Prom Nights From Hell

Prom Nights From Hell
by Meg Cabot, Kim Harrison, Michele
Jaffe, Stephenie Meyer, & Lauren Myracle

PROM NIGHTS FROM HELL

Meg Cabot

, &

Category: Anthology

Age Recommendation: Grades 9+

Release Date: 4/10/07

Publisher: HarperTeen

Reviewed by:

Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

Rating: 5 Stars

What do you get when five great authors come together to create a paranormal prom anthology? In a word -

greatness!

Meg Cabot starts off the collection with THE EXTERMINATOR'S DAUGHTER. When Mary shows up at

Swig

exclusive VIP club in Manhattan, it's not to socialize. No, she's on a mission to take out Sebastian Drake -- and

by take

out, I mean kill him with a crossbow. But when Adam, a fellow student at Saint Eligius, takes his own

potshots at the

dreaded Sebastian, things get a lot more interesting.

Lauren Myracle, the author of THE CORSAGE, has written what is probably the saddest, and creepiest, story of the

bunch. All Frankie wants is for her best guy friend, Will, to realize that it's his destiny to ask her to the prom. To

accomplish that goal, she drags Will and her other best friend, Yun Sun, to visit Madame Zanzibar, a fortune-teller.

She's

sure that Madame Z will proclaim that Will is her one true love, and that will be that. But the psychic is short on

information,

but does end up grudgingly handing over to Frankie a dried up old corsage, which she says will grant her

three wishes.

Over the next couple of days, however, Frankie will come to realize that she'll have to make some

requests that she never in

her wildest dreams would have thought of making.

MADISON AVERY AND THE DIM REAPER by Kim Harrison is the longest story in the group, and the most

involved.

When Madison ends up at the costume prom with a dud date, she's surprised to find one guy who can pick

up the slack.

Seth isn't like anyone she's ever met before. Unfortunately, before too long she'll find out why that is,

and the picture it

paints isn't pretty. There are deaths, white reapers, black reapers, grim reapers, and odd amulets.

I really liked this story,

and would be happy to see more of these characters in the future.

Michele Jaffe's story, KISS AND TELL, was by far my favorite. Miranda has a secret. Not only is she a student

and a

part-time driver/chaeffeur, but she also fights crime in her spare time. It turns out Miranda has special abilities

that allow her

to do things most regular teens can't do -- like, say, knock over a lamppost just by leaning on it. This

particular day turns

out to be stranger than the norm, though, when she picks up young Sibby Cumean, a strange girl

who has an even stranger

habit of kissing every boy she can find. When weird things start happening, Miranda's day

turns into an action-adventure

movie beyond anything she could have expected. I

loved

this story, and I

have