This was a very diverse anthology. The stories were disturbing, amusing, thought provoking, and some were just confusing. Some of the stories can definitely be skipped but the collection as a whole is worth the read.

I wanted to like this book. I like anthologies written by, and about women. Some of the stories in it are pretty good, but a bit more care should have been taken over the selection of stories and the editing. I was hesitant to post my review elsewhere, because I want to be honest, but I also don't want to be mean when this is from a small press, and it seems unfair to the writers of the better stories.

In particular, The Eyes of the Dead by Danielle R. Bailey has odd mistakes, like the main character's eyes changing from "emerald green" to "icy blue", typos (eg. "her thoughts we incoherent...")and awkward sentence construction. More importantly, it's just plain nasty even for a horror story. Granted, they did give a content warning, but a story in which the main character is raped and murdered a third of the way through, then the rest is just her ghost watching the killer mutilate and have sex with her corpse does not belong in a book tagged "young adult"! It's not as if the author even has a clever idea, it's just torture porn. If you don't believe me, it contains the phrase "peeling away her dead vagina like an Apache war trophy", because at this point why not sprinkle in a little racism for good measure?

Back to the good stories;
Sideshow- I thought this one was clever and evocative
Night Terrors- This one was very creepy, and didn't go where I thought it was going at all.
Leda and the Fly- Slow moving and spooky. It reminded me of the movie, The Blackcoat's Daughter
Extinguishing Fireflies- One for cat lovers. It's very well done.
Jenny's Bobo- A little more light hearted, but still creepy. I like that the creature's origin is never fully explained. It's more intriguing that way.
A Song Only She Can Hear- The best mermaid story I've read in long time. It reminded me a little of the Australian TV show Tidelands.

Women in Horror Anthropology by author Azzurra Nox is a fun, great book filled with wonder. I loved every second of this book and absolutely recommend it! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 This book was so fun! As with every short story collection, there were a mix of good and bad stories. With this one, that was the case but I was genuinely entertained by every story. I loved the diversity of the characters, authors, and monsters!. The dollhouse story could have been its own book. Overall, this is a fun, quick read that highlights women in a male dominated genre. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC. This book comes out next month.

While some of the stories in here were quite good I felt as a whole this anthology was lacking the punch it needs to secure it's spot in among the other horror stories I have read. I will be looking for future work by some of the authors though so it wasn't a total loss.

I love anthologies of women writers and I love horror, so of course I’m going to pick up a book that combines both. I decided to rate each individual story and average them together for my final rating of 3.09. Overall, these stories were quite entertaining. Although I enjoyed some more than others, it was a solid collection of stories and I would recommend it to people that enjoy horror.


“24 Hour Diner” by Charlotte Platt, 2/5 - a guy meets a girl in a diner, they exchange some awkward dialogue. One of them turns out to be a vampire.

“Sideshow” by Jude Reid, 5/5 - TW: rape. A snake-charmer helps a woman seek vengeance. This one is definitely worth reading.

“The Doll's House” by Alyson Faye, 3/5 - Murderous dolls make for a fun, creepy tale.

“Blood” by Claire Hamilton Russell, 2/5 - a strange tale of lineage, but a stretch to consider this anything other than fantasy.

“Self-Portrait with Pears” by Rachel Bolton, 4/5 - Adam’s entitlement is chilling in this story about a stalker.

“Personal Demons” by Angelique Fawns, 3/5 - TW: transphobia. A teenager becomes best friends with a succubus.

“Friends with Benefits” by E.F. Schraeder, 1/5 - I didn’t enjoy this one.

“Night Terrors” by Angela Sylvaine, 3/5 - A girl recovering from a surgery finds out who she really is.

“The Girl Who Never Stopped Bleeding” by Sam Lauren, 1/5 - a short, religious tale that I didn’t connect with.

“Leda and the Fly” by Marnie Azzarelli, 4/5 - in an uncanny moment, a girl eats a fly and is changed.

“Jenny's Bobo” by Hillary Lyon, 3/5 - a story about a strange pet. I felt like this one abruptly ended right as it was getting interesting, so I couldn’t rate it higher.

“Extinguishing Fireflies” by Rebecca Rowland, 2/5 - a kitten is much more dangerous than anyone ever expected.

“The Eyes of the Dead” by Danielle R. Bailey, 3/5 - TW: rape. This story poses the question, ‘What if the soul doesn’t leave the body when we die?’

“My Mirror Wife” by Ash Tudor, 2/5 - An interesting concept, but I failed to connect with the characters.

“Patterns of Faerytales” by Azzurra Nox, 5/5 - a selkie finds out the truth about her past.

“Campfire Tales: The Bloody Rings” by Emma Johnson-Rivard, 3/5 - Find yourself a kitchen knife.

“Cracked” by Regan Moore, 5/5 - a woman steals a supernatural doll and faces the repercussions.

“Angel of Death” by Phoebe Jane Johnson, 1/5 - a very short story that has odd political undertones that I didn’t quite agree with.

“Her Garden Grows” by Maxine Kollar, 3/5 - Keeping with the theme of the anthology, I would definitely say that Rosamund is a strange woman.

“Revival” by Madison Estes, 5/5 - a medical student believes he feels a pulse in the cadaver he must dissect.

“A Song Only She Can Hear” by Wondra Vanian, 5/5 - a mermaid meets another one of her kind. This story was my favorite out of the entire anthology.

“Tribal Influence” by Erica Ruhe, 3/5 - this one was quite enjoyable, although it wasn’t as strong of a story as I was expecting to finish out the anthology.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an unbiased review.

I made some reading goals for 2020, besides setting my Goodreads goal at 100 books this year, I also want to read more horror and anthologies. When Strange Girls : Women in Horror Anthology curated by Azzurra Nox, popped up on social media, I was super excited. Not only is the book horror and an anthology, but every one of the stories is written by women, which is a wonderful bonus!

All the stories were good, but some were great. The ones that really stood out to me were; Leda and the Fly by Marine Azzarelli, The Eyes of the Dead by Danielle R. Bailey, The Doll’s House by Alyson Faye, and The Girl Who Never Stopped Bleeding by Sam Lauren.

Some of them had themes that are repeated quite often, and while they were still enjoyable, I was looking for something with more of a twist. One of the stories that I felt has been done a lot, made fun of itself a bit though by mentioning Annabelle, so that endeared me a bit more to the story. And even though the few that I thought were not as original, they obviously have an audience since they are told again and again.

There were some that were cute but still disturbing. And my definition of cute may be way different than yours… but I thought Personal Demons by Angelique Fawns was adorable. I also enjoyed having a mermaid and selkie story in the mix since I’m partial to water monsters. A Song Only She Can Hear by Wondra Vanian had a different look at mermaids, making me think of sirens. And Sideshow by Jude Reid, although not an aquatic monster, still had the vibe that goes along with man eating beings.

I really appreciated the author’s information and links to their other works at the end of each story. I will be using that information to read more stories and novels from the writers that I really enjoyed. And I’m sure I’ll find even more authors to read when I check out the various resources.

If you’re a fan of horror or looking to broaden your reading horizons, you should give Strange Girls a read.

I absolutely love reading about strange but empowered ladies. I loved the writing style of the author so much.

I absolutely loved this book. The first thing that caught my eye was the cover art and the second thing was the title. All the short stories were very different then the next. Some stories didn't really justified the title by "Strange Girls" but the author let it know in the beginning. Other then that it kept me very entertained throughout the book. I would highly recommend this book to my friends.

I ended up DNF'ing this after the first few stories. These are just not the kind of stories I enjoy reading about. Obviously I knew these was horror, it's the title for goodness sake, but I just figured I'd still like them. But I've realized recently that I don't think I like horror. Thriller..yes. Mystery..yes. Horror...I don't think so. At least not like this. The thing I do like in the stories were the mysterious element of not knowing what each woman was capable of and trying to figure out what she was gonna do.

I really appreciate being allowed to read this in advanced. Unfortunately I jumped the gun on choosing this book without realizing what exactly it was about and I regret requesting because I'm sure other people would love to have the opportunity to read this early. I loved the idea of this and I would still recommend it to people who I know love this genre.

That cover... gorgeous!!!

As with most anthologies, this one was hard to rate because the writing and content was as diverse as the 20+ authors who included a piece. Even though I definitely didn't know what to expect from the title, I think my favorite had to be Jenny's Bobo by Hillary Lyon. Other stand outs include Patterns of Faerytales and A Song Only She Can Hear (great title, and I'm always team mermaid!).

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was an interesting read, women being the protagonists of each and every story narrated. Not ordinary women though, but women who others might fear. Why? Because they are powerful and unique. And that's why they are turned into horror stories.
I truly enjoyed the mythological diversity of the book. It is something I haven't tried before and I wasn't disappointed at all!

"Strange Girls," edited by Azzurra Nox is an interesting and unique horror anthology. I was given the opportunity to receive an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The tales of this anthology center around so-called strange girls and is a collection written entirely by women. This alone made me interested in the collection as women are often needlessly left out of the horror genre, both as authors and as main characters. It is largely a male-driven genre.

Going into "Strange Girls," I didn’t know what to expect, and I was pleasantly surprised. While some stories were misses for me and I DNF’d (did not finish) one and wish I had done so with one other, I enjoyed the collection overall.

My favorites were “The Doll’s House,” “Cracked,” and “Tribal Influence.” Two of these stories deal with dolls which I always find creepy. The last was about a little girl named Joaquina who has special powers and is fantastic. If you read anything from the anthology, I recommend these three, but there are also other strong contenders in the collection. The three aforementioned stories were five-star reads for me.

One story in the collection comes with a trigger warning, though a few others could as well. The trigger warning story was my least favorite and was the one I wished I had DNF’d as it dealt in detail with sexual assault and necrophilia, both of which I find disturbing and not entertaining. But, the writing of the story was good in that it painted a vivid, if not disgusting, picture and was told from a unique point of view.

If you love horror and are not squeamish, these sometimes violent and always creepy stories in the Strange Girls anthology will be right up your alley. Because of the misses in the collection, I cannot give the overall experience five stars, but it is a solid four-star book for me. I recommend this with caution as the anthology does deal with some hard-hitting topics, and as I said trigger warnings could have accompanied more than one of these tales.

I am a strange girl. I am also currently reading Shirley Jackson, Joyce Carol Oates, and Neil Gaiman.
I found the Gothic genre this year. It brings me an unsettling glee. Atmospheric. This genre builds a suspension of reality that slowly blossoms from the cocoon as reality.
I absolutely love anthologies and this book delivered. Yes, some stories came up short. Does not mean that they did not hold merit.
Complete enjoyment.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this digital ARC in return for an honest review.

What a brilliant collection of stories from talented female writers! A collection of very different tales but all with females taking the lead. I really enjoyed reading these stories and there's plenty to keep you going. I highly reccomend reading this collection.

For fans of American Horror Story, Shirley Jackson, and Creepshow.
You know them. Those girls that aren't quite like everyone else. Those girls who stand out in the crowd. Those girls that dare to be different. Those girls are dangerous.
In Strange Girls, twenty-one authors dare to tackle what makes the girls in this collection different. Vampires, selkies, murderous mermaids, succubus, and possessed dolls take center stage in these short stories that are sure to invoke feelings of quiet terror and uneasiness in the reader. Following the successful debut of Women in Horror anthology with My American Nightmare, Strange Girls is the sophomore effort to showcase these talented women in a genre that is often dominated by the male gaze.
Dare to take a walk on the dark side.

Unfortunately, this was not my cup of tea. Nothing really "scared" me per se, and not all of these stories will be for everyone. A few of the stories were well done, but most did not capture me as a reader as much as I had hoped. Still, for Women in Horror month in February, it will hopefully attract readers who will support the women featured in this horror anthology.

I wish I could say that I loved this book. I wanted to love this book, but honestly there were alot of misses for me. I thought the idea of everything sounded amazing, but some of the stories I didn't enjoy as much as others and I felt like it was enough to not make me as excited to read the ones that were coming up. I have to admit, I did not end up finishing this book, which makes me feel bad about the review, but I just honestly couldn't get through it.

It’s unfortunate that this is a book that has more misses than hits.

This collection of stories seems undone as though held up by a single strand and slowly it’s unraveling.

A few of these stories are well done and creepy but a majority are meh and left me confused if anything.

I ultimately had to DNF at the 42% mark.. This would be a great book for young adults just getting into horror perhaps.

Thanks very much to Netgalley and the publisher for this copy of my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This will be available on February 18th.

There’s a reason I’m posting this review so far ahead of the book’s release date: it is really, really bad. I hate posting a negative review right before a release date, so I’m posting this earlier. My final feeling on this anthology is: YUCK.

I went into this book with excitement, looking forward to horror stories where women are the major focus. That’s a cool idea, and I stand by that. However, what was included in this book is not something I would ever knowingly choose to read.

One story had an incredibly nasty person who had a penchant for necrophilia. Another repeated the phrase “You didn’t say no” multiple times. What you infer from that is unfortunately correct. I don’t read these things in books. It bothers me enough that I mention it in my blog review policy. I will give a shout out to yet another story involving these problems: this one at least included a trigger warning at the beginning. I chose to skip that story.

Okay, you might be thinking, that’s just a few examples though, and you’re right. Other stories felt unfinished (and not in a good way). That doesn’t mean that these authors are bad: in fact, I’m sure some of them are very talented. It might have very well been a choice to leave these particular stories with an unfinished feeling, but it didn’t work for me.

I can’t choose a favorite story among the ones in this anthology because so many of them left a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and not the fun sense of eeriness that I was hoping for. My takeaway from this anthology was disappointment. Hopefully, the next book I read will be more enjoyable.

I really like all the stories in this book. The authors chosen were chosen well. All interesting stories. Will recommend.