Each setting is unique and different. At the end of every short story, Marjorie M. Liu would insert a short note to explain what inspired her to write it which I thought was a really nice touch.

As it’s a collection, at every start of a new story, there’s a sense of confusion and disorientation for the first few pages. Despite that, Marjorie M. Liu’s immersive writing immediately snapped my attention and I just found myself back into the flow of reading each story.

☠︎ SYMPATHY FOR THE BONES

Clora’s under the teachings of Old Ruth, a hoodoo woman, who takes requests of those who are desperate. The crafting of hoodoo stitchwork requires bones and magic. In Sympathy for the Bones, it’s about the things people do for freedom without considering the cost they will be paying.

☠︎ THE BRIAR AND THE ROSE

Hired by her mistress, the duelist knows all her wicked ways and who she truly is. Rose and Briar could only meet on Sundays when the mistress slept, and through that time, they fell in love. There’s a whimsical, fairytale-esque vibe to The Briar and the Rose.

☠︎ CALL HER SAVAGE

As war rages between the Chinese and the British, Xīng McNamara returned to the battlefield reluctantly. The story develops as the reader finds out about the relationship between Xīng and Maude that left a 10-year gap. Furthermore, there’s great description of the war and incorporates steampunk into it.

☠︎ THE LAST DIGNITY OF MAN

RanTech is manipulating these worms that grow to huge sizes as they continue consuming sludges and toxins. Alexander, the CEO, questions the morality of it. However, there’s this question of is he a villain or the hero of the story? Regardless, this man’s story is saddening.

☠︎ WHERE THE HEART LIVES

This might be my favourite out of all the short stories. It has a combination of human connections and magical elements that created a perfect setting. The woods near their house is mysterious, magical and a dangerous place to enter.

☠︎ AFTER THE BLOOD

Post-apocalyptic setting after a plague that decimated the world and left only 20% of humanity behind. Features three characters who aren’t accepted by the people around them. This was a very quick read but Marjorie M. Liu still did a great job in the setting and the characters.

☠︎ TANGLEROOT PALACE

To quell any potential invasion by the barbarians, the king decides to let the notorious Warlord marry his daughter, Sally. Wanting another option that will prevent her horrible wedding-to-be and keep the peace, the only place she can get an alternative is in Tangleroot and that’s where Sally will venture to.

While it has a little predictability and the romance is the total opposite of a slow burn, this short story has it all: magic, a sleeping queen, a witch, and a traveling troupe. This full-length novella had me wishing for more.

A fairytale anthology collection with various retellings and more. Absolutely mesmerizing storytelling. Seven different stories, all filled with magic, adventure, and even a little bit of romance. I would have to say my favorite stories were The Briar and the Rose ( a sleeping beauty retelling) and The Last Dignity of Man ( another take on Lex Luther x Superman). It was an unexpected collection but each story was such a great read, on top of that at the end of each story is a note about why the author wrote it and some other notes, and it just adds such a lovely touch. I would highly recommend this read for anyone interested in fairytales, folklore, or just looking for a great short story!

*Thanks Netgalley and Tachyon Publications for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

holy lordy i don't even know what to say. this was definitely a rollercoaster. all these stories were filled with horror, magic and best of all, powerful women aspects and i adored it and will be pre-ordering this. i rated each individual story and then found the average to rate the book in total but lets talk about them individually.

↝sympathy for the bones: ★★★☆☆

“it certainly was not for god that i was a conspirator to murder”

tw: death, murder, dismembering, bones and collection of them, blood

this was all types of creepy. from a weird old lady controlling a child and dictating her everymove to her collection of random hands for no apparent reason until the end, honestly, i was confused from the very beginning. while this was definitely not my favorite story, it was a strong beginning.

↝the briar and the rose: ★★★★✬

“i will try my best to dream. i will look for a way to be free”

tw: rape, blood, death, miscarriage

this one is a retelling of sleeping beauty, way more darker than the original one for sure. the characters in this one were immensely detailed and created. i loved the two main characters and honestly, this one hurt me. the haunting version of sleeping beauty was better than the original one, i would adore a full length novel on this one for sure.


↝call her savage: ★★★★★

“there were gods in the sea, but xing had never prayed to them, nor to any holy spirit since she had buried the tin star”

tw: war, drowning, death, poison, bullets

this was definitely one of my favorites, and i require a full novel at this instance. the characters in this short story felt so real and i just wanted more about them. It follows Xing, who has to deal with losses and betrayals and truly depicts the trauma and changes in morality a war could cause a person to endure. just give me more on this story please.


↝the last dignity of man: ★★☆☆☆

“they’re growing faster than we anticipated, mr. lutheran. we’ll need bigger cages soon”

tw: gore, blood, death, mention of drunk driving

i would call this one a weaker short story. while the writing style was great, the whole plotline lacked a bit. its about a mad scientist of some sort? who wants to be loved? or something? i am not too sure in all honesty, it was extremely forgetful.


↝where the heart lives: ★★★✬☆

“she understood now, what could drive a women to abandon all”

tw: kidnapping, mention of death

this story, although not my favorite, definitely deserves a good mention. it focused on romance a lot more than a few of the other ones, but it was a romance about yourself, and learning about your self-worth, in a creepy way. it was more of a fairytale vibe, but i truly enjoyed it.


↝after the blood: ★★★★☆

“i didn’t have time to grab my coat. only shoes and the shotgun”

tw: blood, cutting, guns, pandemic

yes. yes. yes. yes. all the love for this one. there were cats mentioned in every page and i loved it. it spoke about monsters that live and a woman with secrets and a very interesting man. also, this was all during a pandemic, so relatable (not really but whatever). honestly, it could have been a five star, but i genuinely felt this could have worked better as a novel than as a short story. it lacks more details.
↝tangleroot palace: ★★★★★

“only the right kind of fool is ever going to want you”

tw: blood, arranged marriage and death

that quote is relatable. anyways, this was a fantastic novella to end with. while predictable, i have to give it its props for being a story about a powerful woman, who is stuck in an arranged marriage with a warlord ( poor poor her). and of course, as all women do who refuse to marry, she looks into a forest for a possible escape. a forest. like where there are trees. and that is it. but it made sense in the book. all in all, this was such a good novella and i seek more

overall opinions:

i consider this to be one of the best anthologies i have read. ever. i normally hate short stories, i feel like something is always missing, but this made it work for the most part. i absolutely recommend this to everyone. i adored it and want to reread it now.

brb, going to preorder my own copy

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

First off, I want to say that I've enjoyed reading Majorie Liu's comics from Marvel, as well as her most recent best-selling series, Monstress. As she writes in the Introduction, Majorie Liu may have been the first woman of color writing for Marvel Comics. As a Chinese-American myself, I want to support #ownvoices authors as much as possible during this time. When I saw that I was approved to read this ARC ahead of its release date, I was so excited! Thank you again to the publisher for giving me this opportunity!

The Tangleroot Palace by Marjorie Liu is an eclectic, imaginative collection of prose short stories by a visionary writer. The short story collection includes retellings of fairy tales, gothic horror, alternate-realities with magic, science fiction, and fantasy. Really, this book includes every genre that I enjoy reading. Marjorie Liu's writing is fantastic and it transports you away to a different world.

Here's an excerpt from the first story "Sympathy For the Bones,":a chilling, Gothic horror tale about dolls:

"Persimmons had fallen overnight and the deer had not got to them. Quick business, but careful; those thin orange skins split open at the hint of a tense finger, and I ruined more than I cared to admit. Popped them in my mouth to hide the evidence. Spit out the seeds into my palm, and tucked them into the satchel where I kept the needle and thread. The rest, what was perfect and frostbit, I carried in the can for old Ruth."

And here's an excerpt from my favorite story in the collection, "Call Her Savage," when Chinese sea captain Shao meets Xing, a leader of a band of riders.in a magical alternate-reality set during the Opium Wars between Britain and China:

"There were gods in the sea, but Xīng had never prayed to them, nor to any holy spirit since she had buried the tin star. Yet she found herself on the cusp of prayer as she plummeted fifty feet to the dark Pacific, a leather harness buckled around her torso and shoulders, dangling like some gristly worm at the end of a long hook."

It's worth getting the entire book for the final novella, The Tangleroot Palace, alone. It's about a princess engaged to a fierce Warlord who somehow ends up in the middle of the mysterious woods called the Tangleroot. It has romance, action, fantasy, and a great villain. It reminded me of the From Blood and Ash series by Jennifer Armentrout and Ruthless Gods by Emily A. Duncan.

Overall, The Tangleroot Palace is an amazing collection of short stories by a trail-blazing fantasy author. It includes stories from all genres. A recurring motif in this book is that of powerful heroines fighting their circumstances, whether they're lost in the fairy-woods or in the middle of the cantankerous sea. If you're intrigued by any of the descriptions of the stories, or if you're a fan of the fantasy genre, I highly recommend that you check out this book when comes out in June!

For those that still are confused: NOT A COMIC BOOK.

Anthology of short stories and novelletes , ranging from fantasy to horror and post-apocalypsis.

Apparently a good portion of readers know Marjorie M. Liu from the graphic novel Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening, but I have been a fan of her ever since I read The Iron Hunt from her incredible urban fantasy series Hunter Kiss.

Here she presents us with some of her short stories, of which I knew a couple; At the end of these Liu gives some comments from when they were written, some of which she considers to be part of the universe of her ideas (like Dirk & Steel), that is to say full of magic.

1)“Sympathy for the Bones” (4.3 stars)-for me a re-read- is a tale full of dark magic , hoodoo dolls, witches, and desperation in the mountains.

2)“Briar and Rose” (5 stars) is a retelling of Sleepy Beauty. A very interesting, and again dark story, of saphic love, dark witches, and a woman warrior looking to free her love. Skip all the stereotypes.

3)“Call Her Savage” (3.5 stars) steampunk and alternate history, where China is at war with England, and have colonies in America (Scot-Irish and Chinese people). A Marshall is call back to help. War , betrayal, and pain.

Took me a while to get me into this story, a bit confused by the setting. So much elements here. First frustration to hope for a full novel here.

4) “The Last Dignity of Man” (3 stars) a... genious mad scientist? a wannabe villain that dream about a hero? something like that. However, strangely this man with his loneliness pull at my feels.

5)“Where the Heart Lives”(3.5 stars) it's more in the fairytale side, with mysteries in the woods, strange dreams, a lost love, and a young woman finding acceptance and a place for herself.

6)“After the Blood” (3.5 stars) post-apocalypytic story, where the Amish are seek for farming skills, there are monsters in the woods, and a woman hide secrets but the powers calls. Oh, and a (view spoiler). Cats are your best friends ;)

Again , leaves us wishing for a novel here.


7)“Tangleroot Palace”(3.6 stars) A princess who must marry a warlord, escapes to the forest looking for a possible solution, But she found old magic (view spoiler). With a bit of humor , a bit predictable but quite charming. I like the idea of strong woman saving herself.

And yes, a theme with the Woods, old magic, and souls trapped. Don't forget the broken people.


+My thanks to Netgalley and publishers for the digital ARC.+

I only read Monstress series from Marjorie Liu and I adored that series. The Tangleroot Palace was on NetGalley, I immediately requested it. It is difficult for me to rate short stories because I rate each story. And overall rating was usually different from what I expected it. As for the book, I love the author's imagination and writing style. The notes at the end of each story were really great to understand what the author thought when she wrote the story. My favorite stories were Sympathy For The Bones, The Briar and The Rose and Where The Heart Lives.

I thought this was a wonderful collection of short stories! I really enjoy collections of a single author’s short stories, so I was excited to read and review this one. I had not previously read any of this author’s work, but have heard wonderful things about their Monstress series. I’m going to review each story individually since I enjoyed some much more than others (the 4 star review is based on the average from each rating and rounded up)

Sympathy for the Bones - 3/5 stars - This story had an interesting concept, but the characters didn’t grab me. I was surprised the author said this was her favorite short story, because unfortunately the writing style was just not appealing to me. Thus, I would have liked seeing a stronger story as the introduction.

The Briar and the Rose - 4/5 stars - I liked this one a lot, it played on the original Sleeping Beauty fairytale in an interesting way. The concept was really well done, although it did end a bit too quick for me,

Call Her Savage - 2/5 stars - I felt like this was just way too complicated for a short story. There are definitely some interesting concepts there, but I honestly didn’t find myself enjoying it while reading it.

The Last Dignity of Man - 5/5 stars - This doesn’t really feel like it fits in with the other short stories thematically (this is very science-y and doesn’t really fit the nature or fairytale/folktale/fantasy vibe of the others), but I found it so poignant and the perfect kind of weird. It definitely had some gross elements, but I loved the superhero/villain concept to this. It was overall just really unexpected and unique.

Where the Heart Lives - 5/5 stars - This was so magical, sweet, and just overall fairytale perfection, I thought this was just really lovely and reminiscent of a Studio Ghibli film.

After the Blood - 4/5 stars - This was rich and fascinating. I felt like I didn’t get enough information to fully understand what was happening, but I almost didn’t mind because it had such a mysterious atmosphere. I’m not familiar with the author’s Dirk & Steele series, so maybe I’m missing the details to truly understand this? However, Amish Vampires is a concept never to ignore. Great post-apocalyptic vibe!

The Tangleroot Palace - 4/5 This was very cute! I really liked Sally’s character and while there was a lot going on with this story, it came together really nicely in the end even though it was a bit predictable. This has some really great classic fantasy vibes!

As you can see, I ended up liking the latter half much more! A few of the stories had enchanted forest elements, which might have felt a bit repetitive, but I felt as though they all had a very unique quality! I liked that this ranged from very sweet fairytale romance to really dark things like vampiric creatures and creepy science experiments. It had a little bit of something for everyone!

The overall vibe of this book is captivating. I did feel like most stories were taken from a larger one. Which made me feel like I was missing important background. The first story "Sympathy for the Bones" is easily my top favorite, a dark fantasy inspired by hoodo featuring stronog characterised personalities. It had the right balance between eerie mystery, magic and gray morals.

It is however a pity that the stories following after this one fell flat in comparison for me. A retelling of Sleeping Beauty, an alternative colonised Earth in war, a girl venturing into a dark forest, a dystopian based on Amish zombies, and a high fantasy novella about a princess learning her part in the world. The novella, also named "The Tangleroot Palace", would be very interesting as a full novel. It just didn't feel fleshed out enough as a novella, which made me feel hungry for more. The other stories kind of fell flat in their action and character depth but they were still of a high quality. All in all, very enjoyable collection of stories, that prove this author has a wonderful imagination.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I discovered this on Netgalley and loved the cover, and even though I'm not familiar with the author's previous work, I wanted to give it a try!

The Tangleroot Palace is a collection of short stories ending with a novella of the same name. I will summarize the stories included in this book.

Sympathy for the Bones is about a girl raised by a witch who learns the witch's ways and they create hoodoo dolls. The witch is malevolent and controlling, renowned for taking care of people's "problems" and the girl chafes against the strict rules of the witch.

The Briar and the Rose is a Sleeping Beauty retelling. A witch takes over the body of a beautiful woman and hires a female guard (the mc). But controlling another's body takes a toll and the witch's spirit must rest one day a week. During that day, the spirit of the real woman wakes and the guard slowly begins to fall in love with her and resolves to find a way for them to be together, by defeating/expelling the witch. (wlw rep)

Call Her Savage takes place on an Earth with an alternate history: China settled America before the Europeans and claimed it as their colonies. They discover crystal skulls with magic powers that turn into energy sources and also empower people. The main character is a superpowered woman of legend, retired but forced to do one last-ditch mission in a war they are losing.

Last Dignity of Man is about Alexander Lutheran, CEO of a biotech company who has a kink for Superman/Lex Luthor roleplays. He bonds with this older guy and employs him as a janitor. There's a government contract that goes horribly wrong. (mlm rep)

Where the Heart Lives is about a girl who is sent to work at this old house for an older woman. But the house, the woman, and the residents are not what they seem. Something lurks in the woods.

After the Blood is about a post-pandemic/dystopian world that is ruled by the people who were accustomed to life without technology beforehand (like the Amish) Some people have adapted strange abilities, including types of vampirism. Some people fall to become zombie-like creatures. There are still plenty of cats, though!

Tangleroot Palace is a more traditional high-fantasy, fairytale-like novella. A princess is forced into a betrothal to a neighboring warlord of legend and runs away prior to her marriage, into the Tangleroot Forest to discover why it calls to her. There is a long-imprisoned queen inside that beckons.

It's always hard to rate short story collections because some stories I like a lot more than others, so then the collection as a whole comes out feeling average to me. I enjoyed The Briar and the Rose the most, I think. Where the Heart Lives took an unexpected turn that made it stand out to me. Call Her Savage was interesting, but it left me wanting a lot more than a short story because the concept didn't feel properly explored/utilized given its short length versus complexity. Tangleroot Palace was also enjoyable, but not very remarkable to me. I was indifferent about After the Blood, and didn't like Sympathy for the Bones or Last Dignity of Man.

So I'd rate them, in order, 2 stars, 4 stars, 3 stars, 2 stars, 4 stars, 3 stars, and 3 stars which comes out to an average of precisely 3 stars.

The stories in this book got better as the book went on.
At first, I was completely lost. I didn't feel that the stories made sense, or if they did it wasn't until the very end that I started to get them. I'm not sure if that was just personal to me, but I was very confused for the first 3 stories.
The 4th was when things started making sense, although the use of giant faeces eating worms to present ideas about the business world was a creative choice I don't really understand, I guess it would suit other readers better.
5 & 6 I really liked. The stories made sense, explored some interesting themes, and made for good reads.
All of them had good messages, but it took a while for the stories to really make sense to me.
That said, I did really enjoy the last few, and would be interested to read some other work from this author to see what they can do with longer stories.
All in, it wasn't really for me, but I definitely think it is worth the read.

Marjorie Liu comes through with this collection of her short stories! All of the stories have appeared elsewhere, but now the author has taken the opportunity to gather them under one cover. A couple I had encountered before, but enjoyed renewing my acquaintance. My favorite was the last piece which gave collection its name - "Tangleroot Palace" - a tale of magic, fated love, and a spooky forest. So it you like out-spoken heroines, eerie tales, and stories told at a slant, be sure to grab a copy of Tangleroot Palace!

Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this title!

I love a good anthology and had never read any of the authors works before.
Each story was written and different from each other, no two were the same.
The characters were decent, with some standing out as more memorable than the others

I hadn't read anything my Marjorie Liu prior to the Monstress series, but with how much I love that, combined with the stunning cover by Sana Takeda, how could I resist her short story collection?
A sweet sapphic Sleeping Beauty retelling, a runaway princess finds a new quirky family, an apprentice using dolls to seek revenge on her teacher, a villain's shot at redemption. Liu's stories gave me goosebumps, made me swoon, and at times cracked me up. This definitely a collection to have.

This is a new author for me. I like reading short stories of an author I haven’t read before. It can be a good way of getting to know an author’s style. I thought the stories in The Tangleroot Palace were all excellent. I’ll definitely read more of the author’s work. The stories are an interesting mix of fantasy, horror and some original mythology. In my experience, most story collection has at least one that doesn’t quite work but every story in this collection is excellent. I liked the fact the stories are all quite different. I enjoyed all of the stories but my favourites were Sympathy For The Bones, The Briar And The Rose and the title story.

ARC received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Before this, my experience with Marjorie Liu's work was primarily through her comic series Monstress, which is excellent, lush, and a feminist asian steampunk/fantasy. I was delighted to expand my experience of Liu's work with these short stories. Her writing is impressive - it's clever and engaging, and even when she retreads old tales (like her sleeping beauty variant) the material still feels unique and dark,

3/5 stars

Thanks for providing this precious arc in regards to the publisher and author!

It was a fine novel. Not too dazzling but fine piece of literature. Not the best work of the author's

Content warnings: murder, death, violence, and injury; blood magic; rape and sexual assault; gore and body horror.

Unfortunately I didn't get on with this one, and I'm not sure why. Liu's writing is lyrical and atmospheric, and she has some wonderfully clever ideas in this collection, but I found myself detached from almost all the characters, which made it hard for me to get invested in each story, I struggled with the slow and winding nature of some of the stories, as I felt that they seemed a little too focused on description and not enough on plot, meaning they were hard work to follow. I also didn't enjoy the level of gore, which can get intense; I have not read Monstress, the author's previous work, so perhaps this is on me, but it's just not my cup of tea. Fans of body horror and atmospheric, dream-like tales should enjoy this collection.

Of course, is this only my personal opinion on the book and just because I give this rating to the book doesn’t mean, that everyone will have that opinion.

There are seven short stories in this book and here are my individual ratings:

4 Stars
4,5 Stars
did not finish it because it was not my kind of story
4,5 Stars
5 Stars
same as the third story
5 stars
As you can see I almost liked all of them. Two short stories just did not fit my reading vibes at the moment I read the book.

The writing style and world-building are beautiful. I fell in love with all the strong women in these stories and I think it is definitely a book I will read again.

To be honest, I do not want to tell more about these stories because I really liked the fact that I had absolutely no clue what the story will be about, so I will not say anything about the plot. If you read it, then please keep in mind that there are some violent scenes.

Conclusion
I can recommend this book to all short story lovers, who are on a hunt for strong female characters.

I give 4 from 5 Stars

THE TANGLEROOT PALACE contains six short stories and one novella, all of which are fantasy with hints of horror and gorgeously written. At the end of each story, there is also brief commentary by Liu, providing some background and thematic connections between the stories.

I adore the writing, which flowed beautifully, and I love how effortlessly detailed each sentence is. Fantasy short stories are extremely difficult to pull off, given the need to provide enough world building and plot within the limited word count, and Liu delivered not one but six satisfying stories.

The first story, “Sympathy for the Bones,” opens with a funeral and is about hoodoos, setting the tone of the whole book to be both magical and macabre. In “The Briar and the Rose,” we have a sapphic retelling of <i>Sleeping Beauty</i> as suggested by the title, a love story between swordswoman Briar (WOC) and Rose, whose body is possessed by a sorceress. I really enjoyed this one but the climax was glossed over and I felt it could’ve been so much more amazing than it already is.

“Call Her Savage” is set in the Tang Dynasty around the Opium War and Empress Xiao Shen Cheng (Manchu: ᡥᡳᠶᠣᠣᡧᡠᠩᡤᠠ ᠣᠯᡥᠣᠪᠠ ᡧᠠᠩᡤᠠᠨ ᡥᡡᠸᠠᠩᡥᡝᠣ) was also present in one scene. The main imagery of this story revolves around stars, in military star, stars in the sky, the name of the main character Xīng (which is 星, stars, in Chinese yet never explicitly mentioned in the text). This one was a little confusing for me—perhaps I tried too hard to tell history from fiction—with some information being laid out too thickly, but I loved the historical aspect nonetheless. With Xīng (Chinese-Scottish, sapphic) being a superhero, this leads us to the next supervillain story, “The Last Dignity of Man.” Alexander Lutheran (achillean) is a powerful but lonely man who loves the idea of being Lex Luthor. This is definitely the most disturbing story for me due to the gore.

“Where the Heart Lives” stars a non-speaking love interest and follows Lucy’s journey into the forest in an attempt to save a woman taken twenty years prior. Cursed forest and magic are important themes that threads through the rest of the book. “After the Blood” is a story about a pandemic with three characters who are not fully human, one of which is vampirish. In the novella “Tangleroot Palace,” Princess Sally, whose name is Salinda, faces the haunted Tangleroot Forest in search of an escape from the marriage proposal from the Warlord. I liked the atmosphere of the story and how Sally prefers to live a relatively common life, leading her to some adventures that she didn’t anticipate.

With Liu’s beautiful writing as smooth as breathing, THE TANGLEROOT PALACE is an engrossing story collection debut (she has several published graphic novels), and I absolutely cannot wait for more of her works.

[Content warnings (in the order of the seven stories):
1. death, murder, dismembering, bones, past child abuse, pedophilia, blood
2. rape, possessing, hints of slavery, racism, mention of war, blood, death, pregnancy, miscarriage, dismembering
3. war, blood, drowning, death, poison, bullets, mention of rape
4. gore, blood, bone, hospitalization, mention of death, mention of drunk driving
5. kidnapping, mention of death
6. blood, cutting, gun, pandemic
7. blood, death, arranged marriage]

Warrior women, runaway princesses, faery queens, post pandemic apocalypse, amish vampires, killer dolls, depressed evil villain billionaires- Do I have your attention yet?

I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to read Marjorie Liu's debut collection of short stories. I was swept up completely in her world and I loved it there. The collection consists of seven short stories all set in vastly different fantasy worlds.

Each story was brutal and raw whilst still being magical. I loved each of the main characters and the stories were so unique from one another! I adored the short insights she gave at the end of each of her stories.. Where she wrote them, what was going on in her life, what sparked her idea.

If I am being honest I was in love with Marjorie and her writing even from her thoughtful and witty introduction. My favourite of the stories was "Sympathy for the bones." It hooked me right in.

I found with every story I would get a sense of dread when I remembered it was a "short story" and I would need to say goodbye to the place too quickly. That must be the sign of a great tale, right?

(CW for this book: discussion of rape/sexual assault, death, graphic injury description).

(Review also posted on blog and goodreads. Links provided).