Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book by the author in exchange for a review.

This story is a beautiful example of a cyberpunk sci-fi noir with a healthy dose of romance. It follows a grieving private detective Ryoma as he is trying to get back into work after having his life derailed by a traumatic death. What starts out as a simple case of uncovering a cheating husband's affair so his wife can divorce him soon turns out to be a lot more than meets the eye and Ryoma can't stop himself from digging deeper.
This story takes some of the most intruiging aspects of its genres (synthetics, cybernetic implants and their upkeep as big corporations fuck with people's bodies for a quick buck, megacities divided between the mega-rich and the seedy underbelly of poorer people struggling to survive, traumatized private investigator and traumatized lounge singer with a troubled past) and weaves it into a beautiful tapestry filled in with incredibly interesting world building.
If I didn't know this was a debut work I would not believe it to be one either. The writing and particularly the dialogue feels fluid and natural and as I already mentioned the world building manages to feel immersive without being info-dumpy, creating a rich world with interesting characters and yet never overwhelming me with that information.
For a story that moves quite fast in the escalation of the mystery, it also has its moments to slow down and let us bask in the sweet and tender moments of romance and relationship building, which added further depth.
All in all I really enjoyed this book and if you enjoy cyberpunk noir sci-fi romances I can only advise you to check it out!

Trigger warnings for: sexual assault, dehumanisation, violence, murder, massive invasion of bodily autonomy in a non-sexual way (in addition to the sexual assault), aspects of invasive body horror and loss of autonomy.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Having recently discovered Cursed Morsel Press with "The Nightmare Box and Other Stories", I was incredibly excited to get this ARC in my inbox. I was expecting a great work of diverse horror with stories that would make my skin crawl and explore societal wrongs at the same time and I received that. But I also received a wonderful exploration of the haunted house genre and its themes of family, poverty and trauma. The hauntings are often something different here, from your typical vengeful ghosts, over trauma, possession, loss, mental illness and other people, to a strange disease and the places that are haunted reach from ones own home, a loved ones home, a prison, a hut in the mountains, a bathroom, a bed and an old chair. As you can already tell, there's a wide variety provided here and in general if you enjoy the haunted house trope please read this collection! There will be a story here that you enjoy!
My personal favorite pieces were: Exposure by E.M. Linden, Your Application to Vacate 372 Wicker Avenue is still Pending by Steve Loiaconi, Lamai by J.A.W. McCarthy, She Has Me, She Holds Me, She Shows Me the Emptiness by R. Diego Martinez, To the Moon and Back by Christa Carmen, Good Company by Suzan Palumbo, Tell me your Sins and I'll tell you Mine by Cassandra Khaw & AITA for setting my dad's trailer on fire by Max Booth III. I've bolded them in my short list where I've noted down some trigger warnings (which are also provided in the back of the book!):

No Joy Exists Anywhere Beyond Your Front Door by Corey Farrenkopf - a pick your own adventure type story featuring a nice combination of four fucked up homes, I particularly liked the serial killer floorboards and the house made of skin and most importantly I am so glad I don't live in either, 4/5 tw gore
The World Ended There by Alberto Chimal - a heartbreaking haunting of loss, the world depicted here was bleak and haunting and unfortunately much too realistic, 4/5 tw murder, implied csa
*Fav* Exposure by E.M. Linden - an isolation horror set in a small mountain hut during a snow story, veeeeery good and claustrophobic, 5/5 tw death
Spend-A-Penny by Die Booth - a haunted public bathroom featuring a trans woman MC, spooky and yet with a very sweet ending, 4/5
Kin by Raquel Castro -A hungry haunted house and the family that it devours, fuuuuun!!!! 4/5 tw suicide, infant death
*Fav* Your Application to Vacate 372 Wicker Avenue is Still Pending by Steve Loiaconi - A family desperately trying to move out of a government funded haunted home when the haunting turns out to be a lot more deadly than advertised, wonderfully describes the frustration and horror of the very slow movement of bureaucracy, 5/5 tw: death
*Fav* Lamai by J.A.W. McCarthy - A ghost helps a lesbian get over her unrequited crush, messed up and really fun! 5/5 tw murder, eating non-food, hallucinations
The Spirit Bed by Eden Royce - A haunted bed and a sister delving into dreams to rescue her sister, it's ok and I liked the ghost lore but unfortunately the rest was a bit boring and this story did not interest me that much, 2/5 tw ableism
*Fav* She Has Me, She Holds Me, She Shows Me the Emptiness by R. Diego Martinez - a man escapes from his unhealthy relationship and mental illness by letting a ghost possess him, disassociation swag, fuuuuuun!!!! Tw: self harm, discussion of suicide, emotional abuse, past homophobic hate crime 5/5
Unread Messages by Gabe Converse - a trans man is haunted by his mother that kicked him out after transitioning, heartbreaking and scary, bonus points for a cute cat <3, 4/5 tw transphobic parent, deadnaming
Because It Was Worse Outside by Victoria Dalpe - a woman unable to leave her house under the best circumstances faces a new horror when a terrifying creature starts appearing in her wall, fucky, scary and unfortunately realistic in its horror, 4/5 tw: past rape, past murder, anxiety/panic attacks/trauma
Wolves in the Little Pig's House by Shauntae Ball - three siblings escape from their hoarder mother's house after a fire, but are they truly free? Interesting and messed up, 4/5 tw: physical abuse, murder, abusive family, animal death
Mother Nature Knows Best by Tonia Ransom - a convicted serial killer and a woman exchange letters when some strange disease starts infecting people in the prison, fuuuuuun and it felt incredibly timely considering the way Covid19 was allowed to sweep through prisons, 4/5 tw: death row, epidemic, serial murder, death
*Fav* To the Moon and Back by Christa Carmen - When i started this short story i was confused how the title would work, but it does fit wonderfully, a mother haunted and her concered daughter, made me tear up a bit, 5/5 tw: past covid deaths, past epidemic, past attempted rape, past schoolshooting
*Fav* Good Company by Suzan Palumbo - A migrant caretaker is determined to stay at her place of employment at any cost, even if her employer's ghosts are coming after her, heartbreaking and scary and a very great exploration of the exploitation of migrant labor, 5/5 tw: past child death, strangulation
The Walls in This House by Lyndsey Croal - a young girl and her neglectful mother live in a house haunted by her dead grandmother, fucked up but fun!!!! 4/5 tw: neglectful parent, animal murder, murder
*Fav* Tell Me Your Sins and I'll Tell You Mine by Cassandra Khaw - a woman with a dark past moves into a new place with her husband, he loves her despite her past and she tries to make it work, but their neighbors, his friends, that they moved in with, really don't make it easy! Soooo fucked up, gross and fun!!!! 5/5 tw murder
Where There's Smoke by Alexis DuBon - a house that loves you and hates you and most importantly wants to keep you all for itself, fun and scary, very lyrical and I loved the descriptions of colors 4/5, tw: abusive relationship
Anagen by Rhiannon Rasmussen - very short, about a student moving into a hallway thats pretty much just a toilet and a bathtub, cursed renting experience, but too short to be truly unsettling 3/5
The Head Harvest by Joe Koch - a man returning to his childhood home that he left with his dad telling him to never come back and finding it empty, unfortunately a bit disjointed and not too interesting to me, 2/5 tw animal death
Teeth by I.S. Belle - A lonely person moves into a new places with roommates and hopes to find connection, unfortunately the house is quite possessive, fun! 4/5 tw: unsanitary living conditions, domestic abuse (in a way)
*Fav* AITA for setting my dad's trailer on fire: Max Booth III - A daughter returns to her hoarder dad's trailer after her mom's death to help him clean it before selling it, gross and fucked up and fun!!!!!!, 5/5 tw medical gore, graphic injury, unsanitary, disordered eating

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

This anthology collects a variety of prose, poetry and art from women and LGBT+ authors, poets and artists. While not every piece features here was to my liking, there were still quite a few I enjoyed.
My absolute favorites were "metamorphosis(i try to remember)" by Katherine Zhao (a poem masterfully connecting food and language in a way that made me hungry and sad) and "prose poem for being the only trans person in your office" by nat raum (a poem about how this emails finds you). I also quite enjoyed "pomegranate seeds & the heart of men" by Shilo Niziolek (a lesbian romance with greek mythology), "Sts. Anthony, pray for us" by Rezyl Grace (a haunting story about a hike), "Mary Webster's last laugh" by Eva Korošec (a poem about a witch hunt, very lyrical and like a song), "Jump" by Luis Lopez-Maldonado (a poem about having ancestors that have been colonialized and gender), "how to not know the pseudo-lovers I tossed out like facial tissue in order to try and replace my last lover" by Val West (a poem about grief and past relationships), "all ellbows" by Emilce Ferreria (a short text about being a woman working in construction), "Hypothetically speaking" by Leanne Moden (a poem about walking home at night and being followed, haunting and claustrophobic), "Lycantrophy" by Brooke White (a story about the difference between the prince and the werewolf and how to relates to abuse in relationships), "Fat Girl's Dinner Party" by Kali Meister (a poem about being a fat girl at a dinner party and various serial killers) and "Siren Song" by Venus Fultz (a short story about a trans girl escaping from the curse that has led her brothers to ruin, short, but sweet).
All in all this anthology touches on a lot of themes that deal with the experiences of women, LGBT+ people and seems to have a good inclusion of BIPOC artists as well, which made for an overall very interesting reading experience to me and I have definitely found some artists whose work I want to check out.
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

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

I want to preface this review with stating that it will not be spoiler free. Spoilers Ahoy! Particularly the second half of the review is not spoiler free. My spoiler tags do also include some spoilering content, but I mainly used them to flag the parts where I heavily discuss ableism and suicidality. This got incredibly long, but I feel like it is necessary.

Flowers for Dead Girls starts out as a very sweet, sometimes admittedly somewhat repetitive in its depiction of symptoms of OCD and use of certain phrases, but uplifting and interesting story of a girl, who can see ghosts and the teen ghost that asks her for help to finish her anti-bucket list before she can move on. It features a storyline of accepting your mental illness (OCD and what might to outsiders look like schizophrenia/psychosis - due to the seeing ghosts), that I think was really well done. Astra in general has a lovely storyline of accepting the things that make her "weird" (her OCD, her noise & color sensitivity - which read very neurodivergent to me, her general seeing ghost things, the fact that she has to take care of her mother most of the time because she is incapable of doing so herself) as well as dealing with her strained family relationships in ways that felt incredibly interesting and important. The relationship between the two girls is adorable, Isla is an interesting character with so much joy and excitement and it was crystal clear that she was exactly the person Astra needed to meet to be able to grow out of her shell and figure out ways to manage her massive workload of being a student-psychic-caretaker for her mother-making her first real friends without burning out.
But as you can probably tell from my rating unfortunately that's not all there is to it. I'll start out with my minor complaints.
The plot, especially in the first third of the book, is narrated in very repetitive ways at times. Especially the fact that Astra has OCD and gets headaches from noises and bright colors and hears ghosts and gets cold, always cold, just keeps coming up all the time in ways that felt lacking in depth after a while. Yes, she counts things, yes, she has some dangerous numbers and some that comfort her (even if it is a compulsion), but how else does her OCD influence her life? How especially, does it interact with living with a messy mom, who cannot deal with most basic household chores due to her own disability? We don't know. I just really wished for more depth here.
As the main character of the novel Astra got quite a lot of story focus and I think most of her parts (dealing with mental health and familial issues and making friends for the first time) were handled interestingly, especially once the story starts moving, but the world itself was barely fleshed out, sometimes in ways that do not make sense (more on that later though!). I would have liked to be able to imagine the town this is set in better than: There's a school, there's a greenhouse, there's a hospital, there’s a funeral home, there's a library with multiple floors. I just think making it feel more lived in would have been interesting and might have helped alleviate some of my later problems.
And while I liked the mother and Oliver as side characters, I wish Isla as the love interest would have gotten more exploration. She is (understandably for plot & personal reasons) very guarded about her life, but somehow at the same time very social and excited. I would have liked to see her share a bit more about herself to make Astra's investment into her a bit more realistic. We don't really figure out anything about her besides the fact that she loves flowers and has a bucket list until around the 80% mark and I know she's a ghost, but since this is a romance I do not really want the love interest to be the one to haunt the plot in absences.
Now despite my issues up to this point this book was okay. I found the characters sweet, the portrayal of OCD fitting for a YA audience (even if it felt repetitive in its portrayal of counting and number obsessions to the point of sacrificing a more in depth exploration of it at times), was excited to see how this "doomed" relationship was going to be handled, really enjoyed getting to see an anxious teen step out of her shell and the exploration of a mother as loving person, but also quite incompetent as a mother, due to her own (untreated) mental health issues. This story would have most likely been a three star read if the Big Plot Twist at 80% hadn't happened. But now I cannot give it more than 1 star and if less was possible, I’d give it less.

TW for ableism and suicidality from now on as well as a big spoiler warning for the last 20% of this book.

Spoiler

Now if you've read the summary you will have noticed that Isla has a secret and that this secret influences her wish to stay. If you've ever consumed any form of ghost media, there often is the idea that ghosts cannot remain on earth forever without suffering a form of identity loss or going mad. This is the case in this story as well and is used to add some urgency to the plot at first. However, Isla is different. Because we find out that she is not dead. (One of the twists I’m okay with in this book.) Instead, she's in the hospital in a coma after a mysterious infection and somehow managed to still manifest as a ghost visible only to Astra and her mom. (Do we know why they can see her if she’s not a ghost? No. What even is a ghost? Nobody knows. Does it get explained? Also no. But a small plot hole likt that is the least of this book’s concerns). And just after Astra prepares to confess her feelings for Isla and decides to tick another thing of Isla's un-bucket list (going to prom), she is informed that Isla's brainfunction has declined and the doctors at the hospital do not believe she will ever recover and they prepare to take her off life support. When she tells Isla, Isla reacts completely different than Astra expected. Instead of being shocked or upset she simply says: "I'm ready to go. I am. I want to" (page 180). To Astra's confession that she likes her “as more than a friend” she simply replies "You wouldn't if you really knew me" (page 180), continuing her persistent self-devaluation and claims that she does not deserve the care and affection she receives. Now what could make a 16-year-old feel like that? What could make a girl who knows her family misses her, who just had another girl confess her love to her say something that borders on passive suicidality like this? How horrible must her secret be? Finally, the shocking, terrible, truly unimaginable horror will be revealed! Because *drumroll, shocked gasps from the audience, high pitched horror movie screams* "You know that wheelchair, in my hospital room?" [...] It's mine. I-I can't walk. I haven't been able to walk on my own since I was eleven." (page 180). GASP! THE HORROR! THE ABSOLUTE ABJECT TERROR FLOODING MY ENTIRE BODY RIGHT NOW- Huh, wait a minute. What? The big reveal, the reason why Isla is fine existing as a ghost, unable to touch real people or interact with anyone beside Astra, why she's fine knowing there is a literal deadline waiting for her, the reason for her entire un-bucket list is... she's a wheelchair user. (Side note: Using disability as a spoilery plot point? A shameful secret? Shitty!)
If you needed to put your phone down after this, please know you're not alone. At this reveal I was quite close to dnf-ing this book. And looking back it would have been better for my mental health if I had. Because it does not get better. But since I didn't, join me as I explore the even more unimaginable ableism that is to follow (oh btw this reveal happens on page 180 of 214 if you want to experience a fraction of the terror I experienced when I got to the reveal, because how the hell do you deal with something like this in 30 pages? If you think you don’t… Yup.). After the reveal Astra's is so shocked that "everything is tilting just a little to the right" (page 180). Not because Isla's earlier admission that she would be okay with dying and the underlying suicidality apparent in her reaction to the news that she will die if she doesn't return to her body, but by the fact that this girl that she met as an active ghost uses a wheelchair in real life. Yikes. Then her thoughts turn to Isla's un-bucket list. "Climbing a tower. Going to a greenhouse that's only accessible by walking through a grassy field and over a gravel pathway. Checking out a book on the third floor of a library without an elevator. Taking a road trip in the front seat of a car. Dancing at prom. All of them, Astra realizes, are things she couldn't have done in a wheelchair. Not without help, at the very least, and Astra knows how much Isla hates asking for help." (page 181). If you clapped your hands together over your head in disbelief at reading this: Thank you. And same. If you do not understand what's wrong with this let me lay it out for you. Climbing a tower is probably the hardest and even though some wheelchair users can rockclimb this may actually be the one thing on this list that's actually impossible. If this stood on its own, I would not complain about it, but it gets worse. Crossing a grassy field or driving over a gravel pathway in a wheelchair? Not fun, with varying levels of difficulty depending on the wheelchair used and needs of the user, but doable. If you have somebody to push you, especially if you're (like Isla) only disabled because your legs are paralyzed and you don't have added issues of heightened pain sensitivity or an electric wheelchair that could be damaged, it's easier. And now moving on from the things that I could have understood as being listed here since they do pose a difficulty, we turn towards things that require very little support (or should require very little). Being unable to check out a book on the third floor of a library without an elevator should legally not be possible in America. Public institutions (libraries included) are required to provide access through elevators as soon as they have three or more floors according to ADA federal law, which has been in effect since 1991. By now in 2024 I think we can all agree that this has been in effect long enough that some renovations have to have taken place and at least a stair elevator should exist (We don't fully know when this story is set, but they can at least send pictures on their phones. So not 1992.). And while some smaller libraries may struggle with being accessible due to size, a library with at least three floors is not small and should have some way of dealing with problems of lacking access, if not an elevator than at least a library staff that offers help. Of course, Isla would still need to ask for some help, but I feel like its a huge red flat that in 5 years she hasn't asked once (after all we know disabled people should never make any fuss and just suffer silently!). Really makes me feel like she has spent literally any time in the past 5 years doing anything but vague disabled suffering (/s). But the last two points enraged me even more. Sitting in the front seat of a car? Absolutely possible. Assisting her in lifting her onto the front seat or enabling her to pull herself up to it is not more work than wheeling her chair into the back of the van with a ramp, especially since we will be shown that she has good upper body control. Should have been easily possible in her life. Dancing at prom? Really? Dancing in a wheelchair is very possible. This just makes it seem as if the author truly cannot imagine a single moment of happiness for a wheelchair user.
Now while I do not blame Astra for not knowing all of these things (particularly the ADA federal law), it shows a big problem with the way disability is portrayed in this book. There are no other disabled people in the story. George is implied to have used a walker in his life, but as a ghost it only shows through the bent over way he walks. And when Astra finds out Isla is disabled she starts crying and then leaves Isla alone racing away in her car. Completely normal way to finding out somebody is disabled (who knows maybe it's catching?!). While Astra explains a few scenes later that she didn’t leave because of what Isla said, the way it is written just sucks as it is so abruptly cut off and only focused on how horrible and tragic and different it is for Isla to be in a wheelchair instead of doing cartwheels and dancing tango with Old Man George the Ghost. Then we get to enjoy the trope of “disabled person saying their person isn’t worth living because they are such a burden to their loved ones”, but it’s fine because Astra finally managed to say that she loves her and this finally convinces Isla that maybe she should in fact try if she can return to her body. Love cures all <3 How romantic! Then we have some amnesia drama (in literally the last 20 pages…). It did not add anything to the story and I think that could have been replaced to deal with the various questions that actually deserve more narrative time than a “Amnesia for aaaaangst. Don’t worry that it happens at the 92% mark of the book (literally 15 pages before the end…), because it will actually change nothing or add anything to the character development or even just have any scenes where Astra tries to reawaken Isla’s memories of their time together by recreating them and showing her that it is possible for her to do at least some of these things (cliché and still filled with abled savior tropes, but at least it would have included Isla and Astra interacting!). Instead it just feels like a convenient excuse to separate the two so we don’t actually have to deal with the recovery of Isla until she is able to leave the hospital and wheel herself (We can’t see somebody who is too disabled after all. That could be someone who is so sick they might not actually deserve to be loved!).
And now on to the end, which is supposed to be uplifting and joyful and make me sigh and swoon and cry a little tear about the wonderful support this poor disabled girl receives from her girlfriend and her friends, but it just made me feel like I was reading the most cloying disability porn ever written.
10 pages before the ending they finally meet each other again, kiss and we get two final scenes that try to show that accessibility is possible. The first one is set in Astra’s mother’s store that Astra and Oliver rearranged to make it wheelchair accessible. This scene was fine and more accessibility is always important. Small stores often do not consider it, so I liked that scene and that is something everybody can do to make our society a bit more accessible. But immediately afterwards Astra makes another of Isla’s dreams come true: She literally builds a wooden path for her with her own two hands so she can finally visit the greenhouse again even though she’s in a wheelchair. And when they drive there Astra sits in the back of the car again! (To be honest, I get the feeling she is quite literally stuck in her wheelchair... Like glued to it or something, because that is something that should have been portrayed differently if the author is really trying to show the difference that the priviledge of having interpersonal relationships where somebody cares about your access needs makes.) But we can’t have too much accessibility. Or accessibility that does not solely happen because somebody really likes you. Or accessibility that would mean the state has to do literally anything and change the structural issues that this book decided to portray as solvable by sweet teens with a heart of gold, who make it their goal to fix ableism forever! And frankly I find the portrayal of accessibility as something that interpersonal connections can fix instead of something that is a huge structural problem and that needs to be tackled with more than just “we did a fundraiser and built you a ramp” frankly quite offensive and I would describe it as a form of disability porn, because it is supposed to inspire the able-bodied reader to sigh happily and lean back and say: "Another wheelchair user saved by a rickety wood path. Our libraries do not need elevators and we also do not need to worry about that fact that a child wanted to die because she did not consider her life worth living because she is in a wheelchair. Truly, a wonderful story and a great message to young readers!"

.
This book's portrayal of physical disabilities made me sick. It made me glad that I completely finished it before recommending it to a disabled friend of mine, who is a wheelchair user, and not simply thought: "Oh, a sweet sapphic ghost story about overcoming some issues and learning to accept and love yourself." Because I hate literally every single aspect of the way physical disabilities are portrayed here. I hate that the fact that Isla is a wheelchair user is treated as a spoiler and a plot twist by not only the book, but most reviews I've seen so far. I hate that this book assumes that there is one type of wheelchair and because we all know what a wheelchair is we do not need any more specific descriptions. We get long descriptions of clothes, but the wheelchair is black. I hate that there are no other disabled people in this town that’s big enough to have a library with three floors. I hate that Isla is not the main character and that the fact

Spoiler

that she was suicidal because apparently nobody cares that she completely isolated herself ever since she was 11 is just completely ignored. After all she’s better now and that fixes everything! Acceptance and friendship and accessibility (aka social participation) are all important things to improve mental health in marginalized communities, but it is not the end all be all the way this book tries to portray it.

. We can and should have stories that focus on how isolating being disabled and chronically sick is! We need stories that show the importance of inclusion and abled solidarity with disabled people. But that is not a topic that can be handled in 40 pages. That is not a topic that should be dealt with swallowly and with ableist abled savior tropes. And with all of these issues I cannot in good faith recommend this book to anybody.