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portable_magic78's review
Read several stories for Easter:
"Paying It Forward" (Didn't care for, kept thinking of the I Think You Should Leave skit), "Rotten Eggs" (Really Liked) "Killer Jelly Beans From Outer Space" (Really Liked) "Hatch" (Liked, but not as much as RE & Killer Jelly Beans etc) Magic Awaits (Really Liked) It's Not All About Bunnies & Chocolates (A bloody good time)
"Paying It Forward" (Didn't care for, kept thinking of the I Think You Should Leave skit), "Rotten Eggs" (Really Liked) "Killer Jelly Beans From Outer Space" (Really Liked) "Hatch" (Liked, but not as much as RE & Killer Jelly Beans etc) Magic Awaits (Really Liked) It's Not All About Bunnies & Chocolates (A bloody good time)
biteintobooks's review
4.0
Thanks to the author for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Reading short stories around a special time of year is most fun for me. I've read the Christmas book around that time and the Halloween book around Halloween as well. It was so much fun to read these stories when you're in that one holiday vibe. So I decided to pick this book up somewhere around Easter. If you like horror stories, I'd definitely recommend one of the short story books from Kevin J. Kennedy. I'm sure every one of his books has a good story for every reader.
A longer review can be found at Bite Into Books
I will keep saying this: If you like horror stories, you should have read at least one of Kevin J. Kennedy's short story books. It's also nice to pick up one of those once in a while, because you just KNOW there are going to be a lot of stories that you'll like. The ones you don't like, just DNF them, because you will get good ones after that as well. Mister Kennedy and his great team of authors did it again! I loved this book.
Reading short stories around a special time of year is most fun for me. I've read the Christmas book around that time and the Halloween book around Halloween as well. It was so much fun to read these stories when you're in that one holiday vibe. So I decided to pick this book up somewhere around Easter. If you like horror stories, I'd definitely recommend one of the short story books from Kevin J. Kennedy. I'm sure every one of his books has a good story for every reader.
A longer review can be found at Bite Into Books
I will keep saying this: If you like horror stories, you should have read at least one of Kevin J. Kennedy's short story books. It's also nice to pick up one of those once in a while, because you just KNOW there are going to be a lot of stories that you'll like. The ones you don't like, just DNF them, because you will get good ones after that as well. Mister Kennedy and his great team of authors did it again! I loved this book.
slimeandslashers's review
4.0
3.5 stars rounded up for Goodreads.
This was an incredibly fun collection of short horror stories. I loved that all were Easter-related -- what a unique concept! It was extra thematic for me as I read this around Easter time with Peeps and Easter chocolate in tow. It was a very enjoyable experience.
Plenty of creativity lurks within the pages of this one: killer jelly beans and monster Peeps; stories of resurrection gone wrong; zombie-like bunny creatures; chilling children; a sinister scavenger hunt; a claw machine filled with toys crawling with life and a desire to escape; and so much more!
Only a few distracting spelling issues kept this from being a straight four-star read.
Some of my favorite stories from this collection:
"Easter Eggs" by Latashia Figueroa is about a young boy who befriends an elderly neighbor. With the help of unexplainable and unexpected allies, they all take on the boy's abusive stepfather.
"Last Supper" by Suzanne Fox details a deadly dinner party, where salmon is served alongside a heaping portion of revenge.
"Hatch" by Christina Bergling in which a homely-looking egg is much more than it appears to be, and the little boy who finds it may never be the same again.
"Sulphur" by Mark Fleming is about man on a drunken binge. He believes the little girl who lives next door is out to torture him as she gleefully tosses Easter eggs at him and his property, leaving a disgusting and smelly plume of sulphur in the air. But why does she continue to pester him? Why does the smell of sulphur follow him around like a looming cloud?
This was an incredibly fun collection of short horror stories. I loved that all were Easter-related -- what a unique concept! It was extra thematic for me as I read this around Easter time with Peeps and Easter chocolate in tow. It was a very enjoyable experience.
Plenty of creativity lurks within the pages of this one: killer jelly beans and monster Peeps; stories of resurrection gone wrong; zombie-like bunny creatures; chilling children; a sinister scavenger hunt; a claw machine filled with toys crawling with life and a desire to escape; and so much more!
Only a few distracting spelling issues kept this from being a straight four-star read.
Some of my favorite stories from this collection:
"Easter Eggs" by Latashia Figueroa is about a young boy who befriends an elderly neighbor. With the help of unexplainable and unexpected allies, they all take on the boy's abusive stepfather.
"Last Supper" by Suzanne Fox details a deadly dinner party, where salmon is served alongside a heaping portion of revenge.
"Hatch" by Christina Bergling in which a homely-looking egg is much more than it appears to be, and the little boy who finds it may never be the same again.
"Sulphur" by Mark Fleming is about man on a drunken binge. He believes the little girl who lives next door is out to torture him as she gleefully tosses Easter eggs at him and his property, leaving a disgusting and smelly plume of sulphur in the air. But why does she continue to pester him? Why does the smell of sulphur follow him around like a looming cloud?
errantdreams's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Kevin J. Kennedy edited Collected Easter Horror Shorts (Collected Horror Shorts Book 2). As the title says, it’s a collection of short stories connected to Easter in one way or another. Some are about mysterious eggs. Others are about resurrection. Still others are about bunnies, and some just happen to take place on Easter. I have to say that my favorite sub-theme is that of mysterious eggs that hatch into something unexpected. Like most anthologies, you’re likely to find some stories you like better than others; I think it’s a solid 4/5 overall, which is what I end up giving most anthologies.
Lex H. Jones’s “Sonnes Hall” introduces a mixed-race gay couple who move out into the countryside and are surprised at how tolerant their neighbors are. When one of them develops a serious illness, they discover that there are some unusual happenings in the area. Latashia Figueroa wrote a story about a child named Brian, his mother Angela, his mother’s abusive boyfriend Pete, and the neighbor Mr. Eldridge. Brian goes to Mr. Eldridge for a sense of safety, only to result in Pete’s attention focusing on Mr. Eldridge. This is a mysterious egg story, and it’s dark and excellent. Mark Lukens’s “Mia’s Easter Basket” introduces us to Mia, who gets mysterious packages from an old man on each Easter–packages she can’t let her daughter see.
C.S. Anderson’s “He Has Risen” is a great tale of the zombie apocalypse in which one man who got drunk and fell asleep on sentry duty has to pay for his sins. Jeff Strand’s “Rotten Eggs” is a story of a prank involving hidden Easter eggs that someone carries much too far. Jeff Menapace’s “Paying It Forward” shows us what can happen when you don’t do some research before obeying your fortune cookie’s instruction to “Be kind to strangers.” Veronica Smith’s “It’s Not All About Bunnies and Chocolate” sees six-year-old Lilymairose’s mother Jean trying to get her daughter one of the wildly popular “Hatch-A-Pets” for Easter. Still loving those mysterious egg stories!
The stories I’ve listed so far are my favorites, but there are others that are still quite good. Amy Cross’s “Lamb to Slaughter” introduces us to a rather different idea of what should happen on Easter, involving sacrifice. In Mark Cassell’s “The Rebirth,” teacher Kelly brings to school a beautiful wooden egg she found outside of her door. (Another mysterious egg story!) Briana Robertson’s “Baby Blues” is a really difficult (and potentially traumatizing) glimpse into what can happen when a mother falls deep into the grip of depression. It’s really tough to read about that. There’s a poem called “Killer Jelly Beans from Outer Space” that’s pretty funny. Kevin J. Kennedy’s “A Town Called Easter” is a monsters-run-amuck story about giant bunnies. This one is not humor.
J.C. Michael’s “Lord of the Dance” was really amazing right up until the confusing end. A man who witnessed Jesus’s death on the cross has been killing one person every year at Easter at the behest of the voice of God in his head–for two thousand years. Peter Oliver Wonder’s “Easter Gunny” is told from the perspective of a mini Australian Shepherd who tries to figure out how he’s supposed to fit in with the family’s Easter celebration. My only problem with this one is that sometimes he seems to think like a dog, and at other times he seems to think like a human, and it’s jarring. Suzanne Fox’s “Last Supper” is a fascinating revenge story with multiple layers to it. Lisa Vasquez’s “Bunny and Clyde” was a bit confusing at first, but turned into an interesting story about grief and loss. Christopher Motz’s “Magic Awaits” has a man’s boss invite all of his employees’ kids to an Easter scavenger hunt. Some of the details in the ending are what really made this story for me.
Christina Bergling’s “Hatch” is another excellent mystery-egg story, featuring a young man who finds a rather unusual and homely egg and becomes obsessed with it. (I did find some of the description odd, though, like “her pupils bounced against her irises,” which, what?!) Mark Fleming’s “Sulfur” seemed unreasonably confusing until the end, but that end was worth it. It involves a very hungover man and a little girl hurling eggs.
Of the stories I wasn’t as fond of, one was a revenge story that seemed disproportionate and I wasn’t entirely comfortable with the role the gay man was cast in. Another is a tale of toys in a festival claw machine that break out and start attacking; the beginning could have been skipped entirely and only served to completely confuse what was going on. Another story, about a writer, got a bit too cutesy. It tries to be meta-meta; the nod to Stephen King’s Annie Wilkes doesn’t solve the fact that this feels too much like “Misery”; and one character’s actions come entirely out of left field and needed at least a little foreshadowing.
Overall this is an excellent collection of horror stories, and definitely worth reading.
Content note for domestic abuse; child death, neglect, and abuse; suicide; animal cruelty and death; standard horror warning for bits of gore and death.
Lex H. Jones’s “Sonnes Hall” introduces a mixed-race gay couple who move out into the countryside and are surprised at how tolerant their neighbors are. When one of them develops a serious illness, they discover that there are some unusual happenings in the area. Latashia Figueroa wrote a story about a child named Brian, his mother Angela, his mother’s abusive boyfriend Pete, and the neighbor Mr. Eldridge. Brian goes to Mr. Eldridge for a sense of safety, only to result in Pete’s attention focusing on Mr. Eldridge. This is a mysterious egg story, and it’s dark and excellent. Mark Lukens’s “Mia’s Easter Basket” introduces us to Mia, who gets mysterious packages from an old man on each Easter–packages she can’t let her daughter see.
C.S. Anderson’s “He Has Risen” is a great tale of the zombie apocalypse in which one man who got drunk and fell asleep on sentry duty has to pay for his sins. Jeff Strand’s “Rotten Eggs” is a story of a prank involving hidden Easter eggs that someone carries much too far. Jeff Menapace’s “Paying It Forward” shows us what can happen when you don’t do some research before obeying your fortune cookie’s instruction to “Be kind to strangers.” Veronica Smith’s “It’s Not All About Bunnies and Chocolate” sees six-year-old Lilymairose’s mother Jean trying to get her daughter one of the wildly popular “Hatch-A-Pets” for Easter. Still loving those mysterious egg stories!
The stories I’ve listed so far are my favorites, but there are others that are still quite good. Amy Cross’s “Lamb to Slaughter” introduces us to a rather different idea of what should happen on Easter, involving sacrifice. In Mark Cassell’s “The Rebirth,” teacher Kelly brings to school a beautiful wooden egg she found outside of her door. (Another mysterious egg story!) Briana Robertson’s “Baby Blues” is a really difficult (and potentially traumatizing) glimpse into what can happen when a mother falls deep into the grip of depression. It’s really tough to read about that. There’s a poem called “Killer Jelly Beans from Outer Space” that’s pretty funny. Kevin J. Kennedy’s “A Town Called Easter” is a monsters-run-amuck story about giant bunnies. This one is not humor.
J.C. Michael’s “Lord of the Dance” was really amazing right up until the confusing end. A man who witnessed Jesus’s death on the cross has been killing one person every year at Easter at the behest of the voice of God in his head–for two thousand years. Peter Oliver Wonder’s “Easter Gunny” is told from the perspective of a mini Australian Shepherd who tries to figure out how he’s supposed to fit in with the family’s Easter celebration. My only problem with this one is that sometimes he seems to think like a dog, and at other times he seems to think like a human, and it’s jarring. Suzanne Fox’s “Last Supper” is a fascinating revenge story with multiple layers to it. Lisa Vasquez’s “Bunny and Clyde” was a bit confusing at first, but turned into an interesting story about grief and loss. Christopher Motz’s “Magic Awaits” has a man’s boss invite all of his employees’ kids to an Easter scavenger hunt. Some of the details in the ending are what really made this story for me.
Christina Bergling’s “Hatch” is another excellent mystery-egg story, featuring a young man who finds a rather unusual and homely egg and becomes obsessed with it. (I did find some of the description odd, though, like “her pupils bounced against her irises,” which, what?!) Mark Fleming’s “Sulfur” seemed unreasonably confusing until the end, but that end was worth it. It involves a very hungover man and a little girl hurling eggs.
Of the stories I wasn’t as fond of, one was a revenge story that seemed disproportionate and I wasn’t entirely comfortable with the role the gay man was cast in. Another is a tale of toys in a festival claw machine that break out and start attacking; the beginning could have been skipped entirely and only served to completely confuse what was going on. Another story, about a writer, got a bit too cutesy. It tries to be meta-meta; the nod to Stephen King’s Annie Wilkes doesn’t solve the fact that this feels too much like “Misery”; and one character’s actions come entirely out of left field and needed at least a little foreshadowing.
Overall this is an excellent collection of horror stories, and definitely worth reading.
Content note for domestic abuse; child death, neglect, and abuse; suicide; animal cruelty and death; standard horror warning for bits of gore and death.
ericarobyn's review
5.0
When Kevin J. Kennedy sent me a copy of Collected Easter Horror Shorts, I could not wait for Easter to roll around! Unfortunately life got a bit too busy, so I wasn't able to finish the book before Easter... But this certainly isn't a book you want to rush!
If you're looking for a crazy rollercoaster of horror short stories all centered around a seemingly unlikely holiday, you have to check this one out! I will never think about Easter the same way again!
Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book from the authors in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.
My thoughts:
Oh my goodness. This collection is incredible! So many of these stories have stuck in my mind long after I finished reading them. Some actually gave me nightmares! They're all so creative and interesting!
Here are my rating breakdowns for each story along with some immediate thoughts/reactions:
Forward by Nev Murray
All the chocolate talk made my mouth water! Hey Nev! Feel free to send me British chocolate! ;-)
Lamb To Slaughter by Amy Cross - 3/5
What an interesting and dark concept.
Sonnes Hill by Lex H. Jones - 4/5
I liked the messaging in this one. Especially the bit about the communities that dry up! Phew! What a fun twist on this tale.
Easter Eggs by Latashia Figueroa - 4/5
Oh I loved this one. A bit tough to read at parts, and there were a few grammatical errors. But what a creepy story!
The Rebirth - 3/5
Woah. This was a weird one but dark and interesting. I have so many questions!
Baby Blues by Briana Robertson - 3/5
Ooofh. This one was horrifying and so sad.
Mia’s Easter Basket by Mark Lukens - 5/5
Woah! This one took a turn I wasn’t expecting!!
He Had Risen by C.S. Anderson - 4/5
A bit repetitive but a fun, but dark, zombie tale!
The Echoes of the Bunny-Man - 5/5
What a terrifying story!! And the authors note afterward....
Killer Jelly Beans From Outer Space by James Matthew Byers - 5/5
Such a fun and dark poem! I’ll never look at Jelly Beans the same way again!
Rotten Eggs by Jeff Strand - 5/5
Woah!!! I did not see that ending coming!
A Town Called Easter by Kevin J. Kennedy - 5/5
Woah! What a nightmare!
Lord of the Dance by J.C. Michael - 4/5
Wow! I did not see that coming. What an interesting and terrifying idea!
Easter Gunny by Peter Oliver Wonder - 5/5
Oh. My. God.
It’s Not All About Bunnies And Chocolates by Veronica Smith - 4/5
Terrifying and brutal!!
Last Supper by Suzanne Fox
This story was for me. Too sexual.
Bunny and Clyde by Lisa Vasquez - 4/5
Such a sad tale.
Magic Awaits by Christopher Motz - 5/5
Such a terrifying idea!! I loved this one!
An Easter Prayer by Weston Kincade and David Chrisley - 2/5
Hmm. I’m not sure I really understood this one. I felt like I was missing something going into it.
Trying To Write A Horror Story by Andrew Lennon - 3/5
Slow to start, but that ending!
Hatch by Christina Burgling - 3/5
What a strange tale!
Sulphur by Mark Fleming
Yikes. This was wasn’t for me. I can’t do stories about drunk driving.
Paying It Forward by Jeff Menapace - 5/5
Holy cow. This is an intense one! That ending...
Afterword by Kevin J. Kennedy
Perfect conclusion! I would LOVE to see more anthologies :-D
My final thoughts:
Bravo! Another amazing collection. Of course some of the stories just weren't for me, but I loved most of them. I cannot wait to re-read this next Easter!
If you're looking for a crazy rollercoaster of horror short stories all centered around a seemingly unlikely holiday, you have to check this one out! I will never think about Easter the same way again!
Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book from the authors in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.
My thoughts:
Oh my goodness. This collection is incredible! So many of these stories have stuck in my mind long after I finished reading them. Some actually gave me nightmares! They're all so creative and interesting!
Here are my rating breakdowns for each story along with some immediate thoughts/reactions:
Forward by Nev Murray
All the chocolate talk made my mouth water! Hey Nev! Feel free to send me British chocolate! ;-)
Lamb To Slaughter by Amy Cross - 3/5
What an interesting and dark concept.
Sonnes Hill by Lex H. Jones - 4/5
I liked the messaging in this one. Especially the bit about the communities that dry up! Phew! What a fun twist on this tale.
Easter Eggs by Latashia Figueroa - 4/5
Oh I loved this one. A bit tough to read at parts, and there were a few grammatical errors. But what a creepy story!
The Rebirth - 3/5
Woah. This was a weird one but dark and interesting. I have so many questions!
Baby Blues by Briana Robertson - 3/5
Ooofh. This one was horrifying and so sad.
Mia’s Easter Basket by Mark Lukens - 5/5
Woah! This one took a turn I wasn’t expecting!!
He Had Risen by C.S. Anderson - 4/5
A bit repetitive but a fun, but dark, zombie tale!
The Echoes of the Bunny-Man - 5/5
What a terrifying story!! And the authors note afterward....
Killer Jelly Beans From Outer Space by James Matthew Byers - 5/5
Such a fun and dark poem! I’ll never look at Jelly Beans the same way again!
Rotten Eggs by Jeff Strand - 5/5
Woah!!! I did not see that ending coming!
A Town Called Easter by Kevin J. Kennedy - 5/5
Woah! What a nightmare!
Lord of the Dance by J.C. Michael - 4/5
Wow! I did not see that coming. What an interesting and terrifying idea!
Easter Gunny by Peter Oliver Wonder - 5/5
Oh. My. God.
It’s Not All About Bunnies And Chocolates by Veronica Smith - 4/5
Terrifying and brutal!!
Last Supper by Suzanne Fox
This story was for me. Too sexual.
Bunny and Clyde by Lisa Vasquez - 4/5
Such a sad tale.
Magic Awaits by Christopher Motz - 5/5
Such a terrifying idea!! I loved this one!
An Easter Prayer by Weston Kincade and David Chrisley - 2/5
Hmm. I’m not sure I really understood this one. I felt like I was missing something going into it.
Trying To Write A Horror Story by Andrew Lennon - 3/5
Slow to start, but that ending!
Hatch by Christina Burgling - 3/5
What a strange tale!
Sulphur by Mark Fleming
Yikes. This was wasn’t for me. I can’t do stories about drunk driving.
Paying It Forward by Jeff Menapace - 5/5
Holy cow. This is an intense one! That ending...
Afterword by Kevin J. Kennedy
Perfect conclusion! I would LOVE to see more anthologies :-D
My final thoughts:
Bravo! Another amazing collection. Of course some of the stories just weren't for me, but I loved most of them. I cannot wait to re-read this next Easter!
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