Anthologies are always hit or miss for me, because the stories themselves are hit or miss. There were definitely some stories that really stood out in this collection, lots of tears and emotions that are hard to pack a punch with in a short story. Other stories were confusing or easily forgettable. The scope of the collection was also a bit confusing. I know it says "dark fiction anthology" on the front, but I feel like this has been widely marketed as a horror collection, even the back of the book suggests so. So while there are many great stories in this collection, I feel like the collection as a whole felt a bit disjointed because you could go from something spooky to heartbreaking, closer to creative nonfiction vibes.

Overall, I did enjoy most of the stories and felt it has a lot to teach, but the expectations for it were quite a but different than the actual result. 

I was also a little bothered by the content warnings online. I was so excited to see they had individual content warnings for each story online. I was less excited to see quite a few stories missing some pretty heavy ones from their lists. It feels like a bit of a disservice to readers to list these online, which can create a sense of comfort for readers who depend on these content warnings, to throw in surprise themes of sexual assault and cannibalism, for example. I would just like to see more care put into this if it's to be included for readers in future collections (I believe another is being made?). ☺️