More Scary Kisses by Liz Grzyb

More Scary Kisses Reviews

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  Satima

  I love this anthology. It is, I think, the best antho so far from Liz Grzyb and Ticonderoga. The stories are varied, so there will be some to suit any taste, and they are all well-written and well-edited. Despite the title and the cover, the stories are not all romantic and in several, the romance is implied rather than explicit.
  
  The story I loved best was The Last Gig of Jimmy Rucker, by Martin Livings and Talie Helene: in fact, I would go so far as to say this is one of the best short stories I've ever read, and I have it filed away in my memory alongside The Monkey's Paw and The Nine Billion Names of God.
  
  Felicity Dowker's Berries and Incense is another worthy of note, along with Jason Nahrung's Resurrection in Red and Nicole R. Murphy's The Protector's Last Mission. But your mileage may vary - as I've already said, there is something here to suit any taste.
  
  Thoroughly recommended!
• 
  Martin Livings

  Once again, Liz has given us a solid collection of paranormal romance stories, and once again, I'm most likely not exactly the target audience! Some of the stories were a little pedestrian for my tastes, light on the scary and heavy on the kisses, but my standout was definitely Kirstyn McDermott's "Frostbitten", which came out of nowhere like a kick in the balls from a ballerina. Awesome stuff, Kirstyn continues to be the one to beat, not just in paranormal romance, but in everything she turns her damnedly talented hands to. *shakes fist impotently*
  
  Other stories I enjoyed were by Fraser Sherman, Annette Backshall and Jason Nahrung. And I can't comment on the last story, since I wrote it with Talie Helene!
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  Katharine (Ventureadlaxre)

  Katharine is a judge for the Aurealis Awards. This review is the personal opinion of Katharine herself, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.
  
  To be safe, I won't be recording my review here until after the AA are over.
  
  Easy and quick to read, quite enjoyable even though I generally don’t like romance - the quality was there, the editing and presentation overall was stunning, and I'm on the hunt for the first anthology.
• 
  Plum-crazy

  As ever I've found these short stories to be a bit of a mixed bag & each review will be brief:
  
  Berries & Incense - I liked that it invoked the feeling of being an old folklore tale
  
  Matchmaker - okay
  
  Snakecharmer - okay
  
  Philomena & the Blond God - meh
  
  Dances with Werewolves - was it trying to be funny with it? If so didn't work for me
  
  The Protector's Last Mission - didn't like
  
  3 am - not bad
  
  Miss Luella's Magic Shop - okay I guess
  
  The Sword of Mr Darcy - not for me, just too ridiculous for words & I didn't even get to the end of the third page....
  
  Frostbitten - bit weird but kinda liked it
  
  The Dark Night of Anton Weiss - now this I did make me smile. Anton wants to bring his love Lavinia back from the dead so recruits the help of Terry Parkinson:"Occultist & Roofer (Generous Rates for Pensioners)". The three things that Lavinia says Anton MUST know made me laugh. Worth getting the book for this story alone :o)
  
  Phantom Lover - mmm...okay I guess
  
  Hunting Rabbits - not keen
  
  Marriage of Convenience - bit bizarre but kinda sweet with it
  
  Resurrection in Red - think this was meant to be a slightly erotic tale but it did nothing for me!
  
  The Dark Season - there's a nice twist to this tale which I liked even though you know its coming
  
  The Last Gig of Jimmy Rucker - this is one of the longer stories & while I liked it, I felt it would have benefited from more depth & detail - a tough thing to achieve in a short story though. To my mind, it could easily have been developed into a novella. At a 100 pages or so it would have the potential to really build up a spooky atmosphere & create some anticipation.
  
  For once, I liked more of the stories than I didn't but on balance I think I prefer my paranormal to be of the horror variety rather than the romantic. Made for a nice change though...& I'm still smiling over The Dark Night of Anton Weiss :o)
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  Samantha

  Yay more scary kisses, cause if you didn't get enough the first time round you get more. I loooove this book!
• 
  Liz

  Of course I love it... I edited it!
• 
  P Pits

  Why shouldn't fiction have a fun side? These stories are wonderfully entertaining.