vondav's review
5.0
30 short stories and poems bought to us by eleven authors, if you have a spare 10 minutes or like me read the whole book from start to finish you will sure to find at least one story your love. Serial Killers, Demonic children, Vampires to name a few, each story has its own horrors,
If I reviewed every story in this anthology, then we would be here all day. So, for this review, here are my favourites.
Eyes of Evil by JL Clayton…Lisa and Erick have wanted a baby but after being told that she will never able to have children, they decide to adopt. On their first visit to meet the children, they come across a young boy called Kai. He was abused by his satanic parents and was put up for adoption, but is he the child of their dreams. From the moment, you start this story, you know that someone or something is evil, Throughout, this story the author makes you doubt your thoughts and ideas, is Kai evil or not. With the suspense building right to the very end, you eventually find out who Kai is.
Caller No 9 by Carissa Lynch... Ariel was involved in a nasty accident and although she is fully recovered she feels that something is missing, so when there is a competition for an all expenses holiday in the rain forest, she just had to be caller no 9, but was it too good to be true. This story is nothing how I imagined it would finish, I was imaging all types of horrors raining down on the rain forest, but I forgot one thing, this is a story by Carissa, the way she finds the darkest horrors in human nature and puts them in a story is brilliant. A story that will keep you guessing to the end.
Christmas Nightmare Inn by Skyler McKinzie…Paige and her friend had booked a holiday to Maple Leaf Inn. A typical inn filled with young people all wanting to spend the Christmas vacation together. Around a log fire the group was told about the supposed haunting of a young girl who died right there at the lodge. From the start, I thought it was going to be a typical ghost story, but with the added twist made it a lot darker. The author had a good way of blending the history of the dead girl with Paige’s trip, a good read.
Darkness by Theresa Jacobs… Farrell had stayed at the pub till closing time. He has to walk 5 miles home in the bitter cold and the dark. This was quite a short story but the author told the story well. With each step Farrell took you could really feel his fear. Although the ending was to be expected, I was still surprised by the response of the others. Could this be an urban legend?
Bloodlust by Amanda Leigh… A story of a vampire and his thirst for blood. It was a refreshing change to read a story about a vampire doing what vampires do, kill people for their blood, add a witch and you get a great battle. Not a sparkle in sight.
There is a good collection of authors in this is book and there were quite a few authors, I had not read before. There was a good balance of length of stories which does mean you can fit them in round life. My only complaint is that some stories left me wanting more, although this is not a bad thing. Another good anthology.
If I reviewed every story in this anthology, then we would be here all day. So, for this review, here are my favourites.
Eyes of Evil by JL Clayton…Lisa and Erick have wanted a baby but after being told that she will never able to have children, they decide to adopt. On their first visit to meet the children, they come across a young boy called Kai. He was abused by his satanic parents and was put up for adoption, but is he the child of their dreams. From the moment, you start this story, you know that someone or something is evil, Throughout, this story the author makes you doubt your thoughts and ideas, is Kai evil or not. With the suspense building right to the very end, you eventually find out who Kai is.
Caller No 9 by Carissa Lynch... Ariel was involved in a nasty accident and although she is fully recovered she feels that something is missing, so when there is a competition for an all expenses holiday in the rain forest, she just had to be caller no 9, but was it too good to be true. This story is nothing how I imagined it would finish, I was imaging all types of horrors raining down on the rain forest, but I forgot one thing, this is a story by Carissa, the way she finds the darkest horrors in human nature and puts them in a story is brilliant. A story that will keep you guessing to the end.
Christmas Nightmare Inn by Skyler McKinzie…Paige and her friend had booked a holiday to Maple Leaf Inn. A typical inn filled with young people all wanting to spend the Christmas vacation together. Around a log fire the group was told about the supposed haunting of a young girl who died right there at the lodge. From the start, I thought it was going to be a typical ghost story, but with the added twist made it a lot darker. The author had a good way of blending the history of the dead girl with Paige’s trip, a good read.
Darkness by Theresa Jacobs… Farrell had stayed at the pub till closing time. He has to walk 5 miles home in the bitter cold and the dark. This was quite a short story but the author told the story well. With each step Farrell took you could really feel his fear. Although the ending was to be expected, I was still surprised by the response of the others. Could this be an urban legend?
Bloodlust by Amanda Leigh… A story of a vampire and his thirst for blood. It was a refreshing change to read a story about a vampire doing what vampires do, kill people for their blood, add a witch and you get a great battle. Not a sparkle in sight.
There is a good collection of authors in this is book and there were quite a few authors, I had not read before. There was a good balance of length of stories which does mean you can fit them in round life. My only complaint is that some stories left me wanting more, although this is not a bad thing. Another good anthology.
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