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A review by cyanide_latte
All Hallow's Heat by C.C. Gedling, Michaella Dieter, Des Sweet, M. Bonnet, Ivy Penn, Simran, B. Livingstone, Heleva Risque, Adelaide King, Serafina Jax, Celeste Night, P.H. Nix, Hollis Kay, Rebecca Rathe, Willow Sinclair, Poppy Jacobson
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I received this ebook for free when I'd signed up for something (can't recall what) over a year ago. I needed something to flip through on my Kindle and this seemed like a decent enough option.
I wish I had something nice to say about this. Unfortunately, the nicest thing I can muster was that there were one or two entries that I sort of enjoyed, a little. The rest all felt very same-y after a while, to the point maybe a whole four in all of this stood out from the rest. I have to wonder what the criteria was for being able to submit an entry purely on that basis, because I noticed very quickly there are a lot of "mafia romance" stories, and a lot of stories labeled "dubcon" or "noncon" only to cushion that label at the last second with the surprise reveal that it was actually the spouse or boyfriend or whatever the entire time and it's all good and ends well on a happy, semi-fluffy note. (While I don't mind that kind of bait-and-switch typically, the fact it was present in so many of these stories has me raising an eyebrow. Was there concern about actually going full pedal to the metal with dubcon and noncon? Was it not allowed by the editor? It also touches on my mild annoyance that I really don't think anyone knows anymore, especially in the romance book community or the BookTok community, what the original concept or basis behind a dark romance or darkship was. But that's a rant for a different day and a different platform.) Often it just felt like the label was added to a story for safety's sake ex post facto, and while I appreciate that on a level of wanting to have adequate content warnings for readers, it makes those elements feel forced or like you're reaching.
Additionally, I don't know why this is labeled as horror on this site. Thriller I could understand, there are plenty of thriller elements throughout the entire collection! But horror? No. Makes me wonder if that was used in order to make readers stop and consider whether they really want to give this a shot, and the only reason why I could think that someone would apply that label is due to the fact each short story has a content warnings page preceding it. And honestly, that's adequate enough, in my opinion. The fact this is listed as horror is a mislabel; don't let it fool or mislead you.
I wish I had something nice to say about this. Unfortunately, the nicest thing I can muster was that there were one or two entries that I sort of enjoyed, a little. The rest all felt very same-y after a while, to the point maybe a whole four in all of this stood out from the rest. I have to wonder what the criteria was for being able to submit an entry purely on that basis, because I noticed very quickly there are a lot of "mafia romance" stories, and a lot of stories labeled "dubcon" or "noncon" only to cushion that label at the last second with the surprise reveal that it was actually the spouse or boyfriend or whatever the entire time and it's all good and ends well on a happy, semi-fluffy note. (While I don't mind that kind of bait-and-switch typically, the fact it was present in so many of these stories has me raising an eyebrow. Was there concern about actually going full pedal to the metal with dubcon and noncon? Was it not allowed by the editor? It also touches on my mild annoyance that I really don't think anyone knows anymore, especially in the romance book community or the BookTok community, what the original concept or basis behind a dark romance or darkship was. But that's a rant for a different day and a different platform.) Often it just felt like the label was added to a story for safety's sake ex post facto, and while I appreciate that on a level of wanting to have adequate content warnings for readers, it makes those elements feel forced or like you're reaching.
Additionally, I don't know why this is labeled as horror on this site. Thriller I could understand, there are plenty of thriller elements throughout the entire collection! But horror? No. Makes me wonder if that was used in order to make readers stop and consider whether they really want to give this a shot, and the only reason why I could think that someone would apply that label is due to the fact each short story has a content warnings page preceding it. And honestly, that's adequate enough, in my opinion. The fact this is listed as horror is a mislabel; don't let it fool or mislead you.