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goddess_eve21's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
I really enjoyed this dark nanny anthology. You hear a lot of bad nanny stories, but this?! This was crazy!
The Silver Whistle 4⭐️
When You Hear Them Scream 3⭐️
A Little Bird and a Broken Cage 4.75⭐️
That Thing in the House With the Arched Room 4.5⭐️
You Can Close Your Eyes 5⭐️
A Mother's Love 4.75⭐️
Definitely an anthology I could see myself re-reading 🖤
The Silver Whistle 4⭐️
When You Hear Them Scream 3⭐️
A Little Bird and a Broken Cage 4.75⭐️
That Thing in the House With the Arched Room 4.5⭐️
You Can Close Your Eyes 5⭐️
A Mother's Love 4.75⭐️
Definitely an anthology I could see myself re-reading 🖤
hmowen12's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
- The Silver Whistle - 5 stars holy fuck?! Loved the storyline, twists, and creepy atmosphere, the ending was *chefs kiss*
- When you Hear Them Scream - 5 stars!! This one evoked all of my emotions!! I love a good heroine!
- A Little Blood and a Broken Case - 4 stars. Very good story.
- The Thing in the House with the Arches Roof - 4 slow beginning but loved the ending! Good heroine!
- You Can Close Your Eyes - 4 stars. Very ominous with a fun twist!
- A Mothers Love - 5 stars. So unsettling and creepy. The atmosphere was amazing!
lyrasbookshelf's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
First off, I loved the premise of every story in this anthology. This was my first time reading bite-sized horror stories and it certainly won’t be the last because I really enjoyed the experience.
The same theme threads through all of the stories, but I found that they were actually quite similar in many other aspects aside from including nannies, some of which may feel like cliches (specifically, memory loss, believing what you experienced was a dream and the experience actually being a dream). That being said, it was interesting to see what different authors did with the same building blocks.
I’ll briefly go through each of the stories below.
1. The Silver Whistle by Marlena Frank. Good writing, but I felt that it was lacking depth and I wish I had finished the story knowing more about the child and his father – what exactly was happening and why?
2. When You Hear Them Scream by C. Vonzale Lewis. Might have been my favourite both in terms of the premise and execution. I loved the two timelines, even though one of them was very brief. I felt that it gave the story much more substance than it would have had without it.
3. A Little Blood and a Broken Cage by Jessica Cranberry. Very atmospheric and mysterious. I again enjoyed the tiniest bit of backstory we got. I found the ending a bit abrupt and would have liked more complexity. The solution just seemed too simple. (Also, in Chapter 6, Sofia suddenly changes into Sofie.)
4. That Thing in the House with the Arched Roof by Katya de Becerra. I just love creepy houses so much. Great writing in this one and I loved that the ending didn’t have a big red bow on it.
5. You Can Close Your Eyes by Elle Beaumont. Again, fabulous ending, but the writing itself confused me a little bit. I had to go over some snippets several times to understand who was talking with whom and I still didn’t quite understand what was happening and how.
6. A Mother’s Love by D.M. Siciliano. Unfortunately, I think this is the weakest of the bunch. The night Alexandra searched the rooms of the house, the entire feel of of the story switched to something almost cartoonish and absurd, but I don’t think it was the intention. The constant mentions of the storm started to feel very ’It was a dark and stormy night’ type of a cliche.
The writing was odd in some places in terms of syntax and the sequence of the events/interactions also didn’t make sense. Alexandra tells her roommate Cassidy the Big Secret twice, with the second time being presented as if it’s the first time, and only after the second time, Cassidy reveals all she knows and has heard, even though it made no sense to hold all this information back after the first time Alexandra told her who she’s babysitting. It has lots of potential, but definitely needs some work still.
I think overall I'd rate it 3.5. Even through all the faults (which weren't major in 5/6 of the stories), I can't deny I was utterly gripped throughout.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The same theme threads through all of the stories, but I found that they were actually quite similar in many other aspects aside from including nannies, some of which may feel like cliches (specifically, memory loss, believing what you experienced was a dream and the experience actually being a dream). That being said, it was interesting to see what different authors did with the same building blocks.
I’ll briefly go through each of the stories below.
1. The Silver Whistle by Marlena Frank. Good writing, but I felt that it was lacking depth and I wish I had finished the story knowing more about the child and his father – what exactly was happening and why?
2. When You Hear Them Scream by C. Vonzale Lewis. Might have been my favourite both in terms of the premise and execution. I loved the two timelines, even though one of them was very brief. I felt that it gave the story much more substance than it would have had without it.
3. A Little Blood and a Broken Cage by Jessica Cranberry. Very atmospheric and mysterious. I again enjoyed the tiniest bit of backstory we got. I found the ending a bit abrupt and would have liked more complexity. The solution just seemed too simple. (Also, in Chapter 6, Sofia suddenly changes into Sofie.)
4. That Thing in the House with the Arched Roof by Katya de Becerra. I just love creepy houses so much. Great writing in this one and I loved that the ending didn’t have a big red bow on it.
5. You Can Close Your Eyes by Elle Beaumont. Again, fabulous ending, but the writing itself confused me a little bit. I had to go over some snippets several times to understand who was talking with whom and I still didn’t quite understand what was happening and how.
6. A Mother’s Love by D.M. Siciliano. Unfortunately, I think this is the weakest of the bunch. The night Alexandra searched the rooms of the house, the entire feel of of the story switched to something almost cartoonish and absurd, but I don’t think it was the intention. The constant mentions of the storm started to feel very ’It was a dark and stormy night’ type of a cliche.
The writing was odd in some places in terms of syntax and the sequence of the events/interactions also didn’t make sense. Alexandra tells her roommate Cassidy the Big Secret twice, with the second time being presented as if it’s the first time, and only after the second time, Cassidy reveals all she knows and has heard, even though it made no sense to hold all this information back after the first time Alexandra told her who she’s babysitting. It has lots of potential, but definitely needs some work still.
I think overall I'd rate it 3.5. Even through all the faults (which weren't major in 5/6 of the stories), I can't deny I was utterly gripped throughout.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
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