The girls in this collection are both villains and heroes.
But one thing is for certain, each girl is strong in her own defining way, whether she's capable of using her strangeness for good or evil, it's only a matter of choice.<

24 hours diner 🌟🌟🌟
Sideshow 🌟🌟🌟🌟
The dolls house 🌟🌟🌟
Blood 🌟🌟
Self-portrait with pearls 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Personal demons 🌟🌟🌟
Friends with benefits 🌟🌟
Night terrors 🌟🌟🌟🌟
The girl who never stopped bleeding 🌟
Leda and the fly 🌟
Jenny’s Bobo 🌟
Extinguishing fireflies

Stopped reading at 41 %. Seems I had way to high expectations for this one.
I hoped this one was full of horror, feminism etc. but instead there were so many weird stories, I didn’t like.

This was a great collection of dark, abject and sinister tales. The opening tale in particular walked that fine line of horror and humour gorgeously and set the tone for the rest of the collection. I loved the almost bleak outcome of many of the stories, especially Night Terror, the ending of that was awful (in the good way). There were some stories I felt were a little too much in terms of sexual assault and gore but I appreciated they came with trigger warnings. I was disappointed not all of the tales had strong female characters that won given the title of the collection, however it was definitely a good read for horror fans.

I received an e-ARC from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I really appreciated what this collecting was trying to do, putting together horror stories featuring women in new and strange ways. In the forward, the editor describes the collection with 'and in a world where everyday women's choices are dwindling or are at stake, this anthology serves to celebrate these girls' choices' which got me very excited.

Unfortunately, the collection overall didn't speak to this theme to me. Some story were definitely celebrating women's choices, whether hero's or villains - which was especially interesting, but some of the stories had women in the old horror trope of powerless victims which was a huge letdown.

This book dealt with some tough themes, in some stories it was done very well and I'd recommend them to a young adult audience. However, other stories in this book were far more violent in their themes (thankfully with a content warnings). Overall these shifts in tone and degrees of violence made the book confusing and I was left wondering who was the intended audience for this collection. Some stories I'd eagerly recommend to teenagers, but others I'd be pressed to recommend to most women without a heavy content warning due to really graphic sexual violence. I am not sure who to recommend this collection to in its entirety.

My favourite story in the collection was the second story which took a strange and modern spin on the Medusa mythological story that I found was quite powerful! be sure to check it out if you grab this collection.

"Women in Horror Anthology" is a rather hit or miss book. Unfortunately, it manages to be more miss than hit overall. I just found a lot of the stories to be rather dull and predictable.

This is a horror Anthology written by women and focuses on female characters. This collection is ful of creepy and unusual stories that really showcase the talent of women in the horror genre. Like most anthologies some of these stories fell a little flat for me however, others I loved such as “The Doll’s House”, “The Eyes of the Dead” and “Cracked”.

Overall, I gave this a 3 out of 5.

As a Horror fan, I was really excited about this one. Unfortunately, I had to give it up 40% into it since I felt like this reading it was pointless. The short stories were extremely short. Most stories were not even scary. Big disappointment.

I still gave it a 2-star because a couple of stories were good and have a potential to be turned into full-blown novels.

Thank you Net Galley and Twisted Wing Production for this e-ARC in exchange for a honest review.

I wa as thrilled to see not only a horror anthology but especially one that was a horror anthology written by women. Overall the stories were entertaining and would be great for fans of horror. Some of the stories really creeped me out, and some were more gory than others. Like many anthologies, some of the stories will speak to you more than others. I think fans of true horror will find this to be right up their alley and should definitely read this.

Overall, these stories were quite entertaining. Although I enjoyed some stories more than others, it was a solid collection and I would recommend it to people that enjoy horror.

Anthologies are usually a lot of fun for me. I love that authors can create within the confines of the short story. I was expecting Strange Girls to be similar to Betty Bites Back, a female-centric feminist anthology that I recently read. Betty Bites Back featured women who were fed up with the misogyny of the system and were "biting back". Azzurra Nox, who selected all the stories in Strange Girls, also had a story featured in Betty Bites Back.

Unfortunately, while I enjoyed all of the stories in Betty Bites Back—albeit some more than others—I did not find the stories in Strange Girls to be equal to the task. While the stories did all feature girls or women and did all have elements of horror, they appeared a bit disjointed and didn't follow any other common theme.

It almost seemed, in most, that the main character was male, and the female character took more of a backseat. In 24 Hour Diner by Charlotte Platt, the male character lead most of the plot, at least until the very end. In Self-Portrait with Pears, again the male character is the one with the point of view. Too many of the stories also portrayed the female character as the victim, most succinctly The Eyes of the Dead by Danielle R. Bailey with its trigger warnings of violence, not to mention necrophilia. I didn't feel any sense of empowerment in the tone of most of the stories. While Personal Demons, where a high school non-binary person is befriended by a succubus, should have been, the conclusion left me dissatisfied.

My favorites were Night Terrors by Angela Sylvaine and Extinguishing Fireflies by Rebecca Rowland. Night Terrors being remarkable sci-fi horror and well, Extinguishing Fireflies has a very unique kitten. Patterns of Faerytales by Azzurra Nox was another fun read built on the legend of the selkie. And yet two out of the three, are still portraying the female character at the mercy of others.

While there's no denying that all of the stories fit the "Strange Girl" horror needed for the anthology, I was hoping for more.

Anthologies are either hot or miss for me. There are some talented authors in this book ambit some of the stories fell really flat and dragged it down.

I really picky with short stories and I must admit this anthology is pretty good. I enjoyed most of the stories and I liked how the monster is processed - monster girls or the monster in the man/patriarchal society for example.

I picked this up one day when I was having trouble focusing on anything long form. At this point I am 5 days into "social distancing" for the COVID-19 break out. (I hope that some day reading that sentence will sound foreign and strange, but right now in the middle, everyone will know exactly what that means) Anway, I needed something short enough that I wouldn't have to devote a lot of attention to it, but also something utterly distracting. This collection did not let me down. This is definitely a great collection for feminists who enjoy something a little spooky.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

I was SO excited for this book... but ultimately.... it fell flat for me.
There are extremely talented authors in this anthology, and that's part of why i wanted to read this so badly.
Sideshow was one of my favorites.. dark and held my interest the entire time.
The girl Who never stopped bleeding- amazing.
Cracked - i adore stories about dolls ... so this was a hit.
Blood - was one of my .. least favorites.. it was missing a lot...

24 Hour Diner - Seductive and steamy, though it suffers from confusing storytelling at points.
Sideshow - Dark, horrifying, and unrestrained in its subject matter. One of my favorites.
The Doll's House - Okay, but falls short of its potential through inadequate information and a handful of grammatical/syntax errors.
Blood - Too short and undeveloped to really evoke anything within me, unfortunately.
Self-Portrait with Pears - Also just an "okay" - had difficulty understanding the direction.
Personal Demons - The current politics and LGBT rep were nice touches, though there were some grammar/syntax mistakes as well.
Friends with Benefits - Quite chilling, truth be told.
Night Terrors - The sci-fi twist is a huge yes, and I really like Ana. Another one of my favorites.
The Girl Who Never Stopped Bleeding - Short and personal, with very dark implications.
Leda and the Fly - Topical and blunt. Another favorite.
Jenny's Bobo - I started off not finding much intrigue in it, but that last paragraph made up for it.
Extinguishing Fireflies - Felines and murder complemented by a fitting prose style. Yet another favorite.
The Eyes of the Dead - Not for the faint of heart (please heed the trigger warning at the beginning), that's for sure. Unfortunately, the messy writing detracted from the overall experience, but the tale was still horrifying.
My Mirror Wife - Confusing to follow due to multiple POVs, but quite intriguing nonetheless.
Patterns of Faerytales - I didn't see the twist coming! One of my other favorites.
Campfire Tales: The Bloody Rings - Exactly what it says on the tin, though it didn't really work for me.
Cracked - Another horror story about dolls. I didn't find much new in it, but it was scary in its own way!
Angel of Death - Fantasy-horror with religious influences. With its vivid imagery and topical relentlessness, it's probably my favorite from the overall collection.
Her Garden Grows - It didn't make sense to me at all.
Revival - Intriguing and relevant, if not a bit hard to follow.
A Song Only She Can Hear - Mystically frightening. Another favorite.
Tribal Influence - The final story in the collection is timely and political, and I can call it a favorite as well.

Overall: this collection consisted mostly of definite hits and definite misses, but there's likely something in it for a lot of different types of horror fans.

Through the entire book made me want to read an entire novel of each short story. I am not the biggest fan of Horror but these stories truly made me feel things I haven't before about Horror. I have started to push myself out of the box and I think that this novel truly helped. Also the fact that these are all amazing woman writing all these amazing short stories truly make me happy to be a woman!

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for my copy to review and read.

TW: rape

When I read the synopsis of this anthology I was really excited about it because i love horror and i like when its focused on women but this anthology fell really short for me. I wanted to review each story separately but nothing was really that scary or unnerving to be honest. I honestly didnt even get very far. I had to stop at 20% because it felt like I really had to force myself to read the stories and pay attention to them. Some of the stories didnt really make sense either. It's like some of them should have had more story to go along with it and others was just all over the place like the the authors were just trying to rush through it. One of the stories I did read did mention rape as a subject. That story just made me happy with how it ended. The guy got what he deserved. I think their is another story in that talks about rape too but I'm not sure.

I had hoped that there’d be something I’d really enjoy in this anthology, but really didn’t find any of the stories to be scary or unnerving or anything like that. The authors tend to use flowery language, and don’t manage to gain my interest in what’s going on in the various stories. There was no unnerving feelings or feelings of unease. It felt like a slog to read through the stories.

This series immediately caught my eye for two reasons.

1. Women in horror.
2. Women writing women in horror.

This book is an anthology of horror stories all circulating women. It has amazing potential, the syntax lacks in a few chapters, but the story is well fleshed out and most of them had me hanging on the edge of my seat.

All these women writers are extremely talented and differentiate from each other so diversely that you can tell that you’re meant to be reading an anthology.

Amazing book series. I can’t wait for the rest.

I read the first four stories in this book and while they weren't the worst thing I've ever read I don't think they were very good either and they don't really make me want to finish this anthology. From what I saw with the first few stories they seem very unfinished and are also the kind of stories that focus on some kind of trauma or sexual assault and then have the woman get revenge for it later. I'm sure some women find this kind of thing empowering but I would rather not have to deal with sexual assault in every story I'm reading. That combined with none of them really being particularly scary or creative made me DNF this anthology after four stories.

As with any anthology there will be some stories you love, some you find "just ok" and others you end up skimming just to get through them and Women in Horror is no exception. Overall, this is a very worthwhile collection and anything that promotes women's voices in the horror genre should be championed.