1. The Birds of Azalea Street 3/5 stars
This first story is written by Nova Ren Suma. I thought it was ok. it is about three teenage girls who live in this neighborhood with a pedophile who likes to bake and has a weird obsession with birds. The girls see him bring home a girl one night and she is a something that turns out to be a good thing. The inspiration behind this story was Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and I grew up watching that movies and highly enjoy it. It's one of my favorites by Hitchcock.
2. In The Forest Dark And Deep 4/5 stars
Carrie Ryan is excellent at turning a Disney classic, that I have recently gotten into, into a freaky ass story. Bullying girls get turned into marionette puppets. The March Hare is scary as hell and I will never look at a white rabbit the same again and I am kind of scared of living in woods now.
3. Emmeline 5/5 stars
Takes place in 1918 France. The main character is a young girl named Emmeline who is in her ruined bedroom that was bombed. A young American soldier comes up to her room and befriends her. She eventually seduces him and wants to be his sweetheart after her last failed attempt to take a German soldier as a lover. She is hated by her family. This story was written by Cat Winters
4. Verse Chorus Verse 3/5 stars
A short story written by Leigh Bardugo. This is about a young Hollywood starlet who is another statistic. She got too drunk at a club and hit another kid with her car and had to go to rehab. Her mother only cares about their images. How she can spin the stories and get her daughter to lose the flab. Never know what kind of monster is lurking beneath the water.
5. Hide-And-Seek 4/5 stars
This story was inspired by Appalachian folklore and Final Destination. I used to watch the hell out of Final Destination growing up and the second movie. Something about cheating death was so interesting at the time and this story was a good one. A girl named Annie basically gets murdered and to return to the living, she has to cheat death and stay alive for 24 hours. She has to play a game with Death and she gets to pick. Such a good story. It was also written in parts, so it was not boring, but I am giving it 4 stars because this would have been a hell of a good full length novel.
6. The Dark, Scary Parts and All 3/5 stars
Inspired by the myth of Hades and Persephone, we are introduced to a girl who is severely bullied and unloved by her father. She gets called Marnie Monster and she has a deep connection with monsters because she believes that all monsters just want love and affection. it's the anniversary of her mother's suicide and weird things start happening. Freak accidents and the most popular and richest kid in school befriends her. He has some major major MAJOR secrets.
7. The Flicker, The Fingers, The Beat, The Sigh 5/5 stars
Written by the editor of this anthology, April Genevieve Tucholke. Back in 2015, I listened to this story on Spotify. They had put this as an excerpt of the audio book. Listening to it gave me chills and scared me and I remembered it. Re-reading it is just as creepy and terrifying. It is inspired by Carrie and I Know What You Did Last Summer. Actions have consequences!
8. Fat Girl With a Knife 1/5 stars
Written by Jonathan Mayberry and I don't know how to feel about the title. High school zombie story where the bullied fat girl turns into the hero. This was not very original and it was inspired by Zombieland and Night of the Living Dead and the author seems to have just taken certain parts of those movies, changed some stuff and left others the way they were. Not very good.
9. Sleepless 4/5 stars
Jay Kristoff must love writing in email and text form. I really enjoyed this because it was inspired by Psycho, the original. I grew up watching the remake with Vince Vaughn. I connected with this because I IM'ed so much as a tween and made a lot of internet friends and met some creepy people as well. Never met any IRL though. The writing style was not my favorite, but I enjoyed the story. Also, I like figuring out what the story is based on, on my own, but the capitalized PSYCHO's throughout the chat gave it away and that's the reason for the lost star.
10. M 3/5 stars
This was not as spooky as the other stories so far. It's about a blind girl named Misha and the story historical fiction set in England. Misha has severe anxiety around people because she can't see them and she can hear them whispering and joking about her. One night during a hunting party, she stumbles into a murder while it is happening and she is trying to catch the killer by scent. The inspirations behind this story, I have never heard of before.
11. The Girl Without A Face 2/5 stars
i didn't find this story very original. Imagine harming a person and that person eventually killing their selves and then haunting you and the only way to stop them from haunting you, is to harm yourself or kill yourself the way they did. A privileged congress woman's son is on the fast track to Harvard. They have just moved to a new house and new private academy to run away from his past, but the girl without a face just won't give up
12. A Girl Who Dreamed Of Snow 3/5 stars
Not scary but really good. It's about an ancient people and a land where the women and girls are dying and the ancient women and women from other lands are being taken to help repopulate. It's got black magic and devil and demons and blood sacrifices. Written by McCormick Templeman.
13. Stitches 5/5 stars
Another favorite based off Frankenstein. Mountain folk meet a "collector" who will fix the father by taking his feet, ears, eyes and hands and replacing them with a "good" persons body parts. This was very morbid but also very well written. I will definitely have to read more by A.G. Howard.
14. On The I-5 2/5 stars
This is the first story that I have read that is written by Kendare Blake and it was OK. It's not scary but it is creepy. it takes place at a truck stop on the I-5. This girl named EmmaRae is hanging out until dark until she finds the right guy. She also knows a little secret about what is in the dumpster behind the diner.
Overall, this anthology was good. I liked some of the stories. Some weren't spooky enough and a couple were terrifying. my overall rating for this is a 3 out of 5 stars.
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