ARC Review: Grim by Christine Johnson (Anthology)

Title: Grim
Author(s): Christine Johnson (Editor), Kimberly Derting , Sonia Gensler , Tessa Gratton , Claudia Gray, Rachel Hawkins , Amanda Hocking , Ellen Hopkins, Shaun Hutchinson, Julie Kagawa, Malinda Lo, Myra McEntire, Saundra Mitchell, Jackson Pearce, Sarah Rees Brennan, Dia Reeves, Jon Skovran, Jeri Smith-Ready
Publication: February 25th 2014 by Harlequin Teen
Genre: Parnormal, Fantasy
Source: Provided by the kind publisher..

Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today

-- My Rating --

4/5 Oscars: Really liked it

-- My Thoughts --

     When I found out that these talented and famous authors were publishing such an anothology, I was as excited as everyone else in the Paranormal and Fantasy genre. I love it when these two genres are mixed up, so I was very, very pleased with these short stories.

+ The Key by Rachel Hawkins: THREE STARS. I thought this would be a romantic love story from the start but it was anything but. This is a very interesting introduction to this anthology that is quite short, but the ending will put you off. I liked it.
+ Figment by Jeri Smith-Ready: THREE STARS. This one was really, really imaginative. I LOVED the idea of the Figments and how they are attached to people and how they thrive on imagination and belief in fantasies. You might not get what I am saying at this moment, but this book was really fun in a cute kind-of-way.
+ The Twelfth Girl by Malinda Lo: THREE STARS. This was really creepy with a paranormal vibe about it. It's the kind of story, that even when you finish, you don't really get what just happened, but you liked the mysterious part. I felt like that, even though the end was a bit of a stretch and there were things that irked me.
+ The Raven Princess by Jon Skovron: THREE STARS. This one started with a very twisted beginning and I thought it would take a dark path that I love. But it didn't. Actually, this one was really mild and didn't interest me a lot. I kind-of breezed through it without giving it much thought. This is a kind of quest journey that I am sure some people will adore.
+ Thinner Than Water by Saundra Mitchell: FOUR STARS. This was the kind of story that has some moral aspects that are just wrong. Not cruel, not bad, just you know, deep inside, that this is as disgusting as it can be. So, I loved how our main heroine handled her relationship and all the things that came without. A gown made of sunlight? You will sure be interested in this.
+ Before The Rose Bloomed: A Retelling of the Snow Queen by Ellen Hopkins: TWO STARS. This is a star-crossed lovers story about a girl going on a journey to rescue her beloved. This was just boring and I really hate that. These kind of stories just can't interest me and i finished this as fast as I can. Moving On.
+ Beast/Beast by Tessa Gratton: FOUR STARS. I really liked this one. As a hopeless romantic I am, I am in love with the whole Beauty and the Beast theme and this really executed it well. Tessa Gratton expressed a ton of emotions in the span of such a short story and I fell in love with the Beast. The end was romantic and happy and just what I expected.
+ The Brothers Piggett by Julie Kagawa: TWO STARS. I expected a lot from this one. It's Julie Kagawa, after all. I really like her writing style but this story was just not the same and kind of stupid, really. I mean the characters. they're just silly and i didn't want to care for them, at all. This was a turn-off but the witch mythology was interesting.
+ Untethered by Sonia Gensler: FOUR STARS. This is one of my favorites in the anthology. The author used one of the most amazing techniques, that I LOVE in both movies and books. Don't really know what it's called, but it's when the author builds this whole world and this story and these characters, and in the end, she just turns everything upside down, the story ends, and you are left flabbergasted, mouth-wide-open, standing in awe of the author's talent. This is that kind of story.
+ Better by Shaun David Hutchinson: FOUR STARS. This was a really good science fiction story. it's the kind of story that can be turned into a series and will surely succeed. I liked the whole imaginative little world of the story and the characters and end, OMG! the end felt wrong and right at the same time, and I was really shocked.
+ Light It Up by Kimberly Derting: THREE STARS. Our lovely main characters in this story, Hansen and Greta, does their names ring a bell? Yape, Hansel and Gretel. But with a really modern twist and a really creepy old man instead of the witch. This is like the kind of movies that not just scare you, they make you feel disgusted. WHICH I just love.
+ Sharper Than a Serpent's Tounge by Christine Johnson: TWO STARS. This was a very weird story but with a very interesting twist and premise. I can't really tell since it will be counted as a spoiler but I asure you that it was interesting, just not my kind of story, or if longer, not my kind of book, at all.
+ A Real Boy by Claudia Gray: FIVE STARS. Officially, my favorite story in the whole series. I loved Claudia Gray's writing and I loved her characters. Rowan is such an amazing character and i wanted to feel her stretched out in a whole series, not just a short story. The beginning, I really liked and the love story it contained I really loved, but the end was the best of all. This was the most memorable one.
+ Skin Trade by Mira McEntire: THREE STARS. This reminded me of the typical paranormal romance. The likes of Twilight and the others. It doesn't really have anything in common with Twilight, but it has become a habit that whenever I read something with a damsel in distress and a guy who wants to hide his feelings for her while hiding his true cruel nature, it just screams TWILIGHT at me. The ending was very interesting, if not a bit chilly and gross.
+ Beauty and the Chad by Sarah Rees Brennan: TWO STARS. This was just silly and weird and something that I just didn't get. So, our beast here is a guy from the modern world who has been trapped in the castle and he was plain annoying. I hated him and he kind-of destroyed the story, for me.
+ The Pink: A Grimm Story by Amanda Hocking: THREE STARS. This was a really cute short story with a touch of romance in the fantasy world. I really liked the characters and hated the bad ones, as I always do. It was a really great story, just not AMAZING.

+ Sell Out by Jackson Pearse: THREE STARS. The whole concept of this story interested me a lot but the execution was not perfect. And it was just too short. I wanted more from the characters which I didn't get. But I'm not complaining and kissing people back to life is really intriguing concept to behold.