Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC from netgalley in exchange for a review.

A short story collection featuring horror and dark fiction short stories, often with a feminist and woman-focused plot. Some topics are explored in multiple stories (particularly motherhood, grief and mental illness play a repeated role in the collection), but this collection manages to not get repetitive by exploring these same tropes (particularly the loss of a child is a topic that occurs a few times in this anthology) in a variety of settings and with very different approaches to it. The stories are very short, but there are only very few where I was left wishing for more, instead most of them worked really well considering the limited number of pages they had to work with. Similarly, there were no stories that I felt dragged or seemed too long, which is a great feat for an anthology like this.
While I didn’t enjoy every single story, there were only 3 short stories that didn’t work for me at all, some I just found okay, and quite a few I really enjoyed, such as “No Place Like Home”, “Circle”, “Neon Fly”, “I Started With Placental Encapsulation”, “The Cool Kids” and “Hag Stone”.
Most of the horror is of a dreamlike and surreal nature, encapsulating the feelings of dissociation and grief that often leaves us feel dreamlike and surreal ourselves. I also liked that the horror genres explored moved from haunted homes, contemporary feminist, sci-fi, lovely creature features and more. In general, I enjoyed the writing style a lot and even the stories I didn’t enjoy reading weren’t a slog to get through, but they just didn’t connect with me on the level I like my horror to connect with me.
I also adored that the author provided detailed trigger warnings in front of the anthology, allowing me to prepare for the dark topics explored here.
All in all, if you enjoy unconventional horror, feminist horror, dark weird fiction and are able to let yourself be sucked into surreal and strange places while reading, this is a short story collection I can recommend.
Numerically this rounds out to a 3.5 star rating, but I've rounded it up for the fact that there weren't really any stories in here that I absolutely did not enjoy and quite I few I enjoyed a lot.
I’ve also taken notes on all the short stories, writing short descriptions (mostly spoiler free) and including the trigger warnings that the author presented in the book.

Step Inside: A short story following the dangers of getting too absorbed in a story, when you are supposed to be doing other things. Scary, with an interesting narrator’s voice. tw suggested child abuse, suggested violence, child neglect
*FAV* No Place Like Home: A woman feels a pull urging her to return to her childhood home. But stepping inside that place will bring back dangers from her past. Really fun and tense and I enjoyed the exploration of a severely dysfunctional family portrayed here and the way it still influenced the daughter’s life even after both her parents had died. Also, it was incredibly heartbreaking in its portrayal of eating disorders and grief. And the end! Incredibly dark and really well written. tw eating disorders, vomiting, past child abuse, miscarriage, death, gore, blood
We Still Don’t use the Garage: A really interesting story told from the perspective of a formerly homeless man who has finally managed to find a home. I enjoyed the dialect chosen for this piece of work, definitely made it more interesting to read. tw death, alcoholism, homelessness
*FAV* Circle: A family struggling with the mother’s mental illness (bipolar), as she tries to cope with her ups and downs, protect her son and somehow also make art in between, but one evening, everything gets too much and she fails in the one thing she never wanted to fail in. Dark and sad and lyrical. Mental illness as a familial curse is always a lovely trope that I enjoy. tw suicide attempt, mental health (bipolar), blood, grief
A Piece Missing: A haunted woman is looking for a baby in a house that seems to have slipped out of time (or has only she slipped away?). Written in a wonderfully delirious way, this story is Weird with a capital W, incredibly strange and intriguing. Definitely not for every reader, but I enjoyed its feverish horror. tw suggested child murder, gore, death, postnatal depression, grief, existentialism
*FAV* Neon Fly: An apocalyptic eco-horror, where microplastic and the genetically engineered flies created to destroy plastic have taken over the world and a mother tries to escape to Mars with her daughter, gorey and gross and heartbreaking, tw gore, murder, death, blood
*FAV* It Started with Placental Encapsulation: A woman grieving for her mother and overworked by taking care of her baby turns to strange foods for comfort, heartbreaking, but really interesting! tw gore, blood, suggested domestic abuse, misogyny, death, violence, grief
The Dangers of Ill-Prepared Shellfish: A dark retelling of Venus and Mars’ story, centered around Venus trapped in the house Mars took her too after she stepped onto the shores, very dark and with a satisfying ending, tw domestic violence, gore, suggested rape, body horror, death, gaslighting, blood, forced marriage
Juliet, Juliet: A woman sinking ever deeper into her drug addiction after her girlfriend left her starts seeing a woman, who looks just like her, heavily focused on the deep dark drag of depression and drug addiction, this weaves a heartbreaking tale (and obviously the names Rommy and Juliet also work ;)) tw drug abuse, addiction, gore, death, blood, maggots, depression, grief, suicide
The Beauty Parlour: A world where due to mass-extinction the few rich survivors have decided to make the most of their limited time on Earth and go all in with weird body mods turning themselves into different kinds of animals, very hunger games-esque? I think I would have enjoyed this one more if it had just been focused on the body mods and the reasons for it and not so much the massive inequality of this failing planet, tw body mutilation, murder, gore, assault
Sick Girl: A weird short story about a young woman spending her free time in the hospital, trying to stay under everybody’s radar, not really developed enough for me, tw self-harm, gore, drug abuse, addiction, hypochondria, blood
*FAV* The Cool Kids: A man in his late thirties finds himself hosting a party for his old high school classmates and after being handed some drugs and some cajoling from his old classmates finds himself stripping down all the way, intriguing with a lovely body horror angle, I liked it! tw gore, murder, bullying, blood, self-mutilation
Cosmic Spin Class on Deck 112: A woman deep in depression after a big loss finds herself compelled to try out a new alien drug combined with sport therapy, which is supposed to help her recover. Very trippy, but heartbreaking and a good sci-fi horror, tw loss of a child, gore, depression, grief, existentialism
Labourers Wanted: A mother of two young children desperate for an escape from her increasingly violent home life finds a new place of employment. Her fragile peace threatens to be shattered when her husband follows her to work one morning. Satisfying end, but I would have enjoyed a bit more world building here. tw domestic violence, gore, mutilation, assault, suggested rape, misogyny, body horror, gaslighting, blood, eyes
All the Parts of a Mermaid that I Can Recall: A sailor wakes up in a hospital, desperate to get back to the mermaid he kidnapped. But why won’t they let him leave and why is there such an ugly tattoo on his arm? An interesting interweave of technology, misogyny and delusions. tw body horror, mutilation, misogyny, domestic violence, blood, gore
Every Cloud: This story follows a woman with the power to make it rain when she bleeds, starting with her in school and ending after a tragic loss. Intriguing concept and very heartbreaking. tw blood, self-harm, depression, miscarriage, existentialism, body horror, death
I Pull My Blanket Up Beneath my Chin: A child terrified of the dark. Unfortunately, this story didn’t work for me at all. A story from the perspective of a child needs to be very carefully constructed for a reader to fully immerse themselves in their horror and unfortunately this was just not the case here for me. tw suggested child abuse, gore, religion
One Lie for One Soul: A horrifying pregnancy horror based on Mary and Joseph, punishment for the lie they told. Fine? Maybe more interesting if you are interested in horror twists on Christian mythology (which I am not particularly). Cool body horror though. tw religion, blasphemy, murder, gore, blood, miscarriage, death
Black Metal in a White Room: A sci fi horror of a gruesome type of alien body snatchers this story follows a man haunted by invisible beings that provide housing and internet in exchange for blood donations. But their demands increase! Nice body horror and very trippy, I enjoyed this one. tw body horror, blood, gore, mutilation, eyes, tooth/mouth horror, surgical horror
In His Memory: A terrifying computer simulated world where people, who aren’t interesting enough, get turned back into random strings of code and the scramble of a couple trying to become interesting, very heartbreaking, tw dementia, grief, suggested violence against an animal, murder, body horror, death, existentialism
*FAV* Hag Stone: A story about a young man cleaning out his grandma’s old cabin in the woods and ignoring his mother’s and all other warnings that come his way. Gruesome and great body horror in the end. tw eyes, blood, gore, body horror, loss, death
Christingle Service: A young girl growing up under the oppressive religious beliefs of her mother and the fact that her mom blames her for the death of her twin during birth. Really dark and messy, I liked it. tw depression, drug abuse, suggested child abuse, loss of a child, miscarriage, religion, blasphemy, death, suggested suicide
How to Read a Woman: A serial killer on his search for his newest victim picks up the wrong girl on a night out. Interesting body horror. tw misogyny, eyes, body horror, death, suggested sexual assault, stalking, death