I really wanted to like this book. The synopsis held so much promise, but the book failed to deliver as much as I hoped for from it. I enjoyed it well enough, but with a few tweaks it could have been an even more enjoyable read.

This was a genius idea for a book - a collection of short stories that are retellings of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous works (with a YA twist). Some classic writers are so inaccessible for young people, and Poe is actually one of the best ones to introduce to a younger audience because his work is so creepy and interesting (but the language can still get a tad dense from time to time). While not every story is a hit in this collection, I did have a couple favorites - particularly "The Tell-Tale Heart" story by Stephanie Kuehn and Emily Lloyd Jones' reimagining of "The Purloined Letter."

These are all stories with a general horror theme, but I loved that some of the stories took on other genres as well (such as LGTBTQ romance or futuristic dystopia). Each story felt fresh and inventive because they were written in YA style and were youthful in a way that Poe's classics don't always feel.

The best part is that this collection includes all of the referenced Poe stories and poems as well. I read the retelling story and then the original and this was the perfect way to compare the stories and discover Easter eggs in the new stories that I wouldn't have known about if I hadn't read Poe's work right after. I'm surprised this doesn't have a higher rating on Goodreads - I'm a definite fan!

I enjoyed this anthology a fair amount. It wasn't as long as it looked because the first half of the book consists of the rewritten stories while the last half of the book consists of the stories in their original form from Poe. If you've already read the stories, like I did, you won't be reading as much as you think you will. Some of the stories swept me off my feet, while others were eh. Overall a solid collection and worthy of my three stars.

I tried to like this book especially since I love Edgar Allen Poe but I had a very hard time getting through most of the stories. I decided against posting a review.

A very enjoyable collection of short stories based on Edgar Allan Poe's works. I liked some of the stories more than others--my stand-outs are probably It's Carnival! (Cask of Amontillado), Night-Tide (Annabel Lee), The Glittering Death (The Pit and the Pendulum), Happy Days, Sweetheart (A Tale-Tell Heart), The Oval Filter (The Oval Portrait), and Red (The Masque of the Red Death). It doesn't shock me that most of these stories were based on some of my favorite works by Poe (except for the Oval Portrait which I don't remember having read before. The Instagram update was very well done). Having the original stories at the back half of the book was also kinda nice as I could try and refresh my memory of them (some I did not remember well at all). I also enjoyed the last story, The Murders in the Rue Apartelle, Boracay, quite a bit, though the ending left me a little confused (it also didn't help that I'd never read the original story and couldn't really compare and contrast it to the new). I did like the world-building that Rin Chupeco did with that story; it made me want to read more set in that world.
All in all this was a fun update of some Poe classics by a lot of my favorite authors (and some new authors I hadn't read before). If you like Poe's work and don't mind some remixes, check this out.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book! I was so engrossed by the characters right off the bat. Her writing is out of this world, if you've been in a reading slump this is a great place to start, it absolutely blew me away!

A wildly uneven anthology, with some standouts that perfectly capture both the plot and spirit of Poe's original tales, yet with others that are almost incomprehensible. Some authors seem unable to use the short story structure properly, attempting to pack in a whole book's worth of plot and characterization into just a few pages, yet others give a brief snapshot of events with no backstory or motivation and expect us to be invested. Tessa Gratton, Tiffany D. Jackson, and Fran Wilde attempt to carry this anthology on their backs, but not even their excellent shorts could save this.

I loved this anthology of stories and felt as though each contributor had a great twist on the classic Edgar Allen Poe stories. I enjoyed the fact that the book also included the original stories. It makes the read a much better experience! After reading each short story, I made sure to read the inspiration to compare and get a better understanding of them. I loved this and hope that Dahlia Adler takes this opportunity to do this with more classic short story authors! It would be an incredible anthology style to be released each year.

Since I fairly enjoyed Edgar Allen Poe in school I thought I would give this one a try but it turns its just not exactly my cup of tea. I read a few of the short stories but it was pretty hit or miss whether I was into them or not. A lot of the time they were a bit graphic or couldn't hold my attention. I did really like the Raven (remix) by amanda lovelace. I love short stories and might come back around to this one but for now I am gonna deem it as a DNF.
I think this might be good to read intermittently, especially since it's October, like when your into the mood for something spookier and maybe without a happy ending.

I'm not rating this anthology, because it ended up being so entirely not a Christina thing, and I read it under a mistaken assumption. See, in high school, I remember really enjoying the Poe our teacher would read to us on Halloween, but apparently it was either the teacher's oratory skills or he only read a selection, because it turns out I super dislike the work of Edgar Allan Poe to the degree that even retellings of Poe don't work for me.

Admittedly, if I hadn't read the original tales, I might have enjoyed this more, because the Poe stories inevitably left me bored to tears, grumpy, and in-no-way in the mood for a retelling. But since they're there and since retellings are generally more interesting if you know what choices they've made (I stand by this), that's the decision I made.

So anyway, His Hideous Heart was not for me, BUT if you are into Poe, then absolutely read this, because the retellings go in some interesting directions. You get Poe's basic ideas fleshed out and full of diversity and feminism. Poe tends to go low on detail, so it was interesting to see how people built onto his narrow framework.

It's not you, it's me, basically. Or, actually, it's not you or me, it's Poe.

HIS HIDEOUS HEART is a powerhouse of incredible writers retelling different works of Edgar Allen Poe. From "The Raven" to "The Fall of the House of Usher," there is a great mix of Poe's most popular works and his lesser known ones. HIS HIDEOUS HEART works for long time Poe fans as well as a complete introduction to him.

My favorite pieces:

-"It's Carnival!" by Tiffany D. Jackson- I am a huge fan of Jackson's thriller novels, but WOW. She knocked it out of the park in this horror short story, and I'm so excited that she has a full length horror novel in the works. The tense, biting edge she carries in her writing is unparalleled.

-"Happy Days, Sweetheart" by Stephanie Kuehn- This was the first piece I've read from Kuehn, but it won't be the last. Set in a cut throat academy, this retelling of the "Tell-Tale Heart" takes such a unique and powerful spin that I read it twice in a row to feel the impact again.

Though those two are my favorite, there are many other excellent stories ranging from contemporary to scifi to historical, all with a distinctive voice and approach. The only issue I had was the placement of a few of the stories. They were a little too abrupt and/or awkward shift in tone. However, most flowed beautifully. It was a hard collection to put down.

Ready to get spooky?
Whether or not you love Edgar Allan Poe or whether or not you have even read anything by him, you will love this book. If you are a fan of spooky things, thrillers, horrors, things that go bump in the night and will keep you up at night, then this is the book for you!
Now what is so freaking amazing about this book is that it is a collection of 13 short stories all written by 13 different authors. Each author has their own unique writing style and takes on these classic Edgar Allan Poe stories. I want to take a moment and highlight each author that contributed to the making of this book. These authors are Kendare Blake (reimagining “Metzengerstein”), Rin Chupeco (“The Murders in the Rue Morge”), Lamar Giles (“The Oval Portrait”), Tessa Gratton (“Annabel Lee”), Tiffany D. Jackson (“The Cask of Amontillado”), Stephanie Kuehn (“The Tell-Tale Heart”), Emily Lloyd-Jones (“The Purloined Letter”), Hillary Monahan (“The Masque of the Red Death”), Marieke Nijkamp (“Hop-Frog”), Caleb Roehrig (“The Pit and the Pendulum”), and Fran Wilde (“The Fall of the House of Usher”) All these authors did such an amazing job. I am blown away by their creativity and uniqueness.
Now to get more in-depth about the book itself. All these short stories were wonderful, some were way more spooky than others, *Cough cough* Caleb Roehrig *cough cough* What I found to be extremely interesting is that some instead of taking on a horror vibe went more sci-fi. I don’t think Edgar Allan Poe could have ever imagined that to happen and I was super taken aback by it. Those stories were filed in nicely so as not to get too overwhelmed with all the gloom and doom. Some authors chose to write their story in a very old-timey/ Edgar Allan Poe style while others were very modern. The combination just makes for a very interesting read.

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One of my favorite authors Caleb Roehrig is one of the contributors to this book and unsurprisingly, his story was the scariest and horror-filled. I am not surprised at all since all of his books are dark and bloody, but this was by far the scariest. I was happy to be reading his writing again but I did lose some much-needed sleep after reading his.
The other amazing thing about this book is that they also included all the original tales by Edgar Allan Poe. So if you have never read anything by him before you can read all of them before you read all the modern-day retellings! I recommend starting with the pome Annable Lee because it is my favorite and so chilling and sad.

Who doesn't like a good Poe story or poem? I mean really. Some of the retellings are better than others. I think it is a great way to get young adults to read classics. Some of the new stories should definitely inspire you to read the old ones and see the connections. My two favorites were: “Night-Tide” inspired by “Annabel Lee“ & "A Drop of Stolen Ink” inspired by “The Purloined Letter”. If you like Poe or even just like gothic literature, give this a try!

So at first I thought, yes, please, thank you, a bunch of cool YA authors reimagining Edgar Allan Poe stories — how could this be anything but great? The problem, though, is that nobody can out-Poe Poe -- stories like "The Tell-Tale Heart" or "Annabel Lee" (which is poem but totally a story in a poem) are kind of hard to live up to, and I think most of the time, the Poe connection makes these stories seem weaker than their inspiration. In fact, though, there are some great stories in here! If you can turn off the Poe connection and read them as stand-alones, I think you will enjoy this collection -- but not if you are thinking about Poe the whole time. (Do skip the "updated" version of "The Raven," which is legitimately awful.) For instance, "Happy Days, Sweetheart" is no "The Tell-Tale Heart" -- but it IS a pretty compelling indictment of toxic masculinity and white privilege at a snooty prep school. Tiffany D. Jackson (y'all know I love her!) writes a Carnival revenge story that's both smart and sassy — especially if you don't compare it to "The Cask of Amontillado." Even better, stick with stories based on lesser-known Poe so you can read Poe AFTERWARDS: I thought "She Rode a Horse of Fire" had a lingering spookiness and lack of clear resolution that made for a very Poe-like tone, and it had been so long since I read "Metzengerstein" that I wasn't making constant comparisons. I loved the diversity in this collection, which is definitely lacking in the original Poe, but it's hard to compete with the master of American Gothic. I'm totally slipping a few of these stories into future reading lists, but I won't be reading them alongside Poe — my readerly recommendation is that you do the same.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed are my own.

I don't think I've EVER seen any retellings of Poe? Fairy tales and Shakespeare, definitely. But none for my guy Poe here.

This was a super interesting collection and most of the stories were really good. (Despite it being hailed as "13 of YA's most celebrated names," I only recognized one author.) Props for 13 stories, too!

The one author I did recognize (and already knew I didn't like) was Amanda Lovelace. Her books are overly-celebrated for what they are, and this entry was no different. Definite miss for me.

Otherwise, most of the rest were actually really good and compelling short stories. There were times when the retelling was a bit forced or stretched to try to appeal to the YA audience.

I thought it was very nice that the original Poe stories were included, as well!

3.5 ☆
This is a two-part collection of short stories inspired by Edgar Allan Poe and the original stories by Poe, himself. These authors are all popular YA authors, and they have challenged themselves by giving a fresh new spin on some of Poe's classic works. There is a wide range of stories, and I must say, some I really liked, and some I really didn't care for. My favorites were "It's Carnival!" by Tiffany D. Jackson, which tackles "The Cask of Amontillado"; "Happy Days, Sweetheart" by Stephanie Kuehn, which was inspired by the "Tell-Tell Heart"; and "Lygia" by Dahlia Adler based on "Ligeia". This is such a wonderful way of introducing this legendary author to a new generation of readers. These new authors are, in a sense, channeling Poe. These stories are their interpretation of his stories. These new versions offer diverse cultural and sexual representation, which I found very refreshing. And along with authors that I have read and previously enjoyed, I've now been introduced to a few that I will be checking out further. It's definitely a win/win in my book.

I highly recommend this book. And kudos to whoever came up with the idea for this project! Thank you.

I really enjoyed the author's stories drawing from Poe's original works, especially the variations in perspective, character, and setting. My only suggestion would be to put the original story directly after the "reimagined" story; this would make it easier for readers to compare the stories. (If that isn't possible, making a note to readers directing them to the original story's location would be sufficient.)

Like with most anthologies, this book had some stand out stories and some stories that felt disjointed and rushed. Overall, it was a great book!

overall I wasn't disappointed by this . . . but I thought it would be better?? Feel more Poe-inspired? Some stories hit that vibe *just right* though, which is why I don't feel completely let down by this.

I'm a sucker for retellings, and this collection is pretty spot on. A great addition to any YA collection; however, those who love Poe shouldn't be turned away by the YA label. You'll want to curl up by a fire, but turn on all the lights after this read.