(Suspenseful story that kept the reader on the seat of their chair, and an ending that was unexpected.)
A Brush With Something Otherworldly by Jennivie Wirries: Jessie thought the item she took out of the time capsule at school was boring - an old Japanese hair comb. But when the comb showed magical abilities, Jessie realized she got a one of a kind object.
(It was alright - not my favorite and a little odd. Although it was unique and something I've never read about!)
The Winter Storms Have Come and Gone by Nadège Richards: Bethany says goodbye to Maxwell. Breakups happen all of the time, but not too many have a permanent ending like theirs...
(What many ex-girlfriends probably want to do, even if they never do so. Very short, but well written and it compels the reader to find out more!)
The Little Sister Who Cried Vampire by Brittany Hiester: Having to babysit her younger sister on Halloween was not part of Rosa's plans. So when Leah kept saying she saw a man in her window, Rosa chalked it up to Leah being annoying. Too bad she didn't believe Leah right away...
(Rosa complained too much for my liking, but that made her realistic as she's 14. A lot of punctuation errors, but the story was very action based, which I liked.)
3:00 AM 'Fun' by Ashley O'Donnell: After leaving her house and small town for 5 years, Abigail comes home when her mother passes away. The thought of staying for awhile crossed her mind, but that was before 3:00 AM came around...
(Was very shocked to read that a 16 year-old wrote this! Very well written and very disturbing. It will keep the reader asking questions after reading this story!)
The Tornadoes are Beautiful by Rhian Parry: Natural disasters are happening all over the world, destroying any sense of civilization. Xavier has been hearing voices all of his life, voices that tell him to do things. When it says to kill his sister, Xavier takes the ultimate risk to save her life.
(This has a mix of "Day After Tomorrow" but with a depressing atmosphere of no hope. There wasn't too much dialogue, which made the story slow for me, but it was a good story.)
I AM by Cody Jonathan Godown: A narrator who reflects on the past, looks at the future, and wishes for changes during the present. About a narrator who states, "I am cautious and curious".
(This is a one page verse story, written in the format of a poem. I'm horrible at reading poems and can't understand them, so I didn't enjoy this story as much as I should have. For readers who like verse, they might like it better than I did.)
They Speak To Me by Melissa Somoza: When she was nine, Rose was forced to leave her parents because The Society was trying to kill Rose. She's half clairvoyance and half necromancer, one of the darkest supernatural being in the world. At the age of 18, she's now on a mission to kill the members of The Society for revenge of her parents death. She is the ultimate assassin. The ultimate weapon.
(My second favorite story in this anthology! It reminded me of Kelley Armstrong's series "The Darkest Power" and I found myself loving Rose. She's sassy, tough, and smart. The ending was disappointing, but different and unexpected.)
A Faery Tale Nightmare by Christina Worrell: All her life, Ebony Frost felt unwanted and in the way. When he mother abandoned her, Ebony was sent to a foster home. Little did she know that was the best thing that could have happened to her. Now she has a new, caring foster mother and new foster brothers - 7 to be exact. And she's also found herself in a relationship! But when things get out of control with her new boyfriend and his cousin, she takes a step back and focuses on her new family. When she gets caught up in another romance, along with a battle for the most magic, Ebony needs to fight for what she wants, hoping that it's not too late.
(A spin-off tale of "Snow White" and a little twist with magic and werewolves, Christina Worrell did an amazing job! I was hooked from the beginning and couldn't stop reading until I finished the story. I loved the conflict Ebony had with her feelings, and her struggle with the magic building inside of her. A great read, my favorite in this bunch, and I would definitely recommend it to any reader in love of fairy tales and happy endings!)
My Thoughts/Reflections
I received a PDF of this novel for free to review by Nadège Richards and the staff of "My Home Away from Home". To find out more about this group, you can visit their facebook page, My Home Away From Home, where I have liked to keep up with their updates, or their blogsite: MHAFH.
I have not read any works by the numerous authors of this anthology, so the content and writing styles were very new and refreshing to me.
I really enjoyed this anthology! There were a lot of unique styles in the Paranormal/Supernatural genre that were refreshing and different than what has been written lately, making the stories fast paced and usually leaving me wanting more.
There were some punctuation and grammatical errors in each story, which is common for a self-published novel. Since I've had editing experience, my fingers were twitching to edit and fix the mistakes. However, even with the common errors, the stories were very well written and engaging to the reader.
I put my immediate reaction for each story after a small summary of the stories, saying what I liked or disliked about the individual short stories.
The last two stories were, by far, my favorite. They were also the longest in this anthology, which could be a factor as to why I like them.
There is a variety of writing styles in here. One is verse/poem format, while others are very short stories or longer stories. There's also various narration point of views to keep any reader happy.
I would recommend this to anyone looking for a good, short story to read, where they can stop after each story if they have a busy, hectic life.
I would also suggest this to anyone who likes supernatural topics (though you don't have to be a hardcore supernatural reader to enjoy this story). I tried to tag the different story subjects (vampires, faeries, etc.) that is located in this anthology to make it accurate for interested readers.
Overall, a great read that will entertain many readers, whether you are a lover of supernatural or just if you want to try something new to read!
Right now this anthology is available as an eBook on Amazon for only $0.99! If you are interested in purchasing it, click here to buy your own copy!
And thank you for letting me review this collection of works! I wish all of the authors luck in their future stories/novels!
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