Enthralled

Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions
Edited by Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong

A journey may take hundreds of miles, or it may cover the distance between duty and desire.

Sixteen of today’s hottest writers of paranormal tales weave stories on a common theme of journeying. Authors such as Kelley Armstrong, Rachel Caine, and Melissa Marr return to the beloved worlds of their bestselling series, while others, like Claudia Gray, Kami Garcia, and Margaret Stohl, create new landscapes and characters. But whether they’re writing about vampires, faeries, angels, or other magical beings, each author explores the strength and resilience of the human heart.

Suspenseful, funny, or romantic, the stories in Enthralled will leave you moved. (description from Amazon.com)

This was a great collection of paranormal short stories. Each story was strong on its own. Some are connected to the "world" that that particular author is famous for (Melissa Marr, Kelley Armstrong, etc.) and some were in whole new settings (Jessica Verday). They ran the gamut from short and sweet, to dark and heartwrenching.

My favorites were:

Skin Contact by Kimberly Derting - Rafe is a boy who sometimes sees reality in his dreams. Today, he's seen something that he can only hope will not come to pass...but his greatest fear is that he's already too late.
*This one made me cry and I immediately tweeted KD to let her know how good it was! Gut-wrenchingly emotional.

At the Late Night, Double Feature, Picture Show by Jessica Verday - Jane's family hunts the things that go bump in the night. When she decides to take on a pack of cannibal girl scouts on her own, though, everything that possibly could go wrong does...
*Definitely my favorite of the whole book. I mean, how could you not love the idea of cannibalistic girl scouts?? Not to mention de-fanged vampires and a weird tie-in to the Rocky Horror Picture Show! This one's been rolling around in the back of my brain for days...I can't let it go!

IV League by Margaret Stohl - Wren is a Drinker. She and some of the other Drinkers from her town are heading up North to check out colleges...and the potential Breathers they may be able to feed on during their college years!
*This was an intriguing new look at vampires. I liked the writing style a lot. I'm curious to see if Margaret Stohl's books may delve more deeply into this world in the future...

Overall, I really recommend this collection to anyone who skews like me to the paranormal in their reading tastes. If so, this is a veritable smorgasbord of fantastic little stories!