Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories by Kelly Barnhill

Cover Art Courtesy of Goodreads

Short stories about the creepy and the unusual...count me in! If it's eerie and weird it's usually right up my alley, so I couldn't wait to dive into this collection of short stories. Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories by Kelly Barnhill features a collection of 5 magical tales that aim to set the reader on a journey of weirdness and wonder.

This book ended up being very middle of the road for me, with a mixed bag of stories that I either really liked or didn't enjoy at all. It was a quick read and I breezed through it in a couple of hours. While some stories I really enjoyed (I'm looking at you "Mrs. Sorensen and the Sasquatch' and "Dreadful Young Ladies"), others left something to be desired ("The Insect and the Astronomer" and "Open the Door and the Light Pours Through"). The novella at the end, "The Unlicensed Magician," has won the World Fantasy Award, and I can see why...it was well thought out, contained just enough to tell a full story, and was completely fascinating! I also have to note that the cover is absolutely stunning.

This was my first experience with Kelly Barnhill's works, and I've heard that The Girl Who Drank the Moon is quite good, so I may pick that up and give it a try even though it's a middle grade novel. I thought there was a lot of potential in this collection of stories, but something was missing overall that just might be there in a novel-length work.

Since there were 5 stories and I enjoyed 3 of them, this rating may very well be the easiest one I've ever done!

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Thank you to Algonquin Books for sending me a copy of this short story collection to review! Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories releases on February 20, so if this sounds up your alley make sure to pick up a copy!

My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins

Cover Art Courtesy of Goodreads

Like I mentioned before, I'm trying hard to get into the Christmas spirit this year, and that means more Christmas-y reads. This book has been sitting on my shelf for a hot minute, and I finally prioritized it for this holiday season. My True Love Gave to Me is a collection of twelve holiday themed short stories, written by some of the most popular YA authors and edited by Stephanie Perkins.

The cover of this book is absolutely gorgeous, as are the title page drawings to go along with every short story. It's a quick read, and perfect for the busy holiday season, since you can read one story at a time and put it down and come back to it easily. All the stories were very clearly written in the style of each author, and I think it would have been easy to tell whose was whose for the most part, even without being told. I liked that overall, these stories weren't stereotypical Christmas love stories, and they encompassed a diverse cast of main characters.

Unfortunately, despite all this, I just didn't love it. While I did adore a few of the stories (specifically the ones by Rainbow Rowell, Gayle Forman, Stephanie Perkins, and Matt de la Peña), the rest left me disappointed. To only really enjoy four out of twelve stories is a let down, and the waste of a book sadly. I also thought that all the better stories were put towards the beginning, so working your way through the rest of the book and the not as good stories was difficult. 

That being said, I still want to give its companion, Summer Days and Summer Nights, a shot, since the authors are different (except for Stephanie Perkins, whose story in this one is supposed to be a continuation of the one I loved in My True Love Gave to Me...eeep!). Maybe those stories will grab me more than most of these did!

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Slasher Girls and Monster Boys by April Genevieve Tucholke

Cover Art Courtesy of Goodreads

I have been meaning to read this book for so long, and this Halloween season I finally made it a priority to pick up this collection of stories! Slasher Girls and Monster Boys is an anthology of 14 scary short stories written by well-known YA authors and compiled by April Genevieve Tucholke. I don't read a lot of short story anthologies, but I should, since they are perfect for pausing and coming back to. Whenever I had to take a break, it was easy to find a place to do so.

I really thought this book was all over the place. Some stories were fantastic, while others were just bland. I especially liked In The Forest Dark and Deep by Carrie Ryan, Emmeline by Cat Winters, and Hide-And-Seek by Megan Shepherd. Sleepless by Jay Kristoff is disturbing, in a perverted way, as is The Birds of Azalea Street by Nova Ren Suma. The rest were unfortunately not that memorable. Other authors that contributed to this anthology are: Marie Lu, Leigh Bardugo, Danielle Paige, April Genevieve Tucholke (who also compiled these stories), Jonathan Maberry, Stefan Bachmann, McCormick Templeman, AG Howard, and Kendare Blake.

I will say that some of the elements in a few of these stories are a little sexual for the lower age of YA readers, and that this book borders more on older YA/New Adult. The stories aren't really gruesome and many are more psychological than actually scary. I was hoping for nightmares, but was sorely disappointed, but then again I am 27 (so a little older than the target audience). I really do admire many of the authors that contributed, but I have to say that short stories (at least scary ones) just might not be their thing.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars