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exorcismofemilyreed's review against another edition
4.0
"Effective horror must leave us damaged in some way." (James Newman)
Hardened Hearts was such a fun collection to read. This is a book of dark/weird/creepy/heartbreaking love stories (some of them are definitely not love, but you know what I mean). This collection will take you through a range of emotions, and I loved it. The stories are unique, and I liked that there were a variety of different topics.
Before I get into talking about my favorites, I'm going to mention the thing I was confused about. I spent about half the book wondering why there weren't diverse relationships in the stories. Then, in the middle of the book, there are a few LGBTQ+ stories grouped together, and then it goes back to stories about heterosexual & cisgender couples. I found this to be an odd choice, and I don't understand why there wouldn't be a balance throughout the book of different types of couples.
None of the stories in this book were bad - the lowest rated story was 3⭐, and there were a few 5⭐ stories. I found some writers that I definitely want to read more from, and that's always a treat to find in a short story collection. Some of the stories were really short (like 2 pages), and I had a tough time connecting with those ones. It is a good collection overall, though.
My #1 favorite is 40 Ways to Leave Your Monster Lover by Gwendolyn Kiste. I adored this story, and her writing. I'm glad that the collection opened with this story because it put me in a good mood for the rest of the book.
There are two stories in this book that were so heartbreaking, and will stick with me - Burning Samantha by Scott Hallam & The Pink Balloon by Tom Deady. They are both beautifully written, and have such an intense sense of loss that the reader easily gets wrapped in.
The Class of 2000 was another one of my favorites. This one was also sad, but I appreciated that justice was served in this story - you don't always get to see that, especially in stories like this one.
My other two favorites were The Heart of the Orchard by Erin Sweet Al-Mehairi and Heirloom by Theresa Braun. These were both on the dark fantasy side, and I had so much fun reading both of them. I would love to read more from both of these writers.
Thank you so much to Theresa Braun for sending me a copy of Hardened Hearts to review! I really enjoyed it.
Hardened Hearts was such a fun collection to read. This is a book of dark/weird/creepy/heartbreaking love stories (some of them are definitely not love, but you know what I mean). This collection will take you through a range of emotions, and I loved it. The stories are unique, and I liked that there were a variety of different topics.
Before I get into talking about my favorites, I'm going to mention the thing I was confused about. I spent about half the book wondering why there weren't diverse relationships in the stories. Then, in the middle of the book, there are a few LGBTQ+ stories grouped together, and then it goes back to stories about heterosexual & cisgender couples. I found this to be an odd choice, and I don't understand why there wouldn't be a balance throughout the book of different types of couples.
None of the stories in this book were bad - the lowest rated story was 3⭐, and there were a few 5⭐ stories. I found some writers that I definitely want to read more from, and that's always a treat to find in a short story collection. Some of the stories were really short (like 2 pages), and I had a tough time connecting with those ones. It is a good collection overall, though.
My #1 favorite is 40 Ways to Leave Your Monster Lover by Gwendolyn Kiste. I adored this story, and her writing. I'm glad that the collection opened with this story because it put me in a good mood for the rest of the book.
There are two stories in this book that were so heartbreaking, and will stick with me - Burning Samantha by Scott Hallam & The Pink Balloon by Tom Deady. They are both beautifully written, and have such an intense sense of loss that the reader easily gets wrapped in.
The Class of 2000 was another one of my favorites. This one was also sad, but I appreciated that justice was served in this story - you don't always get to see that, especially in stories like this one.
My other two favorites were The Heart of the Orchard by Erin Sweet Al-Mehairi and Heirloom by Theresa Braun. These were both on the dark fantasy side, and I had so much fun reading both of them. I would love to read more from both of these writers.
Thank you so much to Theresa Braun for sending me a copy of Hardened Hearts to review! I really enjoyed it.
spookishmommy's review
3.0
Thank you to Theresa for the free copy! My favorite story in this collection was the first story, "40 Ways to Leave Your Monster Lover". There were a few others that I enjoyed like "Heirloom" and "The Pink Balloon" but many of the stories seemed rushed and that they needed more time to be fleshed out. If you're a fan of horror in regards to love and enjoy short stories, it's worth a read.
lilyn_g's review
4.0
Hardened Hearts was a well-put together anthology covering a wide range of stories falling under the sole – but never simple – subject of ‘love’. Reading it, I was never quite sure what the next story was going to bring. I can’t say that I claim to understand the point of all the stories involved in the volume, but I appreciate that the editor tried to make sure that as many aspects as possible were represented.
Because of the topic and the fact that many of the stories strayed from my comfort genres, I can’t say that I was super crazy as about Hardened Hearts. The Death’s Realm anthology was definitely more my style. However, there were a few stories in Hardened Hearts that I absolutely loved, and only a couple that I disliked. Most of them were interesting, but just didn’t strike the right chord for me. The stories were all well-edited, the range of characters displayed was wide, and it was obvious that a lot of thought had went into the curation. This is an anthology that should grow to be very popular within it’s target audience.
I wanted to briefly talk about my favorites in Hardened Hearts. The first one was Dog Tired by Eddie Generous (who happens to be the editor as well). It was well-written, the disease caught me off guard, and I liked the twist on fighting the infection. It was followed by another winner in my eyes – The Pink Balloon by Tom Deady. Normally I hate child death in stories, but this one was done right. Then there was Burning Samantha by Scott Paul Hallam, which made me have a rather serious amount of the sads for the main character. Finally, I really liked Matchmaker by Meg Elison, though some of my affection for the story does come from the fact that I thought it was perfectly placed. It was nice to end the anthology on an up note.
Overall, Hardened Hearts was a pleasant reading experience and none of the stories are ridiculously long, so they’d make for good lunch time reads over a week or two. Can’t say I loved it, but it was well-done nevertheless.
Because of the topic and the fact that many of the stories strayed from my comfort genres, I can’t say that I was super crazy as about Hardened Hearts. The Death’s Realm anthology was definitely more my style. However, there were a few stories in Hardened Hearts that I absolutely loved, and only a couple that I disliked. Most of them were interesting, but just didn’t strike the right chord for me. The stories were all well-edited, the range of characters displayed was wide, and it was obvious that a lot of thought had went into the curation. This is an anthology that should grow to be very popular within it’s target audience.
I wanted to briefly talk about my favorites in Hardened Hearts. The first one was Dog Tired by Eddie Generous (who happens to be the editor as well). It was well-written, the disease caught me off guard, and I liked the twist on fighting the infection. It was followed by another winner in my eyes – The Pink Balloon by Tom Deady. Normally I hate child death in stories, but this one was done right. Then there was Burning Samantha by Scott Paul Hallam, which made me have a rather serious amount of the sads for the main character. Finally, I really liked Matchmaker by Meg Elison, though some of my affection for the story does come from the fact that I thought it was perfectly placed. It was nice to end the anthology on an up note.
Overall, Hardened Hearts was a pleasant reading experience and none of the stories are ridiculously long, so they’d make for good lunch time reads over a week or two. Can’t say I loved it, but it was well-done nevertheless.
romireads's review
3.0
I thought Hardened Hearts was an "okay" short story collection. I was really curious how the authors would combine horror with love, and every single one of the stories had an original approach to melting these very different genres together. There definitely were some great ones, but also some that didn't make a lot of sense (to me) and were a bit too messy for me to like them.
The ones I really liked were: "40 Ways to Leave Your Monster Lover" by Gwendolyn Kiste, "Heirloom" by Theresa Braun, "The Pink Balloon" by Tom Deady, "It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To" by J.L. Knight, "Burning Samantha" by Scott Paul Hallam, "Learning to Love" by Jennifer Williams. My absolute favourite of this collection was "The Heart of the Orchard" by Erin Sweet Al-Mehairi - it was well-structured, exciting and felt like a horror combined with a fairy tale!
If you're a horror fan, or a "lovestory" fan, who's looking for a twist, this collection might be it for you!
* Thank you Theresa Braun for sending me an ecopy of this collection! All opinions are entirely my own. *
The ones I really liked were: "40 Ways to Leave Your Monster Lover" by Gwendolyn Kiste, "Heirloom" by Theresa Braun, "The Pink Balloon" by Tom Deady, "It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To" by J.L. Knight, "Burning Samantha" by Scott Paul Hallam, "Learning to Love" by Jennifer Williams. My absolute favourite of this collection was "The Heart of the Orchard" by Erin Sweet Al-Mehairi - it was well-structured, exciting and felt like a horror combined with a fairy tale!
If you're a horror fan, or a "lovestory" fan, who's looking for a twist, this collection might be it for you!
* Thank you Theresa Braun for sending me an ecopy of this collection! All opinions are entirely my own. *
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