Reviews

Night of the Living Queers: 13 Tales of Terror Delight by Shelly Page

living_dead_girl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I really enjoyed this book! Incredibly diverse - each story sprinkles in beautiful little tidbits of culture, relationships, customs, and incredibly creepy (some of these stories kept me up at night)!! I was introduced to so many new LGBTQIA+ BIPOC authors that I can't wait to read more from! 

These stories perfectly encapsulated the essence and purpose of this anthology and I would recommend everyone to check them out.  My top favorite stories were - 
☆ The Three Phases of Ghost Hunting by: Alex Brown 
☆ Leyla Mendoza and the Last House on the Lane - Maya Gittelman   
☆ Hey There, Demons by: Tara Sim  
 ☆ KnickNack by: Ryan Douglass 

Others I enjoyed were - 
Anna - by Shelly Page 
Rocky Road with Caramel Drizzle by: Kosoko Jackson 
Guested by: Rebecca Kim Wells 
The Visitor by Kalynn Bayron 
Welcome to Hotel Paranoia by: Vanessa Montalban 

harborwriter's review against another edition

4.0

Is it weird to say I read this as a palate cleanser? Anyway, I found this very refreshing. The thirteen stories were a good mix of funny, surprising, and genuinely creepy. I especially loved "Guested," "Leyla Mendoza and the Last House on the Lane," and "Hey There, Demons." I'd definitely recommend this one to readers who are looking for short bites of horror that's unabashedly queer and BIPOC.

kelskekay's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

kathryn_reads_paiges's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

3 stars, withholding my review for now for the SMP boycott.

jazzblades's review against another edition

I don't really read short story collections but this sounded interesting so I thought I'd give it a shot. I enjoyed it overall. Of course, some stories I enjoyed more than others. They were was so much variety in the stories, ones with haunted houses or ghosts or demon deals or a scary clown or psychological and so on and so forth. And all of them with queer characters written by queer authors of color. These are horror short stories so I do recommend checking content warnings before hand if you feel that's beneficial. This was a really good collection and I'm glad I picked it up.

zachzakku's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Spooky Halloween short story collection featuring queer BIPOC characters! There's a mix of stories in here--some that are strictly creepy, some with happily ever afters, some that are light-hearted, some that are heavy. I enjoyed all of them except for one, which is a pretty good ratio considering I don't usually like YA books. Or short story collections. ^^;

elisquared's review against another edition

Just pausing for now 

theduchess93's review against another edition

3.0

Thanks to NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really, really wanted to like this one because the premise is so wonderful... but the prose was so clumsy that it took me out of nearly every story. I really don't like YA that assumes the teens reading it can only comprehend the levels of substance and style of a Tumblr post. I did appreciate the exploration of coming out through a horror lens.

alyp01's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

gingerbread_void's review against another edition

2.0

I have mixed feelings about this one. Some of the stories in this anthology were great and I would live to read more from that story or world. Sadly I really didn't like some other ones. I will say I am really harsh are short stories so this would probably be great for plenty of people but it just wasn't for me.