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The Bargain Nexus - Wolfsbane and Mistletoe
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List Price: $24.95
Our Price: $14.55
Your Save: $ 10.40 ( 42% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Ace Hardcover
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.0873808375
EAN: 9780441016334
ISBN: 0441016332
Label: Ace Hardcover
Manufacturer: Ace Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: 2008-10-07
Publisher: Ace Hardcover
Studio: Ace Hardcover
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Comment: If you want a good read that's enjoyable and humorous then buy this book, you won't regret it. I normally don't buy short stories but this one caught my eye and I really liked it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Nothing Says Christmas Like Lycanthropy
Comment: Give a bunch of talented and smart writers a seemingly impossible challenge - like write a terrific short story that combines werewolves and Christmas - and you're bound to get some interesting results.
That's the case here, with stories that range from mildly amusing to guffaw-inducing. My favorite is JA Konrath's wonderful SA. JA is the author of the well-known and well-loved Jack Daniel's series (including Dirty Martini) and his trademark humor and tension are in clear evidence in SA. The story is outlandish, outrageous and laugh-out-loud funny. JA combines such richly disparate elements that you'll wonder if someone hasn't thrown Stephen King and Dr. Seuss in a blender to write this story.
Wolfsbane and Mistletoe is great fun and a terrific antidote to the overly sweet stories that threaten to induce diabetes in the holiday season.
Scott Sherman, author, First You Fall: A Kevin Connor Mystery
Customer Rating:
Summary: Happy Hair Raising Howl-idays
Comment: A collection of Christmas tales with werewolves as central characters? Count me in. I'm a self-proclaimed Halloween freak. I look forward to it all year. But there's just something appealing about the idea of werewolves and Christmas stirred together. What's next from the clever editors though? They've done vampires and birthdays and now werewolves and Christmas... maybe witches and Valentine's or ghosts and graduations? Whatever Harris and Kelner come up with let's hope they can find authors with contributions as good as most of these turned out to be!
But let me break each short story down for you individually:
[GIFT WRAP] by Charlaine Harris, A Sookie Stackhouse tie-in this short story must take place pretty deep into the series. On the outs with her brother and just having met her great-grandfather she's spending her holiday alone until a hunky injured werewolf pops up on her property. Though rather short and a little anticlimatic it has a cute twist very suitable to Christmas surprises. (I'd also like to note that if you've not read the series and are currently watching True Blood it is a bit spoilery). 4/5 stars
[THE HAIRE OF THE BEAST] by Donna Andrews, When a brother's Christmas wish to become a werewolf gets his sister to translate a magical werewolf spell things get a little hairy. This one surprised me. I didn't really like it at first but I couldn't help but appreciate the hilarious ending. 4/5 stars
[LUCY, AT CHRISTMAS TIME] by Simon R. Green, A Nightside tale of love lost. Most likely the shortest in the book and actually one of my favorites. Highly romantic but tragic. 5/5 stars
[THE NIGHT THINGS CHANGED] by Dana Cameron, Claudia and Gerry are Fangborn, a vampire sister and a werewolf brother. It's their job to protect the world from bad guys but what if one of them turns out to be a fellow Fangborn? This story was okay but didn't really feel like a Christmas tale. It felt like it belonged in a full length novel. 3/5 stars
[THE WEREWOLF BEFORE CHRISTMAS] by Kat Richardson, Matt's been a bad little werewolf and eaten a certain red-nosed member of Santa's team. Where will Santa find a new guide for his sleigh on such short notice? This story has every great element I could have asked for and was the PERFECT story for this anthology. I LOVED it! 5/5 stars
[FRESH MEAT] by Alan Gordan, Sam Lehrmann trains guard dogs but this Christmas Eve he may need some guarding himself. This one will definitely appeal to dog lovers! It was an enjoyable short story that could have happened any time of year but was better for being set at the holiday. 4/5 stars
[IL EST NÉ] by Carrie Vaughn, A Kitty Norville story set before Kitty Takes a Holiday. Spending her Christmas at a Waffle House, Kitty meets a newly turned werewolf with no pack of his own and no idea how to control what he has become. This one really dissappointed me as a Kitty fan. It felt kind of forced and no one questioned she and David's odd behavior considering there was a murderer on the loose. 3/5 stars
[THE PERFECT GIFT] by Dana Stabenow, A family of murderers are brought to justice and a Christmas Eve born man fulfills a prophecy. This story had nothing to do with Christmas and was an overall dissappointment. 1/5 stars
[CHRISTMAS PAST] by Keri Arthur, A Christmas-time murder investigation brings exes back together. Just the sort of story the PNR fans are looking for, hunky hero, sassy heroine, sexual tension and a happy ending. 3/5 stars
[SA] by J. A. Konrath, Robert Weston Smith has been having... tummy trouble. Could his bowel troubles be explained by lycanthropy? And what does the Salvation Army have to do with it all? I don't think I've laughed so hard reading a werewolf story... ever! This definitely isn't for everyone, bring a very irreverent sense of humor and enjoy. 5/5 stars
[THE STAR OF DAVID] by Patricia Briggs, Can a father and daughter divided by his werewolf mistakes be brought together to save a young man's life and for a Christmas celebration? Is it so terrible of me to say that I liked this one better than Cry Wolf? I also loved the fact that Stella and her father were noted as not being caucasian which we just don't see often enough in urban fantasy! 4/5 stars
[YOU'D BETTER NOT PYOUT] by Nancy Pickard, Another Santa Claus tale with a wicked paranormal twist. Pretty funny and entertaining but hard to love after Richardson's better contribution. 3/5 stars
[ROGUE ELEMENTS] by Karen Chance, Set in the same realm as her Cassie Palmer and Dorina Basarab series, this holiday story centers around the Silver Circle and the werewolf clans. There wasn't a Christmas element to this one either really which was, yet again, problematic for me. I normally very much like Chance's work but this one didn't win me. 2/5 stars
[MILK AND COOKIES] by Rob Thurman, A story somewhat akin to the classic holiday film A Christmas Story. A big brother had to not only protect his sister from the school bully, but give her the perfect Christmas too. So cleverly crafted and subtle it was delicious, like my grandma's traditional "Snowball" cookies (Russian Tea Cakes) I devoured this one with childish delight. 5/5 stars
[KEEPING WATCH OVER HIS FLOCK] by Tony L. P. Kelner, Bringing Christmas back to its Christian roots this is a tale of a young werewolf and the family that has adopted him. When he breaks the rules and goes running in the woods he proves that perhaps the wolf is the most noble animal of all. This was absolutely touching and next to the melancholy offering from Simon R. Green it ended up being my favorite. 5/5 stars
Overall there were a few duds as far as my taste goes. When I bought the anthology I expected strong Christmas themes in them and was admittedly not happy to find that some were set around the holiday and didn't have a lot to do with it. But to anyone looking for a great holiday gift for a werewolf fan this IS perfect. And as an aside... there wasn't really any sex that I recall so it would be an appropriate read for even some teens. Now someone tell the editors I want a volume two for next Christmas!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fifteen Twisted and Funny Tails
Comment: My favourite urban fantasy anthology of 2007 was Many Bloody Returns featuring stories by a diversity of fabulous authors on a theme of `vampires and birthdays'. This year Harris and Kelner have followed it up with Wolfsbane and Mistletoe which includes stellar cast of writers on a theme of `werewolves and Christmas'. A surprisingly large number of dark tales are to be found (I know, I know--they're werewolves) considering the seasonal setting. Makes me rethink the pecking order of werewolves versus vampires.
Here is a brief look at the 15 howling Christmas tales.
"Gift Wrap" by Charlaine Harris
A short Sookie Stackhouse story that occurs after the events of the most recent novel. Sookie is spending Christmas alone until she finds an injured werewolf in the woods near her home. Nuturing Sookie just has to take action. Contains spoilers if you aren't up to date on the series. A feel-good story although I must say Sookie's relative is a piece of work despite his good intentions.
"The Haire of the Beast" by Donna Andrews
A humorous tale of revenge. A witch's brother wants to be a werewolf so she researches the spell but also concocts some magical Christmas brownies for her ex. A Lhasa Apso is involved. An amusing ending.
"Lucy, at Christmastime" by Simon R. Green
Simon Green is known for his Nightside series and here we have a werewolf in a Nightside bar reminiscing about Christmas pasts and his lost love. You can see the ending coming from a mile away, but it still brings a smile to you face anyway when you get there.
"The Night Things Changed" by Dana Cameron
This tidy little tale of a brother and sister team tracking down a serial killer. She's a vampire and he's a werewolf. In their world supernatural creatures are members of the Fangborn and are always the good guys until now when they learn the killer is one of them. Some nice ideas and suitable HEA.
"The Werewolf Before Christmas" by Kat Richardson
Perhaps my favourite of all the stories in the collection, Kat Richardson who writes the Greywalker series, turns out a very twisted tale. Matthias the werewolf finds himself at the North Pole and having just finished off eating Rudolf the Reindeer is corralled by St. Nick into being his replacement. Most definitely an alternate take on our Christmas traditions. The clever Matthias ends up with more then he bargained for.
"Fresh Meat" by Alan Gordon
Turns out that dogs aren't only mans best friend but a werewolf's best friend too. A smart, fun story where the dog and the girl save the day and the bad guys get their just desserts. Another one of my favourites.
"II Est Né" by Carrie Vaughn
A Kitty story set at Christmas just before Kitty Takes a Holiday. Kitty feeling alone and depressed meets a newly made werewolf in a Waffle House. The chance encounter leads them to catch a serial killer, brighten Kitty's outlook and save the sanity of the new werewolf. A nice `It's a Wonderful Life" style ending.
"The Perfect Gift" by Dana Stabenow
A confusing tale of two cops in Alaska tracking down serial killers (what's with all the serial killers?). She's a werewolf and he isn't. Or is he? My least favourite of the collection as I just couldn't figure this one out.
"Christmas Past" by Keri Arthur
The author of the Riley Jensen series brings us a Christmas romance story about two cops tracking a killer. He's a werewolf and she has psychic abilities. Ex lovers they find their new joint case brings them together again. Hottest story in the collection.
"SA" by Joe Konrath
Perhaps the most twisted tale in the anthology and outrageously absurd and funny. Forget everything you thought you knew about Santa Claus and his elves. Here is the straight scoop. The SA of the title refers to Shapeshifters Anonymous. Manages to include were-turtles, were-coral and even furries (don't ask). Tied as my favourite. I guess I have a sick sense of humour.
"The Star of David" by Patricia Briggs
A poignant story of Christmas reconciliation from the author of the Mercy Thompson stories. After many years, the estranged human daughter of a werewolf asks her father for assistance even though he killed her mother/his wife under tragic circumstances. Another favourite.
"You'd Better Not Pyout" by Nancy Pickard.
Another amusing twisted tale of two ex-soviet vampires (hence the `pyout') in Florida who figure out that Santa is a vampire and that his Christmas scam gets him an open invitation to homes which he later visits for snacking on more then milk and cookies. Wanting in on the action, they ultimately end up in Africa thwarted by a werewolf. Don't worry it all makes sense once you've read it.
"Rogue Elements" by Karen Chance
This is a fine police procedural mystery from the author of the Cassandra Palmer series. Set in the Las Vegas of the Palmer universe, it is a tale of werewolf pack politics and intrigue. Lia a member of the War Mage Corps is in denial about her were heritage.
"Milk and Cookies" by Rob Thurman
Rob Thurman of the Cal Leandros series offers up a deliciously bent story of what werewolf children really want under their Christmas tree. Loved this one.
"Keeping Watch Over His Flock" by Toni L. P. Kelner
Another poignant tale from editor Toni Kelner. Jake a young shapeshifter learns the true story of the nativity and the role of werewolves. He becomes a hero when he rescues a missing girl but needs to shapeshift into something unexpected to protect the secrets of the pack. Funny with a nice HEA.
There are more then enough great stories in this collection to recommend it, although it is not quite as strong as last years anthology.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good except for the Sookie Stackhouse story, which was very disappointing.
Comment: I enjoyed all the short stories except for the Sookie Stackhouse story, which was wholly against everything that Charlaine Harris had built in the 8 book series. What was the author thinking!!! She had spent time developing this savvy, cautious and moral woman, only to have her appear pathetic and easily hoodwinked in this short story. I hope it's not the death knell of the Southern Vampire series. It was a real letdown to see Sookie in this one. :( Let's hope future SVS books are not going to follow this trend.
All the other stories were from good to very good, but because I know a lot of readers may gravitate to the book for a Sookie story, I cannot possibly give it four stars. If I was rating it for just the Sookie component, this would get only one star.
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Editorial Reviews:
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The editors of Many Bloody Returns deliver the perfect howl-iday gift, with new tales from Patricia Briggs, Carrie Vaughn, and many more.
New York Times bestselling authors Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Keri Arthur, and Carrie Vaughn—along with eleven other masters of the genre—offer all-new stories on werewolves and the holidays, a fresh variation on the concept that worked so well with birthdays and vampires in Many Bloody Returns.
The holidays can bring out the beast in anyone. They are particularly hard for lycanthropes. Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner have harvested the scariest, funniest and saddest werewolf tales by an outstanding pack of authors, best read by the light of a full moon with a silver bullet close at hand.
Whether wolfing down a holiday feast (use your imagination) or craving some hair of the dog on New Year’s morning, the werewolves in these frighteningly original stories will surprise, delight, amuse, and scare the pants off readers who love a little wolfsbane with their mistletoe.
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