Vampires in Love: Stories with a Bite

by Rosalind M. Greenberg (Editor), C.T. Adams, Charles L. Grant

How do star-crossed lovers go on when one of them is not among the living? Can a winter-spring romance survive when the age difference is several thousand years? What's a girl to do when she discovers that her “hot” new date has a body temperature no warmer than a morgue slab?

These are just a few questions for you to ponder as you delve into Vampires in Love, an anthology of romance tales in which vampires lust for the living and show affections that cast the children of the night in an amorous light. The twenty stories and one poem collected here represent some of the most hot-blooded vampire fiction by today's top dark fantasists. Thrill to their passionate presentations of human and vampire lovers who transgress the boundaries of life and death to indulge desires that are both sensual and supernatural.

Genres: Vampires, Anthologies, Romance, Paranormal Romance, Paranormal, Fiction

440 pages, Hardcover

First published July 11, 2010

Reviews

[Cara · Rating 1 out of 5]

**Vampire Sestina by Neil Gaiman** 4 stars
A poem, I believe. I liked it. Different, but beautiful.

**The Master of the Rampling Gate by Anne Rice** 1 star
Wow, I never thought I'd give something written by Anne Rice 1 star, but I hated this piece. I felt no connection to Julie. The whole thing felt rushed and unrealistic (the Vampires aside), their connection. Julie afraid and them, magically, memorized and in love. Give me a break.

**Blood Gothic by Nancy Holder** 1 star
Wow. I may not have like Anne Rice's Rampling Gate, but I positively hated Blood Gothic. This chick (the MC not the author) is fucking psycho. I get the vampire allure, but only if there is love first. How can she say she loves the vampire when she's never met him. She's in love with the idea of being a vampire and the idea that he loves her is crazy. She'd be a perfect vampire because she's nuts. Attacking a child? I hope she gets staked.

**Twilight by Kelley Armstrong** 2 stars
Ok, so I'm not getting why this book is titled Vampires in Love. So far, there's been very little love and it's all been depressing and/or boring. I was hoping for romance, an affair at the very least. The authors that I'd been looking forward to the most (because I'd at least heard of them) have been major let-downs.
That said, this story was different. Vampires have to kill one person a year in order to live for another year. But they have a shelf life and Cass is nearing her end and has to force herself to feed or she's going to die.

**Do not Hasten to bid me Adieu by Norman Partridge** 3 stars
An interesting vampire story told from the point of view of Quincy. The old west definitely threw me for a loop before getting to Dracula and it all made sense.

**The Silver Collar by Gary Killworth** 2 stars
A silversmith falls in love with a woman who's about to marry a vampire. The collar is meant to protect until until she's convinced to remove it. She, in turn, decides to try to take a bite out of the silversmith who loves her, but he thwarts her by injecting himself with holy water.

**Finder's Keepers by L.A. Banks** 1 star
Got bored and lost interest. DNF

**Fireflies by Bradley H. Sinor** 1 star
DNF

**Dancing with the Star by Suzanne Sizemore** - didn't get to

I'm stopping here. Most of these are terrible stories. I'm done wasting my time reading them. I can see why Barnes and Nobles was selling the book at such a cheap price.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up at a book sale because I thought the title was funny and I love anthologies. Like most anthologies, there were stories I loved, stories I hated, and some that left no impact on me. What made it fun was reading so many different takes on a vampire romance. I would love to see this done again in a more diverse anthology, with more poems, maybe some comics, and with couples that aren't all cisgender and straight. It's such a fun concept that can be done so many different ways, I feel like more can be done.

[Susan]

Barnes & Noble bargain book with shorts from Neil Gaiman, Kelley Armstrong, CT Adams & Cathy Clamp, Charles de Lint, Rachel Caine, Dean Wesley Smith, Lilith Saintcrow, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Tanya Huff. Couldn't pass it up !

♦Vampire Sestina • (1989) • poem by Neil Gaiman
The Master of Rampling Gate • (1984) • novelette by Anne Rice
Blood Gothic • (1985) • shortstory by Nancy Holder
♦Twilight • [Women of the Otherworld Short Fiction] • (2007) • novelette by Kelley Armstrong
Do Not Hasten to Bid Me Adieu • (1994) • novelette by Norman Partridge
The Silver Collar • (1989) • shortstory by Garry Kilworth
Finders Keepers • (2008) • shortfiction by L. A. Banks
Fireflies • (2001) • shortstory by Bradley H. Sinor
Dancing with the Star • (2008) • shortstory by Susan Sizemore
Valentine from a Vampire • (1988) • shortfiction by Ed Gorman
♦Daniel • (2009) • shortfiction by C. T. Adams and Cathy Clamp
♦"There's No Such Thing" by Charles de Lint RE-read from Waifs & Strays July 29, 2015
Tumbling Down the Nighttime • (1995) • shortfiction by Dean Wesley Smith
Brother's Keeper • [Saint City • 0.5] • (2008) • novelette by Lilith Saintcrow
Love-Starved • (1979) • shortstory by Charles L. Grant
A Kiss at Midnight • (2001) • novelette by Russell Davis
The True Blood of Martyrs • (2006) • shortfiction by Rachel Caine
The Beautiful, The Damned • (1995) • shortfiction by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Vampire Hours • (2007) • novelette by Elaine Viets
♦Scleratus • [Henry Fitzroy] • (2003) • novelette by Tanya Huff
Eternity Embraced • [Demonica / Lords of Deliverance • 4.5] • (2009) • novelette by Larissa Ione

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an anthology of short stories with themes centered around, you guessed it, Vampires falling in love. The book was exclusive to Barnes and Noble. I have to say that all of the stories were very well written and each story was complete in its own right. I have read short stories in anthology novels that were part of larger series. Some of these stories can lack background content to the reader to make them understandable. This was not the case with this anthology. The few stories that were connected to larger series were sufficient in plot design.

If you haven't read other anthologies in the vampire or paranormal world, this is a nice choice. I personally have read several anthologies and this one contains at least 4 stories that are in other such copulations, which was rather disappointing for me. That finding a side, I enjoyed all the stories as pleasant tales of love, some more than others, and found this a pleasant read.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Twilight" by Kelley Armstrong is from her Otherworld series. This one is narrated by the vampire Cassandra. I previously read this short short in Many Bloody Returns.

"Eternity Embraced" by Larissa Ione is from her Demonic series 3.5. A Guardian Andrea Cole is faced with having to kill her lover, Kaden Quinn who was turned vampire.
**On Larissa's Website in free reads: Overkill has 2 more chapters for this story where Andrea and Kaden meet Tayla and Eidolon.
http://larissaione.com/blog/books/dem...

[Kaitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book. I love the subject. I just have a hard time with short stories. I always want to know more about the characters and the rest of the story. I do much better reading the full length books and series of stories, rather than little snippets of their lives.

[Mel Flowers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the short stories. I only skipped through one or two of them because they bored me in the first 3 or 4 pages. Other than that, great stories! I started this book thinking the tales would be cheezy, but they actually turned out to be very intriguing and held my attention for the most part!

[Siobhan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know what I was thinking reading this book

[Valeria · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good book, some of the stories were a tiny bit hard to follow but always made sense in the end :)