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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
A decent collection of short stories. I would have liked to see some of the entries developed more to have more depth and description. I found it to be a little boring/dry at times.
Definitely a good book to read for spooky season, or for short bursts of horror.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Brigids Gate Press for a copy!
Definitely a good book to read for spooky season, or for short bursts of horror.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Brigids Gate Press for a copy!
This is a bunch of good fun, traditional scary stories!! These were really entertaining and nostalgic, taking me back to some of the spooky books I used to read in my teens! There’s a definite theme of family dysfunction running throughout but each story tells its own tale of terror. It’s the perfect kind of collection to pick up in between some heavier reads. I would class these as cozy horror. Yes…it’s a thing!!! Read this and see.
These stories were really fun. I wouldn't say they were scary but thrilling and exciting for sure. There were a few editing issues but nothing serious. I'm really glad I spent an afternoon reading this!
I received this as an ARC through Book Sirens for free and am reviewing on my own.
I received this as an ARC through Book Sirens for free and am reviewing on my own.
The stories on the first half were amazing, particularly the first one. The ones in the last half lacked the emotion of the first few.
Goose bump alert!
If you like old-fashioned, creep-fest stories with bizarre twists and turns, this anthology is for you! It has an almost nostalgic feel to it, reminiscent of old horror shows like Night Gallery. Every single story held me spellbound and kept me glued to the pages. The diversity among the plots is fabulous and the descriptions oozed atmosphere.
I enjoyed all the tales but want to mention my top three favorites:
“A Woman’s Strength” introduces a young mother who learns about the unusual connection her husband’s family has to a sinister scarecrow that has stood for generations on the family farm. A powerful story with an unexpected and dramatic conclusion.
“My Soul to Take” is both unique and haunting and involves a father’s unexpected gift to his young daughter. This one really stuck with me after I finished reading it.
Finally, “Always Say Goodbye” is a brilliant piece of writing involving a thirteen-year-old boy, his dead grandfather, and a Ouija board. This one is my absolute favorite, delivering a roller coaster of creepiness and chills. The ending yanked the proverbial rug from under my feet and left me mesmerized by the author’s skill.
With polished writing, deft pacing, and amazing characters, this collection of tales is perfect reading for the Halloween season but is guaranteed to give you goose bumps any time of year—especially if the wind happens to be howling outside and the sun has slipped below the horizon. Superb storytelling!
If you like old-fashioned, creep-fest stories with bizarre twists and turns, this anthology is for you! It has an almost nostalgic feel to it, reminiscent of old horror shows like Night Gallery. Every single story held me spellbound and kept me glued to the pages. The diversity among the plots is fabulous and the descriptions oozed atmosphere.
I enjoyed all the tales but want to mention my top three favorites:
“A Woman’s Strength” introduces a young mother who learns about the unusual connection her husband’s family has to a sinister scarecrow that has stood for generations on the family farm. A powerful story with an unexpected and dramatic conclusion.
“My Soul to Take” is both unique and haunting and involves a father’s unexpected gift to his young daughter. This one really stuck with me after I finished reading it.
Finally, “Always Say Goodbye” is a brilliant piece of writing involving a thirteen-year-old boy, his dead grandfather, and a Ouija board. This one is my absolute favorite, delivering a roller coaster of creepiness and chills. The ending yanked the proverbial rug from under my feet and left me mesmerized by the author’s skill.
With polished writing, deft pacing, and amazing characters, this collection of tales is perfect reading for the Halloween season but is guaranteed to give you goose bumps any time of year—especially if the wind happens to be howling outside and the sun has slipped below the horizon. Superb storytelling!
This is my third Jerry Roth book, like with his other books the characters all well fleshed out and nuanced even in short form. My challenge with short stories is always wanting more or being left to assume what happened. In this collection we get creepy tales that give us everything you want in a horror anthology. I was impressed that the stories did not rely wholly on rote horror tropes but rather added a little edge and fear to short stories about relationships and real life scenarios. Even though the stories are short, it's easy to quickly immerse in them and relate to the characters. A few of the stories have that Grimms feel where you can see something bad is coming and you're screaming inside for the characters to wake up to it.
My favorites were the outright scarier ones like Always Say Goodbye, The Teddy Bear and Ice Cream Man.
Thanks to the author via Netgalley for access to this one. All opinions above are my own.
My favorites were the outright scarier ones like Always Say Goodbye, The Teddy Bear and Ice Cream Man.
Thanks to the author via Netgalley for access to this one. All opinions above are my own.
This was my first book written by Jerry Roth. I was really apprehensive to start this book as it consists of 9 short stories. Myself and short story collections don’t get along very well as I find it hard rating them from loving one story, disliking another etc. However this pleasantly surprised me as I loved all 9 stories in this book. They were all a good mix of being creepy and unsettling. The twists were great and as an avid horror reader I was surprised that I didn’t see anything coming. The endings of the stories were extremely satisfying with only one story (My Soul to Take) having quite a sad ending. Each story was different so the book didn’t feel repetitive and I was so surprised how fast I read this. I’m sure the book wasn’t perfect in a lot of ways however I had so much fun with it and enjoyed my time reading each story.
*Thank you to Netgalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review*
This was a fun and spooky collection of short stories! Some were quite unnerving. Started off strong with a scarecrow, which are something I HATE. Haha! Great, quick read at 158 pages! I'm really enjoying these short horror stories!
This was a fun and spooky collection of short stories! Some were quite unnerving. Started off strong with a scarecrow, which are something I HATE. Haha! Great, quick read at 158 pages! I'm really enjoying these short horror stories!