The most recent offering in the "... From Hell" series of paranormal romance anthologies reminds me a lot of P.N. Elrod's "My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding", only in this case, the offerings are four novellas. I'm a sucker for anthologies, since it's like getting a mini-library in one volume, though they often tend to be mixed bags of good and okay stories.

The book starts off on a bang, with Maggie Shayne's "Till Death", in which the heroine of Scottish descent must find a way to break a curse cast on the brides of her clan and save both herself and the man she loves from being the next victims. Wonderfully evocative writing and the heroine is a strong but considerate young lady who values family and seeks its healing for the sake of her kin above all.

The second selection, Jeaniene Frost's "Happily Never After" is my favorite of the lot: on the eve of her unwelcome wedding to a wannabe Mob boss, the unwilling bride finds help from a vampire friend of her plucky Italian grandma. The story deliberately sends up the tropes of Mob literature; it made me giggle out loud in not a few places!

Terri Garey's "Ghouls Night Out" brings us a heroine I'd love to see more of: Nicki Styx (great name!) gets roped into filling in for a missing bridesmaid at her cousin's wedding, but when she gets fitted for the gown that needs a gal in it, she finds herself face to face with the desperate ghost of the former wearer. The story reads a little like a "Ghost Whisperer" fanfiction with the serial numbers carefully filed off, but I'm a big fan of "Ghost Whisperer" and of fanfiction.

The last offering, Kathryn Smith's "The Wedding Knight" features a Victorian vampiric Templar Knight who steps in to prevent the marriage of his ladylove to a craven Knight of a rival order. Of the four stories, this one is the weakest: the dialogue was too modern for its setting (even a headstrong Victorian woman wouldn't have used the term "knocking boots") and the story could have been tightened if one of the love scenes had been edited out.

All in all, this is a fun, airy collection of tales: and isn't the perfect wedding supposed to be delightful and decorous?

Although I usually love these authors this is not really an outstanding anthology. The stories are bland and the first one by Maggie Shayne did not set a very warm example. It is readable if you have nothing else.

Maggie Shayne gives us a curse, placed by an ancestor whose husband was caught with a maid. It was mildly interesting, as soon as she met the lawyer, you knew they would get togather. There was no mystery but there is a twist when the curse is lifted. A so-so story.

Jeaniene Frost gives us a woman forced to marry a mobster to save her brother. However, her grandma calls in a favor from an old love who is undead.

Terri Garey gives us a short Nicky Styx story. It was OK. Nicky winds up a bride's maid for her cousin. The missing bridesmaid turns up as a ghost and talks to Nicky.

Kathryn Smith gives us a story about a Vampire created by the Templars. The woman he loves, and has been trying to forget is getting married.

Each story is OK but none are great.

I picked this up because I had recently read Terri Garey's DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY and really like her Nikki Styx character and also because I used to be a big fan of Maggie Shayne's "Wings In the Night" books. I hadn't read Jeaniene Frost or even heard of Kathryn Smith. It ended up being a 50-50 split on how good it was. I thought the Maggie Shayne story was by far the worst. It was so saccharine sweet I was afraid I might barf by the time I got to the end of it! I love her old stuff, this just wasn't up to that standard, IMHO. I wasn't terribly fond of Kathryn Smith's story, but then I'm not a fan of stories that take place in that time period anyway. Terri Garey's story was my favorite. Nikki's been roped into her cousin's wedding and has to deal with the ghost of a dead bridesmaid. I really like this character! And I enjoyed Jeaniene Frost's story so much, I ordered her 2 books. Not a bad way to pass a Saturday afternoon, and if you get lucky enough for half the stories in an anthology like this to be good that's not a bad deal!

Got the book, read it--I so wish Maggie had tied her story to the Witch series--the fact that it had a witch in it was misleading!
Loved Kathryn Smith's "Blood Grail Vampire Payne---her story was fantastic.
A new author to me--one I plan to check out soon is Jeannie Frost---the story was very good--I liked it as much as Kathryn's Smith's story
And another author, Terri Garey, who I never heard of before really entertained me with her wit.....

[Till Death by Maggie Shayne] 3.5 stars

My disappointment came in I think because I was wanting this to be another leg to her Witch series--BUT IT WAS NOT--and I almost wish it had been Vampire---It was good, however!

[Happily Never After by Jeaniene Frost] 5 stars

[Ghouls Night Out by Terri Garey] 3.5 stars

[The Wedding Knight by Kathryn Smith] 5 stars

Overall this was a really enjoyable anthology. I gain interest in a two new authors. I love it that Kathryn Smith's tied in whith her Blood Grail Vampires. Maggie Shayne's story is 9has to be) stand alone--nothing connected with her witch series--and truly far from her Vampire series--no mystery or suspense either. Just a romance-- done in Maggie style.

Four new short stories all revolving loosely around a 'wedding' theme from some hot paranormal authors: some old (long established) some new - now all we need is something borrowed and something blue and we're set to go.

Maggie Shayne's story centers around an ancient Scottish family curse - their spouses' infidelity is deadly for the MacLellan brides. Shayne's a long time favorite of mine (love her vamps) but while the premise and the chemistry between the leads was good, the lightspeed dating was just a bit too fast to be satisfying. There were hints of reincarnation or soul mates but not tied together well enough to make the story really work for me. (3 stars)

Jeaniene Frost's contribution is set in the world of her Night Huntress series and has several brief pop-ins by that series' hero Bones. But the hero vampire Chance is an almost as luscious. As a favor to his sire (Bones), Chance steps in to save the lovely Isabella from a coerced marriage to a would-be B-movie type mafia boss and Chance finds himself attracted to her with an intensity he's never felt before in his very long life. Isabella and Chance are every bit as good as Bones and Cat, Frost does great heroes and competent intelligent heroines well. This was fun but trying to pull Bones in felt forced and a bit hokey to me. (3.5 stars)

Kathryn Smith's entry gives us a vampire romance which is spin off from her regency era Templar series, Brotherhood of the Blood. Smith did a good job with her commitment phobic immortal and the forthright young woman who is deterimined to convince him that living in fear of love is really not living at all. Smith fit alot of steamy stuff into her short space, but this one lost some points for me for a crude word or two. I hate the 'P'word - my problem I know, but it really pulled me out of the scene and since this was a short story there wasn't really time to get back into it. (3.5 stars)

My favorite of the four, terri Garey gives us a little vignette with her series' heroine ghostwhisperer Nicki Styx. Here Nicki's a last minute fill-in for her cousin's wedding - someone has to wear the bridesmaids' dress from hell and Nicki's 'it'. If the banana yellow Carmen Miranda dress isn't bad enough, Nicki ends up having to deal with the ghost of the dead bridesmaid. This one wasn't a romance, even though Nicki's boyfriend is on hand to provide some sweet talking and moral support. Garey's first Nicki Styx book is sitting in my TBR pile, but this story was a well done standalone so that I still enjoyed it even with no knowledge of the series. For you fans, I am sure that it would be even more fun. (4.5 stars)

If you enjoyed these shorts, you'll definitely want to check out the authors' full length novels -- which are even better. Here's a few to get you started.

Jeaniene Frost
Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 1)
One Foot in the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 2)

Kathryn Smith (Brotherhood of the Blood - Templar vampires)
Be Mine Tonight (The Brotherhood of Blood, Book 1)
Night of the Huntress (The Brotherhood of Blood, Book 2)
Taken by the Night (The Brotherhood of Blood, Book 3)
Let the Night Begin (The Brotherhood of Blood, Book 4)

Terri Garey
Dead Girls Are Easy (Nicki Styx, Book 1)
A Match Made in Hell

Maggie Shayne
Immortal Desire
Eternal Love (Berkley Sensation)
Demon's Kiss (Wings in the Night, Book 1)