Did I pick up this anthology specifically for Seanan McGuire's short story? Yes, I absolutely did. Was I pleasantly surprised by the sheer quality of the rest of the stories? Yes, I absolutely was! A definite recommend for vampire fans who want to have their vampires be more terrifying and less romance staple.

Fantastic anthology of vampire-themed short stories, not a stinker in the bunch although some of the stories had ambiguous endings but I'm ok with it. Highly recommended.

I received an ARC copy from NetGalley a couple years ago, but forgot to leave a review then. This anthology is a mixed bag of vampire tales of various degrees of vampirism. Sad to say, though, that many of these short stories fell flat. To me, only two stood out as memorable:

1. The Neighbors By: Sherrelyn Kenyon - was not expecting the twist ending. Loved the delivery and suspense!

2. We Are All Monsters Here By: Kelley Armstrong - love love love Kelley Armstrong's dystopian take!

A Good October read to be sure, but needed work.

I probably made it through 70 - 80% of the anthology, but it was significantly darker than I was expecting, and faced with the choice of finishing and posting a bad review or DNFing, I decided to DNF.