Eternally Yours is an anthology of 15 YA short stories by popular authors such as Casey McQuiston (I Kissed Shara Wheeler), Chloe Gong (These Violent Delights), and Kalynn Bayron (Cinderella is Dead). Each of the stories include fantasy and paranormal elements and some sort of romance or love interest. Here’s a quick breakdown of all the short stories:

Undead Ghoul Meet-Cute by Kendare Blake: Frankenstein-esque “enemies to lovers” romance involving a lonely ghoul and a severed head.
A Thousand More by Chloe Gong: An immortal tries to reconnect with his mate after they are both reincarnated.
Who Will Save Me by Julian Winters: A guardian angel struggles to perform his duty whilst falling in love.
In the Eyes of Angels by Alexis Henderson: A romance blossoms after a recovering addict rescues a fallen angel.
My Demon Prince Charming by Sandhya Menon: In the hopes of securing a date to a party, a girl uses a love spell and accidentally summons a demon.
Katrine and Rowan’s Exit Interview by Sarah Gailey: Told in script, a shipwrecked couple is forced to give an interview before they are allowed to leave a cursed island.
Bride-Heart by Marie Rutkoski: To help provide for her family, an 18-year-old marries a mysterious stranger and, upon learning his secret, enlists the help of a goat farmer.
If You Give an Asura a Cookie by Akshaya Ramon: An asura (human by day and demon by night) hopes to discover the identity of the fellow asura she meets with annually whilst in demon form.
Kiss the Boy by Adib Khorram: A merman finds himself unexpectedly mated to the human boy who saved his life.
Piano Sonata No. 13 by Kalynn Bayron: A piano prodigy finds herself inexplicably drawn to a cursed piece of music and the killer demon that the music summons.
Once Upon a Time in Charleston by Melissa de la Cruz: A vampire questions the mating bond that was imposed upon her after she meets a handsome traveller.
Pierce My Soul by Kat Cho: A girl runs into a past love whilst hunting a vampire.
Banes and Blessings by Hafsah Faizal: A boy attempts to stop a siren-like creature’s killing spree.
Bloody, Lovely by Casey McQuiston: A teen gains the courage to come out as trans after bonding with the “bloody Mary” stuck in her bathroom mirror.
La Bruja y la Sirena by Anna-Marie McLemore: A sea witch and a mermaid seek revenge on an abusive and entitled human.
A multitude of themes and topics are discussed in this short story anthology, such as fate versus free will, love and heartbreak, revenge, desire to escape, companionship, identity, loneliness and isolation, life and death, and family. Eternally Yours may be best suited for teens and young adults who enjoy reading paranormal and fantasy romance, but may entice older readers who enjoy some paranormal, as well as those who enjoy reading short story anthologies like My True Love Gave to Me or Summer Days and Summer Nights by Stephanie Perkins et al. In my opinion, the ideal time to real this anthology would be in the autumn or around Halloween since all the stories include paranormal or spooky elements!

Since I’m not a fan of horror, I appreciated that, whilst being paranormal and spooky, none of the short stories were scary or overly gory. It was great that more than half of the short stories in this anthology included an LGBTQ+ couple. Additionally, the stories were quick reads (only around 30 pages each) and standalones (so you can skip any stories that aren’t of interest), but can sometimes be challenging to read as one doesn’t have time to connect with the characters and get invested in their storyline.

Lastly, my favourite short stories included in this anthology were A Thousand More by Chloe Gong, If You Give an Asura a Cookie by Akshaya Ramon, and Bloody, Lovely by Casey McQuiston. Furthermore, all the romance elements included in A Thousand More was delightful, the mystery aspects in If You Give an Asura a Cookie intriguing, and quite the unique concept and heartwarming twist in Bloody, Lovely.

Overall, this paranormal romance anthology is a quick YA read that’s perfect for the upcoming autumn and Halloween season!

Thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for an earc of this one!

I wasn't able to get to this before release date and ended up listening to a finished audio version.

It is always hard for me to review anthologies because the stories in them are always so vastly different. A few of these stories were definitely 5 stars for me. Some of them were more like 3 stars. None of them were bad! I enjoyed the paranormal romances and the various perspectives, different creatures, different types of love, and different endings. I liked the variety and think it was edited well in that aspect. I do think there was a higher concentration of stories I loved toward the end instead of the beginning, but that might have just been me!

My favorite stories were the ones by Casey McQuiston and Anna-Marie McLemore! No surprise there!

I really enjoyed the range of ETERNALLY YOURS, edited by Patrice Caldwell. It's a great addition to the young adult short story anthologies I already use in my writing classes. The mix of authors brings in a fantastic range of voices, characters, and stories. I especially enjoyed "La Bruja y la Sirena" by Anna-Marie McLemore, "Kiss the Boy" by Adib Khorram, and "Who Will Save Me" by Julian Winters. My students will debate which story they thought "best" and I look forward to using some of these for craft lessons.

first, i guess i want to state that the rating of the anthology is an average of all the individual stories. i’ve also added each story and their individual ratings below my quick thoughts. as someone who’s not really an anthology reader, i decided that was the fairest way to give this a rating.

this anthology was definitely a great introduction into a new format of reading for me. while all of these stories present some sort of fantastical element and have contemporary settings, it spans many different sub-genres as well. it was so fascinating to see the way some authors had such different ideas for similar mythical creatures too. all in all, while it’s no new favorite, i’m incredibly glad to have read this collection of stories. i also have a list of some authors to look out for their upcoming works, that's for sure.

1. undead ghoul meet cute by kendare blake — 3⭐️
2. a thousand more by chloe gong — 5⭐️
3. who will save me by julian winters — 3⭐️
4. in the eyes of angels by alexis henderson — 2⭐️
5. my demon prince charming by sandhya menon — 3⭐️
6. katrine and rowan’s exit interview by sarah gailey — 2⭐️
7. bride heart by marie rutkowski — 3 ⭐️
8. if you give an asura a cookie by ashkaya raman — 4⭐️
9. kiss the boy by adib khorram— 5⭐️
10. piano sonata no 13 by kalynn baron — 2⭐️
11. once upon a time in charleston by melissa de la cruz — 3⭐️
12. pierce my soul by kat cho — 3⭐️
13. banes and blessings by hafsah faizal — 4⭐️
14. bloody, lovely by casey mcquiston — 5⭐️
15. la bruja y la sirena by anna-marie mclemore — 3⭐️

it's always so hard rating anthologies because each story is unique and brings something special. Sure, there were a few that I just didn't connect with, but I thought every story did a cool job using the supernatural theme. Of course my favorites were Hafsah Faizal, chloe Gong, Kat Cho and Akshaya Raman!

I'm just going to go in order of each story:
1. cute and quirky but mostly I just skimmed
2. FATED LOVERS? THROUGHOUT HISTORY?! LOVE IT
3. this was cute! never read a guardian angel type of story before...
4. but angels in fiction like this aren't really my thing to be honest
5. other than the insta love which wasn't my jam, i thought this was funny!
6. i liked the format of the storytelling but didn't care for the story itself
7. this one was so haunting and creepy i loved it!
8. omg i think this is one of my faves i loved the story and the whole time skip thing and indian identity mixed with demon identity iconic
9. gotta love a good merfolk story
10. LOVE. THE INCORPORATION OF CLASSICAL MUSIC.
11. i liked the open ending a lot
12. vampire X vampire hunter ICONIC
13. obviously loved this one!
14. this one was so fun!
15. so creepy and haunting!

I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ARC provided by Penguin Teen and Viking Books.

Vampires and merpeople, angels and demons—the stories in this anthology imagine worlds where the only thing more powerful than the supernatural, is love. The stories in this anthology imagine worlds where the only thing more powerful than the supernatural, is love.

I just do not think anthologies are for me. A common theme was that everything felt a little forgettable and underdeveloped. Some of the stories were really interesting and sweet, but most of them were kinda cringey and bland. Most of these stories just did not do it for me. They were not bad, but I just could not bring myself to care about the characters or what was happening to them. I am not really into the instalove trope and that is what a lot of these were, which was why I may have struggled with a lot of them. I did like the diversity and representation and was very well done. I was looking forward to this for so long but most of the stories I was struggling to get through. I would still recommend Eternally Yours if you like reading anthologies. It just not my thing so that could have probably influenced my opinion,

A sweet and diverse collection of paranormal romances - some that stand out more than others, but all generally quick and entertaining. Each story was unique despite recurring use of paranormal love interests (vampires, merpeople, etc.) and each author's writing style stood out. I particularly enjoyed Anna-Marie McLemore's entry La Bruja y la Sirena, and Adib Khorram's Kiss The Boy. Maybe it's just the queer merfolk lover in me that made these two stand out. Overall a fantastic collection with a lot of heart behind it. Caldwell's dedication to young queer POC who felt like monsters themselves is particularly touching.

Putting this aside for a while since I´m not really in the mood to read anymore and it has released already.

2.75
Thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for sending me an e-ARC of this to read and review. I wanted to like this one because of the array of authors, but it really fell flat for me. I think the stories were almost too short and it was hard to focus on what was going on as they tended to end so quickly. I also think the genre wasn't really my vibe. It was a lot of horror and gothic tales and it was hard to keep my attention. I did love the diversity of characters throughout each story. There were many LGBTQIA+ characters as well as varied race and ethnicity. I love a good love story, but these just felt too rushed. I would have loved to have seen more development and less of abrupt endings. Overall, not really my thing.

Eternally Yours is a stunning anthology presented by a large cast of authors that is packed full of paranormal and supernatural love stories. I was hooked and brought in by many of the authors listed but here are some of my general thoughts about the stories included:
Undead Ghoul Meet-Cute: Creepy and cute, Kendare Blake brings it all during this story, a very strong start to the collection.
A Thousand More: Very fitting for Chloe Gong since she loves Shakespeare so much - a tragic love story and star-crossed lovers all mixed.
Who will Save Me: I really loved the characters in this story by Julian Winters but it wasn't everything I needed from it. I was wanting a little more.
Bride-Heart: Marie Rutkoski oh my god. As a horror fan, I adored this one, but I can see anyone enjoying it!
La Bruja y La Sirena: Anna-Marie McLemore has GORGEOUS lyrical writing and this story is no exception.

The other stories in the collection didn't bring as much to the table as I was wanting, but I did enjoy the stories - just not much to say about them specifically. I adored this collection and I'm really thankful to penguin for the chance to read it.

As soon as I read the synopsis for this book, I was hooked. Not only does it have a range of phenomenal authors, but each story is as captivating as the last. The different worlds and characters are all so well-written and leave you wanting more of their individual stories. I love that, although I knew a majority of the authors that contributed to this book, there were a few that I either hadn't heard of or hadn't read their books but now I know that I adore their individual styles and will definitely be checking their books out. This book is truly a perfect fall/Halloween read with a phenomenal mix of comedy and heartwarming stories. There are so many amazing quotes throughout the book and I cannot wait for it to come out so that all of my friends can read it!

tarting this anthology, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but with these amazing authors (Chloe Gong was all I needed to see) and the idea of paranormal/supernatural love stories, I was sold! No spoilers ahead just a few of my thoughts! I loved more of these than I didn’t!

UNDEAD GHOUL MEET-CUTE by Kendare Blake - Starting out strong with this story, I was here for this creepy but sweet ghoul story.

A THOUSAND MORE by Chloe Gong - LOVE LOVE LOVE. Need this as a full length story - perfect characters, tragic soulmates. Yes please.

WHO WILL SAVE ME by Julian Winters - Cute characters, ok story.

IN THE EYES OF ANGELS by Alexis Henderson - I enjoyed this but didn’t love.

MY DEMON PRINCE CHARMING by Sandhya Menon - I loved it. Thought it was so much fun.

KATRINE AND ROWAN'S EXIT INTERVIEW by Sarah Gailey - Shipwrecked on a mysterious island sounded fun but I have so many questions and think as a full length novel this had amazing potential but lost me as a short story.

BRIDE-HEART by Marie Rutkoski - Creepy! I wouldn’t call this a romance but maybe horror romance!

IF YOU GIVE AN ASURA A COOKIE by Akshaya Raman - LOVED everything about this. Cute rom com with a twist. These characters were perfection.

KISS THE BOY by Adib Khorram - MERPEOPLE - Enough said. So cute. Must protect this sweet merperson at all cost.

PIANO SONATA NO. 13 by Kalynn Bayron - Such a well executed story with such a unique storyline that you won’t stop thinking about.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHARLESTON by Melissa de la Cruz - Fun little vampire story. Would have loved to keep reading.

PIERCE MY SOUL by Kat Cho - Vampire hunting goes wrong.

BANES AND BLESSINGS by Hafsah Faizal - Interesting, mysterious, mythological love interest. What’s not to like?

BLOODY, LOVELY by Casey McQuiston - I LOVED this take on Bloody Mary. What an amazing story, so well developed. Need a full book!!

LA BRUJA Y LA SIRENA by Anna-Marie McLemore - I am sad to say I was mostly just confused. Lyrical writing but I don’t know what the plot was.

Thank you to PenguinTeen for the gifted arc. I really enjoyed this overall!!

3,75★

Eternally Yours is a lovely collection of short stories about “supernatural” romances.
I really liked the spin certain stories take on common tropes, and I was always curious to know how each story was going to evolve and to discover the mystery behind the supernatural creatures or the couples' backstories. There was also a nice balance between queer stories and heterosexual ones, with a lot of diversity in themes and characters, and that is something I always appreciate finding in books.

It was a book that was easy to fly through in the span of a few hours, but I wasn’t really satisfied by the anthology as a whole: it just wasn’t enough memorable to make me want to reread it, even though are a few stories I would have absolutely adored if they were longer books or novellas (like Chloe Gong’s one, or Kiss The Boy- I desperately need a sequel to that one).

I would still recommend Eternally Yours, because I feel Iike maybe anthologies are just not my thing so that could have probably influenced my opinion, and there are still some very interesting topics explored throughout the different stories.

The stories in this anthology imagine worlds where the only thing more powerful than the supernatural, is love. We have a bunch of short stories about the supernatural, demons, vampires, you name it by different authors . The stories are amazingly fulfilling and o love how everything comes together. A great book to read to get you into the Halloween spirit or any time really

I only enjoyed about a handful of these stories. I’m not really into the instalove trope and that’s what a lot of these were. There wasn’t too much going on in a lot of these stories for me. Overall, it was just kind of a let down even though the cover is really cool looking. All thoughts and opinions stated in this review are my own! Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy of the arc in return for an honest review!

Oh my dear! You know when you get one of those anthologies in your hands and you read the first page and then the first short story and you just KNOW that the WHOLE thing is going to be off the charts? That's the way Caldwell's anthology is with it's dark mystery, fantasy, scifi mashups, romances, and dead people!

Each one dripped with mood and created an atmosphere that was wholly its own but also part of a collective of literary beauty. (And I'm a fan also of the endless scroll of the digital format arc.) But let's get down to business about some of the highlights and favorites-- going backward.

McLemore's ending to the anthology with the verse interspersed as the main character took control of her bruja merfolk lifestyle instead of endlessly keeping the cycle of abuse with a boy was powerful in "La Bruja y la Sirena".

"Bloody, Lovely" by McQuiston included a trans character with the Bloody Mary sleepover party game and a little twist at the end.

"Piano Sonata No. 13" by Bayron created an atmosphere that while I have no idea what it could/would sound like, I felt like I had a symphony playing in my head when I kept repeating "don't do it, don't do it" but then she LIKED it and like Death Note, decided to mete out justice.

Who wouldn't love Khorram's happy/longing love story a merfolk in "Kiss the Boy"?

"My Demon Prince Charming" is the kind of fake-boyfriend trope that I would expect out of Menon having to write a fantasy or scifi rather than her usually contemporary romance with humor. But humor it had.

"A Thousand More" by Gong was just the kind of tragic love story through the ages where he must convince her of their soulmate status not only in this lifetime but their history of other lifetimes where he finds her and they fall in love each and every time. It can happen to a straight A student like Tally, right once she looks up from her books?

"Undead Ghoul Meet-Cute" by Blake hit all the right notes for a first story in an anthology with a mix of creepy (walking around with a head!) to the love story that makes them forever connected because they grew fond of each other.

This was a fun YA anthology that will be great for readers this spooky season!
It was a bit of a mixed bag for me personally, with some stories that I really liked and others that I didn’t like so much. Some of my favorites were from Chloe Gong, Sandhya Menon and Casey McQuiston!

Thank you so much to NetGalley for this ARC!

I really enjoyed that first story and thought it was a positive way to start off (truly give me a full length novel of that one please) but sadly it was not. Now here’s the thing: I genuinely do not like Chloe Gong’s writing. So I knew when I got to her story it was gonna be a bad time, what I was not expecting was her story to ruin it all for me. I truly only got through two stories (the very first one and Hafsah Faizal’s) without needing to take a break in the middle of the stories.

So why three stars? Because of the ~vibes~. Truly, this book was what I wanted based on the description but sadly it didn’t work for every story. But those two I just talked about? GOLDEN. I enjoyed them so much that they elevated this from a 2 star to a 3.

I don’t think I’ve reviewed an anthology before, so this is a bit new. I think I’ll go through story by story because I had a lot of feelings that really differ depending on the story. Usually I try to not get so negative but there was just a Lot in this book that I can’t find anything to say other than my critical thoughts.

“Undead Ghoul Meet-Cute” by Kendare Blake: This one was not a super strong opening in my opinion. It follows two ghouls, one of which is a girl who hunted down the guy who turned her into one. I just didn’t think much happened and then it ended suddenly; however, after finishing the whole book, I think this one had more going for it than I originally thought. 3 stars

“A Thousand More” by Chloe Gong: Honestly, I did request this book to read Chloe’s story, so no surprise that this one was one of my favorites. Reincarnated soulmates where the love interest remembers all their different lifetimes while the protagonist doesn’t! He talks her through their past romances, and I just found his stories, and her reactions, so funny. Very very cute, 4.25 stars!

“Who Will Save Me” by Julian Winters: I liked this one! A romance between a guardian angel and his charge’s older brother. It packed a lot of emotions in a short amount of time, so I enjoyed it. 3.5 stars

“In the Eyes of Angels” by Alexis Henderson: This one was…something else honestly. I couldn’t tell how old the protagonist was supposed to be, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but points more to another thing that took me out of the story. It was cool to read about a biblically correct seraph (hundreds of eyes) but also the constant descriptions of the eyes felt overdone. Anyways, I know I said nothing happened in the first story but genuinely nothing happened in this one for it to end like that. Pretty writing though. 2.5 stars

“My Demon Prince Charming” by Sandhya Menon: Another one that was just fine, I guess. A girl who needs a date for the next 24 hours accidentally summons a demon, which I know sounds cool, but was not executed well at all. Romance is a “predictable” (for lack of a better word) genre, but this story genuinely read like it was a machine-generated fanfic. 2.5 stars

(It was also at this point where I began to notice a pattern with a lot of these stories wherein nothing happens but they’re declaring devotion and adoration at the end of the story. Like, why does it feel like each story is only 5 pages…)

“Karine and Rowan’s Exit Interview” by Sarah Gailey: I had to skip this one. I was so annoyed at this point that as soon as I saw it was a script-style story, I moved on. I just didn’t have the patience to keep track of who was talking.

“Bride-Heart” by Marie Rutkoski: Another one of my favorites! I loved the writing, and this was one of the few stories in this anthology that had a beginning, middle, and end (as opposed to a short beginning into a quick ending). “Bride-Heart” slowly built up to its reveal, and you could feel the tension throughout the story. Superb honestly, and “a light in the darkness” as I wrote in my review. 4.25 stars

“If You Give an Asura a Cookie” by Akshaya Raman: This one was cute actually! I liked the focus on families and how asura families are usually isolated led the couple to bond over being asuras. We fit a lot into this story and at this point, that’s all I can ask. 3.5 stars

“Kiss the Boy” by Adib Khorram: Now I’m not completely against instalove but this one was just too deep into the relationship before I even really got a feel of the story. Just didn’t work for me…2.5 stars

“Piano Sonata No. 13” by Kalynn Bayron: I really liked this one! Also felt a little sudden, romance-wise, but I’ll look past it because the concept actually worked. A girl plays a cursed piece of music and summons a demon, whom she wants to keep seeing. The only issue with this is that there has to be a sacrifice every time she’s summoned. Good for them, honestly! 3.75 stars

“Once Upon a Time in Charleston” by Melissa de la Cruz: Automatically skipped this because I saw that it’s a Blue Bloods story and I never read any of those books.

“Pierce My Soul” by Kat Cho: This was actually the only vampire story in this anthology, which I found surprising. A girl tries to hunt a vampire for the reward money so she can go to college. A wrench is thrown into her plans when she runs into her ex-boyfriend who is now a vampire and related to the man she’s trying to kill. It was good, and I also have written in my notes: “that one scene in twilight where they’re ripping that guy apart in the ballet studio,” so make of that what you will. 3.5 stars

“Banes and Blessings” by Hafsah Faizal: The writing was really pretty in this story, but I just felt like so much of it was filler. The romance is between a boy and a Qandisa (similar to a siren), and I liked the ending. 3.5 stars

“Bloody, Lovely” by Casey McQuiston: I liked this one! A trans boy protagonist who gradually transitions throughout the story and the apparition in the bathroom mirror. I liked their conversations and the ending was really sweet! 4 stars

“La Bruja y la Sirena” by Anna-Marie McLemore: Oh man, I didn’t even realize that the prose and poetry chunks (which are interwoven throughout the story) were two separate characters till halfway through the story. McLemore’s writing is gorgeous as usual, and overall I enjoyed the story! 3.75 stars

Overall, I just think this anthology was all over the place. I know that’s to be expected, especially given that I’ve only enjoyed books by a few of these authors, but the difference in pacing (and lack thereof) and writing was so hard to get through. I really only enjoyed a handful of the stories, which was more upsetting than anything. Anyways, maybe you’ll like Eternally Yours more, especially if you’re looking for paranormal romances!

I saw @bookwormbullet talk about this and instantly knew this would be right up my alley. This has vampires and merpeople. I'm a huge fan of any book that has MERMAIDS or MERPEOPLE OMG SIGN ME UP. Wow , this was so good and I also adored the chemistry between the characters. SO MANY OF MY FAVORITE AUTHORS ARE IN THIS!!! This anthology is incredible.