The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2 [Paperback]

Trisha Telep (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 22, 2009 | Series: The Mammoth Book

This exciting follow-up to the wildly successful Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance contains 30 short stories of hot blood, midnight pleasures, and inhuman passions. Containing the best names in the field, such as Eileen Wilks, Caitlin Kittredge, Jennifer Ashley, Dawn Cook, and Diane Whiteside, this compilation is sure to arouse attention.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Trisha Telep manages the world-famous Murder One online bookshop which specializes in American imports. She has edited the Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance, the Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance and contributed to The Mammoth Book of the Kama Sutra. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Running Press (September 22, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762437960
• ISBN-13: 978-0762437962
• Product Dimensions: 1.7 x 4.9 x 7.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #277,812 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 stars for variety - Lots of Little Bits Of Love With Just A Hint Of Fang September 21, 2009

By melindeeloo TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Editor Trisha Telep has done it again, she's used her connections - and apparently her cyberstalking talents - to amass another BIG batch of vampire quickies - 25 in all. If you are a short story fan looking for a whole bunch of little reads perfect for squeezing into even the busiest of schedules, this is the book for you. Unlike its predecessor The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance (Mammoth Books), not only are the majority of the stories presented here actually romances, but a good number of the authors successfully delivered tales complete with back story, hookup and at least the promise of a `happily-ever- after' in their small number of allotted pages.

Most of the stories here avoid the darker side of vamp romance but there are a few that shun the light. If you are an avid urban fantasy and paranormal romance fan like me, you'll recognize most of these authors, but even I discovered a few I hadn't read before. My favorites stories were the ones by Bacon-Smith, Stein, Trent and Aguirre. And though there didn't seem to be as many connected stories in this incarnation of the 'Mammoth Book' - quite a few of the authors seemed to be breaking into new territory - Ione's Demonica short was good too.

So here's just a few words each to give you an idea of what's lurking within MBofVR2's 556 pages.

1. Jordan Summers - "Paris After Dark" -- A NYPD cop broken by the loss of her partner, finds a new life in Paris after a run in with a vamp serial killer - While the heroine gets a resolution, I liked that Summers didn't try to force a HEA on the starring pair. She just delivered a romantic connection complete with hook-up and left the HEA to the readers imagination. (4 stars)

2.... Deborah Cooke - "Coven of Mercy" -- An oncologist who refuses to ever quit the fight, learns of mercy from an unusual `angel' - The hero had potential but his part of the story was too brief to make up for the fact that, although she was fairly well developed, I just didn't connect with the heroine. (3 -stars)

3. Karen MacInerney - "Le Cirque de la Nuit" -- A circus aerialist whose performance stirs a hidden watcher, wants to go solo in the spotlight, but is she willing to pay the cost of succumbing to the dark allure of Le Cirque de la Nuit? - Not a romance, even though there is a sensuality to the woman's performance, vampire fans who like their vamps with bite will appreciate the dark HEA. (3 stars)

4. Caitlin Kittredge - "Perdition" -- Doc Holiday is a vampire slayer in the old west - The romantic elements of the story are told in flash backs, but for some reason this one just didn't grab me. - (3 stars)

5. Dina James - "Deliver Us From Evil" -- A fake psychic eases a vampire's hunger - I was hoping for a continuation of Jame's story from the Mammoth Book of PNR, so that may have colored my reaction. (3 - stars)

6. Camille Bacon-Smith - "Blood and Thyme" -- The owner of vampire catering company, whose servers are also the hordeuvres, needs to find a chef when human food is required on the menu for a special event - I just really liked this one, mostly because I liked the starring pair. Even so, I would have loved for this story to have been novella length, so that I could have seen more interaction between the leads and I would have loved to have seen a bit more of their HEA, there is just the promise of it here - (4.5 stars)

7. Rosemary Laurey - "Into the Mist For Ever" -- A roman soldier/medic falls for a warrior woman on the brink of a battle between her people and his - connected to her `Forever' Vampires series, we finally get Gywlth and Justin's story ( 3.5 stars)

8. Patti O'shea - "Blood Feud" -- A vamp enforcer is teamed up with her old demon lover to stop a war between their races - I liked this one and wished there was more (4 stars)

9. Angie Fox - "Love Bites" -- After her 879 year marriage finally ends, a vamp princess looks for love on a dating game show, only the sexy bachelor she chooses has other plans for their dream date - this one was fun, and who can resist a hero in a kilt - no brogue though, boo hoo. (4 stars)

10. Caitlin R Kiernan -"Flotsam" -- A man heeds a monthly call to attend an ancient one as she rises from her watery resting place - this story was previously published as "Not One of Us". Keirnan's style is poetic, but not enough actually happens here to satisfy me (3 stars)

11. Jamie Leigh Hansen - "The Murder King's Woman" -- A Vampire's 'pet' pulls off a daring rescue - the rescue was really well done, and I liked the heroine's plan for getting what she really wants. I'd read more vamps stories by Hansen, if she decides to write more. (4 stars)

12. Carole Nelson Douglas - "Butterfly Kiss" -- When tomcat Midnight Louie stumbles on a vampire at the edge of true death, Louie needs to call in someone with hands, and he knows just the someone - fellow PI Delilah. - This short brings Douglas' Delilah Street and Midnight Louie series together, the cat's eye view initially put me off of this one but story turned out to be cute and humorous. Though whereas I might checkout the Delilah books, this was more than enough of Louie here for me. (3.5 stars)

13. Diane Whiteside - "Crimson Kisses" connected to her Texas vampire series -- A young woman arranges to run off with her vamp lover, little realizing that the meeting place she has chosen will force her lover to violate a powerful vamps territory - if you are used to Whitside's Texas vamps, you are going to find this one very tame (3.5 stars)

14. Jaye Wells -"Vampsploitation" -- Sabina is on first assignment as an assassin - This is a prequel to Red-Headed Stepchild, and sets Sabina on her solitary path (3 stars)

15. Stacia Kane - "Trust Me" -- A woman becomes mistress to a mysterious man whom she suspects of being Jack the Ripper - this story fit the space and managed some steamy stuff along the way (4 - stars)

16. Jennifer Ashley - "The Scotsman and the Vamp" -- A vampiress leaves behind her betrothed to become a silent film star - I liked the flapper filmstar idea but the romance was just sort of generic (3 - stars)

17. Justine Musk - "I need More You" -- A vampire suffers from the continual abandonment of her angel lover but can't resist when he calls her to him once more - I read this one twice, mostly because I hit this part of the book when I was really tired and it required more careful reading than many of the others stories in the book. The story here is layered under the texture of the setting and there was much that I missed the first time through and I did actually end up liking it (4 stars)

18. Jennifer St Giles -"Point of No Return" -- He has watched from the shadows and fallen in love from afar with the woman who is equally smitten with the statue which bears his likeness. - There was much that I liked about this story, but I would have liked to have seen what St Giles would have done with this in novella length and more space to develop the leads and establish their connection a bit more gradually (3.5 stars)

19. Dawn Cook (aka Kim Harrison) -- "With Friends Like These" -- Hey what are friends for if not to help you with those pesky relatives? - This was not at all a romance, instead it features a vamp and his roomie bud, (3 stars)

20. Nancy Holder - "Blood Gothic" reprinted story -- A teacher dreams of a vampire lover who will offer her eternity - Not only is this reprinted but this is second anthology containing this story in the last month or so (By Blood we Live) - Is the vamp real or not? I didn't find this one engaging or like the ending when I read it in either of the anthologies - (2 stars)

21. Larissa Ione - "Eternity Embraced" - a Demonica short -- An Aegis vampire hunter embarks on a rescue mission knowing that, since vamps tend to 'turn' captured hunters, `saving' her partner/lover from a fate worse than death will likely require a stake - I really like Ione's series and this was a nice little tidbit not connected to the main series arc. This short works because of the already established connection between the leads and the fact that Ione doesn't try to force the ending which leaves the reader with the promise of more than could be delivered in this short space. (4 stars)

22. Jeanne C Stein - "The Ghost of Leadville" -- A vamp remembers the one that got away - this is the second Doc Holiday story in the collection but it was my favorite of the two and one of my favorites in the anthology. This is a short story that really works, Stein told the complete story effectively and even brought a few tears to my eyes ( 4.5 stars)

23. Tiffany Trent - "The Vampire, the Witch and the Yenko" -- Disguised as a mechanic, a witch who is undercover on a mission to take out a Mafioso magic theif who drains witches of their power, crosses paths with a male vamp who is being stalked by a female vamp in heat determined not to take no for an answer. But even though the witch's cover is blown, she just may have the solution to both of their problems - This is my first story by Trent but I thought story worked pretty well as a short, but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't have liked more. (4.5 stars)

24. Ann Aguirre - "Circle Unbroken" - Fascinated with her prey, a vampiress gets caught in her own trap - A slightly different take on vamps from Aquirre who manages to deliver a story and a romance that feels complete. (5 stars)

25. Devon Monk - "Skein of Sunlight" - A `yarn' about a cancer survivor and her chance to make new memories - I like Monk's writing and the hero and the attraction between the starring pair made this one work for me - (4 stars)

(2 stars - didn't like it ; 3 stars = ok; 3.5 = pretty good; 4 = liked it; 4.5 = really liked it; 5 stars = loved it) Read more ›

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Waste of money November 14, 2010

By Netta

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I like vampire and paranormal stories and usually enjoy short stories, but this book was full of chopped up stories that seemed to be lead ins for the authors own separate books. There was not one story that I felt was completed, You know what I mean, a story with a beginning, middle and satisfying ending. If I had known what this was I wouldn't have wasted my money on it and really wish I hadn't.

4.0 out of 5 stars most of the stories were good April 7, 2013

By Dawn S

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

There were a few stories that were very short and really not a story, more like a bizarre dream-like state of someone's mind... strange and not my thing. There were however quite a few well written, entertaining stories that make up for those few. I like that some showed the evil side and some were romantic, and still others covered the consequences, the price for becoming an immortal vamp, showing different sides to the vampire, not just the sexy, lonely vamp looking for eternal love crap. Overall, it was a good book and even after reading it, I would still have bought it for the entertainment value.

5.0 out of 5 stars Vampire YUMMY April 3, 2013

By Richelle M. Soto

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I read this one and the first one. Both were equally as good. If I don't get into the book within the first 5 pages I can't finish it. Just not interested, but this did not happen here. It was GREAT.

4.0 out of 5 stars I Love the Neck Biters June 18, 2011

By Kathryn Hughett

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought this book because one of my favorite authors had a story in it but I thoroughly enjoyed reading almost all (except two) of the other stories in it as well. I even found some authors whose work I would like to read more of. This book is everything the title says it is.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2 November 1, 2009

By C. Campbell

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I read the first Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance and Parnormal Romance. Loved both of them, when the Vampire Romance 2 came out I figured it would be the same level as the previous two. I was somewhat disapointed in several of the stories. In a short story book I rate each story with a Bad, Soso, Ok or Great. This anathology had fewer greats than the previous ones. I am glad I purchased it due to Carole Nelson Douglas's of Midnight Louie series entry and Larissa Ione of a Gaurdian series. There are several other authors that were great reads but not part of any series that I am reading or know of at this time. This is a good airplane travel book, but so is the series of The Mammoth Book Collection.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Just okay January 15, 2011

By manekochan

Format:Kindle Edition

I picked up this book at a local store for only $4 and didn't read it for quite some time.
When I finally picked it up, I was impressed with a lot of the writing and was going to make note of some to the authors so I could read other things from them, but as I moved through the stories, they lost their luster. Many of the authors whose styles I enjoyed left me flat with their abrupt endings and the ones whose styles I didn't enjoy... well... they were in trouble from the beginning.
There were a few stories of interest in here, but nothing really weighty, nothing that made me sit up and take notice. This is a fun little book to waste time on, but it is just that. You won't be ruminating on anything in here once you're done with it and, as I was saying, even the authors whose words were fun to read and interesting usually lost it by the last 2 pages. I may still seek some of them out to see if they can hold things together better in a larger amount of pages, but, that's about all this collection was good for-- an introduction to new (to me) writers.
I'm giving this one 3 stars because there a few gems in here but the bad far outweighs the good in this one.