Synopsis (from Goodreads)Eternal: More Love Stories With Bite presents all-new YA stories featuring vampires, the romantic heroes and heroines that still hold the reading public enraptured. A mix of writers from the first anthology and new contributors makes for a fresh new collection with all of the dark romance of its predecessor, and a book that’s sure to thrill vampire romance fans old and new.
Eternal is a collection of short stories that involve
vampires. The stories are all different and interesting in their own right and
there is plenty for everyone who likes vampires. I have reviewed each story
separately.
Bloodshed by Claudia Gray
This is a story that belongs in the Evernight universe. Set
in World War II, Bloodshed is a story about a vampire, Patrice, who is in love
with a human, Charlie, who is about to be shipped off to fight in the war. The
story deals with interesting themes such as free will, loving an illusion of
someone instead of loving the actual person and whether we really know someone
or not. The story also took an interesting look on how war can change people. I
really enjoyed the plot of the story. It was fairly original and not at all
predictable. I also enjoyed the characters, particularly Ivan, but I did find
Patrice to be a little vain and annoying and at times I found Charlie had
little depth. I give this story 4/5 stars.
Say Yes by Lili St. Crow
Straight out I need to say that this is not my type of story
and I didn’t like it at all. It is about a girl who last sees her friend at a
party in the company of a vampire before she is found dead. It then follows the
girl as she tries to deal with it and face the killer. I did not like the
writing style of the story, most of it seemed like a train of thought, with
unnecessary events put in. This resulted in there being little depth to the
story. I also felt very little emotion throughout reading the story, even
though the plot demanded it, because it was all actions and very little
thoughts. The only thing that I liked about was that the plot was interesting
and there was a nice twist at the end. I also liked how the vampire was kind of
shady and creepy. I give this story 2/5 stars.
The Other Side – Heather Brewer
This was a very interesting and original story. It started
with Tarrah and her boyfriend, Corey, being trapped in a basement, and because
I knew that there were vampires in this story, I thought I knew where this was
going. When the monster came in and was just how you imagined a vampire to be
and then takes Corey out and drains most of his blood, it cemented what I
thought was going to happen. Boy was I wrong. When the monster came and collected
Tarrah the biggest, most unexpected twist jumps out. I really enjoyed the plot,
but I felt like the story was lacking something. I didn’t really feel anything.
It should have been a terrifying story, but I didn’t feel it. I should have
been sad at one point, but I wasn’t, and I felt that it might have been because
I didn’t really connect with Tarrah. I found her to be annoying and whiny and
she had little emotion. I was also annoyed by the romance, which I felt the
story would have been better off without. It was one brilliant twist though, so
I give this story 3/5 stars.
Letters to Romeo – Nancy Holder
I found that the plot and the setting to this story really
interesting. The story follows Romeo, who was unknowingly turned into a vampire
when he committed suicide, in his search for Juliet after seven hundred years.
When Romeo was turned he was promised that Juliet would be brought back to him
by a Friar, who just so happened to be a magician. It was definitely an
interesting story. It compared how much Romeo had changed, in his bitterness of
losing the love of his life to the boy who first fell in love with Juliet. It
also asked some questions about how strong love is, if it is just beauty deep
or does it go all the way to the heart. I really enjoyed the twist. I also really
enjoyed seeing Romeo’s rage as a vampire, which made the story, and Romeo, more
believable. I also liked the flash backs that were in the story that covered
how Romeo was changed. It was interesting to see Romeo compare modern day
lifestyle, with all its technology, to the lifestyle that he had come from. I
give this story 4.5/5 stars!
Drama Queen’s Last Dance – Rachel Caine
This story was not what I was expecting. I expected to not
like the main character and I expected that there would be a fair bit of death
and destruction in this story, but there wasn’t. The story is a Morganville
Vampire story and followed Eve while she dealt with a new vampire in town, who
happened to be attracting every male, including Eve’s boyfriend Michael. It was
a really funny story and despite what I thought I actually found myself liking
Eve. She was funny and we didn’t see much of her Drama Queen side. It was good
to see her mature to face the problem. I also really loved Michael and Eve’s
relationship. It was so sweet and real. The only thing bad that I have to say
about this story was that there was no twist, what happened was what you
expected to happen. I still really enjoyed the story and found myself laughing
along to it. I give it 4.5/5 stars!
Thief – Jeri Smith-Ready
Thief is a story set in South Carolina and follows an Irish
Traveller named Mary Cassidy, or Cass. It was a really interesting setting for
a story, where I learnt about a culture that I didn’t know much about. That
aspect of the story really fascinated me. The story went into a little detail
about the marriage customs, in particular marriage being arranged by the
parents for the benefit of the family. Cass was originally betrothed to Liam,
who she loves, but then circumstances changed and she was then betrothed to
someone else. We then see what lengths both Cass and Liam would go for love. I
really enjoyed the vampire aspect of this story, which came in late and was a
little unexpected. I loved how it then caused some extra problems that had to be
overcome. I really loved Cass and Liam’s romance. It was sweet and beautiful. I
loved that she loved him no matter what, and that they would both do anything
to be together. I give this story 4.5/5 stars.
Although the ratings of the stories where from one end of
the scale to the other, I really enjoyed reading this book. It was better than
what I expected it to be, and I found some of the stories really interesting
and amusing. Overall, I give this book a 4/5 stars!
I read this book for the Short Story Summer challenge hosted
by Book Lover Book Reviews. Click the picture to see the details.
Mel.
Up next: Seven on Saturday
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