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mehsi's review
4.0
14 spooky, weird, WTF stories can be found in this fun anthology.
I found this one due to the amazing Mediadrome! I immediately pre-ordered/bought the book from Amazon and then I had to wait for a bit before I could read it because I wanted this one to be for October. For Halloween.
These stories feature all sorts of creepy things. From subterranean monsters to ghosts to girls who can smell things to vacations gone wrong. It also features a few dudes who I wasn’t a fan of *looks at the father in the last story or the dude in the Peelings story. Some stories were super-exciting, others were just confusing balls of words. I loved that some stories were short, but others were just a tad longer.
I also love the introduction, I would give that one 5 stars, I love it when people get creative with introductions and lure you in the book.
The cover is amazing! Spooky but also a bit silly. And I love the colours.
Here are my star ratings for each story, with some comments to go with it. I could finally use notes from my zenpop stationery crate, they are cute so it makes things a bit more sweet and not so scary.
1.You’ve Been Saved: Star rating, 4 stars: A creepy story about a guy who gets a notice with help on it from a girl, decides to follow.. and well it was very WOW and WTF at times. The ending still has me shivering.
2.Summers With Annie: Star rating, 4 stars: Confusing especially given how it is told, but still spooky with a very interesting ending.
3.Expertise: Star rating, 4.5 stars Karma comes by for a snack. Muhahaha. This was a creepy story and dang that barracuda is just way too huge. I like the twists.
4.Unkindly Girls:Star rating, 4 stars: Very creepy dad, poor daughter, a lot of wtf moments, be afraid of dead women… they won’t forget, a big fat NOPE. That ending was WOW, but also sad.
5.Deep in the Heart: Star rating, 5 stars: This was a very big NOPE thank you I am just going to avoid caves now story. With sweet LGBT romance, I really found it sweet how our MC was swooning over the tour guide. Lots of running, a dash of gore.
6.Peelings: Star rating, 4 stars: Horrible twins and horrible husband. I just felt sorry for the woman. Still not entirely sure how things happened the way they did, but the ending was just NOPE. Don’t visit this themepark. No thank you.
7.The Difference Between Crocodiles and Alligators: Star rating, 2 stars: A confusing WTF story that left me scratching my head. I am still not sure what happened. Is our MC unreliable, is it something else. Rated it 2 stars because there was still some good about it.
8.The Cucuy of Cancun: Star rating, 4 stars: One pissed Cucuy (who you don’t want to piss off), creepy and gore stuff, love the folklore. The ending, OH BOY.
9.Taylor Family Vacation ’93: Star rating, 2 stars: Annoying too focussed on the camera father, confusing mystery and I am still not sure what exactly happened even with the ending. I did like that the camera was doing stuff on its own.
10.The Penanggalan: Star rating, 4.5 stars: Love the folklore, love how it all starts so well then BOOM, the ending HOLY CRAP. I found this one well-written.
11.Sex with Dolphins: Star rating, 4 stars: A weird story and that title just put me off a bit.
12.Caught a Glimpse: Star rating, 4.5 stars: Dude is a pervert, I don’t care if you can see her, just don’t watch her. There were creepy things happening and the girl was just a big fat NOPE. The ending was a tad confusing though, but still creepy.
13.In the Water: Star rating, 5 stars: Two timelines (before/after) and it was a spooky WTF read. I also still got questions, but for most I am very happy with this story and how creepy it got.
14.Good Times in the Bad Lands: Star rating, 2 stars: Meh dad, annoying kids, weird road trip. I love that they were using old maps. But the ending was just weird and I am just so confused.
Would rate this anthology 4 stars! This was a great read. I am so glad I found out about this book! Recommended!
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
I found this one due to the amazing Mediadrome! I immediately pre-ordered/bought the book from Amazon and then I had to wait for a bit before I could read it because I wanted this one to be for October. For Halloween.
These stories feature all sorts of creepy things. From subterranean monsters to ghosts to girls who can smell things to vacations gone wrong. It also features a few dudes who I wasn’t a fan of *looks at the father in the last story or the dude in the Peelings story. Some stories were super-exciting, others were just confusing balls of words. I loved that some stories were short, but others were just a tad longer.
I also love the introduction, I would give that one 5 stars, I love it when people get creative with introductions and lure you in the book.
The cover is amazing! Spooky but also a bit silly. And I love the colours.
Here are my star ratings for each story, with some comments to go with it. I could finally use notes from my zenpop stationery crate, they are cute so it makes things a bit more sweet and not so scary.
1.You’ve Been Saved: Star rating, 4 stars: A creepy story about a guy who gets a notice with help on it from a girl, decides to follow.. and well it was very WOW and WTF at times. The ending still has me shivering.
2.Summers With Annie: Star rating, 4 stars: Confusing especially given how it is told, but still spooky with a very interesting ending.
3.Expertise: Star rating, 4.5 stars Karma comes by for a snack. Muhahaha. This was a creepy story and dang that barracuda is just way too huge. I like the twists.
4.Unkindly Girls:Star rating, 4 stars: Very creepy dad, poor daughter, a lot of wtf moments, be afraid of dead women… they won’t forget, a big fat NOPE. That ending was WOW, but also sad.
5.Deep in the Heart: Star rating, 5 stars: This was a very big NOPE thank you I am just going to avoid caves now story. With sweet LGBT romance, I really found it sweet how our MC was swooning over the tour guide. Lots of running, a dash of gore.
6.Peelings: Star rating, 4 stars: Horrible twins and horrible husband. I just felt sorry for the woman. Still not entirely sure how things happened the way they did, but the ending was just NOPE. Don’t visit this themepark. No thank you.
7.The Difference Between Crocodiles and Alligators: Star rating, 2 stars: A confusing WTF story that left me scratching my head. I am still not sure what happened. Is our MC unreliable, is it something else. Rated it 2 stars because there was still some good about it.
8.The Cucuy of Cancun: Star rating, 4 stars: One pissed Cucuy (who you don’t want to piss off), creepy and gore stuff, love the folklore. The ending, OH BOY.
9.Taylor Family Vacation ’93: Star rating, 2 stars: Annoying too focussed on the camera father, confusing mystery and I am still not sure what exactly happened even with the ending. I did like that the camera was doing stuff on its own.
10.The Penanggalan: Star rating, 4.5 stars: Love the folklore, love how it all starts so well then BOOM, the ending HOLY CRAP. I found this one well-written.
11.Sex with Dolphins: Star rating, 4 stars: A weird story and that title just put me off a bit.
12.Caught a Glimpse: Star rating, 4.5 stars: Dude is a pervert, I don’t care if you can see her, just don’t watch her. There were creepy things happening and the girl was just a big fat NOPE. The ending was a tad confusing though, but still creepy.
13.In the Water: Star rating, 5 stars: Two timelines (before/after) and it was a spooky WTF read. I also still got questions, but for most I am very happy with this story and how creepy it got.
14.Good Times in the Bad Lands: Star rating, 2 stars: Meh dad, annoying kids, weird road trip. I love that they were using old maps. But the ending was just weird and I am just so confused.
Would rate this anthology 4 stars! This was a great read. I am so glad I found out about this book! Recommended!
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
preparetodai's review
4.0
A wonderful anthology with great variety in the stories - my personal standouts were Summers with Anne and Unkindly Girls
bloodymargie's review
4.0
A fun collection of horror stories! I enjoyed most of them, some didn’t appeal to me as much as others but that’s to be expected with an anthology. My favorite stories were Summers with Annie (really loved this one) and In the Water.
aaronlindsey's review
4.0
14 stories of vacations gone wrong. Big time wrong. So much fun!
My favorite story in the collection is Taylor Family Vacation '93.
I loved all of the stories except The Difference Between Crocodiles and Alligators. That one was too weird even for me. Bit I LIKED it, so there.
My favorite story in the collection is Taylor Family Vacation '93.
I loved all of the stories except The Difference Between Crocodiles and Alligators. That one was too weird even for me. Bit I LIKED it, so there.
mikekaz's review
3.0
I'm not sure if it's me but I read two short story anthologies this year and I didn't really like either of them. I really wanted to like this one too. Kolesnik's TRUE CRIME is an amazing book that I enjoyed. I was hoping for something equally strong. However, when it came down to it, the stories here were mostly just there. Enjoyable but then forgettable. There was only one that I liked enough to consider a favorite and to list below. The others, well, I forgot more of them than I remembered.
"The Cucuy of Cancun" by V. Castro - A demon living in Cancun enjoys her job but needs a change.
reads_vicariously's review
4.0
My worst vacation experiences amount to nothing more than sunburn, missed opportunities, and that end-of-the-week readiness to return home. But you hear stories of vacations gone wrong. Missed flights, unfortunate accidents, disease, and untimely death
And then you have WORST LAID PLANS, a collection of vacation stories that are even more insidious and terrifying in their telling
Like with all anthologies, there are some that fall short of the mark and others that knock it out of the park. On the whole though this collection really works. I also really appreciated the variety of vacation locales, from the typical beachfront resorts and cross country road trips to less common places like underground caverns and the streets of Malaysia
Overall this collection of stories was a lot of fun. I like books and movies set in exotic locations or about vacations gone wrong, so it was neat to get a bunch of snapshot stories in this vein. And while some were less than spectacular, most I really enjoyed.
And then you have WORST LAID PLANS, a collection of vacation stories that are even more insidious and terrifying in their telling
Like with all anthologies, there are some that fall short of the mark and others that knock it out of the park. On the whole though this collection really works. I also really appreciated the variety of vacation locales, from the typical beachfront resorts and cross country road trips to less common places like underground caverns and the streets of Malaysia
Overall this collection of stories was a lot of fun. I like books and movies set in exotic locations or about vacations gone wrong, so it was neat to get a bunch of snapshot stories in this vein. And while some were less than spectacular, most I really enjoyed.
alicia_loves_books's review
3.75
Enjoyed the variety of stories & had fun imagining myself on all these vacations gone wrong. My favorites were:
Deep in the Heart by Waylon Jordan & Peelings by Kenzie Jennings
Deep in the Heart by Waylon Jordan & Peelings by Kenzie Jennings
peterongcook's review
3.0
Quite an anthology. Horror encompasses a variety of experiences, not just monsters, blood and ghosts. My stand out stories were:
Summers with Annie. Not a typical horror story. I’m not sure it’s a horror story; I guess if you consider Twilight Zone a horror series. More existential horror.
Unkindly Girls. A character study and coming-of-age horror with some great writing. Keep in mind that a hallmark of horror is no happy endings.
Peelings. I totally had a horrible sunburn a couple summers ago, so I felt this one, body horror involving a peeling sunburn, vacation drama and theme park princesses.
The Cucuy of Cancun. This was the funnest story, about an old world Central America cryptid at a modern day Mexican resort.
The Penanggalin. I love seeing modern takes on Asian folklore, this one about a Malay vampire.
Caught a Glimpse. A moody story about a guilt-ridden dad staying in Martha’s Vinyard, his need for distraction from his everyday life becoming something else.
The other one I want to mention is In the Water, which started as a good procedural, had a good story, had good imagery, but was missing something toward the end. I would have loved to workshop this story before it made it to print.
Summers with Annie. Not a typical horror story. I’m not sure it’s a horror story; I guess if you consider Twilight Zone a horror series. More existential horror.
Unkindly Girls. A character study and coming-of-age horror with some great writing. Keep in mind that a hallmark of horror is no happy endings.
Peelings. I totally had a horrible sunburn a couple summers ago, so I felt this one, body horror involving a peeling sunburn, vacation drama and theme park princesses.
The Cucuy of Cancun. This was the funnest story, about an old world Central America cryptid at a modern day Mexican resort.
The Penanggalin. I love seeing modern takes on Asian folklore, this one about a Malay vampire.
Caught a Glimpse. A moody story about a guilt-ridden dad staying in Martha’s Vinyard, his need for distraction from his everyday life becoming something else.
The other one I want to mention is In the Water, which started as a good procedural, had a good story, had good imagery, but was missing something toward the end. I would have loved to workshop this story before it made it to print.