Kisses from Hell Paperback – August 25, 2010

I have been debating for a long time whether to purchase and read this book and I have to say I am glad I did! It was a very quick and enjoyable read. It made me want to go ahead and purchase the other books.I could really see the authors series reflecting in the stories. A small part of me wanted to see something new from them. I liked the series they wrote I just wanted to see something new with new characters and a different plot.

I will tell you right now, I am a sucker for a short story anthology. I bought Love Is Hell a few years ago for $4, loved it, and decided I would keep up with the ...Is Hell series from there on out. Each ...Is Hell book focuses on something specific (all supernatural, and so far, vacations, dates, prom, and young love.) This one focuses specifically on vampires."But Mena," you're probably saying, "Aren't vampires a totally overdone subject in fiction these days? If I read one more story about some dark brooding hunk, I'll faint!"I disagree, friends. Yes, due to a certain famous creature of the night, I now find a vampire novel every three inches on the bookshelves at my local Barnes And Noble. However, this isn't a bad thing. Some authors still know how to hand their vamps.HOWEVER.I was looking forward to this book so, so much due the recent rekindling of my love for YA vampire romance. I was, unfortunately, let down.Sunshine by Richelle Mead - A very dull tale about Lissa's (from Vampire Academy) parents meeting and falling for each other. I felt like it was set present day rather than a little over twenty years ago. The idea of it is great, but it just wasn't handled well. It played out like a vampiric episode of Saved By The Bell in my mind. Good for a diehard VA fan. 2.5/5Bring Me To Life by Alyson Noel - The big redeeming moment for this drowning man of a book. I'm so very in love with Victorian clothing, so the descriptions had me smiling the whole time, and the vampire element weaved in perfectly. I wasn't thinking, "Okay, that's the vampire, when is she/he going to get with it?" If I say anymore, I will gush and give away everything. The only downside is we've obviously seen reincarnation in a certain series of yours before, Miss Noel. A simple little thing that bothered me, besides that, it's perfect. I think she should start a series about vampires. 5/5Above by Kristin Cast - Oh, trust me, I didn't even bother, especially after reading the pathetic excuse for fiction in Immortal: Love Stories With Bite and wanting to scratch out my eyes. I glanced at the first page and just groaned. Whoever gave Kristin Cast a pen and told her she had talent needs to be stabbed in the knees with said pen. 0/5Hunting Kat by Kelley Armstrong - Vampires! Drama! Being on the run! Wait, haven't we read this before? The intitial reason I bought this book seriously let me down. I fell in love with Kat's first story in The Eternal Kiss and was so pumped to get this book so I could read the new one. I was frowning most of the time I was reading it. Neil and Chad are immensely annoying, they ruin any sense of adventure. The redeeming bit (besides Kat, obviously)? Marguerite. If I was a "vampire in training", I would most definitely want her as my sassy guru.2.5/5Lilith by Francesca Lia Block - I couldn't even get into this one. Hell, I was kind of confused reading it, I couldn't totally tell you what it's about. Nerds in love with vampires? A Queen Lilith reference? Confusing writing? Yeah, let's go with that last one. 1/5If you can find it on here for say, $.50 or so, maybe a dollar, it's worth it for Bring Me To Life. Other than that, I'd only recommend this for super fans of the authors, Darkest Powers, and/or Vampire Academy.

I loved hearing about the characters that were discussed in this series because there wasn't much of a mention about them in the first series that I heard about one of them in. In the series that mentioned the guy, I only heard about him a few times, and the woman he married I never heard about once. If you want to learn more about the background behind the family of a girl in the vampire academy series, then you should definitely read this romantic short story

Kisses from Hell brings together five popular young adult paranormal authors with short stories about love and vampires. Similar to the companion anthologies that came before it (Love Is Hell, Prom Nights from Hell, and Vacations from Hell), this book is composed of five different tales, each centered loosely around the title's theme. Different from the other volumes, however, this book focuses on vampires only, instead of a wider host of paranormal creatures."Sunshine" by Richelle Mead - Set in Mead's Vampire Academy universe, this story explores how Lissa's parents met and fell in love, and it succeeds in providing a great backstory for that series. "Sunshine" was cute and showed good character development, but it wasn't overwhelming. 3/5"Bring Me to Life" by Alyson Noël - In this story, Noël presents a modern twist on the Dracula myth involving an eerie fog, an old English manor, and a cute artsy boy. Though okay, "Bring Me to Life" wasn't very engaging or original with its use of obvious and cliché plot clues throughout. 2/5"Above" by Kristin Cast - In "Above," Cast attempts to create a complex new paranormal mythology about creatures who live below the surface of the earth and their enemies who live above. Even with its two sympathetic main characters, this story fell extremely short due to its confusing and unclear world building that seemed like an attempt to be avant garde or edgy. 1/5"Hunting Kat" by Kelley Armstrong - Set in Armstrong's world that appears in her Darkest Powers series, "Hunting Kat" introduces a feisty young vampire named Kat who is being pursued by the Edison Group. In the process, she meets two boys, either of whom may be with her or against her. "Hunting Kat" was fast-paced and interesting with a strong, likeable female protagonist and a likeable male lead. I really enjoyed this story and would love to see a longer novella or book based on these characters. 4/5"Lilith" by Francesca Lia Block - In this story, Block puts a vampiric twist on the original bad girl of the Bible, Lilith. This story had the potential to be very original, but it seemed out of place in this collection with its very dark tone and lack of any real romance. 2/5While I enjoy short story anthologies and the opportunity they present to sample multiple authors, KISSES FROM HELL left me disappointed. Outside of those by Mead and Armstrong, the stories weren't very interesting or well-written. In addition, the huge font size and the chapter breaks used within individual stories felt like an attempt to hide the overall short length of the book. Despite its title and description, most of the stories also contained very little romance or kissing. If you're willing to branch out into other paranormal creatures in search of a good short story anthology, I would heartily recommend Kiss Me Deadly: 13 Tales of Paranormal Love or Love Is Hell instead.

I read three stories from this book... two of them were really interesting. The one by Kristen Cast was really weird however. I did not get that story at all. I prefer the book love is hell though.

I loved all of the short stories. But they left me wanting more of the characters and their story lines

I wasn't overly impressed with any of the stories. They're not terrible, but there is not a whole lot of substance to any of them. There are two stories that are based on series that I enjoy, but in my opinion these stories do not add to or even really take anything from those series. Just kind of a light read, and very firmly in the YA genre. I was a bit bored.

this book i knew would be good cause i have read Kristin Cast and love all the books she has written.

I only got it for the story about vampire academy books lissas parents but I think I may like the others haven't read them yet

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Zunächst einmal muss ich gestehen, das ich mir das Buch in der Erwartung an fünf Top Storys gekauft habe. Bei diesen tollen Autoren, von denen einige Werke in meinem Regal stehen dachte, kann man nichts schlechtes erwarten...falsch gedacht!Da hätten wir zunächste Richelle Mead(2 Sterne gebühren allei ihr). Diese Frau kann einfach keine schlechten Geschichten schreiben. Mit "Sunshine" zeigt Sie den Fans von Vampire Academy den Enblick in das Leben zweier Moroi, die zusammen finden. Schön, spannend und einfach Top unterhaltsam...Kristin Cast kennen wir ja alle von House of Night, doch ihre Geschichte ist einfach nur das blosse aneinander reihen sinnloser Worte, die wohl poetisch rüber kommen sollten, doch bei mir Atmosphärisch gleich Null kamen...Kelley Armstrong schafft es mit ihrer Geschichte teilweise zu überzeugen, obwohl sie eine nette Art hat zu schreiben, hat mir ihre Geschichte von der Art der Story her nicht sonderlich zugesagt.Alyson Noel hingegen hat mich positiv überrascht! Ihre Geschichte war nicht nur unterhaltsam, sondern hatte auch noch den Myteryeffelt, owbohl die letzten Seiten serh rasch abgehandelt wurden, doch was soll man bei einer KURZgeschichte auch anderes wollen?Dann wäre da noch die letzte im Bunde Frau Lia Block...ganz nett, mehr aber auch nicht...Alles in allem würde ich nur Fans von Richelle Mead und Alyson Noel den Kauf dieses Buches empfehlen, diese beiden Ladys haben das Buch wirklich gerettet!

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YA anothlogy of 5 vampire stories from different authors.Sunshine by Richelle Mead - 4.5/5 - This short story is set in Richelle's Vampire Academy series and is the story of how Lissa Dragomir's parents met (for non VA fans, Lissa is the best friend of the protagonist). I loved getting to meet these two characters who we've heard very little of and never met (they died a couple of years before we meet Lissa in VA). For those up to date on the VA series, you'll understand why I was so curious to see Eric and Rhea together. It's a really good short story that I loved, a great 'extra' for VA fans, but I would hope that non VA fans would enjoy it as well. Really wished it had been longer!!Bring Me To Life by Alyson Noel - 2.5/5 - Danika has travelled to England from the US to go to an exclusive art academy, an escape from her inattentive father, her ex-best friend and ex-boyfriend who hooked up. But what she finds is a mansion more than a little creepy. And no other students around. I kind of liked this story, I liked the start a lot. Danika was likable, and the crazy situation she found herself in was interesting. But I didn't particularly like the outcome. It wasn't a bad story, but it wasn't to my taste.Above by Kristin Cast - 0/5 - This story was...one of the strangest I've read (or tried to read) in a long while. Above and below don't mix, they hunt and kill each other, and in theory there is a star-crossed love story in here, somewhere. It was twisted, strange and I could barely figure out what was going on.Hunting Kat by Kelley Armstrong - 4.5/5 - I loved this short story a lot! It's another short story set in Kelley's YA world, which started with her Darkest Powers trilogy and will continue with her Darkness Rising one next year. Kat was first introduced with a short story in The Eternal Kiss anthology. Kat's stories are (for the moment at least) completely unconnected to the main novels, just in the same world. This short story is set about 6 months after Kat's first short, though you wouldn't have to read it to understand this one. I actually enjoyed this a lot more than Kat's first short, and wished it was a lot longer. Kat is being hunted again, but this time, she's not alone.Lilith by Francesca Lia Block - 1/5 - bit of an odd story. A boy who spends most of his time living in a fantasy world of his own creation suddenly has the attention of a girl who's far too beautiful to be human. He welcomes her unnaturalness, the chance to be strong, if only he has her by his side he feels he'll be just fine. I didn't like the way things went in this story. Didn't really like anything about the main character and thus didn't care what happened, and what happened all worked out kind of strange.So I only liked two of the five stories, but those two, Hunting Kat (Kelley Armstrong) and Sunshine (Richelle Mead), made it worth buying for me. I wish they'd been longer, but for short stories they had a lot of detail and depth to them, very enjoyable and great additions to the series/worlds they're set in. Or I think they'd make good introductions to the authors if readers haven't read anything by them yet. Shame about the other three, but anthologies are always hit and miss. Wouldn't be surprised to see others thinking a lot of the stories I didn't enjoy.