A Life in Hell

I am finally reading HOTTER THAN HELL, an anthology edited by the wonderful Kim Harrison. This anthology is part of a series of books by Harper that are also edited by Ms. Harrison. I loved DATES FROM HELL and HOLIDAYS ARE HELL, which were formatted in the traditional four-short-story set-up. I waited nearly a year for this one, and so far, it's living up to expectations.

I had heard a rumor that many of these stories were scorching hot - so hot the publisher sent them back for rewrites to tame them down. If this rumor is true, I am scared to know just how erotic the stories originally were!

HOTTER THAN HELL contains stories by some of the best paranormal minds in the business: Keri Arthur, L.A. Banks, Tanya Huff, Susan Sizemore and Carrie Vaughn, just to name some of my favorites.

So far, I have read about siren brothers, succubae and a minotaur. I am very curious to find out what other supernatural creatures will fill the rest of the pages. The stories are very sexy and well done.

I have very much enjoyed the HELL series of books. However, I do think the publishing houses are beating a dead horse with their titles. On top of Harper's HELL series, there is also Melissa Marr's YA anthology coming in out in November, LOVE IS HELL, with stories from Scott Westerfeld, among others. There is also the other YA anthology (which, incidentally, has an offering from Kim Harrison), PROM NIGHTS FROM HELL, which was wonderful and had Meg Cabot and Stephenie Meyer as some of the contributors.

Of course, while I do wish for a bit more variety in titles, I can say that I recommend all of the above books, even the one that has not come out yet. They have all been interesting and entertaining and have led me to other authors I might not have found otherwise.

Nicole