Eternal Spring: A Young Adult Short Story Collection

This anthology of thirteen short stories will be a sure winner for lovers of YA romance. I certainly wish I could rate the individual stories for there were 2 Star doozies. Nearly every story offers an enchanting view of teenage budding romance or a teen facing a paranormal event.Camp Cauldron -- This one reminded me slightly of the Perry Jackson series intertwined with Harry Potter and the typical fall-in-love at summer camp story. The tone of writing is from a teen's perspective so be prepared for slang and pop culture references. I did appreciate the gradual falling in love piece to the story instead of instant ga-ga angsty daydreams.Barre Hopping -- The story didn't offer me enough to feel anything toward the ballerina's "not-quite-boyfriend" so it lacked the suspenseful emotion of fearing toward the ballerina, her rival, or boyfriend. And the Midnight references were very tongue-in-cheek to being that story's Twilight. I likely would pass reading more about this character.The Vanishing Spring -- This one was cute. I did appreciate the writer using that era's tone. For example, Eleanor was raised on a farm and her tone of speaking was PERFECT for that timeframe. It endeared me to the character and later when she's in the modern world. This is a simple n' quick story.The Princess of Egypt Must Die -- This story is absolutely refreshing after reading the first three. Ms. Dray doesn't result to modern euphenisms or teenage slang; she does not dumb down her writing for a teenage audience. The morale of the story is an inspiration for a young female on the verge of adulthood, of learning when to shed the past to embrace a stronger future. I give this story along 5 stars and HOPE Ms. Dray chooses to write another young adult fiction.Spring Perfection -- This one reminded me of the classic boy-girl friendship which gradually turns to love. The story is from the boy's perspective and I adored watching how he figured out what his friend that's a girl means to him. And the ending made me grin from ear to ear.Picture Not Perfect -- Who wouldn't love this story about a guy working at an ice cream joint solely to earn enough cash to take his girlfriend to prom? I see this as a modern fairytale that offers a wonderful morale of the story. Some may see it as unbelievable but I believe good karma comes in full circle.Potionate Love -- Eh. Eh. Well, alright. This story wasn't bad but it was obnoxiously predictable! If you've read any story about love potions, you'll know what happens. It wasn't badly written. I did have images of Ducky's Pretty in Pink in regards to a male character so the story did make me smile and giggle. It served well as a distraction from a tough work day.1:30, Tour Eiffel -- Pieces of this story were annoying and a tad unbelievable but it does teach a very good lesson. A DIFFICULT one especially since the main character faces a dilemma of standing by her friend or letting her go. I wasn't too certain of the love interest becoming so quickly involved with the main girl character but hey, the ending was very sweet.Off Balance -- This is the story I couldn't get into. I thought I was reading a modern Harlequinn without the sex scenes. I understand why it was inserted amongst the rest as it WAS a very gritty storyline. I simply wasn't into it. Different strokes for different folks, I say.On a Field, Sable -- The unicorn killer story threw me for a loop. After an endless amount of stories about young love, suddenly I'm faced up against an unicorn out to kill the main character. Whooooa. Maybe I might have fallen more for this story IF I had read the other books in this series, but honestly, I hadn't so I was left with wide eyes and confusion.The Language of Flowers -- If you want to skip to an extremely sweet, sighrific story, go STRAIGHT HERE! I think I fell for this story simply due to my personal experience of giving my very first crush a flower and his sister was my good friend. I cannot say more without spoiling the story but SIIGHHH HAPPY!Dating After Dark (With Clowns) -- I think this series has the potential of being the Dresden Files teenage version. The main character is an exortist who isn't entirely pure gold and noble. I love that he's slightly flawed and may very well peek at the next books to see what happens to Mr. Butcher.Sometime -- The moment I figured dragons came into play, I had to giggle and remember the dragon series by Ms. Katie MacAlister. There wasn't enough lore revealed to understand how dragons play into this storyline but I am curious enough to see what the next book turns out. The difference I find with this story is the ancient Sumer language/culture and timetravel.

At the price (free!), this anthology is worth picking up, even if only for the stories by Dray, Peterfreund, Brice, and DuBois."Barre Hopping at Midnight" by Amanda Brice: Well-written and cute, this tale would appeal to readers looking for a breezy YA with dancing protagonists."The Princess of Egypt Must Die" by Stephanie Dray: In this -- the strongest and most complete story in the collection -- historical fiction writer Dray tells a tragic love story that paints a vivid portrait of a relatively unknown Egyptian royal. The sophistication and polish of this story make the others look weak by comparison. I only hope that the author intends on expanding Arsinoe's life into a full-length novel."Spring Perfection" by Leslie DuBois: I'd never heard of this author before, but this quiet, artfully rendered tale captured my attention."On a Field, Sable" by Diana Peterfreund: A bit of an oddball here, with nary a love interest in sight, but nonetheless engaging. I'd read more from this author, if only because she's managed to find something new in paranormal YA (killer unicorns!).And unfortunately, I must mention one negative:"Off Balance" by Renee Pace: The hero of this shallow, tepid, and unrealistic tale became aroused at the thought of a woman breastfeeding her child. The whole story was distasteful and immature.

ETERNAL SPRING was a lovely collection of short stories. I enjoyed reading them (except for On a Field, Sable which simply wasn't my type of story) very much. Even though these stories had the common theme of Spring, I read them in October and I found them to be just as satisfying. I really can't pick out a favorite; they are all so different that it seems like comparing apples and oranges. I read the entire book in one day and the stories really touched all my emotions. My only complaint is that some of them were prequels which made their endings very abrupt. I am a long way from being a young adult but that did not stop me from getting a great deal of pleasure from this book. I am grateful to the previous reviewers who liked the book since I wasn't familiar with any of the authors when I decided to download this book. I definitely recommend this book.

A bunch of short Paranormal shorts all in one book. It was nice to pick and choose the few I wanted to read and then find the authors to see if there was more written by them. Many of the stories in the book could be expanded upon