"Otherworld Chills is a collection of short stories where fantasy creatures abound, the women are sex-crazed, and the hunter often becomes the hunted.

The stories varied greatly, such that individual reviews seemed necessary:

Brazen

This is the weakest story of the collection, but if the reader can push through it, an assortment of entertaining stories follow. Brazen is a difficult read due to its excessive exposition and the extensive reliance on telling rather than showing.

The strength of this story is the author's ability to craft a terrifying villain:

"He didn't release her. He let her run so he could chase her."
"Why?"
"Because that's his idea of fun."


Chaotic

The writing improves from this point forward. Chaotic is an entertaining heist story with a compelling first person narrative from the perspective of a paranormal female. There are moments when the writing is delightfully sensory: Everything went dark. Images, smells, and sounds flickered past, hard and fast, like physical blows. A forest -- the shriek of an owl -- the loamy smell of wet earth -- the thunder of running paws -- a flash of black fur -- a snarl -- teeth flashing -- the sharp taste of -


Amityville Horrible

This haunting tale is the star of the show.

The type of paranormal characters one can anticipate in this story hearken from a realm where anything seems possible: Luckily, I have a very effective watchdog -- my ghostly bodyguard, Eve Levine. Dark witch, half-demon, and ascended angel. Yes, angel, which might be the scariest of the three. She has only to show up, Sword of Judgement in hand, and most spirits decide they really don't want to talk to me after all.

Amityville Horrible is best read after dark, alone, with a flashlight.


Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word

This story has a promising start with the appearance of a mysterious woman, but the story fizzles thereafter. It's possible this story is too reliant on history of the characters developed in the preceding books (this is, after all, book five in the series). On it's own, this story feels a bit pointless. For those who've read the preceding books, this is likely a thrilling follow-up on a villainous character.


Off-Duty Angel

This story is fascinating for the nature of its supernatural characters, but the story makes a few jarring sharp turns -- pivoting entirely based on coincidence. It's the realm where the story takes place, and the creatures in it, that make Off-Duty Angel a page turner.


The Puppy Plan

There's a sweet simplicity to this heartwarming tail tale.


Baby Boom

In a surprisingly sentimental conclusion to the collection of stories, the topic of pregnancy and the prospect of parenthood are discussed in a fantasy setting. Multiple perspectives on the topic are explored with poignant open-mindedness.


Overall, Otherworld Chills is a sensual romp through a realm of fascinating fantasy creatures.

Special thanks to Penguin Random House, First to Read, and Kelley Armstrong for providing an ARC of Otherworld Chills in exchange for this honest review. "

"The plot of this book is....well, hard to talk about without spoilers (see below). Elena Michaels, Alpha of the American werewolf pack goes on vacation with her mate, Clay and twin eight year olds Kate and Logan one of whom has been acting out lately and causing tension in the family but something is amiss and everything reaches fever pitch when Kate runs off and it becomes apparent that someone might be targeting the two children.

What I liked

Werewolf politics. It was interesting to learn about the other packs, the international relations, it just makes the world feel richer.

Kate: Especially when she is lost in the woods. I've always found the twins a bit much for my taste, NO kids sound like them no matter how smart, but in this book she actually sounded like a little girl.

Malcolm: I' really starting to like this guy (not as someone you'd want within 500 miles of you, but as a character). Maybe it's because he is the only WOTO character who has a distinctive personality (all the characters; male and female, start to sound the same after a while with almost identical morals, motivations, sensibilities and world-views it gets boring). But Malcolm? I mean the guy is patently crazy but his actions have a weird sort of logic, to him anyway, he's the closest thing to a well-rounded villain these books have.
Despite the packs instance, he's NOT merely a "psychopath" this is a guy with a predators aggressive instincts and a frame of reference so outside of anything a rational human being would recognise that it'd be hard to call him objectively evil. And most importantly, he's highly intelligent, he knows what makes the other characters tick, even if it those reasons make no sense to him personally.


What I disliked

Logan: Just come on! He didn't come across as a realistic child. Like at all.

The super-predictable "twist" : Logan and Kate would both be werewolves (It's funny how this was hinted at for years as being only a "possibility" as if anyone would believe that). It was obvious from the moment Kate started showing symptoms that they'd both change by the end of the book.

The plot: In a nutshell; its nonsensical and just seems like a flimsy premise to have all the characters gather together and prove them right, in that order (like I still cannot, for the life of me figure out what the British "traitors" end-game was, yes they were staging a coup against their Alpha but it was just so unbelievably stupid and convoluted, they added in a transatlantic fight, a murderous psychopath and like five extra steps for NO REASON AT ALL except of course to hammer home the point that Elena and the American pack are oh so awesome and above reproach)

The Flat characters: The misogyny of the British pack was simply ridiculous. I mean like no-one talks like that in real life. The entire thread of the conversation was *Elena has idea* *British pack* - Let's not listen she's a woman, prone to hysteria and fits of womanly weakness.

Elena: But what really grated was that for all the straw woman-hater characters harping on about Elena being a "hysterical woman" to highlight what backwards assholes they were, well, I'm sorry but she DID act like a hysterical woman.
Her daughter, a super-intelligent werewolf child wanders off into the woods for a few hours in a huff and she FREAKS OUT (at this point there is ZERO indication that there is ANY machinations against the pack) she panics, she appears to be on the point of hyperventilating if her internal monologue is anything to go by, she mobilises the troops and calls in the whole werewolf pack; to find a kid who is probably an hour away from home at most it's just so unbelievably excessive if there hadn’t been a convenient plot against her kids it would have come across as paranoid and smothering.
I've read nearly all the otherworld books and short stories and Elena is a terrible mother, and not just because she has raised two spoiled brats with no boundaries and she believes that disrespect and talking back to adults is a sign of their "preciousness" rather than just shitty parenting; she's needy, possessive and over-protective to a ridiculous degree, she frets and worries over every little thing and not in a healthy way, if ANYTHING at all goes wrong to disrupt the balance in her perfect little life; her kid falls and scrapes her knee, the kids get the flu it's just endless rounds of pointless hysteria and self-flagellation and it's painful.
Yes, the other pack is wrong for assuming that all women are hysterical, they are not however wrong about Elena, unfortunately. It's painful when a feminist message gets garbled by the fact that the "strong" woman actually conforms to the strawman stereotypes

Another thing I've noticed about Elena's character over the years of reading these books and short stories; she REALLY hates being a woman.
Every negative stereotype, every nasty belief about women, about blondes, about blue eyes she internalises and seems to believe far more than anyone around her except for the ridiculous cardboard cut-outs like the British pack whose sole existence is so that Elena can have a "you go girl!" moment.
She believes she has to punch a guy to death to prove she's "strong" because that's the ONLY kind of strength, constantly references how she is good at stuff "for a woman" or how men don't expect her to be able to do X "because I'm a woman".
I've lost count the number of times Elena has referenced her blonde-ness in a negative way, being blonde is NOT a character flaw, and to be honest in the heteronormative Anglosphere that Armstrong's characters populate its defiantly a bonus. She plays up to the dumb blonde and hysterical woman archetypes when around humans or trying to weasel out of trouble and for someone who is trying to prove that women are just as speshial as men she is really insulting her own gender by playing up to lazy stereotypes, the fact that she views these antics; crying, weeping, playing dumb, not being able to walk and chew gum at the same time as "normal" woman behaviour pretty much tells us all we need to know about Elena's views on women."

"Where to start with this one? This book was recommended to me because I have a child who was adopted, so I'll begin by admitting that it's hard to be objective about the topic when adoption gave me one of the greatest gifts of my life. I am very clearly pro-adoption.

However, I will readily admit that I don't buy into the fairy tale that all three sides of the adoption triad (child, birth parents, adoptive parents) come out of the process with sunshine and rainbows, no pain, and skip off into their beautiful futures. So I will agree with the author on the following:

-Parenting adopted children is different from parenting biological children.
-All parents involved should take the decision to adopt/place a child for adoption very seriously.
-Adopted children should never be made to feel as though they should be grateful for having been adopted.
-Adopted children will most likely experience sadness or disappointment that their birth parents could not raise them.
-Secrets should never be kept from adopted children.
-It's healthy for anyone to want to know about their biological family/heritage, and adoptive parents should do everything they can to support their children with finding birth families.

Unfortunately, there were many ideas with which I did not agree:

-When adopted children reunite with birth families, there is often a sexual attraction between mother and child, and some mothers allow a sexual relationship. Where is the data for this?

-"In any case, sensual/sexual feelings are natural between birth mothers and their children, both male and female, between fathers and daughters, and between siblings." The author feels that these feelings should be discussed within families.

-People can be hypnotized into remembering attempted abortions.

-A child who spent her first ten months of life with her mother in prison would have been better off there than in "a beautiful room, in an expensive home, in an exclusive neighborhood" with an adoptive family.

-Any separation at all from the birth mother in the early stages of life (adoption, incubators, day care) causes "trauma" to children.

-A mother who chooses to collect welfare and stay home for three years with her child is courageous and putting her child's needs first. (I am not being judgmental about anyone who needs to be on welfare. I am disagreeing that a woman who chooses to work during the first three years of her child's life is traumatizing her child and should choose poverty rather than "abandon" her child.)

-Regarding surrogacy, "A woman who gives birth to a baby is the mother of that baby, not a surrogate mother. The surrogate mother is the substitute mother, the one who acts in place of the mother, or in this case, the adoptive mother for whom the misnamed 'surrogate' is giving birth."

I could go on with more examples, but overall, the author seems to pick and choose stories from her research that fit her views. If you interview hundreds of people involved in the adoption process, of course you will find stories that fit any preconceived notion, good or bad, that you have. Also, her word choice comes across as black and white. "Adoptees will feel trauma..." instead of "Many adoptees feel trauma..."

And some of her word choice is simply downright offensive. She writes about "relinquished children" and "being abandoned." Considering she is an adoptive mother herself, I'm appalled by the fact that she calls any woman who did not physically give birth to their child "substitute mothers." She also uses the antiquated language "real mother" when referring to birth mothers. I consider the women who feed, educate, console, hug, discipline, play with, worry about, and love their children to be "real mothers."

So while I do agree with some of the author's main points, there is just too much in this book that is not backed up by data as opposed to anecdotes and too much offensive language for me to recommend this book. In fact, it scares me to think of prospective adoptive or birth parents reading this. Verrier paints a bleak picture that could result in decisions not to adopt or not to place a child for adoption in cases where children would clearly benefit from the opposite decision.

It remains to be seen if my son will agree with the author once he's old enough to read this. I certainly hope for his sake that he doesn't."