Book Review: One Crazy Night

One Crazy Night, an anthology by Nightshade Reads

Eight paranormal, fantasy, and urban fantasy authors have put their heads together and come up with this anthology of stories on the theme of how lives and even worlds can change in a single crazy night. Some of the stories are standalones; others are more like prologues or teasers for the authors' longer works, but all are exciting and enjoyable. They range from the lighthearted YA humor of "Love Magic" by Louise Nicks, where two teenage sisters wreak havoc on a high school dance with an ill-made love spell, to the reflective "The Recruit," by Sara Furlong Burr, in which an alcoholic firefighter, broken by his brother's death, tries to find the wherewithal to move on and do something about it, to the horror of "Bellona," Aoife Marie Sheridan's look at the backstory of the villainess from her Saskia trilogy. And lots of other great stories - the undersea paranormal "Elements" by M.H. Soars; the poignant dystopian paranormal "The Keymaker" by Teshelle Combs; frightening YA nightmare "The Lady in Black" by R. Holland; Emma Faragher's chilling legend "Necromancer Lineage"; and Sharon Stevenson's engaging and slightly creepy urban fantasy "Reanimator." (Though the anthology contains some YA selections, some graphic violence and horror content and minimally graphic sexual content makes it more suitable for older teens and adults.)

A highly recommended sampling of some fresh and exciting new voices in these genres - and the proceeds go to a very worthy cause, leukemia and lymphoma research. Definitely worth reading!

Find out more about the authors of Nightshade Reads and this anthology in this post.

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