Party/Celebration Category.
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PROM NIGHTS FROM HELL by various authors.
Worried that prom night is gonna bite?In this collection, bestselling authors including Stephanie Meyer (Twilight) and Meg Cabot (How To Be Popular and The Princess Diaries) take bad Prom nights to a whole new level - a paranormally bad level ....
Wardrobe catastrophes and two left feet are nothing compared with discovering you're dancing with the Grim Reaper - and he isn't here to tell you how hot you look ....
From vampire exterminations to angels fighting demons, these five stories will be more fun than any DJ in a bad dinner jacket. No corsage or limo rental necessary - just great, sexy, scary, fun.
.... Outer back cover.
FIRST SENTENCE (The Exterminator's Daughter by Meg Cabot): The music is pounding in time to my heartbeat.
MEMORABLE MOMENT (Page 286, Hell On Earth by Stephanie Meyer): No, she couldn't force the humans to do anything. They had their innate free will, and so she could only tempt, could only suggest. Little things - high heels and seams and minor muscle groups - she could manipulate, but she could never force their minds.
MY THOUGHTS: Being both English and born at a time well before the prom had become popular here perhaps much of the so-called 'great, sexy, scary fun' of Prom Nights from Hell passed me by. Then again, perhaps they were just unremarkable stories.
Written by five authors (Meg Cabot, Kim Harrison, Michele Jaffe, Stephanie Meyer, Lauren Myracle) for the 13+ market it is only Kim Harrison's and Stephenie Meyer's work that I am familiar with.
Hardly a glowing example if this is typical of these authors works. With the exception of Stephenie Meyer's Hell On Earth, which, a clever idea though hardly unique, was mildly amusing if nothing else, the other renditions ranged from the totally unoriginal and far less creepy than it thought it was (Lauren Myracle's The Corsage) to the somewhat puzzling (Michele Jaffe's Kiss And Tell) to the utterly disappointing (Kim Harrison's Madison Avery And The Dim Reaper).
Not a great collection by any means, I think all but the youngest of paranormal fans risk being truly disappointed by these unexceptional offerings.
KEEP IT OR NOT?: Ex-library stock, this is not a collection destined for the shelves.
10 comments:
I never went to Prom, and didn't care. The thought that something supernatural a la Carrie could spice it up enough for interest, but if you say it hasn't, then leave it to the kiddies.
I've been to Prom, but I was never a big dance person...I just kind of went for friends. LOL
Sorry you didn't like these stories. probably is meant for a more younger reader. I haven't checked themd out, but not really interested.
I'm only familiar with Meg Cabot and Stephanie Meyer. I doubt I would have picked up this book to start with, but especially not now that I've read your review.
Hi Tracy,
Like yourself, I was a teenager long before the Prom was even heard of here in the UK, let alone the massively over exploited event it has now become.
I think that there are few authors who can pull off short story writing very well, which is a shame, as I would probably read them more often if that were the case, as they make great 'fillers' for when I can't be bothered getting bogged down with anything too lengthy.
I have a short (VERY short) story review on the drawing board right now, which came to my notice as a recommendation by a fellow blogger. I actually thought that this particular story stood up to the test very well, although it really still could have done with being a little longer.
I think back to the days when 'Tales Of The Unexpected' was on television and the half hour short story, always seemed just about right and still managed to achieve a premise with a distinct beginning, middle and conclusion.
Thanks again for your honest review technique, I think that this book will stay on the shelves as far as I'm concerned.
Have a good weekend, Yvonne
I can't think of any way fiction could be scarier and more horrible than a real prom!
Sometimes anthologies rock and sometimes they don't. Sorry that this one isn't in the former category. Might give this one a pass but I do like the title. LOL
I read Vacations from Hell, an anthology with a similar cover and put together by the same people, and thought the same thing--a couple of the stories were clever, but it wasn't anything to shout about.
Thanks for your usual sharp and honest review, Petty!
Sorry you didn't like this one more. Although my own prom was the opposite of fun, I don't think I will be picking this one up. Loved your honest review.
That's too bad it flopped. At first glance I thought this post was about actual Prom Nights From Hell articles...lol.
The tag line "Worried that prom night is gonna bite?" is cute though.
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