I liked a couple stories in here, but overall was not a huge fan. Some of the writing was kind of boring to me and even confusing at times. The stories I did enjoy surprised me and were kind of creepy in a good way! Was an okay read but I don't think I'd go out of my way to read it again.

I didn't connect with this on any level, which is a huge shame, the cover alone really appealed to me so I thought it would suit me down to the ground. I struggled to finish the stories and really had to push through to the end. Some of the stories were ok, but nothing really stood out and I didn't think that the horror element was done particularly well.

This book was a ton of fun. I love the large amount of different stories in here and all the different sorts of horror that was used.

My personal favorite was the Mirror one. I love the idea of the evil twin in the reflection. I also liked the strange connection between the siblings and how neither seemed particularly fazed by what had just happened.

The first one, though, I have to say was not my favorite. It was by no means horrible or bad even, I just didnt like the main character (and yes I get that that is the point of it but still).

Overall, I love it. I love reading books with a ton of short horror stories in it!

Ok, synopsis of The Kindly One sounds amazing (at least to me), I really tried to like and read it, but it just wasn't captivating. If anything I was severely underwhelmed at the "horror" aspect(s) of the stories. Giving 2 stars because while I didn't like it, there may be someone else who does.

Personal Rating- 5/10

As a whole, sure there were some good short stories, (Purgatory being my favorite) but I thought it was very disjointed. There were some stories that were doable but nothing exceptional- yeah those put me off because they were like speed-breakers on a highway.

I would say that I was expecting a bit more but was underwhelmed in the horror aspects. It has a beautiful cover btw, it'd be an excellent addition to the bookshelves!

This book was ok. I had a hard time connecting to the characters in some of the stories. The stories were good but would be better if the characters were more relatable.

I really gave this one a try. I mean absolutely no disrespect. I was having a really hard time connecting with the character-writing in this book. For me- I could not continue past the 25% marker. I try not to leave books unfinished but I truly struggled to stay engaged and I felt that I wouldn't be any more engaged in continuing the rest of the short stories within this collection. I'm leaving 3 stars because this one was not for me, but it might be perfect for someone else.

I read almost all of the stories in this book and while they were a decent read, I wouldn't purchase for myself. Mediocre writing and the stories went no where. Short stories are hard to write and be solid.

I love being the first to review the book…when I loved the book. This is trickier.
I’ve actually been finding some really good random books on Netgalley lately, random meaning books from authors and/or publishers I’ve never heard of, ones with few or no reviews, etc. This book was right in the middle of an uncharacteristically three back to back short stories collections for me and by far the least satisfying.
It actually comes from an author who’s been at it for quite a while and has a lengthy catalog to prove it and, whole there’s nothing wrong with this collection per se, it just really didn’t work for me. And normally I very much enjoy a good scary story too, so it wasn’t a genre incompatibility, it was a stylistic one. There’s something about the writing here that just didn’t engage me, a quality I normally associate with fantasy or gothic fiction, something overwrought and overwritten, though, of course, that isn’t very precise.
The stories are decent enough and seemingly heavily inspired (both first and last) by Orange is the New Black and there’s an ok terror in space sci fi tale. There were some interesting ideas, but can’t say I was engaged with or wowed by the collection overall. Reading is a subjective experience and this was very likely one of those things where user mileage will vary, so…it’s up to you. Thanks Netgalley.

A collection of short stories filled with madness, dread & darkness.
The Kindly ones had some interesting stories with newer or refreshed tones on stories, but I couldn't get into most of them. The darkness that they aimed for missed some of its mark with me.