the way the Fangborn are described (for those who aren't familiar, werewolves and vampires as secret, evil cleansing heros,) was amazing, the lore hook alone had me giddy.
In short, I picked this up as a laugh, and then ended up singing its praises to several friends for the past month and a half! Worth it!
That being said, I picked up an anthology about werewolves at Christmas time because the idea of it was just funny. I thought, oh, I'll have a little laugh, maybe read a good chunk, and that'll be it.
Reader, I bought it!
I listened to the audio of this collection, and yes, the first couple stories were exactly as expected, funny, kinda clever, nothing to crow about but enjoyable on cold winter walks. (Where I listen to most of my audio books.) And then came The Night Things Changed! WOW! And The Werewolf Before Christmas?? SO well detailed. Star Of David was also fascinating, and Lucy, At Christmastime was bittersweet. Fresh Meat was unexpected in a very sweet way.
The Night Things Changed is probably the only one ready to hook me into a whole new series, but the way the Fangborn are described (for those who aren't familiar, werewolves and vampires as secret, evil cleansing heros,) was amazing, the lore hook alone had me giddy.
In short, I picked this up as a laugh, and then ended up singing its praises to several friends for the past month and a half! Worth it!
kim_brockway_gatehouse's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this audiobook and the collection of wolfie Christmas stories. Full review to come
eternity21's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
cheesygiraffe's review
4.0
All pretty decent short stories. I liked some more than others. Especially the ones that were different. My favorite would have to be You'd Better Not Pyout by Nancy Pickard. Definitely not a normal Santa. hehe I also enjoyed Fresh Meat by Alan Gordon and SA by J. A. Konrath. They were all good but amazingly the ones that aren't the big names in Parnormal fiction I liked more. :)
la_libreria_chula's review
I couldn't get into the writing. And these were multiple authors. The one author I was mostly interested in was Patricia Briggs but I couldn't get into her story. Also one of the stories where the main lady's grandpa sent a werewolf to sleep with her? Kind of weird...
bikes_books_yarn's review
4.0
I REALLY enjoyed this. Most of the stories were really good and hardly a clunker in the bunch. I have a bunch of new authors I will be checking out now that I have had a taste.
Also - If you read the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris or the Kitty series by Carrie Vaughn - there is a delicious mini-story of each of those in here. Nice treat. :)
Also - If you read the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris or the Kitty series by Carrie Vaughn - there is a delicious mini-story of each of those in here. Nice treat. :)
cyee44's review
4.0
Many short story compilations out there are not anything to rave about, but I really liked this one. It had 14 werewolf stories that took place on or near Christmas Eve. The only author I'd read before was Charlaine Harris, and now I'm wanting to go look for books by the other authors--all of them. Each story had it's own style and a somewhat different take on werewolves. One of the stories was kind of predictable, but the others had me wondering what was going to happen. Writing a good short story is difficult because you have so much less time to develop character and setting, and I thought all of the writers did a pretty good job of that. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys werewolf stories.