mleetm's review against another edition
4.0
I only read the Kim Harrison story this time around. Interesting. It's actually more of a prelude to the series. It's also stunted and heavy on the dark emotional trauma of ivy. Not sure how I feel about It. Glad I read it, but glad it was short.
ivy_skye's review
1.0
This book/novella gives more insight into Ivy and her relationship to Kisten and Piscary etc. This insight is about the only positive thing to say about this novella. Should i have read this novella first, i most certainly would have never picked up the series....It is boring, full of unnecessary long descriptions and very drawn out. My recommendation: if you have read one or two other books before and want some Ivy background, go ahead and read it, but be prepared for a boring day. If this is the first you read in the series, stay away until you have read some other books in the series.
bibliophilelinda's review against another edition
3.0
A compendium of short stories of the paranormal romance genre. Harrison's prequel to her Rachel Morgan series is, of course, fabulously written, but the rest were not as strong. Lynsay Sands' story, in particular, sucks, though I've never been a big fan of her simplistically weak and predictable writing style. Kelley Armstrongs' story was good, I really liked the aspect of a demon hybrid feeding off the chaos of others. And Lori Handelands' story was cute. Yet, I wouldn't recommend this book for fans of paranormal romance, except perhaps Harrisons story for fans of the Rachel Morgan series.
emitchellwrites's review against another edition
5.0
I am on a roll. Gem after gem. Book sales are the best! I usually hate shorts but these little 100 page stories are too perfect. New authors for me to look up now too.
bianca_horkan's review against another edition
3.0
Read for Ivy's back story only...and I kinda expected more.
rouver's review against another edition
2.0
I should have realized that I didn't like Kim Harrison enough to pick up a book that specifically said in the title it was going to be about dating (and thus 'romance'). Bleh. Don't bother getting this unless that's the genre you enjoy.
Harrison's story was ok. It was interesting to see a story from one of the other character's point of view...in this case, Ivy before she hooked up with Rachel (the main character in her series).
Sands was juvenile & poorly written. Sciency science!! makes a hot scientist! into a shapechanger. Oh, and the hunky nerdy science! guy (her best friends' brother) unbeknownst to her also got zapped. Dumb hijinks ensue...since it's the night of their HS reunion dance...they fall in love, blah blah blah.
Kelley Armstrong's had some potential. A half-demon that's been mislead into working for the bad guys until a werewolf she stalks & catches opens her eyes to her real situation. Intriguing enough for me to look her up & give her a try.
Lori Handeland somehow made a story about demon hunters & Satan unimaginative & boring. No thanks.
Harrison's story was ok. It was interesting to see a story from one of the other character's point of view...in this case, Ivy before she hooked up with Rachel (the main character in her series).
Sands was juvenile & poorly written. Sciency science!! makes a hot scientist! into a shapechanger. Oh, and the hunky nerdy science! guy (her best friends' brother) unbeknownst to her also got zapped. Dumb hijinks ensue...since it's the night of their HS reunion dance...they fall in love, blah blah blah.
Kelley Armstrong's had some potential. A half-demon that's been mislead into working for the bad guys until a werewolf she stalks & catches opens her eyes to her real situation. Intriguing enough for me to look her up & give her a try.
Lori Handeland somehow made a story about demon hunters & Satan unimaginative & boring. No thanks.
jswolf's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
bookfessional's review against another edition
3.0
Undead in the Garden of Good and Evil, The Hollows 2.5
3 stars
Ivy POV. Gives insight into her and Kisten's relationship that is continually hinted at in the books. AND this is the novella to read if you've ever been DYING to know what it was that made Art so damn mad. Heads-up, it was Ivy, not Kist that did it, so that explains her reaction after that whole mess came to light.
If you (like me) aren't a big Ivy fan, and are looking for a way to better understand her/like her more, this probably won't do it. At least it didn't for me. I just can't relate to her. Given how well Harrison consistently gives depth to her characters, I take full responsibility for this one. Ivy has lots of depth. I just have absolutely nothing in common with her. Oh well. There are plenty of other fabulous characters for me to love in The Hollows. And I do.
3 stars
Ivy POV. Gives insight into her and Kisten's relationship that is continually hinted at in the books. AND this is the novella to read if you've ever been DYING to know what it was that made Art
Spoiler
the vamp that Piscary gave Kist toIf you (like me) aren't a big Ivy fan, and are looking for a way to better understand her/like her more, this probably won't do it. At least it didn't for me. I just can't relate to her. Given how well Harrison consistently gives depth to her characters, I take full responsibility for this one. Ivy has lots of depth. I just have absolutely nothing in common with her. Oh well. There are plenty of other fabulous characters for me to love in The Hollows. And I do.
raven9949's review against another edition
2.0
I really didn't enjoy this book. The only part that I honestly enjoyed was the short story of Kim Harrison's but that was only because it gave more background into Ivy's character. Something that's quite nice since the main series is just focused on Rachel.
As far as "Dates" I think the only story that could possible count as a date in this book would be "Chaotic" and even then that wasn't really a traditional date...
Undead in the Garden of Good and Evil: Like I said I really enjoyed getting to head the back story on this situation. In the main series there was only slight mentioning of what really happened, and how Ivy got stuck with Rachel. The comic story picks up right after this followed by the main series. I really enjoyed getting a peek inside Ivy's character and seeing things from her point of view.
The Clair Switch Project: Gah! Absolutely hated this story. It seemed like the d-rated idea and conception of what you'd get from a disney show. Something I found really annoying was after the story goes to explain about how they've loved each other for so long, and how Kyle loved Claire even after she got her ability, it was sudden acceptable for him to change his dick length and size in the sex scene. It seemed so ridiculous to me, especially to think that Claire suddenly didn't care that he was being himself just because it would feel good. grrr The only part I did enjoy was the slight name spoof on Brad Pitt/Tom Cruise (even tho tom creaps me out.)
Chaotic: I enjoyed Chaotic but still didn't find it to be the number one story. As cool as it was to watch her get an explaination as to how she's been conned for so long, but otherwise I don't really see how any of this has to do with a date.
Dead Man Dating: Over all enjoyed the story, even though it wasn't really a date but more of a dealing with a creepy demon stalker. I found the idea rather dull. For someone that's supposedly spent his whole life killing demons it seemed annoying to me how he knew so little about the demon in this situation. His random stab in the dark as to which one might be as an ill-concieved idea of showing his knowledge and hunting prowess.... instead I found Chavez to be even less knowledable then the victim/main character.
I'm only keeping this book because of the story with Ivy otherwise I'd throw the whole book out.
As far as "Dates" I think the only story that could possible count as a date in this book would be "Chaotic" and even then that wasn't really a traditional date...
Undead in the Garden of Good and Evil: Like I said I really enjoyed getting to head the back story on this situation. In the main series there was only slight mentioning of what really happened, and how Ivy got stuck with Rachel. The comic story picks up right after this followed by the main series. I really enjoyed getting a peek inside Ivy's character and seeing things from her point of view.
The Clair Switch Project: Gah! Absolutely hated this story. It seemed like the d-rated idea and conception of what you'd get from a disney show. Something I found really annoying was after the story goes to explain about how they've loved each other for so long, and how Kyle loved Claire even after she got her ability, it was sudden acceptable for him to change his dick length and size in the sex scene. It seemed so ridiculous to me, especially to think that Claire suddenly didn't care that he was being himself just because it would feel good. grrr The only part I did enjoy was the slight name spoof on Brad Pitt/Tom Cruise (even tho tom creaps me out.)
Chaotic: I enjoyed Chaotic but still didn't find it to be the number one story. As cool as it was to watch her get an explaination as to how she's been conned for so long, but otherwise I don't really see how any of this has to do with a date.
Dead Man Dating: Over all enjoyed the story, even though it wasn't really a date but more of a dealing with a creepy demon stalker. I found the idea rather dull. For someone that's supposedly spent his whole life killing demons it seemed annoying to me how he knew so little about the demon in this situation. His random stab in the dark as to which one might be as an ill-concieved idea of showing his knowledge and hunting prowess.... instead I found Chavez to be even less knowledable then the victim/main character.
I'm only keeping this book because of the story with Ivy otherwise I'd throw the whole book out.
cinderrunner's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
This book is EXTREMELY of its time. Its a cheesy collection paranormal romances from the early 2000s. So its largely not good and a little problematic. Sands' story was mostly fine, just boring as far as paranormal romance goes. There were some issues in it with consent and power dynamics between genders (which is an issue in all but Armstrong's story). Harrison's story was not very engaging or likeable and again had those consent/power issues. Handeland's was by far the worst in terms of being problematic with literal mental and physical references to SA and that SA being a good portion of the "steamy" scenes. I believe the writer is white but she uses a hispanic man as a man chatacter (which extremely cliché generalizations supplying most of his characterization) and using other religions/culture to try to build the in story rules around demons but still managing to be incredibly Christian-centric. The story also comes across as VERY slut shamey and "not like other girls". Armstrong's story was the only one without any major problems or boundary issues. It also had the most engaging and well thought out plot. It felt like a complete story. The only reason the rating isnt 1 star is for Armstrong's story (I'd give it 4 stars on its own). This book is very much not worth spending money on and its an example of exactly why romance novels have such a bad reputation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Rape
Again, the entire plot of Lori Handeland's story in this collection would not exist without a demon trying to take away her consent and r*pe her. Please remember this before reading that story if you have a trigger for SA