In April of 1880, Samuel Graves and his followers arrived in British Columbia, where they established the town known as Graves Grove. However, most of his followers probably didn’t know that Samuel was dedicating this town a being called Talakoth. This collection of short stories tells of only some of the events that occurred there.

Thoughts:

The Whispered Tales of Graves Grove is a collection of 22 short stories that are in the realm of mild horror or have a supernatural feel to them. At the beginning, is a short introduction by J.S. Bailey who describes how the anthology came to be and the backstory of Graves Grove, which included creating certain characters the different authors could potentially use in their stories, such as Mamie Rue Le Doux and a town mutt named Copper.

Although, most of the stories have only mild horror or an unsettling creepy factor, there were a couple that were a bit outside of that and had a little more horror than my personal preference. Like all collections, I found some stories were more to my liking than others. Some of this probably depends on my mood for the day or perhaps what I may have been previously reading. I do think my favorite was The Summerfield Horror – something about the way the story was structured and told stuck with me. I also found that sometimes the stories didn’t necessarily flow together as well as they could have and felt a little uneven. For example, you might read a story where the tone is more spooky or creepy and then followed by one with a more light-hearted horror humor to it. Each one story was fine, but when put together it could be kind of jarring to go from one type of supernatural atmosphere to another.

However, all in all it was a nice collection of stories, just beware of reading them too late at night!

Thank you Netgalley and BHC Press for the reader’s copy and opportunity to provide an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This was a creepy anthology about the town of Grace's Grove. Each tale drew me in more. Hope to read more by this author.

A creepy anthology centered around the bizarre town of Graves Grove. Each story is written by a different author and each one is about a different horror in or about the town. An old factory housing a mutant, a Sycamore that eats children, and numerous other things that go bump in the night. Each story was unique, some were downright creepy, others were a bit humerus. An enjoyable read!

This is an anthology of horror shorts, written by different authors. The twist though, is that there is a central theme: the town of Graves Grove.
I think it’s a cool concept to plan a book with an arc and a detailed list of characters and request others to build the town narrative. So cool!

The short stories were very short and entertaining. I would like to see a longer novel that perhaps braids some of these shorter narratives into a true story in the future.

An interesting collection of Canadian horror short-stories. Some were creepier than other but the general level is quite high.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Man oh man oh man....I loved this book! The story of a little village settled by a madman and his followers in an isolated valley in the mountains, told in vignettes as the years and the decades go by. The story told by the founder Samuel Graves, by the residents of Graves Grove, by visitors, by creatures and monsters that live or pass through there and by those who had to deal with all or any of the above. Graves Grove's two icons are the bronze statue of Samuel Graves, which somehow changes it's clothing (also bronze) every single day and the giant sycamore tree by the elementary school, the roots of which provide an ideal play area for the children even while the tree gives so many people the creeps. Speaking of the children....the town bulletin board has photos of children dating way back into the 1800's, hundreds of children that have all mysteriously gone missing and were never found.
The Whispered Tales of Graves Grove winds through the mind of these characters as they experience the strangeness of this little village. Each chapter, by a different author and told through the eyes of a different character, gives us just a little taste of life in Graves Grove through many era's and it all comes together in the end.
This book would make a wonderful mini-series. I really hope to see it on the screen some day.
#netgalley #TheWhisperedTalesofGravesGrove

This is a wonderful collection of stories that I devoured in one setting. Each story was interesting and I loved seeing the links to other chapters throughout the book. There's a Lovecraftian influence in some of the stories and others are more horror related. I hope this is one day adapted into a movie or show like Creepshow or American Horror Story.

Welcome to Graves Grove. Nestled somewhere in western British Columbia, a quintessential quiet small town. Thoroughly steeped in weird. From its founder, the mysterious Graves himself, who apparently hailed from Virginia, only no one’s ever heard of him there to its denizens to its strange Graves planted tree to its sartorially peculiar Graves statue to its missing children. Graves Grove is a town of secrets and mysteries. Graves Grove is strange. These are the tales of Graves Grove. They may explain some of the strangeness of the town, told through perspectives of those who live there and those who visit…and those unable to leave. And so there you have it, witches, shapeshifters, haunted places and people, murder mysteries, unexplainable and inexplicable speculated upon by different authors. This was one of those randomly awesome anthologies from a small publisher featuring mostly unknown names and offering unexpectedly high quality. Just a pleasant surprise all around. A thematic anthology well done. Go Canada. Darkly entertaining, maddeningly fun tales of frights and fantasies about a small town you would only ever dare to visit via a book. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

This wonderful Canadian Horror anthology I read in a one-sitting, "I can't stop now," session. Seamlessly interwoven by multiple authors, the anthology relates the life and times of a small inbred community in the Canadian Rockies, in a forested rural valley in rural British Columbia. Founded in 1880 by one Samuel Madsen Graves, the community revolves around the sycamore he planted. The setting and stories I found delightfully Lovecraftian. Certainly every single story is a winner, and the conclusion is incredibly powerful. I highly recommend this anthology.