Eternally Yours is a collection of stories by 15 young adult fiction writers that centers around themes of love in the mythical/paranormal/fantasy type realm. The authors are comprised of many mainstream YA authors and a few that might be less well known to the average YA reader.
It’s hard to talk about character and plot development as all of these are short stories, which doesn’t leave the author a lot of time to develop either one. Some were quite well done within the short amount of space with characters that were instantly relatable, understandable, and a plot that was easy to follow. Others were hard to determine who the characters were, what perspective was being used, and read more like a session of slam poetry then a traditional short story placed in a collection.
One thing is for certain, the stories are all a little quirky in that they are filled with merfolk, the dead, the undead, ghosts, ghouls, vampires, and all manner of the creepy. Each story focuses on the development of a relationship or love story within a small handful of pages. Some are stories between various creatures and humans, some are stories between humans of same and different genders in various states of life/death, and others are stories of love between creatures and creatures. But the overarching theme is the various forms of love and affection.
Overall, this collection is not a bad read. Some of the stories are clunkier than others, but the good outweigh the bad and therefore should be considered a solid read for those looking for something outside of the normal romance genre.
Review of a Digital Advance Reading Copy provided by the Publisher
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: 15 religious exclamations; 16 mild obscenities; 2 religious profanities; 25 scatological words; 7 anatomical terms; 1 F-word derivative.
Violence/Gore: Garden of severed heads (creepy); 2 verbal threats; ghouls eat dead bodies; report of arrow through heart; report of suicide; report of death in train bombing; minor cuts, scrapes, bruises, and bites; push/shove; burns and cuts from a battle between angels; report of a shipwreck with death; men turned to birds batter themselves on the rocks to death; threat with knife; blood from skinned lamb; corpses staged like art; beast tears out and eats heart; beast killed with poison; report of being hit by a boat; man’s neck is snapped; demon kills man; reference to a vampire kill; face slammed into a steering wheel; vampire bite; report of drowning; bloody girl in mirror; boy grabs girl leaving bruises.
Sex/Nudity: Kiss to fingers; 4 instances of caress of face; 2 references to sex; 6 kisses to cheek; 9 instances of hand-holding; 11 kisses; characters swim in underwear; reference to erection.
Mature Themes:
Death, war, suicide, homosexuality/same sex relationships, addition, abandonment, stealing, financial troubles.
Alcohol and Drug Use:
Alcohol use by teens and adults; smoking.
