Reviews

Table for 3 by Holly Rae Garcia

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alicia_loves_books's review

dark tense medium-paced

Three novellas dealing with the repercussions of hunger.

This was a great read. The stories really make you think about how vulnerable we all are when it comes to our food sources. Having recently gone through a pandemic & seeing how people behaved through it, it’s easy to imagine how quickly everything would deteriorate if food was suddenly scarce on a nationwide scale.

tokujoe's review

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dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

ericarobyn's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

4.5

Table for 3 is a collection of three novellas that will fill you with unease, dread, and hunger while also emptying you of any hope you may have had for these poor characters.

This charity anthology features three novellas, which include:

The Last Slaughter by Douglas Ford
Cat Food by Holly Rae Garcia
Rock of Ages by Rebecca Rowland

If I was starving and needed to choose a favorite here in order to get something to eat, I wouldn’t be able to pick! Each story was so uniquely terrifying while staying tied together in the fear of going hungry.

Here are my thoughts on each tale.

The Last Slaughter by Douglas Ford –

Disgusted by the stories his mother has told him, this young man is determined to do something. First, he throws a bit of gravestone through his father’s window, but that doesn’t make him feel any better. In fact, the fallout from that only makes him feel worse. Worse enough to do something more drastic. But when he is in the middle of that next attempt, he hears a girl calling for help. Little does he know, he’s about to get himself into something wild.

The setup for this tale is absolutely blood-boiling. I was so ready to rage on behalf of the poor girl. That rage quickly turned to nervousness and shock when I learned what was happening here. What a wild story!

Cat Food by Holly Rae Garcia –

Starving and desperate for meat, this man and his friend plan to steal dead animals from the shelter. They figured no one would miss them anyway. But after eating the meat just once, they suddenly can’t get enough food.

This was so unsettling! I kept expecting something to happen with the drugs used to kill the animals, but what was really happening here was far beyond my imagination. The blend of terror and gross-out scenes here was intense! The scene at the gas startup had me ready to gag! Phew, what a tale!

Rock Of Ages by Rebecca Rowland –

Warned by their loner roommate about a potential food shortage, the other roommates don’t take the warning seriously. Only realizing that they’re in trouble once it’s far too late.

While these young adults can technically leave the apartment, this one reads very similarly to a locked-room horror story. Every day that passes, things just get more and more intense! This one is certainly going to haunt my nightmares. I have a very real fear of something like this happening and the pandemic didn’t make that any easier to try not to worry about!

My Favorite Passages from Table For 3

With those words, Laura’s hopes that her son felt some moral ambivalence began to face.
— The Last Slaughter by Douglas Ford

She stopped and turned toward the house. A palpation of memory hung in her head, but she couldn’t figure out what it dangled from or how it swayed. Carrie stared at the house with one corner of her mouth turned down when the truck slammed into her.
— Cat Food by Holly Rae Garcia

Shelley shook her head, trying to wipe the image’s remnants from her mind like an Etch-a-Sketch.
— Rock Of Ages by Rebecca Rowland

My Final Thoughts on Table For 3

Eat something before diving into this book because while these stories will make you suddenly realize you’re feeling pangs of hunger, you’ll also be filled with other feelings that aren’t exactly conducive to eating.

Horror fans, this one is going to absolutely blow you away. Happy reading!

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