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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Deliciously dark and delightful! I inhaled this collection of short stories and I loved each one. I could have kept reading, one more, one more, one more - obsessed! Vanessa's writing style is perfection, evocative yet consise whilst managing to be all encompassing.
The opening story Table Scraps is about a macabre dinner party organised by a deceased man, seasoned with black humour. When I realised what was going on, I gasped!
We then meet Emily, possibly the most unsettling and eerie child I've read about, she gave me goosebumps. The ending was just spine chilling.
In Mouthful a news story appears about a vanished artist. We are given a glimpse into her journal entries describing a monster living in the woods surrounding her home. Claustrophobic and creepy.
We then go off on a holiday in the story Changes to a quaint seaside town that distorts reality, with a dangerous sense of creeping unease.
The stunning titular story Make a Home of Me made is skin crawling in its effectiveness, a haunted house classic with a unique twist. Genius!
I adored As Above, So Below about a lockdown with no internet, soldiers on the streets and strange lights shimmering in the sky. Reminiscent of the pandemic we lived through with a sci-fi element, this one was very close for comfort!
There is also a very real horror story set in the depths of the sea about sisterhood and loss, grief and guilt. I found Riverquick, Saltfresh chilling and emotional.
We wrap up the collection with The Wall, a nightmarish suburban tale about a baby that won't stop crying, and the gradual drop off into helplessness that some parents may find all too familiar.
An absolute stellar little collection of perturbing stories - definitely not one to be missed! I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book - solid 5 stars. I'll be thinking about these for a long time!
The opening story Table Scraps is about a macabre dinner party organised by a deceased man, seasoned with black humour. When I realised what was going on, I gasped!
We then meet Emily, possibly the most unsettling and eerie child I've read about, she gave me goosebumps. The ending was just spine chilling.
In Mouthful a news story appears about a vanished artist. We are given a glimpse into her journal entries describing a monster living in the woods surrounding her home. Claustrophobic and creepy.
We then go off on a holiday in the story Changes to a quaint seaside town that distorts reality, with a dangerous sense of creeping unease.
The stunning titular story Make a Home of Me made is skin crawling in its effectiveness, a haunted house classic with a unique twist. Genius!
I adored As Above, So Below about a lockdown with no internet, soldiers on the streets and strange lights shimmering in the sky. Reminiscent of the pandemic we lived through with a sci-fi element, this one was very close for comfort!
There is also a very real horror story set in the depths of the sea about sisterhood and loss, grief and guilt. I found Riverquick, Saltfresh chilling and emotional.
We wrap up the collection with The Wall, a nightmarish suburban tale about a baby that won't stop crying, and the gradual drop off into helplessness that some parents may find all too familiar.
An absolute stellar little collection of perturbing stories - definitely not one to be missed! I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book - solid 5 stars. I'll be thinking about these for a long time!
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Make a Home of Me by Vanessa Santos is an anthology that takes all the places that we should be able to feel safe and comforted and turns them into something terrifying. Since it's an anthology, I decided to go through each story and give my impressions!
Table Scraps
Table Scraps is a funeral dinner like no other that will leave you wondering how far you would go to honor the wishes of a loved one. It's visceral and uncomfortable, while also showing the many ways in which grief can take root in a person.
Emily
Emily takes "weird girl" to a whole new level. What starts out as something a bit unsettling quickly ties a knot in pit of the reader's stomach, and this was one of the scarier entries in the anthology.
Mouthful
Mouthful chronicles the last days of a reclusive artist through her journal entries about the monster she believes is stalking her remote home. I found this one to be quite creepy as well.
Changes
Changes is an eerie and atmospheric look at the way a social situation can change a loved one into someone you don't recognize. So spooky!
Make a Home of Me
The titular Make a Home of Me is about a family plagued by strange notes that seem to be coming from the house itself. This was one of my favorite stories in this book, and it genuinely made me tear up.
As Above, So Below
As Above, So Below shows the effects of an alien invasion confining people to their homes. This was the only story that didn't quite work for me. It was well written, but I didn't find it as spooky as the others.
Riverquick, Saltfresh
Riverquick, Saltfresh is a mermaid story, at its core, but with an eerie sense of foreboding. These are certainly not Disney mermaids!
The Wall
The Wall is the tale of an older childless couple who are being driven mad by the sound of an endlessly crying baby in the house next door, which shares a wall with their bedroom. Very effective, and a lesson in being careful what you wish for.
dark
tense
medium-paced
A fantastic collection of psychological horror stories that delve into aspects of domesticity, and being trapped in places that should provide us with comfort.
Favourites included Emily, where our main character gets swept up in a new relationship with a single father of a strangely quiet girl, and Changes, which was too short to really give any detail about but follows a young couple on holiday in a remote seaside town.
A couple didn't really work for me (namely Mouthful and Riverquick, Saltfresh), but the rest all gave me the shivers, and all were written expertly with great pacing and not a word out of place. At this point I practically consider myself a horror short story connoisseur, and this collection did not disappoint for me at all.
Thank you to the publisher for an advance digital copy via Netgalley
Favourites included Emily, where our main character gets swept up in a new relationship with a single father of a strangely quiet girl, and Changes, which was too short to really give any detail about but follows a young couple on holiday in a remote seaside town.
A couple didn't really work for me (namely Mouthful and Riverquick, Saltfresh), but the rest all gave me the shivers, and all were written expertly with great pacing and not a word out of place. At this point I practically consider myself a horror short story connoisseur, and this collection did not disappoint for me at all.
Thank you to the publisher for an advance digital copy via Netgalley
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC copy of this collection of short stories.
I always say this, but reading short stories is always risky because in the same book, some of these stories might feel really good and others might disappoint or confuse you, which makes it hard to then rate the book altogether.
But not in this one, as every story was a great one. So much so, I had trouble pausing my reading. Each story had it's own eerie vibe that I enjoyed immensely. From the very start, I was hooked and I went through a spectrum of emotions going through this book. Some stories were scarier, some sadder, but all of them made you feel something.
Make a Home of Me is definitely a collection of short stories I can recommend to anyone that is looking for a quick and easy read in the horror genre. The vibes were truly immaculate and I will, for sure, keep an eye on what Vanessa Santos will write about next.
I always say this, but reading short stories is always risky because in the same book, some of these stories might feel really good and others might disappoint or confuse you, which makes it hard to then rate the book altogether.
But not in this one, as every story was a great one. So much so, I had trouble pausing my reading. Each story had it's own eerie vibe that I enjoyed immensely. From the very start, I was hooked and I went through a spectrum of emotions going through this book. Some stories were scarier, some sadder, but all of them made you feel something.
Make a Home of Me is definitely a collection of short stories I can recommend to anyone that is looking for a quick and easy read in the horror genre. The vibes were truly immaculate and I will, for sure, keep an eye on what Vanessa Santos will write about next.