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caitmarie24's review against another edition
5.0
I was deeply impressed with the stories in this collection. She is an excellent writer, fusing our world with a very well-written literary style, something extremely rare in modern horror. Each story leaves you deeply unsettled without being gory or even typical. Highly recommend it to fans of literature.
toxicbeachgoth's review against another edition
4.0
Picked this book up because it was on sale at Borders. A couple of the stories are a little boring, but once you get the purpose and style of her writing this is a very enjoyable collection! Some really creepy stories, and very well-done. She leaves things out so artistically it's crazy; this novel leaves you wondering and wanting more.
queen_in_yellow's review against another edition
2.0
DNF at 50%
I usually like such kind of short stories, but these were just too abstract for me. Most of the time things just happened withou seeming to have a connection and when I hoped for some linking element, the story was over. So the most time they left me more confused than entertained.
I get it that it can be a deliberate decision by the author, to explain nothing and let the reader do the work, but that is just not my cup of tea.
Some of the stories were also far too short to build up any kind of suspense.
The writing style wals also very repetitive and protocol-like, which doesn't add to the suspense either.
There were two or three stories which were okay and had cool ideas, but they were not enough to carry me through the whole book.
I usually like such kind of short stories, but these were just too abstract for me. Most of the time things just happened withou seeming to have a connection and when I hoped for some linking element, the story was over. So the most time they left me more confused than entertained.
I get it that it can be a deliberate decision by the author, to explain nothing and let the reader do the work, but that is just not my cup of tea.
Some of the stories were also far too short to build up any kind of suspense.
The writing style wals also very repetitive and protocol-like, which doesn't add to the suspense either.
There were two or three stories which were okay and had cool ideas, but they were not enough to carry me through the whole book.
errantdreams's review against another edition
5.0
is a wonderful collection of horror and paranormal tales. Particularly at first I felt that some of them ended entirely too abruptly, when they just seemed to be hitting their stride, leaving me saying, “what was that?” They were still intriguing; they just didn’t entirely deliver on that intrigue. I found the rest of them so engrossing, however, that overall I love the book.
Many of the stories are surreal little nuggets. There are mysterious killings, and plenty of ghosts. Some hauntings are paranormally-based while others are purely human. People vanish and people die. Most of these are modern horror, but there’s even one sci-fi story; it’s focused enough on the horror that I think it didn’t particularly break the feel of the book. Many stories’ endings go unexplained (particularly those stories that end precipitously). I found many of the stories, particularly the longer ones, really engrossing. I just wish more of the tales had at least a smidgen of denouement. Or even, in some cases, an actual ending rather than simply a cessation of story.
Consider my rating a 4.5
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2018/11/short-take-the-hair-wreath-and-other-stories-halli-villegas/
Many of the stories are surreal little nuggets. There are mysterious killings, and plenty of ghosts. Some hauntings are paranormally-based while others are purely human. People vanish and people die. Most of these are modern horror, but there’s even one sci-fi story; it’s focused enough on the horror that I think it didn’t particularly break the feel of the book. Many stories’ endings go unexplained (particularly those stories that end precipitously). I found many of the stories, particularly the longer ones, really engrossing. I just wish more of the tales had at least a smidgen of denouement. Or even, in some cases, an actual ending rather than simply a cessation of story.
Consider my rating a 4.5
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2018/11/short-take-the-hair-wreath-and-other-stories-halli-villegas/
smore's review
4.0
A majority of these stories left me thinking I'd missed something, but there were a few real gems. My favourites were 'The Other Side', 'In the Grass', 'Beautiful Boy', 'While He Sleeps', and 'Winter'. I think the strongest in the collection was 'The Unexpected Thing'; it had solid character development and a great twist. I like Villegas' writing style, and I'd pick up a collection of her shorts again.
kiki's review
2.0
I wanted to like this book because I'm a big fan of horror anthologies, and while some of the stories were okay, and some I could have seen going somewhere with a better editor, the majority of the book was quite disappointing. The stories were often at best derivative, and at worst, nonsensical. The author didn't seem to be willing to put the work in to create actually horrifying stories, instead relying on over-used cliches and tired tropes to do the heavy lifting for her, leaving the reader with no real connection to the story and no real idea of what had actually transpired.
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