Just Finished Reading: Dates from Hell by Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, Kelly Armstrong & Lori Handeland

This was a small collection of four urban fantasy novellas around a common theme – that of dating. Although not exactly my normal reading – except for the urban fantasy part – I thought I’d give it a try. Unfortunately it really wasn’t really worth the effort. The first novella Undead in the Garden of Good and Evil by Kim Harrison revolved around the sexual politics of vampires – rather strangely split into the living, dead and undead varieties – with which they manipulated each other to get ahead in various organisations. It had its moments and the characterisation was OK but that’s about as far as it went. The next novella The Claire Switch Project by Lynsay Sands was just plain bad and I do mean bad. The story – such as it was – started in a lab where a group of scientists were working on a way to transmute living tissue. When a woman scientist – the eponymous Claire – is exposed to the changing rays she finds that she can assume the likeness of anyone she sees. Taking advantage of the fact her best friend proposes that Claire become her ‘date’ at her High school reunion – but as a world famous movie star. You can imagine the rest. Third was by far the best of the bunch Chaotic by Kelly Armstrong. Here a part demon reporter hunts down criminal supernaturals on behalf of the ruling Council. However, on her latest mission she discovers that she’s really working for an evil cabal and the man (actually a werewolf) she’s just caught isn’t as bad as she thinks he is. Finally we have Dead man Dating by Lori Handeland which was a post 9/11 tale of demons and the end of the world. Again a rather poorly told story with cut-out characters and little attention to plot.

Finally a warning for those amongst you who are a little faint hearted. This book does contain quite a lot of sexual content so beware – or enjoy! Other than that I recommend you avoid this particular book.