phoebusnyktelios 's review for:

Make a Home of Me by Vanessa Santos

4.5

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Make a Home of Me by Vanessa Santos is an anthology that takes all the places that we should be able to feel safe and comforted and turns them into something terrifying. Since it's an anthology, I decided to go through each story and give my impressions!

Table Scraps

Table Scraps is a funeral dinner like no other that will leave you wondering how far you would go to honor the wishes of a loved one. It's visceral and uncomfortable, while also showing the many ways in which grief can take root in a person.

Emily

Emily takes "weird girl" to a whole new level. What starts out as something a bit unsettling quickly ties a knot in pit of the reader's stomach, and this was one of the scarier entries in the anthology.

Mouthful

Mouthful chronicles the last days of a reclusive artist through her journal entries about the monster she believes is stalking her remote home. I found this one to be quite creepy as well.

Changes

Changes is an eerie and atmospheric look at the way a social situation can change a loved one into someone you don't recognize. So spooky!

Make a Home of Me

The titular Make a Home of Me is about a family plagued by strange notes that seem to be coming from the house itself. This was one of my favorite stories in this book, and it genuinely made me tear up.

As Above, So Below

As Above, So Below shows the effects of an alien invasion confining people to their homes. This was the only story that didn't quite work for me. It was well written, but I didn't find it as spooky as the others.

Riverquick, Saltfresh

Riverquick, Saltfresh is a mermaid story, at its core, but with an eerie sense of foreboding. These are certainly not Disney mermaids!

The Wall

The Wall is the tale of an older childless couple who are being driven mad by the sound of an endlessly crying baby in the house next door, which shares a wall with their bedroom. Very effective, and a lesson in being careful what you wish for.