Kissing Can Be Dangerous To Your Health... Just So You Know...

And I'm on a roll with these book reviews! Well kinda... So just a year couple of months ago, I can't help but reminisce the first time I've read a Y.A. book, nor could I help but do a "little" bit of backtracking on my blogposts. That's why I've decided to keep on posting more book reviews (as time will allow it...), as well as other posts that I've somehow neglected these past few years.

Going on with the rise of vampire genres during my Y.A. times, this book wasn't able to escape my ever-hungry appetite for reading, (especially anything on paper...):

There are scarier things out there that are worse than cooties...

Yeah... like I said, it "was" the age of vampire genres then, so paranormal romances weren't really much of a surprise either. Also, if you've noticed, this is also another anthology compiled by Trisha Telep from another various set of talented authors! You could say I was too lazy to explore or find other anthology books compiled by other people, but I guess there was no harm done in reading another book from someone you've already tried and tested. Looking back on that train of thought, I can say I don't regret it. Moving on to the review!

"The Assassin's Apprentice" by Michelle Zink

In a world where angels and demons exist among us, we have Rose, our protagonist who is a Descendant or part angel. She's on a mission to avenge her parents' death by slaying the demon who did it. Along the way though, she meets an Assassin named Asher, who has also been tasked to kill the same demon. A conflict of interests and some sexual tension, and we've got one hell (...forgive the pun) of a paranormal romance!

"Errant" by Diana Peterfreund

This story was a bit weird for me since it had unicorns. I've got nothing against unicorns, but I always kinda picture them as...

I'm gonna die!!! >.<

...and not like this...

Spoke too soon... T__T

Anyway... aside from the unicorns, we also have really horribles guys in this story. So in substitution for the lack of romance, we got a more sisterly kind of love instead.

"The Spirit Jar" by Karen Mahoney

One of the reasons I also decided to buy this book was because it had a sequel of Moth's story after the events of "Falling to Ash" from The Eternal Kiss. It was fun reading her character since Moth came across as imperfect as any human, even though she knew she was definitely a vampire. The romance part wasn't much in this one, especially not directly involving the main character, but we had snippets of her thoughts concerning the guy from the previous story. So I guess it'd be best to read "Falling to Ash" before this.

"Lost" by Justine Musk

I remember reading a review before that this story was somehow based on one greek mythology that I was always fascinated about. I guess it was also one of the many reasons I decided to buy this book. I wouldn't dwell much on the plot since it could give away which myth it was based on, but let's just say that the heroine of this book, Sasha, has an uncanny ability to find anything that's "lost". She later meets a guy named Haiden, who surprisingly knows and understands her ability. But there's still the question of who exactly is he? Though really, I wished we got more scenes or interactions of them together.

"The Spy Who Never Grew Up" by Sarah Rees Brennan

I initially thought the story had something to do with an immature spy or something that's completely a parody, but lo and behold, it was actually about Peter Pan!

Yeah that kind of Peter Pan ↖(￣▽￣")

And I guess it was actually creepy how he was described as having physically matured, but still remaining somewhat a child. Add the fact that I never really liked Peter Pan (Disney or not) to begin with, this story was just.... NO.

"Dungeons of Langeais" by Becca Fitzpatrick

So this story is part of Becca Fitzpatrick's "Hush, Hush" series, although it's more like a prequel and stars the antagonist of the first book, Chauncey. It was a good story and all, though I think I would have appreciated this story better if I had read the series, since I felt like there were too many loopholes as to how angels co-exist with humans in this universe.

"Behind the Red Door" by Caitlin Kittredge

A dare and a haunted mansion causes our protagonist, Jo, to meet a real (live?) ghost whom she later finds herself falling for. But sometimes, not everything is as it seems and Jo might learn that the hard way. I really loved this story to the point that I based my high school writing project on it. I wouldn't spoil the fun, but this story was definitely not all hearts and flowers.

"Hare Moon" by Carrie Ryan

Another prequel, this time from Carrie Ryan's "Forest of Hands and Teeth" series which focuses on Sister Tabitha in her younger days when she fell in love but had to pick her priorities. Though I haven't really read the series, I think Sister Tabitha still plays an important part there and this prequel just gives us a backstory on how things were during her time when towns were fenced off from the outside world, away from zombies.

"Familiar" by Michelle Rowan

This was a cute story about our protagonist, Brenda, who is a witch-in-training on the look out for a familiar. You know, like the ones in Harry Potter?

Those were the happy days...

Unbeknownst to her, she managed to get a shape-shifting werecat named Owen, and since he's technically NOT an animal or a pet for that matter, that's where all the chaos starts. Oh, and he's also being chased by werewolves. 

"Fearless" by Rachel Vincent

This story is set in the "Soul Screamers" universe by Rachel Vincent which I've yet to read, but I've got an inkling that the series has a lot to do about banshees...

...or creatures that are close to that anyway...

This story was surprisingly exciting and had some action in it, though I honestly could have enjoyed it better had I read the series first, or maybe I just think the background informations and universe building had a lot of loopholes that could confuse a reader who's unaware of some details.

"Vermillion" by Daniel Marks

This was a really crazy and confusing story, which personally kinda reminded me of an anime in my childhood days that had a lot to do with Spirit Detectives and paranormal stuff they had to do. In this case, we have Velvet and Nick who are sent out on a mission to track down a rogue spirit wreaking havoc in the human world. The crazy thing is that I think I "slept/read" right through it 'cuz I remember some really wacky scenerios from this story! Which is kinda fun, but definitely confusing.

"The Hounds of Ulster" by Maggie Stiefvater

I've read the "Shiver" trilogy by Maggie Stiefvater before and I really enjoyed it, so I was kinda expecting to enjoy this story as well, though I was just left utterly confused yet again. This story focuses on Bryant and Sullivan who dream of becoming "punk gods", but here comes a "girl" who seems to become a distraction to them. This is most definitely NOT a "love"-triangle you'd usually expect. To wrap it up, I think my confusion mostly had something to do with the Irish myths inserted in the story that I wasn't exactly familiar with, but other than that, I liked the fact that we got a bit of a shocker ending.   

"Many Happy Returns" by Daniel Waters

Boy, do I wish the title could speak for itself, but this story didn't exactly have anything "happy" going on here. In a world where the dead could possibly have a (second) chance to live again, four teenagers involved in an accident have their parents waiting for them. Among the casualties are Mandy and her boyfriend Jake, though this story mostly focuses on Mandy's dad, Cal, and his thoughts before the "awakening", which actually added to the sadness of the story 'cuz it's mostly about a parent waiting for his kid to come back. This folks, is quite the tragic ending for a book dealing with the paranormal.

To wrap it up though, this book is also out of print, last I checked in Amazon. So yeah, I'm an ass for not telling you that first before going on with the review. But on the bright side, I think there are ebook editions around the internet so if you do happen to find it, maybe you'll be able to relate more to what I'm blogging about here huh?

With all that said, I'd like to recommend "The Spirit Jar", "Lost" and my favorite story in the book, "Behind the Red Door", while some of the stories were either filled with loopholes or it just completely lost me. 

Maybe next time I try reading a Paranormal Romance type of book, I should probably pick something that already has a specific category. You know, like how I tried the Vampire one? Maybe I should try Ghosts next?