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A review by mcgbreads
The House Where Death Lives by Alex Brown
dark
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
3.5
ARC review; thanks to NetGalley, Page Street Publishing, and Page Street YA for the access to this ebook. Pub date: Aug 06 2024.
This is a solid YA horror anthology. As it often happens with short stories collections, some stories are better or more to my taste than others. Each story is about a different character or characters and there's a different theme and monster/paranormal element in it. Overall, this is a 3.5-star read, but here are the stories that stood out to me and why I absolutely think this anthology is worth your time if you like YA horror stories:
Good Morning, Georgia - 4 stars. Beautiful, sad, moving. Very well done.
After Midnight - 4 stars. Simple yet effective. Creepy and with a focus on grief and the idea of doing something awful to keep even the illusion of the person you loved and lost.
The Phantom's Walts - 4 stars. Romantic, tragic ghost story. My favorite kind.
Bloom - 5 stars. Beautifully written, very impactful to me in such a short span.
The Shoe - 4 stars. Good concept and execution. Love a happy ending.
To give more info on this book, here are the stories that had a good concept but the execution was a let-down or didn't work for me, so they're all 3 stars:
Cradle and All
The Grey Library
Mirror, Mirror
What Lies in Silence
Like Mother
A Helping Hand
Weakest stories IMO:
Vanishing Point
Smartmonster
Let's Play a Game - I actually liked the concept of this one, but it was just meh.
me I'm not - also liked the concept, the imagery was creepy, but I didn't get it.
In Deep
This is a solid YA horror anthology. As it often happens with short stories collections, some stories are better or more to my taste than others. Each story is about a different character or characters and there's a different theme and monster/paranormal element in it. Overall, this is a 3.5-star read, but here are the stories that stood out to me and why I absolutely think this anthology is worth your time if you like YA horror stories:
Good Morning, Georgia - 4 stars. Beautiful, sad, moving. Very well done.
After Midnight - 4 stars. Simple yet effective. Creepy and with a focus on grief and the idea of doing something awful to keep even the illusion of the person you loved and lost.
The Phantom's Walts - 4 stars. Romantic, tragic ghost story. My favorite kind.
Bloom - 5 stars. Beautifully written, very impactful to me in such a short span.
The Shoe - 4 stars. Good concept and execution. Love a happy ending.
To give more info on this book, here are the stories that had a good concept but the execution was a let-down or didn't work for me, so they're all 3 stars:
Cradle and All
The Grey Library
Mirror, Mirror
What Lies in Silence
Like Mother
A Helping Hand
Weakest stories IMO:
Vanishing Point
Smartmonster
Let's Play a Game - I actually liked the concept of this one, but it was just meh.
me I'm not - also liked the concept, the imagery was creepy, but I didn't get it.
In Deep