Review: An Apple for the Creature - Anthology

What could be scarier than the first day of school? How about a crash course in the paranormal from Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner, editors of Home Improvement: Undead Edition? Your worst school nightmares—taking that math test you never studied for, finding yourself naked in school assembly, not knowing which door to enter—will pale in comparison to these thirteen original stories that take academic anxiety to whole new realms.

In #1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris’s story, "Playing Possum," Sookie Stackhouse brings enough birthday cupcakes for her nephew's entire class but finds she's one short when the angry ex-boyfriend of the school secretary shows up.

When her guardian, Kate Daniels, sends her undercover to a school for exceptional children, teenaged Julie learns an all-new definition of "exceptional," in New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews's "Magic Tests."

For those who like fangs with their forensics, New York Times bestselling author Nancy Holder offers "VSI," in which FBI agent Claire is tested as never before in a school for Vampire Scene Investigation.

And in New York Times bestselling author Thomas Sniegoski's "The Bad Hour," Remy Chandler and his dog Marlowe find evil unleashed in an obedience school.

You'll need more than an apple to stave off the creatures in these and nine other stories. Remember your first lesson: resistance is fruitless!

Includes stories by: ILONA ANDREWS, AMBER BENSON, RHYS BOWEN, MIKE CAREY, CHARLAINE HARRIS, DONALD HARSTAD, STEVE HOCKENSMITH, NANCY HOLDER, FAITH HUNTER, TONI L.P. KELNER, MARJORIE LIU, JONATHAN MABERRY, THOMAS SNIEGOSKI

I thought I'd include a list of all of the short stories included in this anthology for your information:

1. Playing Possum - Charlaine Harris (Part of the Sookie Stackhouse Series)
2. Spellcaster 2.0 - Jonathan Maberry
3. Academy Field Trip - Donald Harstad
4. Sympathy for the Bones - Marjorie M. Liu
5. Low School - Rhys Bowen
6. Callie Meet Happy - Amber Benson (Part of the Calliope Reaper-Jones Series)
7. Iphigenia in Aulis - Mike Carey
8. Golden Delicious - Faith Hunter (Part of the Jane Yellowrock Series)
9. Magic Tests - Ilona Andrews (Part of the Kate Daniels Series)
10. An Introduction to Jewish Myth and Mysticism - Steve Hockensmith
11. VIS - Nancy Holder
12. The Bad Hour - Thomas E. Sniegoski (Part of the Remy Chandler Series)
13. Pirate Dave and the Captain's Ghost - Toni L.P. Kelner

Review:
An Apple for the Creature is an anthology containing 13 school related stories that would probably make great holiday reading around Halloween. As with most anthologies I found the quality of the stories was a bit hit and miss, there were several I enjoyed but I doubt I'll read the book again. In fact, I think the only story I would go out of my way to re-read is Magic Tests by Ilona Andrews which is the story I bought the anthology for in the first place. I'll talk more about that one in a minute but I just want to mention a couple of the other stories first.

Sympathy for the Bones by Marjorie M. Liu was a creepy tale about a girl who has been raised by a witch and is learning to curse people using voodoo, I enjoyed the story and if I hadn't already been a fan of the author it would have definitely made me check out some of her other books. The other story I really enjoyed was Golden Delicious by Faith Hunter. I've had the Jane Yellowrock series on my wish list for a while now and after reading that story I'll be bumping it up the list. I liked the humour of the story and I'm very interested to find out more about the world the author has created. I'm hoping that Rick and the characters who make up his detective team are major players in the series because I really liked them. Some of the other stories were OK reads but none of them particularly stand out enough for me to rave about them.

I already mentioned that I only really wanted to read this for the Ilona Andrews story Magic Tests and I have to say that was the best part of the book. It was worth buying just for this story alone and I'll definitely pick it up again when I do my next Kate Daniels re-read. I've always quite liked Julie's character, she can be a little annoying at times but I think she is a fairly typical teenager in that regard, and it was nice to see a story from her point of view. Although this story isn't essential reading as part of the series because it doesn't really effect the ongoing story arc it was nice to get to know Julie a bit better and I'd actually like to see more from her POV in the future. We've all seen how much Julie hates the boarding school that Kate sent her to and now she's home and living in the Keep she seems to think she can get away without going to school at all. Kate has other plans for her though and she has a very clever way of getting Julie to go along with them. We are introduced to some great new characters but the one I was most excited about seeing again was Yu Fong (you may remember him from Dali's short story Magic Dreams). I was already hoping he'd end up being a major character in the series and now I'm thinking he's more likely to re-appear thanks to his friendship with Julie. I loved getting to see Julie grow up a bit and actually work out a way to use her ability to help someone else and I'd definitely like to see her get her own book or spin off series in the future.

I'd say if you're a huge fan of the Kate Daniels series like I am then it's worth buying the anthology just for Magic Tests but otherwise you might want to consider borrowing it from the library and saving yourself the money.

Source: Purchased

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Paperback / Kindle:

Review: Death's Daughter - Amber Benson

Daddy's Little Girl

For the last few years I'd been in a state of bliss - living under a self-imposed Forgetting Charm, because I so did not want to go into the family business.  What I wanted was a glamorous career in New York City and the opportunity for a normal life - buying designer shoes on sale, dating guys from craigslist, Web surfing for organic dim sum for my boss.  And then my father's Executive Assistant, a faun named Jarvis, showed up to to tell me that my dad had been kidnapped.

Good-bye, Forgetting Charm.  Hello, (unwanted) responsibility.  Not only am I expected to step into the CEO slot on the company Board, but I have to "prove my worth" by competing against the Devil's protege - who's so hot in more ways than one.  The contest involves finding three (why is it always three?) objects of power.  In Hell.

One of them is this adorable puppy - who happens to be a hellhound.  The others are turning out to be not much fun.  All this so I can take (unwanted) charge of Death, Inc.

My name is Calliope Reaper-Jones, and I'm . . . Death's Daughter

Calliope Reaper-Jones Series:
Death's Daughter
Callie Meet Happy (Short Story in the An Apple for the Creature Anthology)
Cat's Claw
Serpent's Storm

Visit Amber Benson's blog for more information

Review:
Calli has been living in New York for the last few years and has no memory of her family having used a forgetting charm so she could escape and live her own life.  However when her father and older sister are kidnapped Callie has no choice but to go home and take over the family business.  Before the board will accept her as the CEO of Death, Inc she must complete several difficult tasks and with the Devil's protege also wanting the job she will need to work quickly to get the tasks done in time to save her father.

I first heard about Death's Daughter when I stumbled across a video of the author Amber Benson giving a reading from Serpent's Storm on twitter.  The video made me laugh so hard that I immediately ordered all 3 books and I was really looking forward to reading them.  I should have learnt by now never to order more than the first book in a series and this time I think I'm going to take the lesson to heart.  It wasn't that Death's Daughter was a terrible book, in fact I really liked the world the author has created and the different mythology used but for such an original idea I think the execution could have been so much better.

Callie has to be one of the most dislikable main characters I've come across in a long time.  She spends most of her time complaining, whining and in general being nasty to everyone she meets.  She is obsessed with shopping and designer labels and has the hots for every single guy she sees, even the ones she doesn't like very much.  Worse still she seems to assume that just because she fancies someone they must automatically be attracted to her too despite the fact she is constantly saying that she isn't pretty.  It felt like the author was trying too hard to make Callie a funny character with the witty comments that she was constantly coming out with but unfortunately they failed to hit the mark most of the time.  When reading urban fantasy I want the main character to be strong and capable, I don't enjoy watching the heroine sitting around and waiting for someone to rescue her which Callie seemed to spend a lot of time doing.  She certainly wouldn't have survived to the end of the book if she hadn't had help.

Like I said the world created was interesting and I am curious to see if Callie grows up as the series progresses but if I hadn't already bought the books I don't think I would carry on reading.  I actually liked some of the supporting characters and I think it would have been a lot more enjoyable if Callie's younger sister Clio had been the heroine so I hope we get to see a lot more of her in the next book.  I will try reading Cat's Claw and see if there is any improvement on this book but if there isn't then I won't be continuing with the series.

Source: Purchased

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Author Amber Benson reading from Serpent's Storm

So I stumbled across a link to this video on Twitter a couple of weeks ago and it had me laughing so much that I ordered all 3 books in author Amber Benson's Calliope Reaper-Jones series.  The reading is from Serpent's Storm (the third book in the series) and be warned it does contain adult only content.  It's hilarious watching Amber trying to keep a straight face when reading one of the more naughty scenes from the book - I guess that is one of the hazards of writing books for adults.  I did share the link on Twitter but had to post it here in case any of you missed it.  If you'd like to find out more about the series you can check out Amber Benson's website here.



Book 1 - Death's Daughter:

Daddy's Little Girl

For the last few years I'd been in a state of bliss - living under a self-imposed Forgetting Charm, because I so did not want to go into the family business.  What I wanted was a glamerous career in New York City and the opportunity for a normal life - buying designer shoes on sale, dating guys from craigslist, Web surfing for organic dim sum for my boss.  And then my father's Executive Assistand, a faun named Jarvis, showed up to to tell me that my dad had been kidnapped.

Good-bye, Forgetting Charm.  Hello, (unwanted) responsibility.  Not only am I expected to step into the CEO slot on the company Board, but I have to "prove my worth" by competing against the Devil's protege - who's so hot in more ways than one.  The contest involves finding three (why is it always three?) objects of power.  In Hell.

One of them is this adorable puppy - who happens to be a hellhound.  The others are turning out to be not much fun.  All this so I can take (unwanted) charge of Death, Inc.

My name is Calliope Reaper-Jones, and I'm . . . Death's Daughter

Book 2 - Cat's Claw:

My name is Calliope Reaper-Jones.  I'm just like any other working girl in New York City - stuck in a boring job, barely making rent, coveting every expensive fashion accessory I see but can't afford.

I know what you're thinking: "Callie, your dad is the head of Death, Inc.  You can afford those accessories."  But there's more to running the family business than wielding cosmic power over life and death.  Cubicle hell is nothing compared to the real thing.  Trust me on this.  So I've tried to stay clear of it.

But no matter how far I walk toward a normal life in my (bought-on-sale) Manolos, I keep getting dragged back into the paranormal world.  Now Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hell, wants me to repay a debt I owe him, which means a trip to Purgatory, Las Vegas, ancient Egypt - and a discount department store.  The things a girl has to do when she's Death's Daughter!

Book 3 - Serpent's Storm:

My entire name is Calliope Reaper-Jones, but you can call me Callie.  Please!  Like many a young woman before me, I've chosen to go out on my own in New York City, working my way up in the magazine world, living paycheck to paycheck, buying only the new shoes I absolutely must have.

Of course, having a superhot boyfriend does make it all the more bearable.  Even if he isn't entirely human.  After all, I'm Death's Daughter, so I'm not one to critisise.

But once again, my efforts to lead a normal life have gone bye-bye, thanks to my older sister, Thalia.  She's made a deal with the devil himself - and all that's standing between him and a takeover of the Reaper family business (which would be tres bad for mortals) is . . . me.

When I first found out, I wasn't too worried.  I've already kicked Thalia's butt once.  But I was wrong.  She and the Devil have a secret weapon - someone very close to me, someone very dangerous.

This time, it is way personal . . .

I don't know about the rest of you but I think this sounds like a great series, I'm about to get stuck into Death's Daughter so I'll get my review posted as soon as I can.