Not a fan of a bunch of short stories,
I always get thrown off when they end too quickly. Like holding the book makes me think there has to be a lot more to the story, but then bam its over.
This was fun though.
I liked the 2nd and 4th stories, they captured my attention very well.

Often it is a quick hit and miss with short stories, but i actually ended up enjoying some of them. But my favorite was Stone baby. it was so twisted, scary without being over-the top bloody and gory for my taste.

this was a great short story collection, I enjoyed the characters and each story had what I was looking for in this type of novel.

This is an enjoyable collection of 11 short stories all by the author Terri Bruce. The stories cover an array of genre including horror, magic, fantasy and more. They all have an element of science fiction and horror. The length of each story is just right. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

*I received a copy of this ebook for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

TW: Stone Baby short story has a trigger warning for miscarriage

I'll admit straight off the bat that I don't read short stories often, and I usually have a hard time getting into a story so quickly. I'm trying to read more short story collections to get better at that, but that's just a personal issue that I have. That being said, these stories were really fun and quick little adventures. My main "complaint" was that each one introduced a concept that hooked me and a premise that excited me, but I didn't get enough of it because the story was so short. Again, that's likely because I'm not used to short stories and someone who reads them more often likely won't have this issue.

I think this collection's strongest aspect overall was the unique concepts and the worlds we saw. Whether it was a fantasy or sci-fi, each story had such a unique setting or circumstances that I was really intrigued by right away. I also loved how many dark twists and turns we got, even when they were disguised as a light or familiar story they had dark undertones and twists that I loved.

My favourite story was definitely Welcome To The OASIS, I just loved that concept so much and it really stuck in my head, even after finishing the story I kept thinking about it and how many cool things could happen in that world. There weren't any stories that I didn't like, but Welcome To The OASIS will be the one that sticks in my head the strongest.

Overall I really enjoyed this collection and would recommend this to anyone who enjoys exploring unique or dark concepts in fantasy or sci-fi.

3.5 stars for entire book Individual ratings below

My lover like night 2.5 stars
Overly flowery and descriptive not my writing style. The best part is her comments on when this was taking being written and what was happening in her life(explanation) that commentary is in bounds enjoyable.

Before the evolution comes smoke 3.75 stars
Fairly long for a short story sci fit and it is probably going to be my favorite.

Death and the horse 4 stars
Death is a necessity, sometimes even a mercy, but we don’t revel in it.”
Death and origins of myths yes please very good

Stone baby 2 stars
Searching for death 2 stars

The tower 2 stars
This one had so much potential for a higher rating but this one needs a little more length to have depth and better emotional impact/comprehension. Did love the crusader idea though

Welcome to OASIS 4 stars
The lady and the Unicorn 3 stars

The ghosts of Acadia 2 stars
I know this is the most personal for the author as she really and truly based the character of herself and a person who once irritated her but I just didn’t like it

The Greeley Street Apothecary 3 stars
The Well 3 stars

I had never read Terri Bruce, so this was an eye-opening experience for me. It's a short story collection full of weird and crazy and awful things, and this book will not be for everyone. I didn't love every story, but they were interesting and I"ll check out more from the author.

I cannot decide which story I like bet. They are *all* fantastic! Read them yourself and choose your favorite!

Lets talk about that cover. I love the artwork, but the font used is extremely off-putting to me. I almost wish the title was smaller, perhaps subtle between the two figures. It looks like what a middle school boy would use on a school project. Find a nice picture, then search for a cool font to go over it even if the font doesn't really "work." For a middle school student, they can get away with it. For a professionally published book, maybe not. This cover kept me up last night as I laid in bed debating if I really wanted to read this or not, That's how bad that font is. You can't judge a book by it's cover. Except sometimes you can.

Let me just say that I didn't hate this. But I also didn't love it enough to want to own a copy of it. What possible readers have to understand is that this is collected fiction. Not every story will work for everybody. I had Unnatural Creatures on a shelf next to me while I read this and lord knows I did not love every one of those stories. Its really about personal taste. With that being said, i'm choosing not to do a review story by story as I originally planned. For the two or three I really liked, I don't feel like it's necessary to spew negativity over the rest of it since it didn't jive with me.

Now, with that being said...I did notice that the stories I liked the best were the more contemporary ones or the ones written closer to the present date. I liked that each story had a blurb in the beginning explaining when they were written and what for. It showed me that Terri has great potential as if you sorted the stories chronologically then they get better and better. I also feel like the first story was one of the weakest in the book. For a short story collection, you should start with something that is going to make someone want to read the next one. It didn't work. I see the potential and I actually trust Terri as a writer and storyteller. Based on what I thought was good, I would absolutely give her another try if she publishes something new. This particular collection didn't work with me, but I'm interested.

One last thing...I did not like the introduction to the book. It pulled me out right away and made me feel like a student was trying to justify everything we were about to read next by telling us about themselves. The Cover plus the introduction plus the weak first story resulted in a bad combination. This book may be a pass for me, but Terri Bruce is not.

A collection of stories that will fuel your nightmares. Seriously I can comphrend the horror level of some the stories. While I thoroughly enjoyed reading them, a few stories were a little too slow.

However I will recommend to give this book a shot because it's definitely worth it

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.