Short stories that will appeal to some. Some of the stories were better than others. Overall, just an ok read. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on my review.

When I saw this book cover, I was in awe and when I read the synopsis, I felt I could relate to the stories. Unfortunately, the stories triggered me. I also felt the writing style and setup was just not for me.

Love, lust, and loss. Three fundamental human emotions that connect us all. We’ve all experienced them, in one form or another. I can’t predict when we will be affected by them. Some embrace this, others avoid them as best they can.

Night Beast by Ruth Joffre envelops all that surrounds these three little words. As a collection of short stories, each tale weaves its own unique perspective. Some take place in the normalcy of the everyday, others explore the potential future of our species. But each stays true to the heartache of love.

I am coming to realize that I love collections of short stories. I rarely pick them up to read, but always find myself engrossed in their brevity. From the start, Joffre introduces us to worlds that are so similar, and yet unlike our own that you can’t help but be intrigued. But then, it just ends. She only gives us a snippet or a window into the life of the characters. They don’t do anything extraordinary, they are just living. At first, this bothered me. I wanted a big, punchy ending. But the more I thought about the stories, the more I realized that just wouldn’t fit. There couldn’t be an ending, because they kept on living, regardless of their situation. They persisted. There’s no fanfare for that. And yet, the stories and their players are extraordinarily personal. In fact, there was one story that connected to a recent experience of my own, and the story made it raw again. It brought all that emotion to the forefront of my conscious.

I felt the advertised description for this book was a little misleading, as it made me believe going into it that it would focus on relationships between mothers and daughters. While this was the case in a couple of the stories, I would by no means pick that out specifically over any of the other expressions of love provided throughout the pages. But the representations of love were beautiful in these stories, and I applaud the F/F depictions. These are the kinds of stories our society needs more of.

*I would like to thank the publisher, author, and NetGalley for providing an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

This is by no means a bad collection of short stories, I just am not the audience for it. For one thing, I generally have trouble feeling engaged by short stories, but I continue to pick them up hoping for that spark. While the first story was interesting, the rest were forgettable. I love the idea behind so many of these stories spotlighting queer women, but one thing I didn't appreciate - and wasn't prepared for - was the sheer amount of sexual assault so casually mentioned. Definitely go into this understanding that if abuse/rape is triggering for you.

Night Beast is a compilation of eleven short stories with a diverse genre that ranges from scifi, and fantasy, to romance and slice of life. Focusing on the lives of queer women and mothers, this book will take you to dark alleys and hidden alcoves of a woman’s thoughts.

The title, “Night Beast” is something that easily caught my attention, making me curious about the type of beasts kept in this book’s pages. There are many out there, but which ones? And so the journey to discovery began.

I can’t say disappointing, nor can I say boring to this book. Partly, a couple of stories captured my attention as well as my emotions. It touched my emphatic-less soul! One of my favourites was the story entitled “Go West and Grow Up“. It tells about the life of a girl at a young age and her mother, doing what needs to be done just to survive. The mother did what she could to protect her daughter from the harsh world to the point of putting herself in vulnerability. But it was not enough. It was only a matter of time for the girl’s innocence to be forcefully stripped away from her. This story was a tough one that it stuck to my memory for quite a while now. What was very clear here, was the love of the mother to her child. It was whole.

The rest of the stories went on in a blur. It’s not that the stories aren’t interesting. It’s just that it didn’t suck me in enough to be deeply immersed in it. Each story was unique and new and it will take some thinking to understand them.

Night Beast is a book that encompasses the norms of this world. With women as the main characters, this book will be enjoyable for the ladies out there to whom some may find the stories relatable.

I'm afraid I didn't identify with any of the characters in these stories and I found the stories somehow incomplete. I generally like short stories but these just felt more like character sketches or exercises than actual stories.

Just not for me. Sorry

I was super excited to read this collection of stories! I found that they were hit and miss though and never really finished. Not one of them was life-changing and made me want to run out and buy this book. I wanted to stop a few times but I made myself finish to see if all the stories came together to make one big picture but that did not happen. It was more like a collection of shorts found unfinished and then bound together quickly to have a full-length novel.
It is so hard to critique a collect as there will be stories for everyone and no one at the same time. I do commend the author for trying to put together a cohesive collection but it kind of fell short. I will read more books if she puts them out just to see her grow as an author.

A collection of darkish stories that, honestly, didn’t stay with me long after finishing each one. I really just wanted to get through the collection but felt compelled to finish it in hopes I found that one story that made the whole collection worth it for me. Unfortunately, I never found that story, hence the 2 stars. It wasn’t badly written and I do think there are good stories in here, they just couldn’t hold my interest. I’m guessing I’m just a little too jaded and desensitized when it comes to dark emotional drama.

Received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Short story collections are hard to review because you'll sometimes find one or more of the stories less satisfying than the others. Joffre has presented a slim volume here but it's ambitious. These are women with issues who are struggling with themselves and their situations. I'm a sucker for short stories because you can dip in and out of the book. This is well written and worth your time. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

This was a bit of a mixed bag. Some of the stories were so engrossing and emotionally affecting – though even then they just sort of ended, rather than coming to a real conclusion. Others, I've utterly forgotten even though I only read the book a couple of weeks ago. That said, there are a couple of stories that have really stayed with me (one about a woman in a strange post-apocalyptic safehouse, another about a couple who have lost a child) – they make the whole book worth a read. I'll certainly read more from Ruth Joffre.