Book: Love Is Hell

Publishing Info: Published by HarperTeen; 263 pages in paperback

Love Is Hell is an anthology that contains short stories from 5 YA authors.  Melissa Marr, Scott Westerfeld, Justine Larbalestier, Gabrielle Zevin and Laurie Faria Stolarz all contribute to this anthology.

The first story is Sleeping With The Spirit by Laurie Faria Stolarz.  It’s about a girl who’s in love with a ghost who visits her in her dreams.  I thought it was just okay, but didn’t stand out.

Next up is Stupid Perfect World by Scott Westerfield.  For their final projects, students must select a long-forgotten ill and live it for 2 weeks.  I loved the world-building, and I wanted it to be longer just so I could learn more about a world where sleep doesn’t exist and people can teleport to Mars in a manner of minutes.  This is my favorite of the 5 stories.

Thinner Than Water by Justine Larbaleister is the 3rd story.  In this story, a girl is raised in a tourist town that reenacts life in Medieval Europe.  Her parents take a little too far, and she has to quit school at 16, as well as be married by 16 or 17 and have her first child at 18.  She falls in love with a fairy, he is killed by the village, but ends up returning.  It was just okay, and it’s one of my least favorites.

Fan Fictions by Gabrielle Zevin is the 4th story.  It’s about a girl who falls in love with a vampire…and it turns out that he’s not real, because he’s a character in a book that was recommended to her.  It’s definitely the weakest one in the bunch, and a really strange story…in a bad way.  It did remind me of Twilight, in the sense that I can see some fans falling in love with Edward and Jacob.

The last story is Love Struck by Melissa Marr.  It’s about a girl who falls in love with a selkie, but she feels trapped so he gets his other-skin back.  But in the end, they end up together.  It was just okay, although it was an interesting premise.  I could see this as a full-length novel.

Overall, it was okay.  A couple of the stories were interesting, but I think the only reason why I kept reading was the fact that it was 5 separate stories.

I give it a 2 out of 5.  It was somewhat disappointing, and nothing spectacular.