Samantha Combs

Way Past Midnight is a decent collection of five short horror stories that are well written and executed, even if the subject matter isn't overly captivating. Author Samantha Combs has some YA titles under her belt, and perhaps the short stories in this anthology would be better received in that market.

Night Crawlers: The name of this short story doesn't really work, and while the concept would make for an interesting novel, but as a short story it ends just as it starts to really take off.

WifeBeGone.com: Feels like a rehash of Word Processor of the Gods, and the title gives away enough to ruin any potential tension or suspense the story might have had.

The Offering: Great setup and suspense, but part of a genre I don't personally care for, and the reveal doesn't make enough sense to end the story on.

Killer Shoes: Possibly the best story out of the bunch, would make a great Tales From the Crypt episode.

The Anglers: Great execution, but the entire setup doesn't make enough sense to be wholly plausible, which weakens the entire concept.

Not bad short stories overall, but there are not enough gems for just a five-story collection.… (mais)

I finished this book yesterday and Oh My God! This book was a masterpiece. Katherine Bone nailed it. It was wonderful being able to see the world through Thomas and Constance' eyes. As much as he loved her, I wonder if he would have came back for her if circumstances weren't what they were, though. It was such a realistic situation which is what made it such a great read for me. Everything was researched very well to work in a period romance. It was amazing watching Constance, young as she was, owning the situation and trying to make herself complete in the process.… (mais)

Beautiful cover and an interesting synopsis fooled me with this one, always judging a book by it's cover, not planning on changing that habit anytime soon, rarely steers me wrong except this time. I had a difficult time reading this book. The dialogue was way too young sounding for me. Sounds more appropriate for the 10-14 age range, doubt even most 16 year-old would connect with the writing. I felt like I was reading a script for Sabrina The Teenage Witch instead it would be called Twitch(Teenage Witch, I'm sure you figured that one out), that's what they actually call themselves.

As for the story itself: On the first day of school(I think) Logan ran into Serena and her sisters Elizabeth and Tabitha, by the schools office, he was immediately mesmerized by Serena who approached him to introduced herself and her sisters. On the first day they met Serena exposed herself as being different or possible weird to Logan by telling him where is mother's wedding ring is that she misplaced a while back, he accepted what she told him and didn't ask any questions. Serena's sister Elizabeth was her and Tabitha's guardian so I assumed that she is at least eighteen and since Elizabeth attends high school with her siblings she couldn't be much older than that. Her age didn't come up and the fact that there were no parents around didn't come up when I thought it would. I thought it was weird that no one was nosy enough to ask about their situation. Well, Logan did think about it for a millisecond but didn't verbally ask about it. Elizabeth was at first more like the strict aunt forbidding Serena to see Logan and then her fairy godmother by giving her blessing in the space of maybe a day or less for Serena to date him. It was kinda sitcomy when she said she could go to the dance with him and then basically said let me conjure you up some clothes and they were the perfect fit, and color. That entire scene was so sitcom.

The only thing I liked about this book was how unusually confident Serena is, she just went up to Logan and introduced herself and was flirting with him when they came into contact. For a PNR novel that was new for me. I really couldn't make myself like it but it would have been a funny sitcom.… (mais)