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biteintobooks's review
4.0
Thanks to the author for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book is much longer, and that means longer stories, more stories, different stories. What I liked is that there was even MORE creativity, there was not one story that was the same as a story in the first book. There was much more variety and there were less Evil Santa stories, which surprised me.
Again; I liked celebrating the Christmas spirit in a lovely horror-kind of way. If you're a fan of horror books, you should definitely save this one up for Christmas, it's what I did too. I believe that it's much more fun to read these books during Christmas time.
What I do have to mention is that some of the stories didn't feel all that Christmassy and some were really far fetched. I even DNF-ed 2 of the stories as well. I was also wondering sometimes; are these really SHOT stories? Some were too long for my taste.
But, hey, still a great book to read, 4 stars!
The original review can be found at Bite Into Books
This book is much longer, and that means longer stories, more stories, different stories. What I liked is that there was even MORE creativity, there was not one story that was the same as a story in the first book. There was much more variety and there were less Evil Santa stories, which surprised me.
Again; I liked celebrating the Christmas spirit in a lovely horror-kind of way. If you're a fan of horror books, you should definitely save this one up for Christmas, it's what I did too. I believe that it's much more fun to read these books during Christmas time.
What I do have to mention is that some of the stories didn't feel all that Christmassy and some were really far fetched. I even DNF-ed 2 of the stories as well. I was also wondering sometimes; are these really SHOT stories? Some were too long for my taste.
But, hey, still a great book to read, 4 stars!
The original review can be found at Bite Into Books
ericarobyn's review
5.0
Collected Christmas Horror Shorts 2 was an awesomely dark collection of short stories.
When Kevin J. Kennedy sent me a copy of Collected Christmas Horror Shorts 2, I was so antsy to dive in! I just couldn't wait for Thanksgiving to come and go so I could read this one.
On November 23rd (the day after the US Thanksgiving), I turned on my Kindle and started the first tale...
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:
Per usual with these types of collections, here are my rating breakdowns for each story along with some immediate thoughts/reactions:
Christmas Lunch by Amy Cross- 5/5
The wording in this story was so clever! I had an inkling of what was going on, but it was still so interested to see what was going to happen next!
Frau Perchta by Suzanne Fox- 2/5
I enjoyed the gore toward the end in this one, but the dialogue and the sexual scene in the beginning wasn't for me.
Duende by Christina Bergling- 3/5
Oh siblings... I didn't love the first half of this story because of how rotten the older sister was. But I really enjoyed the second half of this one!
A Noel in Black by Matthew Brockmeyer- n/a
Not a story for me.
The Mall Santa by Christopher Motz- 4/5
I loved the take on punishing those on the naughty list. And the little creatures that would one day be elves? Super creepy!
The Yuletide Butcher by Mike Duke- 5/5
Phew! So dark and gory! I really enjoyed this one!
The Ghost of Christmas Office Party Past by C.S. Anderson- 4/5
Terrifying in a very real world way. Stories like this give me the chills; just one person cracking up and having access to a gun...
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas by Matt Hickman- 5/5
So creepy! I loved the idea behind this one! And that ending!!
The Kringle by Peter Oliver Wonder- 5/5
What an interesting sci-fi twist!! This story mentioned that while Earths population continued to grow, Santa’s job got easier and easier as more people moved to the naughty list, even kids who were being raised to be selfish. This was rather sad but how it came back around at the end was so awesome!
Ho Ho Hollow by Mark Cassell- 4/5
Terrifying! This poor family.
How the Witch Stole Yuletide by James Matthew Buyers- 3/5
A fast paced poem about the witch and Grendel causing some terror.
Sugar Vision by Sara Tantlinger- 4/5
So creepy! Parts of this were mouth-watering, others made my stomach turn a bit. Very well done!
The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy- 5/5
I loved the storyline of this one! It was very upsetting, but the revenge and the ending was so wonderful and gory.
Something in the Stocking by P. Mattern- 5/5
Brutal from the start and that ending!!
Black Eye Friday by J.C. Michael- 3/5
Interesting. I certainly didn’t see the ending coming.
Christmas in Hell by Kevin J Kennedy- 5/5
In this version of hell, no one answers questions. They just give bits and pieces of information in general conversation. That would drive me insane! And of course, who doesn’t love a Krampus story?!
Santa Claus Comes At Night by Andrew Lennon- 3/5
Eek! So terrifying! Poor Marcus.
Catching Santa by Michael A. Arnzen- 5/5
Yes! What an awesome paranormal tale!
Christmas Curse by Weston Kincade- 3/5
An action-packed, interesting twist on things.
Weihnachtstag by Mark Fleming- 4/5
Woah.
Secret Santa by Veronica Smith- 5/5
So creepy and so sad! I really enjoyed reading this one! The dreams that acted as flashbacks were put together so wonderfully in order to give the reader just a bit more information as the story progressed.
The Joys of Christmas by Lisa Morton- 5/5
This was a great story to end up! Terrifyingly real-world and it makes a great point about how out of control gift giving has gotten!
My final thoughts:
Overall, a wonderful collection! This is definitely one that I would love to pick up each year to read through my favorites! I highly recommend this if you're looking for a darker holiday read!
When Kevin J. Kennedy sent me a copy of Collected Christmas Horror Shorts 2, I was so antsy to dive in! I just couldn't wait for Thanksgiving to come and go so I could read this one.
On November 23rd (the day after the US Thanksgiving), I turned on my Kindle and started the first tale...
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:
Per usual with these types of collections, here are my rating breakdowns for each story along with some immediate thoughts/reactions:
Christmas Lunch by Amy Cross- 5/5
The wording in this story was so clever! I had an inkling of what was going on, but it was still so interested to see what was going to happen next!
Frau Perchta by Suzanne Fox- 2/5
I enjoyed the gore toward the end in this one, but the dialogue and the sexual scene in the beginning wasn't for me.
Duende by Christina Bergling- 3/5
Oh siblings... I didn't love the first half of this story because of how rotten the older sister was. But I really enjoyed the second half of this one!
A Noel in Black by Matthew Brockmeyer- n/a
Not a story for me.
The Mall Santa by Christopher Motz- 4/5
I loved the take on punishing those on the naughty list. And the little creatures that would one day be elves? Super creepy!
The Yuletide Butcher by Mike Duke- 5/5
Phew! So dark and gory! I really enjoyed this one!
The Ghost of Christmas Office Party Past by C.S. Anderson- 4/5
Terrifying in a very real world way. Stories like this give me the chills; just one person cracking up and having access to a gun...
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas by Matt Hickman- 5/5
So creepy! I loved the idea behind this one! And that ending!!
The Kringle by Peter Oliver Wonder- 5/5
What an interesting sci-fi twist!! This story mentioned that while Earths population continued to grow, Santa’s job got easier and easier as more people moved to the naughty list, even kids who were being raised to be selfish. This was rather sad but how it came back around at the end was so awesome!
Ho Ho Hollow by Mark Cassell- 4/5
Terrifying! This poor family.
How the Witch Stole Yuletide by James Matthew Buyers- 3/5
A fast paced poem about the witch and Grendel causing some terror.
Sugar Vision by Sara Tantlinger- 4/5
So creepy! Parts of this were mouth-watering, others made my stomach turn a bit. Very well done!
The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy- 5/5
I loved the storyline of this one! It was very upsetting, but the revenge and the ending was so wonderful and gory.
Something in the Stocking by P. Mattern- 5/5
Brutal from the start and that ending!!
Black Eye Friday by J.C. Michael- 3/5
Interesting. I certainly didn’t see the ending coming.
Christmas in Hell by Kevin J Kennedy- 5/5
In this version of hell, no one answers questions. They just give bits and pieces of information in general conversation. That would drive me insane! And of course, who doesn’t love a Krampus story?!
Santa Claus Comes At Night by Andrew Lennon- 3/5
Eek! So terrifying! Poor Marcus.
Catching Santa by Michael A. Arnzen- 5/5
Yes! What an awesome paranormal tale!
Christmas Curse by Weston Kincade- 3/5
An action-packed, interesting twist on things.
Weihnachtstag by Mark Fleming- 4/5
Woah.
Secret Santa by Veronica Smith- 5/5
So creepy and so sad! I really enjoyed reading this one! The dreams that acted as flashbacks were put together so wonderfully in order to give the reader just a bit more information as the story progressed.
The Joys of Christmas by Lisa Morton- 5/5
This was a great story to end up! Terrifyingly real-world and it makes a great point about how out of control gift giving has gotten!
My final thoughts:
Overall, a wonderful collection! This is definitely one that I would love to pick up each year to read through my favorites! I highly recommend this if you're looking for a darker holiday read!
exorcismofemilyreed's review
3.0
"Today's different. Today's special. Today's Christmas."
Collected Christmas Horror Shorts Vol. II is an anthology of 22 Christmas-related horror stories edited by Brandy Yassa. This anthology is a bit of a mixed bag - I found some that I adored, and some I really didn't care for. Overall, I enjoyed many of the stories offered in this book.
My top 5 stories were Christmas Lunch by Amy Cross, Duende by Christina Bergling, The Mall Santa by Christopher Motz, Sugar Vision by Sara Tantlinger, and Something in the Stocking by P. Mattern. There was a pretty good variety of stories here, and I was happy while reading. I ordered the book when I found out Sara Tantlinger was going to have a story in it, and I absolutely loved hers (as expected). All 5 of these stories were so entertaining, and I would love to see what other spookiness these writers have come up with.
I had only read 4 of these authors before, and it was awesome to be introduced to so many new ones. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for more from writers such as Andrew Lennon and Veronica Smith. I also enjoyed hearing about some legends like Duende that I hadn't heard of before.
While there were many fantastic stories in this anthology, there were quite a few that were a struggle to read. The good ones are worth getting through the bad ones, though. I think the anthology could have used a little more editing - there were some errors that I found to be distracting. Nothing too bad, though. Overall, I'm glad that I picked up Collected Christmas Horror Shorts Vol. II, and I would read another volume in this series. Yay for all the fun Christmas horror I've found this year! I hope I find good ones next year, too.
Collected Christmas Horror Shorts Vol. II is an anthology of 22 Christmas-related horror stories edited by Brandy Yassa. This anthology is a bit of a mixed bag - I found some that I adored, and some I really didn't care for. Overall, I enjoyed many of the stories offered in this book.
My top 5 stories were Christmas Lunch by Amy Cross, Duende by Christina Bergling, The Mall Santa by Christopher Motz, Sugar Vision by Sara Tantlinger, and Something in the Stocking by P. Mattern. There was a pretty good variety of stories here, and I was happy while reading. I ordered the book when I found out Sara Tantlinger was going to have a story in it, and I absolutely loved hers (as expected). All 5 of these stories were so entertaining, and I would love to see what other spookiness these writers have come up with.
I had only read 4 of these authors before, and it was awesome to be introduced to so many new ones. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for more from writers such as Andrew Lennon and Veronica Smith. I also enjoyed hearing about some legends like Duende that I hadn't heard of before.
While there were many fantastic stories in this anthology, there were quite a few that were a struggle to read. The good ones are worth getting through the bad ones, though. I think the anthology could have used a little more editing - there were some errors that I found to be distracting. Nothing too bad, though. Overall, I'm glad that I picked up Collected Christmas Horror Shorts Vol. II, and I would read another volume in this series. Yay for all the fun Christmas horror I've found this year! I hope I find good ones next year, too.
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