Finished Holidays are Hell, an anthology featuring holiday-themed stories from Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, Marjorie M. Liu, and Vicki Pettersson. I’m not going to get into the details of each story, but just do a brief recap.

Harrison serves up a Rachel Morgan story, featuring the Hollows witch as a young student trying to find a girl lost on the solstice. Sands’s tale features shapeshifters, a runaway reindeer, and lots of Christmas humor and cheer.

Liu’s story focuses on a government agent named Six, who teams up with a wizard to stop some vampire terrorists. Pettersson serves up a twisted Thanksgiving tale about a fallen Zodiac heroine and her attempts to save her granddaughter.

Of the four stories, Liu’s was my favorite. I always enjoy her lush, descriptive writing, and Six was a really strong, interesting character who more than held her own with the bad guys. I also enjoyed Harrison’s story, and it was interesting to see Rachel presented as younger and more vulnerable.

Sands’s story was cute, zany fun, although I did wonder why her shapeshifter (who turns into a reindeer at one point) just didn’t stab the bad guy who was pursuing her with her antlers.

Then, there’s Pettersson’s tale, which was rather dark and depressing. The story, set on Thanksgiving, is about a woman trying to save her infant granddaughter from the ultimate evil. Not only that, but her granddaughter is premature and the result of her teenage daughter being brutally raped and attacked. And the main romance doesn’t end well. Not exactly the cheery, upbeat holiday tale I’d expected. Still, her Zodiac world was intriguing, and I’d be interested in reading more by her.

I probably would have enjoyed this one a little more if, well, it had actually been the holiday season. But I wanted to read it now instead of waiting. Still, the book featured some interesting worlds and stories. So, thumbs up.

Up next: Dead Man Rising by Lilith Saintcrow.

What about you guys? Anyone read anything good lately? Share in the comments.