Review: The Darkest Night: 22 Winter Horror Stories

The Darkest Night: 22 Winter Horror Stories by Lindy Ryan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the pre-release copy. Below is my honest review.

I'm going to be 100% honest here: I requested this ARC because of a handful of the horror authors in it: namely, Rachel Harrison, Josh Malerman, and Darcy Coates. They're all authors I really love! Luckily for me, so many of the other stories really grabbed me, so now I have a long list of potential new horror authors to check out further.

Rather than do an average of scores, I'm going to give this one an overall four stars, because even the stories that weren't my favorites were still fun, which is just what I wanted from this anthology.

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The Mouthless Body in the Lake by Gwendolyn Kiste
My Fan Status: New to me
Stars: Three and a half

Interesting concept and good writing, but not sure the ending hit for me. I'd say I'm intrigued enough to potentially check out more of her stories one day.

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Cold as Ice by Tim Waggoner
My Fan Status: New to me
Stars: Four

Oh, this one was fun!

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Children Aren't the Only Ones Who Know Where the Presents Are Hidden by Josh Malerman
My Fan Status: Big Fan
Stars: Three and a half

Love Josh Malerman, but I didn't feel like this one had much of a plot. The twist at the end was clever-ish.

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The Vermin Moon by Hailey Piper
My Fan Status: New to me
Stars: Three

I can't say I loved this one, but I didn't hate it either. It was... weird. But also heartbreaking.

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The Body of Lenora James by Stephanie M. Wytovich
My Fan Status: New to me
Stars: Four and a half

Can we get a full length novel of this please? Loved!

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Mr. Butler by Clay McCleod Chapman
My Fan Status: New to me
Stars: Four and a half

Albeeeeeeeee, Mr. Butler was creepy as heck! Loved the personal nature of this one, and really disturbed by Mr. Butler.

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Feast of Gray by Lindy Ryan and Christopher Golden
My Fan Status: New to me (Ryan) and Fan (Golden)
Stars: Three

I liked this one fine, but felt like it needed more.

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I Hope This Finds You Well by Eric LaRocca
My Fan Status: New to me
Stars: Three and a half

That ending though!

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The Buried Child by M. Rickert
My Fan Status: New to me
Stars: Three

Kind of confusingly written and muddled, brought me out of the story a bit.

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Father's Last Christmas by Lee Murray
My Fan Status: New to me
Stars: Four

Lots of fun (for us) and reminiscent of Gaiman's Stardust (in a good way)

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The Warmth of Snow by Cynthia Pelayo
My Fan Status: New to me
Stars: Three

Decent little shorty, didn't feel like much of a plot though

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Wintry Blue by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon
My Fan Status: Fan (Golden) and New to me (Lebbon)
Stars: Five

Absolute yes. I wanna see this made into a movie!

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Carol of the Hells by Kelsea Yu
My Fan Status: New to me
Stars: Four

Man, that ending tore me up!

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Full of Toys by Jessica McHugh
My Fan Status: New to me
Stars: Three

A poem on a creepy gross bloody Santa picture.

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Nice by Nat Cassidy
My Fan Status: New to me
Stars: Four

You know what? There's not much creepier than kids in horror. Yikes.

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Thaw by Rachel Harrison
My Fan Status: Devoted Follower/Obsessee/Stan/Fanboy
Stars: Five+

I'm a huge fan of Rachel Harrison's. This story is no exception to that. Nothing quite like dealing with a jerk of a significant other AND a possibly living creepy snowman hunting you.

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Candy Cane by Thomas Hutson
My Fan Status: New to me
Stars: Five

Sometimes it's best to write what you know. Insert devil emoji here.

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Eggnog by Kristi DeMeester
My Fan Status: New to me
Stars: Four

Don't mess with momma!

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Threads of Epiphany by Sara Tantlinger
My Fan Status: New to me
Stars: Four

I'd read this full length novel!

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The Ladies' Society for the Dead by Darcy Coates
My Fan Status: Big Fan
Stars: Four

Nice twist!

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Being Nice by Jeff Strand
My Fan Status: New to me
Stars: Four

Interesting play on the Naughty/Nice List and last minute makeup points lol

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Ghosted by Mercedes M. Yardley
My Fan Status: New to me
Stars: Three

Decent little ghost story about a partner who died who you didn't really know

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Bruiser by Jamie Flanagan
My Fan Status: New to me/Fan of his shows
Stars: Four

Weird but I'd watch this show!


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