All Wounds by D. James

Continuing with The Eternal Kiss anthology, edited by Trisha Telep, I just finished the final story, All Wounds by Dina James.

I’m a little behind on my reviews and All Wounds was one that has been waiting around for me.  Initially, I couldn’t remember much about the story, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  I tend to read a lot, so stories can get lost in my head, but once I opened up the pages to refresh my memory, man did the story come back to me.

The whole premise is kind of fresh.  We have this uninitiated Healer, Rebecca, who is suddenly thrown into the supernatural (Ethereal) world.  Well, sort of.  There’s not a lot of paranormal action, but I wouldn’t be surprised if All Wounds was the start of a new series because this totally starts one off beautifully.  We’re given some great development on a Healer, who is neutral territory for all sides and we get to see her meeting the two vampires that will be a part of her life.

Honestly, I really like the idea of a heroine from a neutral, healing perspective instead of the typical kick-ass, in-the-middle-of-the-action, heroine.  Plus, the possible romantic elements between the Healer and the vampires should be interesting as well.  All Wounds does the one thing that I typically don’t want a novella/short story to do – leaves me with a lot of questions and wanting to go back into the world.  So I’m really hoping to find out that there’s more stories set in this world, with these characters.  In fact, I’m going to go look now.

Update: It doesn’t look to be the start to a published series, but there are definitely different stories set in this same world. Maybe the first novel is in the works, so we’ll have to keep our fingers crossed. Here’s the four stories I did find set in the Stranger Things world:

  1. Play Dead in The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance
  2. Once A Demon in The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance
  3. All Wounds in The Eternal Kiss: 13 Tales of Blood and Desire
  4. Deliver Us From Evil in The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2

Other stories reviewed from The Eternal Kiss:

Falling to Ash by Karen Mahoney

Shelter Island by Melissa de la Cruz

Sword Point by Maria Snyder

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Undead Is Very in Right Now by Sarah Rees Brennan

Kat by Kelley Armstrong

The Thirteenth Step by Libby Bray

All Hallows by Rachel Caine

Wet Teeth by Cecil Castellucci

Other Boys by Cassandra Clare

Passing by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie

Ambition by Lili St. Crow

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.

1 Comment

  1. Thank you so much for this review and the information on where to find all the Stranger Worlds stories. I had seen Dina James mentioned but didn’t know anything about her books.

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