Vampires in the Lemon Grove

     A book of short stories I recently checked out from the library is Vampires in the Lemon Grove. Now I’m not usually a fan of short stories, I like my stories long, drawn out, and with sequels. Short stories rarely have enough depth to satisfy my need for conflict and escapist tendencies. If I want something short, my go-to is fanfiction (and I’m not ashamed of that either). The title of this book intrigued me though. I really wanted to know why vampires would be hanging out with a bunch of lemon trees.  Fortunately, I didn’t have long to wait since it was the first story of the book. It was a delightfully creepy little story about the only two vampires in the world and their lives together. Despite the old stories, blood did not sate the thirst of these vampires, nor did they stay young forever. Pretty much the only bits of the usual vampire legend that turned out to be true were the never-ending thirst, being able to turn into bats, and being fairly impervious to injury and death.  The whole story kept me thoroughly entertained and the ending was a bit sad and unexpected.

     The rest of the book, on the other hand, was a mixed bunch. The book was front loaded with the best stories and the ones at the end kind of had an “I need something to make this longer” vibe to it. Some of the earlier stories were enough to keep me awake at night for fear of nightmares. The ones at the end were the standard every day in the life of so and so types. If they’d stuck with the horror theme, I’d have been up all night and then hurrying to buy this book for my all friends who enjoy horror novels and movies. Horror is kind of a hit and miss genre though. Some things that scare some people won’t necessarily bother others. If you like creepy creatures and tales of metamorphosis, definitely check this book out. If you prefer zombies or action adventure in your horror tales, you might want to give it a pass.