leahrosereads's Reviews (1.04k)

A gorgeous and grotesque collection of Sapphic horror which I adored.  This may be one of the best short story anthologies I've come across.  It was impactful horror after impactful horror, and even if I didn't quite GET the story - it still left me thinking.  That said, I of course have some favorites:

Dex by Ali Seay
A Change in Universal Flavor
The Blessing by Alex Luceli Jimenez
Fathomless Things by Avra Margariti

I'm struggling with what to say and how to rate this book.  After the first 50 pages, I wanted to DNF it but kept going since I was in a readalong. By page 350, I knew KNEW this was going to be a 2.5 star read. After all, there was only another 50 pages to go, and if I haven't loved the book before then, I wouldn't 

But the last 50 pages were amazing. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was a convoluted, pretentious story that needed less characters or to be a series because this was confusing and I didn't care for how this played out for anyone until the last 50 pages. I skimmed the boring bits (and there were a lot of those), and yes, maybe thats wrong, but the characters didn't interest me enough to try that hard to understand their motivations or pasts.

However, the last 50 pages were delightful, thought provoking, and incredibly satisfying. So I guess I'll tack on another ⭐ for it!

NOTE: I will no longer be supporting Freydís Moon, their works (past or future) going forward. That said, I don't know if removing the fact that I've read their work is the right thing to do.

A lot of folks have been more heavily impacted by their deceit than me, and I want to make sure those voices are the ones heard at this time.

If I've recommended this author to you in the past, I'm sorry that you've potentially spent your money, energy, and emotions on a long con lie.

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First off, because I had to read ahead to make sure:

Gunnhild is safe!

What a fucking awesome second book! Oh I loved these villains so much but even they weren't as evil as who they're up against.

I need book 3 now, but I'll wait patiently for it because I just know! Fucking know that this series and characters will stay with me always.

Another modern author who can tell an exceptional gothic tale!  Alexis Henderson did a fantastic job building up this story, the characters, and the House of Hunger setting into something so incredibly dangerous and grand.

I adored this story, the twisted nature of the secrets, and how it all came to a conclusion.

This won't be for everyone, but it was a damn near perfect book to me.

Ugh this series was so delightful, and I loved how it wrapped up! Just chef's kiss!

The characters were truly the highlight of every book, and Piper, Galen, and Earstripe were no exception.  Okay, I'm gonna be so honest right now - any time a gnole was on the page, they stole the show. I loved every single one, and I'd love to see a story from their perspective one day! Brindle and Earstripe story when?!? Give them their oxen!

Okay I'm done.  Read this series!

This was a fine, campy read.  I liked certain elements of it, but overall, it didn't grip me the way I had hoped with its humor.  Although I like my horror a bit more extreme, I enjoy campy horrors just as much, but this one didn't hold my attention, either because of the setting or the characters, I'm not 100% sure.  

This was a stunning horror set in Europe, which I honestly dong get to see that often. The setting and scenes are a fever dream fog, magical and haunting, and the characters are so realistic.  This made for a fantastic YA horror, and definitely an author I'm going to keep my eye on!

Short fiction is my favorite.  I love discovering new authors and getting a taste of their storytelling, and this collection was so, so good!  This was just the perfect amount of spooky to get me excited for the spoopy season!  Highly recommend!

 Eric LaRocca's short stories are just getting better and better! This was an excellent collection of short fiction, and I don't think there was one that I didn't like for one reason or another. It borders on disgusting, which is some of my favorite type of horror, and Eric once again delivered a brilliant book! 

It's super official. I love this cozy (adjacent) higher stakes fantasyso much. 

The first book gave readers fantastic characters and incredibly interesting mysteries, some of which were solved, but one other HUGE mystery wasn't. I'm so glad to see that that mystery continued into this one. 

But of course, there was also a couple of other quests along the way, and I loved every side moment and character here just as much as book 1!  No book 2 blues.  

I cannot wait start the next book!!