Love Is Hell by Scott Westerfeld, Justine Larbalestier, Laurie Faria Stolarz, Gabrielle Zevin, Melissa Marr

From the Publisher

Sure, love is hell. But it,s totally worth it.

In these supernatural stories by five of today's hottest writers—Melissa Marr (Wicked Lovely), Scott Westerfeld (Specials), Justine Larbalestier (Magic or Madness), Gabrielle Zevin (Elsewhere), and Laurie Faria Stolarz (Blue is for Nightmares)—love may be twisted and turned around, but it's more potent than ever on its quest to conquer all.

From two students who let the power of attraction guide them to break the hard-and-fast rules of their world to the girl who falls hard for a good-looking ghost with a score to settle, the clever, quirky characters in this exciting collection will break your heart, then leave you believing in love more than ever.

Publishers Weekly

Supernatural romance is the well-chosen theme of five original stories by as many authors. After her family moves into a house where a boy was murdered, Laurie Faria Stolarz's protagonist finds herself falling in love with his ghost; Gabrielle Zevin introduces a high school student who may (or may not) be overidentifying with the book she is reading; and Scott Westerfeld looks into a future where hormonal balancers tamp down teen romances and "bioframes" obviate sleep and dreams. Melissa Marr and Justine Larbalestier reinterpret folklore conventions, Marr writing about selkies and Larbalestier about faeries. There's enough variety to round out the central theme, and consistently supple storytelling will lure readers through all five entries. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the national nonprofit organization College Summit. Ages 14-up. (Dec.)

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up

Teens looking for a romance like the one in Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series (Little, Brown) will find it in these five supernatural short stories. In Gabrielle Zevin's "Fan Fictions," a teen becomes so obsessed with the love story in a book that she believes it's her own. Marr's "Love Struck" puts a new spin on the classic fairy tale of a girl who must find a way to break free of the spell of a selkie. Laurie Faria Stolarz's "Sleeping with the Spirit" features a girl who falls in love with the ghost of a murdered boy who haunts her dreams. Justine Larbalestier's story truly exemplifies the book's title. Jeannie, a modern-day teen, is cursed by her family to reside in a "living history" village, and the boy she loves is tortured because he's one of the fairie folk. Scott Westerfeld's wry and clever "Stupid Perfect World" portrays a futuristic society in which starvation and disease have been eliminated. Teens have to take a class called Scarcity, designed to teach them what the old days were like. Two teens fall in love as they "embody" afflictions that don't exist anymore-sleep and teen angst. Westerfeld's and Larbalestier's stories stand out from the rest, but all of the selections offer surprising romantic twists that will appeal to teens.-Sharon Rawlins, New Jersey State Library, Trenton

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Chapter One

Iwake up in a cold sweat—a sharp, biting sensation stretches down the length of my spine and makes my fingers jitter. I pull the covers around my shoulders, feeling my heart beat fast.

And noticing the ache in my wrist.

I click the reading lamp on and look down at the spot. Another soon-to-be bruise—a giant red welt that covers the front of my wrist and wraps around to the underside. So I grab the pen on my bedside table and add another point to the tally I've been keeping for the past two weeks since we moved here—to mark the sixth time this has happened.

Six times.

Six times that I've woken up with a sore spot on my body.

Six times that I've found myself lying awake in my bed, too terrified to fall back asleep.

Because of the voice that haunts my dreams.

Ever since we moved here, I've been having these weird nightmares. In them, I hear a male voice. I never see his face. It's just his voice, whispering things that I don't want to hear—that ghosts exist, that I need to listen to him, that he won't let me rest until I do.

Luckily, I'm able to force myself awake. But that's when he grips me—so hard that it leaves a mark.

I know it sounds completely crazy and at first I tried to find some logical explanation—maybe I had twisted my arm the wrong way during the night; maybe I had banged my leg on the corner of my bed or rolled over into an awkward position.

I tried to tell myself that the dreams were the result of stress—of having to move halfway across the country; of changing high schools andleaving all my friends behind. I mean, there's bound to be a period of adjustment, right?

But now I know that it's more than stress. Because, between the bruising and the aching, and the growing sacks underneath my eyes from lack of sleep, I feel like things are getting worse.

"Brenda?" my mother asks, standing by my bedroom door. "What are you doing up?" I bury my wrist in the mound of covers, noticing how the smell of him—like spiced apple—still lingers in my sheets.

"You were moaning in your sleep," she continues.

I glance at the fire-red numbers glowing on my digital clock. It's 4:05 A.M. "A bad dream, I guess," I say, trying to shrug it off.

She nods and plays with the belt on her robe, just lingering there in the doorway, until she finally ventures the question: "You're not hearing voices again, are you?"

I study her face, wondering if she can handle the answer, but decide that she can't. So I shake my head, watching her expression shift from anxiety to relief. She lets out a breath and forces a smile, still fidgeting with her robe, probably wondering about my sanity.

But that's okay.

Because I wonder about it, too.

This isn't the first time my parents have found me awake in the wee hours of the morning. This isn't the first time they've complained about the moaning, or given me that frightened look—the one that says I'm going crazy.

Or noticed all my bruises.

The first time I got one it was around my ankle—a large purple splotch, lined with a handful of scratches. The night it happened, I went to their room, asking if they could hear the voice, too, wondering if maybe someone had broken into our house—if maybe the voice wasn't part of a dream at all.

But my parents said no, they hadn't heard anything. They looked particularly concerned after my father had checked things out, upon my insistence, like they were far more scared for me than with me.

"Do you want me to fix you some warm milk?" my mother asks now.

"No thanks," I say, still able to hear the voice from my dream. It plays in my mind's ear—a slow and rhythmic breath that pushes out the two syllables of my name over and over and over again: Bren-da, Bren-da, Bren-da.

"I just want to get back to sleep," I lie, catching a glimpse of myself in the dresser mirror. My normally bright green eyes are troubled with veins of red. And my hair is a mess—an unruly tangle of auburn curls swooped high atop my head in a sloppy ponytail, because I can't deal with actually having to style the high-maintenance mane.

Because I haven't gotten a full night's sleep since we moved here.

"Good night, Mom," I whisper, and lie back on my pillow to appease her, so she'll go back to bed. I pull the covers up over my ears and silently hum a little tune inside my head, in hopes that it will calm me down.

In hopes that it will drown out his voice.