The Green's Hill Novellas

Green's Hill #1-3

by Amy Lane

A Green's Hill Collection Companion to the Little Goddess Series Welcome to Green’s Hill, a small, secret collective of the fey, furry, and undead, existing unnoticed in the California foothills for over a hundred and fifty years. Whether your passion is exotic were-animals, angels, elves, or vampires, you can find them here—although things are changing on the hill. Bound by love and honor, Cory, Green, and Adrian work to give their followers a home—but they have no idea that the effects of their true love will spread like ripples in a pond. Be prepared for the unexpected, and ready for enchantment—you never know who will be awakened to the romantic possibilities of a vampire, a sorceress, or a pansexual elf who finds power in the force of love. This anthology Litha's Constant Whim It is on Litha that Whim meets Charlie, and their vows to return next Litha and finish what they started launch a thirteen-year tradition of celebration. 1st Edition published by Dreamspinner Press, June 2010. I Love You, Asshole! It's a good thing vampires live forever, because it might take Marcus that long to convince Phillip that gender lines are for the living. 1st Edition published by Dreamspinner Press, May 2011. Guarding the Vampire's Ghost An accident of divine politics has put Adrian, a twice-dead vampire, in heaven and under the care of angels Shepherd and Jefischa. 1st Edition published by Dreamspinner Press, October 2010.

Genres: Vampires, Fantasy, M M Romance, Paranormal Romance, Anthologies

220 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 14, 2016

About the author

Amy Lane dodges an EDJ, mothers four children, and writes the occasional book. She, her brood, and her beloved mate, Mack, live in a crumbling mortgage in Citrus Heights, California, which is riddled with spiders, cats, and more than its share of fancy and weirdness. Feel free to visit her at www.greenshill.com orwww.writerslane.blogspot.com, where she will ride the buzz of receiving your e-mail until her head swells and she can no longer leave the house.

Reviews

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

These three novellas ‘Litha’s Constant Whim’, ‘I Love You Asshole!’, and ‘Guarding the Vampire’s Ghost’ is how I came to the stunning world of the ‘Little Goddess’ series by Amy Lane. I started with these beautiful stories and I never looked back.

Litha’s Constant Whim
This was actually the very first of the Little Goddess series of books that I read. Obviously I loved it because I continued on and read the rest of the series. However, I am now finally writing a review!

This is the story of Whim, a young high sidhe, and Charlie, the boy he loved. It's a love story. An awakening. An exultant cry to the Goddess. A lesson. A life.

A love.

I Love You Asshole!
I adore the story of Marcus and Phillip. They were so wonderful in the glimpses I saw in the first two books and it was great to read their story.

For some odd reason it's Phillip whom I really fall for here. I mean you can't help but love Marcus. He's perfect. Or, almost perfect. Phillip is so very, very lost in emotional arenas that it’s like watching a little child try to understand calculus. Perhaps it's the very small glimpses of shyness and vulnerability that does it.

Regardless, I'm so happy that Ms. Lane gave these two men their own story. Makes me love Green's Hill and all of its inhabitants even more!

Guarding the Vampire’s Ghost
Whimsical. That's the word that comes to mind when I think of this story of Shepherd and Jefi. There's sadness too because of Adrian but there's learning and growing. There's laughter and love.

It's so beautiful to watch Shep and Jefi discover the joys of being human. It's heartbreaking to see Adrian… to watch him watching over his beloveds. There are definitely some Kleenex moments in this story.

Thank you, Amy Lane, for giving me this moment with Adrian. I miss him so.

[The Novel Approach · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve always really liked this universe, the friends-who-are-family tight-knittedness of it all. These 3 novellas are excellent additions to this world.

All three of these stories have a theme of waiting, or of love worth waiting for. All are poignant, sweet, and at times painful. This is Amy Lane we’re talking about here; she always makes us work for it. It’s also always worth the effort.

In the interest of full disclosure, I haven’t read past Wounded, Vol. 1 (aka book 2) of the main Green’s Hill series. My failure to finish has nothing to do with Ms. Lane’s fantastic world, characters, or writing skills, and everything to do with me. I have to be in the right head space for angst, and I just haven’t been every time I’ve tried to get through the main series. I’ve tried several times. I usually flirt with attempting it again every few months by reading a couple of the related stories, though to this point, these three hadn’t come my way. There weren’t any major spoilers for me in these novellas, so if you’re not through the whole main series, you should still be okay with these. It’s definitely entertaining to see the Green’s Hill characters through the eyes of other players.

I’m not going to go into each story individually. Suffice it to say, if you like Amy Lane, this series in general, or a bit of angst in your romance, these three shorts are for you. They’re sweet, at times funny, and full of that hurts-so-good feeling that you’re craving. In short, they’re lovely, and you should read them.

I will say, I found Guarding the Vampire’s Ghost to be the toughest of the three stories on the ol’ angst-o-meter. They all end happily, but the third one really only ends well for the two main characters. Without being too spoiler-tastic, Adrian (a character I LOVE from the main series) is, of course, right where he was when the story starts, and it is BRUTAL. I cried through this whole novella. I had a terrible headache…and then I restarted the Green’s Hill series again, and this time I’m determined to finish. I’m holding out hope that Ms. Lane is going to run us all through the wringer, but let us ALL (please, please, please) get that happy ending we so desperately want. I just can’t quit this series. *shakes fist at sky* AMY LANE!

So, there you go. Read the book. Read ALL the books. And if you’ve already read the main series don’t tell me what happens—unless you know that the happy ending I want isn’t going to happen, and then maybe you should warn me so I can prepare my heart and my poor stuffed up head for all the crying. Because seriously, I’m an angst-wimp.

Reviewed by Cassie for The Novel Approach Reviews

[Rachael Orman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Litha's Constant Whim - This was a sweet story about true love and how it can stand the test of time and what it is like to sacrifice love for life. There is a lot that goes on in this story for it being a short story, but I absolutely adored the two men and the way they came together to be there for each other as friends then lovers then friends once more.

I Love You Asshole! - I have to say that while I don't particularly care for the name of this story, I did like the story. I liked that we got to see that sometimes when you think your feelings are so clear, they might not be. The only way to know for sure someone knows how you feel is to tell them with words.

Guarding the Vampire's Ghost - I have to say that I think this was my favorite story of the set... well, maybe second to Litha's Constant Whim, but it was close. I loved that we got to see Adrian and Green together again. I loved that we got to see what it like for Adrian while his lovers continue living, but I also like seeing the two angels come to realize that they meant more to each other than friends and that sometimes it is worth falling to experience love and pleasure.

I received a free copy of this book to read for Inked Rainbow Reads in exchange for an honest review.

[Jaime]

In Review Queue
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(¸.•´ (¸.•`*Review Copy provided by Dreamspinner Press in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by Jaime from Alpha Book Club

[Tena · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you haven't been a visitor to Green's Hill, you are truly missing something. Something fierce, something poignant, something humorous, something sensual. There should be a disclaimer with any part of the series telling potential readers of the life changing, addictive contents within. Cory, Green, Bracken, and a cast of hundreds make up a world that will make you wish for pointy ears, a tail, or fangs just so you have a chance to move there. If you want to dip your toe in, these novellas may be the way to do it as these stories give more depth or a backstory to some of the main secondary characters. But be warned, just because they may be secondary characters, they are still pivotal and their stories are potent too. After reading them, you may have to go back to the beginning, to Vulnerable, just to see how it all starts. If you do, just surrender to it all right there at the beginning and live it all, through those pages; that way, no pointy ears, tails, or fangs are required.

[Soraya · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third story isn't my thing, but I loved the first two!

[Maggie]

pRdsp

[Sarina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5* Review written for Love Bytes Reviews.

I was first drawn to this book because the stories all sounded interesting but then found out after that, while not labeled as a part of it, this book is a companion piece to the Little Goddess Series. It isn’t necessary to have read that series before this as I found the stories were fairly self explanatory and the small bits that appear to be from the main series are reiterated when necessary here so that there is some context for the story. All in all, I enjoyed the stories; the world building was interesting and I really liked how all the paranormals blended together in a single community. If you’ve read the Little Goddess series or if you enjoy fantasy/paranormal books with a variety of character types, this would be a good book to check out.

Litha’s Constant Whim 3.5*

Overall I enjoyed this story; I thought it was a good introduction to the world building and you get a good look at several varieties of paranormals. Spanning almost 15 years, the story switches back and forth between Whim and Charlie as their relationship progresses and they spend their one day a year together each year. I liked the premise of the story; it was great getting to see both characters grow and change over the times they weren’t together. I didn’t feel connected to either of them until about half way through the story, however, but the last half was great and I was happy with it when I’d finished it.

I Love You Asshole! 4*

This was the longest story in the book and was also my favorite. Starting before some of the events that take place in the previous story, there’s a little bit of overlap and a more of an explanation as to what’s going on in Green’s Hill than what was explained by Whim previously. That was really appreciated and helps if you haven’t read the main series. I really liked the main characters in this one and while sometimes fractious, their relationship actually came off as the most genuine to me in the book. I really felt for Marcus and all the hiding he forced himself to do but the ending was well worth all the trouble and I was sad to see the story end.

Guarding the Vampire’s Ghost 3*

I hate to end a book this way but, honestly, I didn’t care for this story that much. The writing was good and I really liked getting to see Adrian again, but the story itself didn’t mesh for me in this universe in general. I could see the first two stories fitting together but this last one just felt like an unnecessary third wheel and I was really confused by its inclusion, to be honest. I liked the Angels and how they got more defined the closer to ‘falling’ that they became and how the entire process of falling was so different. Other than adding in a couple of the characters from Green’s Hill, however, this could’ve been just any random story. *shrugs* I didn’t enjoy this one the way I wanted to and the ending to the story and, as a result, the book as a whole was bittersweet and I didn’t come away with any happy feelings at all.

[Sandra]

Litha's Constant Whim - 2.5 stars I seem to be alone here in my lower rating. I rounded up to 2.5 because Ms. Lane always writes well, but I rounded down to 2 stars for several reasons.

The main reason being that there was far too much extraneous information. While I'm usually a fan of good world building, in a story like this all we really needed to know was that Whim was from "The Hill". The fact that it is a magical fae place that sorta lives parallel/inside of our world is fairly obvious and consistent with other fae stuff. We did not need to meet any of the myriad supernatural creatures that were mentioned (10 I can think of off the top of my head). None of it was relevant to Whim and Charlie's story and in fact it took away from their story.

It just didn't pull me in, and I kinda had to force myself to finish it. But now that I'm done I can say if it were half the length with all the extraneous characters edited out, I actually think I might have liked it. Whim and Charlie's story was sweet. I thought I would dislike the 10 year time span but it was actually nice to see them meet up every year and see where their lives had taken them.

While it ended up serving a moral purpose in the end give back what was given to you, do unto others, yada yada, my other main complaint was the addition of Daniel. It wasn't necessary to Whim and Charlie's story, it overcomplicated things, and I actually had ethical issues with it why couldn't Charlie just befriend Daniel? Starting a relationship with an unstable bipolar former student because they threatened suicide is insane and not actually helpful to the person. It's a lifelong disease that Daniel will always struggle with, so making yourself an important part of his life until he is "stable" so you can up and disappear to faerie land is not only stupid it's irresponsible and pretty cruel..

So all in all, not for me. Despite claiming to be a stand alone I think this story would have been better as an actual stand alone, it seems like the whole Green Hills series should be read as a companion series to the Little Goddess series.

I Love You, Asshole!

Guarding the Vampire's Ghost

Received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, reviewed for Hearts On Fire

[Carey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice to see these backstories.