brebeaumont

a lot of the stories in this book followed the same basic tone: an admittedly bland main character/antagonist lead the way into some more-than-slightly predictable plotlines, most of which were only very loosely relevant to an actual prom, including them only in mention and/or passing. overall, they were all alright, with only a couple of them truly jumping out at me and even then, they didn't jump out at me in the right way - quite a few of these stories felt like the first few chapters of a book or a prequel or something. nonetheless, (almost) everything in this collection was inoffensive and perfect for a noncommittal, late night, right before bed read.

i finished this about a week ago and none of the stories really stick out to me anymore, at least not in any positive light, so don't mind if this review is a little sparse on the details.

now, let's get to business.

the exterminator's daughter by meg cabot ★★☆☆☆
this one was... okay. it would've been decent as a full-length book i think, because it wouldn't have had to crush itself into just a few chapters and totally forego any chance for good characterization, logical relationships, or even a plot worth following.

the main character wasn't very interesting, because she was fairly typical for a girl in a supernatural/paranormal romance book, complete with a dead mother and an ache to avenge her. however, contrary to that, her mom's story was actually pretty interesting, and i definitely would've liked to see that subplot explored a little bit more. in fact, her mother's story might have just been a better read overall. much like the rest of the stories included in this anthology, it felt like the beginning of a book, if not an entire series.

the one thing that i will give this story is that it was a nice big middle finger to cliches when she wound up with the typical boy-next-door character, adam instead of the super hot vampire rival, so it has that going for it. meg cabot's writing itself is easy to read along with and sink into, too -- i just wish i'd had more to sink into.

the corsage by lauren miracle ★☆☆☆☆
this was easily the most disappointing story in the book. as a fan of the whole monkey's paw concept and just about anything that involves wishes gone wrong, i was actually excited to read it! so imagine how sad it made me that it was so... dull, first of all. the main character was vapid and useless, and her love interest was little more than a glorified "nice guy" who, in a way, deserved what he got because she was being a spoiled twat and he should've asked someone who wouldn't demand a "grand gesture" before they had even gone on a date.

not to mention, this was almost... offensive to me. i hate the whole "well i like him but i'm the girl so i have to wait for him to make a move obviously!! girls can't come onto boys!! that's weird!! i don't understand i've done so much wHY DOESN'T HE LOVE ME YET?!??!?!" trope that's unfortunately common in quite a few ya romance books, particularly ones with supernatural beings surrounding a dreadfully human heroine.

this main character was irritating, bratty, and even her sudden turn (or whatever you want to call it when she decided that wishing for her mangled ass love interest to come back without bothering to specify that, hey, maybe he should be put back together again was a good idea) was sudden and didn't have any actual reason to it. it was a childish, desperate move and the realization that she didn't want him without so much as seeing him first (or thinking to, perhaps, use the monkey's paw to fix his fucking busted up body instead of being so ungrateful and dragging this poor dude along for his entire life and then his death only to decide she was gonna have to pass) came a bit too quickly for my taste too.

i haven't read anything else by lauren myracle, and i have to say that i hope not everything she writes is so shallow and absolutely pointless. the writing itself in this story was decent, but i was so irritated by the characterization/"plot" that i didn't notice it too much, sorry.

these might get kind of out of order from here on but hey, hey -- i can't help the way i am, disorganized and nowhere near my copy of this so i can't just peek at the table of contents.

hell on earth by stephanie meyer ☆☆☆☆☆
nicely put, this was a contrived, mind-numbing 40 pages of time that i'll never get back. but that's not quite enough to say now, is it?

the first thing that i want to put out is a disclaimer that i actually do not mind stephanie meyer's writing. some of her passages were very, very aesthetically pleasing but the problem is that she only elaborates beautifully on things that... do not fucking matter in the slightest, such as the dress that a girl is wearing, or the color of the walls or anything at all other than legitimate personality and depth. the way that she describes things that actually matter is, more often than not, clunky and... for a lack of a better word, contrived. she delivers facts through unnaturally written dialogue that doesn't sound like a way that even the oldest of demons would actually speak, or she bumrushes and smashes them all into one thick, run-on sentence of a paragraph so she can carry on about the color of this angel's eyes or the dress this idiotic demon is wearing.

while i understand that the female lead of this story was a demon so she was supposed to be evil and overall unlikeable, did she have to be so fucking insufferable? and this trite about demons getting caught in an angel's web unless they're told to go to hell because oh my god true love oh my god is just... sickening.

this entire thing was fucking sickening. i wish i could unread it.

kiss and tell by michelle jaffe ☆☆☆☆☆
i want to give this a review but honestly i don't even remember it? all i do remember is a whiny main character who was drab and prudent but that was secretly a good thing and then this whiny little bitch of a side character who was kissing all of the boys all the time to show how.. . . .. . . ?? who the fuck knows. she just kissed everyone, and talked too much, and generally grated my last nerve. the main dude was annoying as shit too. the only upside to this stupid story (as i remember) is that it wasn't focused on romance so much as female friendship, or female circle quirks or whatever the fuck was going on. spare yourself.

madison avery & the dim reaper by kim harrison ★★★★☆
so if you've been wondering how the fuck this book wound up with three stars when i hated almost all of it, worry not, because i am about to tell you. this, this little gem that made all of my suffering worthwhile, or at least tolerable. madison annoyed the hell out of me on the first page, i will admit that, and she continued to do so for about the first ten and i was totally like wHAT ARE YOU DOING DON'T GET IN HIS CAR but then she learned for herself what being dumb and childish gets you so, you know, it worked itself out. and that was pleasing. the characters that she met were all intriguing in their own way, with each one leaving me curious and wanting to know more about them, and she actually managed to develop in this tiny little taste of her life that i was afforded and (especially given her company in this anthology) that was impressive to me.

i found myself upset partway through that this was going to end, that i wouldn't get to see what happened because the reapers concept is downright interesting to me. the ending was shaky at best but once i found out that this was the beginning to a series, it made perfect sense, and i cannot wait to read the rest of the series!! like i said before, it almost made up for the rest of this, and i would recommend picking this up (and quickly turning to this story and closing it right after you finish) based on this alone.