This was an engrossing read, from start to finish. There were so many different strands, so many varying tales and so many important issues pushed to the forefront throughout this book of short stories. We see materialism, the questions of skin colour, loss, tragedy, religion and personal beliefs, affluence, family and estrangement. IT was emotional and raw in parts. It's a book I will definitely reread in the future. I highly recommend it!!

This collection was incredible. From the first (title) story until the very end. There was not a single dud to be found. I cannot wait to see what else Dantiel W. Moiz writes.

The way Moniz observes the human condition, and artfully describes it is amazing:

From the first story:

“Trying to name it was like pulling up words from her belly, bucketful after bucketful, all that effort but they never meant what she wanted them to.”

Who hasn’t been there before????

From Feast:

“This baby validated me in the same way as my master’s degree, my good credit; Heath’s getting down on one knee.”

I had to laugh at that. It resonated in a big way!

From Necessary Bodies:

“When Billie misbehaved, Colette would say: I put food in your mouth and clothes on your back, as if Billie had come to her mother in spiritual form and begged her to be a parent.”

Also…...have DEFINITELY felt this way.

A few descriptions from from Thicker than Water had me in complete awe of Moniz’s writing:

“Shelby listens, her presence gentle as a chicken’s egg.”

“What’s it mean? Shelby’s question darts between us, a startled neon fish.”

Two perfect little sentences.

Lastly, from An Almanac of Bones, the story that probably hit home the hardest:

“You learn to be who you are, or you die as someone else."

and:

“In a hundred years, archaeologists or curious children would dig me up, brushing earth from my splintered femurs, studying my humerus for a hint at the joke. They would never quite get it because they couldn’t see the whole: my fierce weirdness or the restless current that circled my spine.”

This was just a tiny portion of the amazing chunks of writing I highlighted while reading this collection. I will be recommending this book to many many many people. Thank you for the review copy!

I'm not a huge fan of short stories as a form, and I find most short story collections very underwhelming. That said, most of the stories in this collection were compelling, and for a debut novel, they were excellent. All of them deal with various facets of womanhood, and are very evocative of the setting- her descriptions of sultry hot summers in Florida transport you there. More than the location, the stories that have adolescent protagonists capture the way you feel when you're on the cusp of puberty, and you're too old to play catch or Hide and seek, but too young to really know what to do with your time, apart from speculate endlessly about adulthood! ( Speaking from personal experience,as a kid I would say I couldn't wait to be 13 so I could " go on a date". Did I have the faintest clue what a date was apart from something I read in Archie's comics? Not at all. Did I have a prospective date in mind? Again, not at all. Didn't stop us from constantly talking about it!) I particularly enjoyed a story about a pregnant woman ambivalent about it- she captured the very specific issues that affect only the woman and not the man, incredibly astutely, in a few pages. I find the writing of quite a few recent authors self consciously precious, something that Dantiel Moniz completely avoids- her prose doesn't veer off into overly flowery descriptive sentences at all, which would have ruined the very grounded in women's realities quality of the stories. Not all the stories are excellent, but they're all very compelling, and for someone who doesn't much care for short stories, I read this through in one sitting. Definitely recommended reading.
Thanks a lot for the ARC, #GroveAtlantic #NetGalley.

This collection reminded me of the suffocating heat of summer. When you’re hot and sticky and feel like you’re moving through a fog and it’s hard to breathe. When everything has that dreamlike quality and no one is in any rush to do anything. I picture someone laying in bed with the blinds closed and the ceiling fan is going but all it does is recirculate the hot air. Sweat-drenched.

I took my time with this. I would read a story and then have to sit with it because I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. And I wanted it to rain.

I’ll leave you with a couple of quotes that have stayed with me, because honestly, I still can’t form the words to describe this collection. It’s all feelings.

“She is a vampire queen. She is newly thirteen, hollowed out and filled back up with venom and dust-cloud dreams.”

“From here, her mother looks young - could be any of the girls, making sure the face she’s wearing is the one the world wants - and at this thought, Frankie suddenly breaks through, not just a mother, but a whole person.”

“You learn to be who you are, or you die as someone else. It’s simple.”

I don't normally read short stories, but this collection was incredible! I was able to settle into each story without feeling rushed and was able to get to know the characters in a short amount of time. My favorites were Feast and Snow. All of the stories were so polished and fine tuned that I felt connected. Each story is quite beautiful but also complex. Milk Blood Heat does explore some dark themes, but Moniz delivers in such an eloquent way. I loved this book!

This book is one to have and hold onto as it will definitely stand up to countless rereads.
A collection of stories concerning the complexities of relationships and the things said and unsaid that shape them all.
Thank you to NetGalley and Grove/Atlantic for providing me a copy for review.

Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel W. Moniz is an interesting shot story collection covering difficult situations. Family, friends, loss, grief, infertility, pregnancy, and race are all discussed. The stories flow seamlessly from one to the next. I was very invested in all of these stories and couldn’t put the book down. Moniz writes with so much emotion that really drew me to the characters. It was difficult to read what these characters were going through, but their stories are important and impactful.

I recommend Milk Blood Heat for fans of impactful short story collections.

Thank you Libro.fm, NetGalley, High Bridge Audio, and Grove Atlantic.

I would like to thank the publisher of this book for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
Milk Blood Heat is an incredibly powerful book, telling stories of girls, women, creatures fighting for their right to live or die on their own terms.
Three of my favourite stories were Milk Blood Heat, Feast and Outside the Raft.
Three stories about existential dread, dealing with grief and the agony the human soul experiences when it comes too close to death.
The girls in Milk Blood Heat were two inquisitive souls, flirting with death, trying to make sense of the absurdity of life.
In Feast, the woman of the story crumbles under the grief of losing her baby, slowly unravelling. Her pain is raw and undeniable, she can't hide it. The only creature that understands her pain is an octopus "an Ouroboros which proceeds to eat its own tail". Nila, her husband's daughter told her that "the only place as strange as space is the seas and she was not mistaken".
In Outside the Raft, Shayla realized at a young age how far she would go to stay alive. What or whom she would not hesitate to sacrifice.
I recommend this collection to all lovers of short stories. A true gem.

I don’t normally pick short stories, but this was the Belletrist book this month so I was excited to try it out. As a Floridian, I love reading anything that is set in the state. It reminded me of Lauren Groff’s short story collection, Florida, which I really enjoyed.

These stories explore relationships, race, class, and womanhood. I love the dichotomy of some of the stories: one is a woman who is devastated after her miscarriage, while another is about a woman who is unsure if she wants to keep her baby.

Most of the stories are pretty relatable and relatively normal, but a few take an exponential jump in the last couple sentences to super weird. Some are even quite disturbing. But it just added to why they were so captivating and I also found them so easy to read. Normally with short stories, I am left wanting more and that’s why they aren’t my cup of tea. But I thoroughly savored these quick snippets into someone’s life and was satisfied each time one ended.

There was one extremely short passage, Exotic, which was the only one that left me confused. It didn’t seem to fit in with the other stories. But I really liked all of the others and definitely recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Press for the ARC of this book.

This was a very interesting collection that touched on poignant topics. The characters here are searching for parts of themselves and looking to be held in organic ways. There's a lot here for readers who can relate to the stories being told here.

Wowza!! I have been *really* into short stories lately, and I just read a few fantastic collections (Danielle Evans, anyone?) and I STILL found myself blown away by these stories. The first one ("Milk Blood Heat") absolutely packs a punch and is a strong start to the collection. My favorite story was probably "The Hearts of Our Enemies," but that might change upon reflection; I have a feeling I'll be thinking about quite a few of these stories for a while. Absolutely recommend this collection, and I'm already calling it will be one of my favorite books of 2021.

*I featured this book in my list of most anticipated 2020-2021 winter books for The Everygirl: https://theeverygirl.com/most-anticipated-novels-winter-2020/.*

With all short stories collections there are obviously some stories you like more than others, but with this collection I can fully say that the writing is phenomenal and this book is worth a read for that alone, even if you aren't necessarily fond of short stories. My personal favorites were the first and last stories, but they all explored the human condition and complex emotions in such a compelling and raw way. Highly recommend this one and I'm excited to read more from this author!

TL;DR REVIEW:

Milk Blood Heat is an absolutely fantastic short story collection, sharp and riveting. You should definitely read (or listen to) it.

For you if: You enjoy short stories, or you’re thinking of trying short stories and want to start with something excellent.

FULL REVIEW:

First, thank you to Grove Atlantic and HighBridge Audio for granting me advanced digital and audio copies of this book on NetGalley. I’m a big fan of switching back and forth between print and audio, and also listening along while I read the words. This short story collection is freakin excellent, and the audio production and voice acting was also so, so good.

Milk Blood Heat is everything the title promises it to be: sharp, searing, visceral, and human. It’s hard for me not to compare this to Danielle Evans’s The Office of Historical Corrections, because I read them very close to one another. While of course they’re not the same, I do think that if you liked one, you’ll like the other — both collections are just incredibly written and deal with some overlapping themes.

I think my favorite stories were “Milk Blood Heat” (obviously), about two preteen girls who develop a friendship out of a mutual feeling of drowning in the world; “The Loss of Heaven,” about a man who derives his worth from providing while his wife is dying from cancer; “Snow,” about a bartender whose perspective on marriage is tested by a unique patron; and “Necessary Bodies,” about a woman who is newly pregnant but not sure she wants to keep it in a world like ours.

You won’t regret reading this one!



TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Suicide; Death/grief; Miscarriage; Pregnancy; Cancer; Sexual assault

I'm usually intrigued by the first story, enough that it provides a taste for what will be to come and wet my appetite for it. I have to be honest that I was a bit underwhelmed by the first story but I continued forward. Well, this was a meal that kept getting better and better the more courses that came my way. I ended up loving the collection the more I dived into it and so many of the stories continue to haunt me! They made me question my thoughts on motherhood, on love, and on life. I can't believe this is a debut! I will be keeping a look out for more of Moniz' works.

The book is a collection of stories about the ordinary lives of people, people just like you and me. Maybe not you and me, but perhaps our friends, family, neighbours, people we pass by on the street. It could be anyone. Maybe you won't find yourself in any of these, but you'll definitely find someone else's story in here. It's incredibly and powerfully real.

The imagery here is outstanding. I could feel, look, almost smell things in the stories. It's very descriptive, and the author doesn't hold back, so if you are sensitive, take this into consideration.

The author covers a variety of topics from losing a best friend to miscarriage, and all of the darkness and the pain that comes with talking about these topics is present, but in a real way, a way that will keep you engaged. The sharp, straight-to-the-point writing grabs you and makes you stay for the rest of the story, even tho I sometimes felt I couldn't go on. It was just that emotionally challenging!

I love impactful short story collections, the ones you can't let go of as soon as you put the book down, therefore, this one definitely achieved that goal. I liked it!

If you like short stories that deal with everyday problems, struggles, emotions, you may like this collection. You won't be disappointed with the writing, but I do have to warn you, this isn't something you will go through lightly.

This book was a page turner from beginning to end. This book has heartbreak, love, loss, and the true meaning of friendship. I literally couldn’t put this book down and finished in one reading. Amazing character development and integration. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Milk blood and heat is a visceral read that details the vulnerable flesh, the hurts of everyday life that fester from mere disappointments to the unbelievable brace of impact. I liked how each story was seeped in these elements of milk, blood and heat they evoked such feeling and imagery really enhancing each story. The story that stood out to me bc of how sad made me was the loss of heaven a man takes his wife for granted, he’s too self absorbed and materialistic. though he knows he’s slowly losing her, he doesn’t do anything and continues neglects her and 😭😭 karma really comes for him. The ending is so violent and tragic I almost felt bad for him.

Moniz shows a mastery over the short form in this short story collection. I hesitate to call this a linked collection, because the characters do not overlap, but this collection certainly has shared themes and feel (including those conjured by the title words milk, blood, and heat). All of the stories are set in Florida, which adds it's own quirkyness to the narratives. Often dark and hard hitting, this is a great whole full of smaller gems.

It's a brilliant story collection for a debut. I enjoyed reading it and getting to know so many characters too but some of the stories felt too long and I also had a feeling that I have read some stories on these themes before too. It's a nice collection overall though and four stories stood out to me -

Milk Blood Heat
Tongues
Thicker than Water
An Almanac of Bones

I would be looking forward to reading more from this author. Thanks for providing the e-arc.

The book's description does an apt job of describing that unfolds in this short story collection. These stories are dark, yet captivating on the whole. Short story collections are normally hit or miss for me and I typically enjoy some and not others within a collection. This book was no exception to that. The shortest story in the collection, "Exotics", was particularly thought-provoking. Overall, this is an unsettling collection that paradoxically keeps you reading.