I love a good short story anthology. Eternally Yours edited by Patrice Caldwell features stories about the paranormal from some heavyweights in young adult literature. This anthology features a diverse array of authors and characters. There are vampires, merpeople, angels, ghosts and more. Authors included are Sandhya Menon, Kendare Blake, Marie Rutkowski, and Hafsah Faisal among others. If you are looking to sample work from some of the hottest YA authors today without committing to a full length book, check this anthology outl. Each short story is also self contained.

Eternally Yours was actually fun to listen to. I read this via audiobook. Just as there is a diverse array of authors contributing to this anthology, there is also a diverse array of narrators. Each story has a different narrator. So, if you are looking to sample and try new narrators and want self contained stories - this is the perfect listen. I felt like this book would be great to listen to around Halloween simply for the spooky paranormal element. But also, given it feels like paranormal YA fiction is about to have a resurgence featuring authors who have diverse backgrounds, you should get in on the ground floor and pick this book up. There is something for everyone in this anthology - whether you read it with your eyes or with your ears.

I love anthologies because of every single story is different yet one thread ties all of them together. My favorite to read was Hafsah Faizal's story! There were so many incredible stories that stood out and it really helped me get out of a reading slump. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me access to the free advanced digital copy of this book.

This was unfortunately just not for me. Short story collections can always be hit and miss, but this felt like more misses than hits. Perhaps I should have realized that a romance shorty story collection would contain a lot of insta-love.

My favorite stories were the following:
Bride-Heart by Marie Rutkoski
Piano Sonata No. 13 - Kalynn Bayron
Bloody, Lovely by Casey McQuiston

“Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow ? With silver bells and cockle shells and a bunch of severed heads and stuff.”
I feel like the expectations when you get an anthology is that there will be a few stand-out stories, maybe even a couple by some of your faves, and the rest are….ok. But have you ever read an anthology that is just 5 stars after 5 stars? My friends, I would challenge you to pick up Eternally Yours and not have your mind blown at the end of each story.

I was sold on the anthology as soon as I saw the cover, I have no shame in my game, I will 100% buy a book because of the cover, but when combined with the incredible authors there was absolutely no chance I would not be diving in head first at the soonest possible opportunity. Let us rejoice together at the greatness this anthology contains with works by Kalynn Bayron, Kendare Blake, Kat Cho, Melissa de la Cruz, Hafsah Faizal, Sarah Gailey, Chloe Gong, Alexis Henderson, Adib Khorram, Anna-Marie McLemore, Casey McQuiston, Sandhya Menon, Akshaya Raman, Marie Rutkoski, and Julian Winters.

We begin with a story about a girl turned ghoul who is determined to destroy those responsible for turning her into the undead being she is now, but a surprisingly articulate severed head allows her to see eternity in a different light. If I told you about a love story between a ghoul and a head, would you think you may have ventured too far into the dark romance genre? Rest assured that it was a sweet YA paranormal romance, that managed to tug some impressive heartstrings in it’s few short pages. I believe it set the tone perfectly for the stories to follow which all put a unique twist on epic love stories.

“His voice is like a melody— a combination of chords and rhythm and a climbing pitch. He laughs like fire fills his lungs. He stays close to my side like I’m the sun that maintains his orbit.”
If diversity is what you are looking for, this is the perfect anthology to lose yourself in. We are treated to characters from different backgrounds, genders, sexualities and beyond. I do believe this is the first time I have seen “demisexual” referred to in a book, and Alexis Henderson’s tale poses the obvious question, why should a heavenly being fit into a gender binary once they have taken human form?

“I echo the same promises I made to you a thousand years ago. Yet all that time has not been enough. We have had a thousand years and I want a thousand more.”
Picking up this anthology is a no-brainer if you are looking for love-stories that push boundaries without getting too gritty, and romance is that is intense without much spice. For this bee, it was a winner all around, and I have a feeling I will be pulling up these short stories when I need a quick, sweet, treat to knock me out of a reading slump. Congrats to all the contributors on an amazing collaboration!

This is a good collection of short stories that deal with the paranormal. It covers almost all the group of vampires, mermaids, angels, demons etc.
Contributors include: Kalynn Bayron (Cinderella Is Dead); Kendare Blake (Three Dark Crowns); Kat Cho (Wicked Fox); Melissa de la Cruz (Blue Bloods); Sarah Gailey (When We Were Magic); Hafsah Faizal(We Hunt the Flame); Chloe Gong (These Violent Delights); Alexis Henderson (The Year of the Witching); Adib Khorram (Darius the Great Is Not Okay); Anna-Marie McLemore (When the Moon Was Ours, The Mirror Season); Casey McQuiston (Red, White, and Royal Blue; One Last Stop); Sandhya Menon (When Dimple Met Rishi); Akshaya Raman (The Ivory Key); Marie Rutkoski (The Winner’s Curse); Julian Winters (Running With Lions; Right Where I Left You) the good thing is there are several familiar authors and introduced me to a couple of new writers. a great selection by the editor and most readers will enjoy.

Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me an ARC!
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Unfortunately I DNFed this, it just didn’t catch my attention and maybe I’ll get into it again when I’m in the perfect headspace to give this another try! But I would buy and recommend this to others definitely and the cover is absolutely gorgeous!

I love a good anthology and this did not disappoint. Vampires, Angels and Demons what more could a girl ask for?

I gave this a 4 out of 5 stars. A perfect cozy fall read. I really enjoyed all of the short stories! It was super cute and creepy at the same time. Some of my favorites where the bloody Mary story, and undead ghoul meet cute. It had so much diversity and representation in the paranormal genre. Would recommend this short story collection!

This anthology is a mix of BIPOC and queer (sometimes both) authors/characters. I definitely enjoyed the queer stories better, though I did highly enjoyed Akshaya Raman's story about the asuras! My favorite stories were Who Will Save Me by Julian Winters, Bloody Lovely by Casey McQuiston (which features a trans MC), Kiss the Boy by Adib Khorram, Piano Sonata No. 13 by Kalynn Bayron, Bride-Heart by Marie Rutkoski, and A Thousand More by Chloe Gong.

Thank you so much for PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, Viking Books for Young Readers
for the e-arc!

Kat Cho, Hafsah Faizal, Chloe Gong, Casey McQuiston are some of my very fave authors and when I saw they were listed in this anthology (I hope this is the correct phrasing) I knew I had to read it! I devoured these pages so quick - some of the stories were so engaging and captivating I wish they would be FULL LENGTH novels!! Perfect for spooky season, but honestly, read it any time of the year!

Undead Ghoul Meet Cute by Kendare Blake (4/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
This was a great story to start off the anthology! It was super cute and the background story was well thought out. Kendare Blake does not disappoint when it comes to spooky stories!

A Thousand More by Chloe Gong (4/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
I've never read a book before with reincarnated main characters but now I definitely need to! This trope is so cute and so was this story! I liked the dynamic between the main character and her love interest and their shared history was fun to learn about. The idea of a school project was a great way to incorporate this into the story!

Who Will Save Me by Julian Winters (2.5/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️✨)
I've been meaning to read more books about angels so I was excited to read this. Unfortunately this story needed more explanation of the magic system and world. Especially at the end, I felt like I didn't understand why certain things took place like they did.

In the Eyes of Angels by Alexis Henderson (2/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️)
This story had a good concept but left me confused. I would have liked more descriptions about the magic system of this world.

My Demon Prince Charming by Sandhya Menon (2.5/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️✨)
The idea of summoning a demon for your date to a party sounded like a fun idea. Unfortunately, this story was very cliched and had the insta love trope which I'm not a fan of. The ending also felt unrealistic and worked out a bit too nicely.

Katrine and Rowan's Exit Interview by Sarah Gailey (2/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️)
Another story where I wasn't 100% sure exactly what was going on. The island setting was interesting to read about and I was intrigued by the mystery of what was happening to the stranded sailors. However, I would have liked more explanation of what happened at the end.

Bride-Heart by Marie Rutkoski (2.5/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️✨)
This story started out strong but lost momentum by the end. It had me wanting to try a strawberry pretzel pie for a while after finishing 😂. I would have liked for some scenes to be more drawn out (like the end).

If You Give an Asura a Cookie by Akshaya Raman (3.5/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨)
I was excited to read a story about an asura because I haven't read much about them before! This story's romance was also cute but predictable. I appreciated the message of self love!

Kiss the Boy by Adib Khorram (3/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Our mermaid story! At first I was worried this story would also feature insta love but it wasn't as much as I thought. I enjoyed reading about the merpeople culture and community. My favourite character in this story was the love interest's sister, she was adorable and so supportive of her brother!

Piano Sonata No. 13 by Kalynn Bayron (4/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Another great story! I recommend this short story to everyone that just wants to read a book where the villain gets what they want. This one was definitely more on the creepy side and it had a moral dilemma aspect as well.

Once Upon a Time in Charleston by Melissa de la Cruz (2.5/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️✨)
I really enjoyed the set up and descriptive writing style of this story but felt that it ended too soon. There was a lot of potential and I would have liked to read more about the characters and the café.

Pierce My Soul by Kat Cho (2/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️)
The idea of a world that knows about vampires was interesting to read about. Unfortunately this story felt a bit cliched and there was miscommunication between the main characters that took away from the plot.

Banes and Blessings by Hafsah Faizal (3/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️)
The beginning of this story intrigued me right away. However, as time went on I couldn't understand why there was a romance between the main character and the love interest. I also felt the ending could have been more developed.

Bloody, Lovely by Casey McQuiston (4/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
This was another great story! It was very cute and I enjoyed the romance element, but what I also enjoyed was the character development! I had a lot of fun following the main character's journey towards self love. This story also had the most satisfying ending.

La Bruja y La Sirena by Anna-Marie McLemore (2/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️)
Unfortunately, the writing style of this story made it hard to follow. I was confused while reading but was able to piece together what happened at the end.

My favourite short stories of this collection would have to be Undead Ghoul Meet Cute by Kendare Blake, A Thousand More by Chloe Gong, Bloody Lovely by Casey McQuiston, and Piano Sonata No .13 by Kalynn Bayron. Undead Ghoul Meet Cute, Bloody Lovely and A Thousand More were very cute and had fun supernatural/spooky elements. Both stories were fun to read and left me wishing they were full length books. Piano Sonata No. 13 was more on the creepy side but I really enjoyed it! I recommend it for people who love stories where the villain wins.

All in all there were some stories I found confusing or wished there was more development, but others I had a lot of fun reading.

• Undead Ghoul Meet-Cute by Kendare Blake [2☆]
The initial idea was kinda fun and original, I had never read anything about ghouls before. However, the execution was really poor, I did not like the writing and the ending honestly pissed me off a bit.

• A Thousand More by Chloe Gong [5☆]
I loved this and I need miss Gong to make it a full length novel with all their past lives and shit. I enjoyed every second of it, I know Chloe Gong can write, but I wasn't this engaged while reading TVD. This short story was a banger and I want to reread it A Thousand More times (ah, see what I did there?).

• Who Will Save Me by Julian Winters [2☆]
Eh, this wasn't great. I've read another book by this author which I did not particularly care for and I just remembered it, but I think this story had potential. It just wanted to be too much for such a short novella. Like Good Omens meets TBDATE, but crammed into a few pages. Also did not like the ending.

• In the Eyes of Angels by Alexis Henderson [1☆]
I fell asleep while reading this story. Multiple times. I am not kidding, there was just something so boring about it and it took me forever to finish it. It isn't even that long, but it felt endless and I have nothing good yo say about it, to be honest. I am beginning to think this author just isn't for me, because I didn't like House of Hunger either. I am sad.

• My Demon Prince Charming by Sandhya Menon [3☆]
This was cute. When I first read the title I was very skeptical, but I ended up enjoying the short story. I am not the biggest fan of mates and similar concepts when it comes to romance, however I think the main characters in this had a lot of chemistry for how short it was and I would actually read more. I also liked the ending, even though I would have preferred something less cheesy. But then again, I am reading a meet cute anthology, so.

• Katrine and Rowan's Exit Interview by Sarah Gailey [4☆]
Oh, this one was good! I have always wanted to read something by Sarah Gailey, I have lots of their books on my TBR, but I am glad this was the first thing I read. It was very original, both in the way it was written and in the plot itself. I also really enjoyed that some bits of it were left to be interpreted by the reader. My only complaint was that it was a bit slow in the beginning and a bit too long.

• Bride-Heart by Marie Rutkoski [1☆]
Nopety nope. The only good thing about this story was that there were lambs. I don't think it really had anything interesting to say, to be honest, and I also felt like I was reading something I'd read a thousand times before, with the same tropes and structure even. The story was too long and the ending not only extremely predictable, but also too rushed for a plot that had dragged up until that point. The writing style also was not for me, I am sorry but it was awful.

• If You Give an Asura a Cookie by Akshaya Raman [4☆]
Super cute and wholesome. It made me think of Ms. Marvel, probably because she was even quoted, and that is my favourite Marvel show! I would have really liked to read a full length novel about Rupa and her mysterious asura boy meeting once a year on the roof. It was really nice and, as I said, wholesome. I liked both of them, and I think the author did a good job at making it a short story.

• Kiss the Boy by Adib Khorram [3☆]
As I have already stated, mates/soulmates kind of stories aren't usually my thing, unless done a certain way. In spite of that, this short story was kinda cute. I didn't like how rushed the whole love thing was, but other than that it was entertaining and I think the two main characters had decent chemistry. My favourite thing was the world building and I'd read a full length novel with this premise.

• Piano Sonata No. 13 by Kalynn Bayron [5☆]
Yes to morally gray unhinged villains in YA. I loved this and I am very sad it was only a short story. If you liked either the Monsters of Verity or the Villains duologies by V.E. Schwab you'll love this one, I can tell you that. It was beautifully written and very savantly paced, it made me want to read something else by this author, and I'd never been interested before. Possibly my favourite so far, even more than the one by Chloe Gong. Possibly.

• Once Upon a Time in Charleston by Melissa De La Cruz [1☆]
So, apparently this is a short story set in the same universe as a book series by this author from 2006. It should have stayed in the early 2000s, thank you very much. The writing style was definitely not for me, and the plot was kinda useless. I don't know whether it made sense if you read the original series, but as a novella in an anthology it doesn't work.

• Pierce My Soul by Kat Cho [2☆]
Meh. This was pretty basic, I am really not impressed. I am very picky when it comes to vampire fiction, and this one didn't work for me. Also, the main character is extremely stupid and she managed to annoy me in very few pages. I don't usually feel strongly towards characters in short stories, especially negatively, but she sure did a great job at getting on my nerves and staying there...

• Banes and Blessing by Hafsah Faizal [2☆]
There wasn't anything really wrong with this story, I just found it boring. What I liked about it was that I got to learn about a different story I'd never encountered before. It is always nice to discover folklore from different countries, and this Moroccan tale was very beautiful. I would love to read the "original" (I mean, I believe is a popular tale and there's no real original, but you get what I'm trying to say).

• Bloody, Lovely by Casey McQuiston [5☆]
Gays, gals and non binary pals, this is the moment I have been waiting for. I read this entire anthology for this short story, to see if Shara Wheeler was a case, or if I don't like CMQ YAs in general. I think we can safely say Shara Wheeler can be forgotten and Dylan and Rosemary can get the spotlight. I loved this story, which is now officially my favourite one tied with the Sonata one. Such a cool plot, with a dash of OLS in it. Amazing.

• La Bruja y la Sirena by Anna-Marie McLemore [2☆]
And with this, we come to the end of this anthology. I have read four stories by this author in four different anthologies, I believe and I am pretty sure I have disliked at least two of them, so maybe they just don't write things I enjoy. Which is mainly why I haven't tried any of their novels yet. This story was just kinda boring, I don't have much to say.

It's always hard to rate and review an anthology, for the simple fact of so many people contributing to it and all of them, obviously, having different styles & story-telling techniques. The subject of all the short stories might be similar, but you, as the reader, are bound to find a few favourites and also a few stories that you didn't really enjoy all that much.

Eternally Yours didn't escape that fate.

It's a solid collection, mostly with a very fresh look at tropes & images we already know. There are some great short stories here (for example, “Bride-Heart” by Marie Rutkoski), but there are also a few that don't seem to live up to the same level. It's still fun to read, though.

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of stories. It wasn't what I expected, but I flew through it. Can definitely say I would recommend to those looking for a quick read that gives you the chills.

Thank you to Penguin Teen for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I meant to read this one a while ago, but I slacked! Since this has already been released I listened to the audiobook. I really enjoyed this collection of stories about monsters and other supernatural/paranormal creatures. I loved Patrice's other anthology A Phoenix First Must Burn and was so excited to see another one. I do wish this one had a story by her!

This anthology is a mix of BIPOC and queer (sometimes both) authors/characters. I definitely enjoyed the queer stories better, though I did highly enjoyed Akshaya Raman's story about the asuras! My favorite stories were Who Will Save Me by Julian Winters, Bloody Lovely by Casey McQuiston (which features a trans MC), Kiss the Boy by Adib Khorram, Piano Sonata No. 13 by Kalynn Bayron, Bride-Heart by Marie Rutkoski, and A Thousand More by Chloe Gong.

The only story I actively disliked was Hafsah Faizal's. The MC is a boy and it was very the prince saves a damsel energy which I'm not here for. I think the world needs more girl monsters and more girl monsters who love being monsters. So this story was a no for me.

I loved so many of these characters and stories. I definitely recommend this anthology.

CWs: Blood, death, gore, abuse, violence, cursing, past addiction mention, death of parent, murder, gaslighting.

A supernatural romance anthology that lives up to best in both genre in format, Eternally Yours has the distinction of living up to being precisely what it bills itself to be. Each story pulls you into a new relationship and character dynamics that fill the short space allotted without feeling either ill-paced or as if they are excerpts from a larger story. I enjoyed each of the paranormal relationships represented and my ability to read new works by authors I like while also checking out authors I've had on my to-read list.

I loved the collage of stories that made up this book! Each was so unique and had a different take on what love looked like in the form of a love story. The supernatural aspect to each of the stories was so intriguing and I loved the small details incorporated into them even though they weren’t entire books.

A collection of short stories perfect for the spooky season. Great representation of BIPOC authors and characters. The only downfall is the fact that the stories felt rushed due to the novella format.

A spooky book filled with a bunch of romance short stories. Perfect for October spooky season. I liked some stores better than others, for example I loved Chloe Gongs story.
The main problem with short stories is we as the readers don’t have enough time to fully get into the story because it’s so short but overall if you love YA it’s a great way to read something new from your favourite authors or maybe find a new author you may like.