vanmeers's reviews
489 reviews

Not my absolute fave Judith Sonnet BUT it is definitely something that feels original and unique to her other work? I think it would fit well with people who like more classic Christmas tales or Gothic horror and would like a mix of that! 

The wax museum, the horrible unsolved murder and the twist at the end worked so well together though and honestly, we love to see a queen be creative with her writing 🙏

Tinsel Trauma is a collection of six holiday horrors centred around holidays most of us celebrate — starting with Dwight D. Eisenhower wanting to preserve the spirit of Thanksgiving, then four very different Christmas themed horrors, and ending it with a murderous bang on New Year’s Eve. 

Nathan D. Ludwig starts this collection with an introduction on the grief and joy that goes hand in hand during the holiday season and as someone who just lost her grandpa on the 1st of December. Well, the grief has been real. It’s not been easy getting into the holiday spirit and while I’d planned on reading a ton of Christmas books in front of a decked out Christmas tree reality has been a lot more different — so when I saw the ARC of Tinsel Trauma on BookSirens, I figured it might be exactly what I needed right now. Some Good Ol’ Tinsel Trauma.

This is genuinely a pretty strong collection of holiday horrors and one that I would absolutely recommend for people who love to read holiday appropriate horror. It’s both hilarious and gory, which is the best sort of holiday horror, and it’s also relatively short for the readers who like a quick read! 

I think, personally, while I liked the whole collection, I absolutely loooved Yul Brynner’s  Yuletide Possession Spectacular. I love stories of lost media (and cursed media!) and the slow build to the end reveal was really great — it’s also a story that feel like it’s right out of a V/H/S segment (maybe they should consider doing a holiday horror anthology in the future and call up mr. Ludwig). 

Tinsel Trauma is definitely a collection I’ll read again in the future when my Christmas needs to be somewhat bloodier. 

// Thank you to Nathan D. Ludwig, GenreBlast Books, and BookSirens for a digital ARC.  

merry christmas!!

i had never heard about the magdalen laundries before this, so it was definitely eye-opening and added to the overall rawness of the story. it’s definitely a different kind of “christmas” book (i read this as one of two christmas’ish stories for my book club!). 

it’s very short but poignant in its message and definitely a book that requires some thinking afterwards.

i get how this is a classic and i like the idea of the story but god, despite loving tim curry i really did not vibe with the audiobook 💔

this was beautiful and raw — fiction rooted in nonfiction on the lived experiences of indigenous people.

‘mother’ explores the themes of identity and heritage as the unnamed narrator finds her way back to her birth family through their own past stories — weaving a family history from her birth family’s stories, her community’s history and imagined past and futures.

it’s a stunning piece of work, read beautifully by the author herself, and i honestly cannot wait to see what else m.s. RedCherries will do in the future!

this was such a beautifully narrated book (by the author!) and a collection that’s an absolute must-read. i’ll definitely have to go looking for a physical copy of it <3

i didn’t love this as much as maeve fly and man, it sucks cos i was so hyped for it — the cover fucks hard and the premise sounds so good! 

it’s not at all a bad book. far from it. but i just don’t think i’m the right audience for it and that it would’ve hit harder if i had actually grown up religious in any sort of way. i also think the audiobook version was a bad choice for me since it was far too long for my attention span (listening to audiobooks is hard work!). 

i will say that i absolutely loved the characters sophie meets along her way to find her brother — the found family trope is everything to me but cj leeds is also an evil mastermind of an author and i’m cursing her for making me CARE so much 🥲

i wanna start this with saying that i absolutely love hailey piper and her witting — she always manages to create such visceral reactions in me with her horror and i adore her characters! she’s one of my top fave horror authors 🫶

with that said, this definitely wasn’t the right fit for me as a reader. i appreciate her approach to vampires and how different they are to the classic ones you know from books and films — and i love that there’s a mainstream published book with trans and queer characters in the centre of the story. it’s queer horror through and through. 

it’s also a very classic hailey piper book in the sense that it’s a bit more cosmic, a bit more out there, and theres some strange connections to the more animalistic and nature side of humanity. i have no idea what kinda subgenre you’d call that, but it’s got that piper feel to it — and if you loved the possession of natalie glasgow i’m sure you’ll instantly love this too. 

i think i craved some more classic vampires and so it didn’t really hit the spot for me. but i did love the toxic queers representation and cabrina’s diary entries amidst everything. i really really felt for her 💔 so while i didn’t love it, it was still a good read and it still left me an emotional wreck after! 

/// ARC courtesy of the publisher and Edelweiss.