3/5 stars
Poetry isn’t necessarily a genre I would consider my favourite, but sometimes I find a bundle of poems that I do really enjoy. It’s really a hit or miss for me.
This one, I’m not sure. Some of poems are good, one I liked a lot was Beautiful by L. Marie Wood. I can’t say I enjoyed all of the poems, only the minority of them.
Some/most of these poems tackled body issues, which I can closely relate to. A poem that hit a bit too close to home was Something That Needs Destroyed by Linda M. Crate.
Overall, I would not recommend this bundle. I had a hard time finishing it because most poems were not good. There sure are some good ones, but they are rare.

A horror poetry collection that is so perfect for this time of year! It gives off all those spooky/creepy vibes that October and Halloween is all about.

I had such a great time reading this collection and I do have say most of the poems I really loved reading. For me poetry can be hit or miss and it can be hard to try and read poetry and take some of the information in, but with this collection I had a brilliant time.

First of all, the cover art for this book is absolutely stunning, truly incredible!

This was a very interesting read, as it is not often that we are able to explore the many different experiences that women have which are exclusive to their womanhood and their complex relationships with their body, their identity, and their role in a patriarchy in a format such as poetry, much less in the horror genre.

Before reading this collection, I thought the theme was very fitting — the lives of women living under the patriarchy are not exactly short of horrific and haunting experiences. And so I expected to see an in-depth exploration of what it means to be a woman in a world that is not made for you, using the horror genre —which has always been known for its social commentary— as a medium. What I found, however, were poems that related very loosely to the genre, if they did at all. Most of the ones that one could argue pertain to the horror genre seemed to lean more into body horror, following a very similar formula, merely using “gory” adjectives to paint a gruesome picture in the mind, without necessarily exploring the profound fears that can bring women to see certain acts as a mutilation of the body or a butchering of their being.

That being said, if you look past the fact that the book is supposed to be a horror collection, there are many outstanding works in these pages that create realistic and haunting images through which they narrate the fears and worries and aches that come with being a woman. Without a doubt, the diversity of the team of writers is an absolute benefit, as not two women ever have the same experience, and we can see that in the book.

All in all, I do think that fans of poetry will enjoy this book, but you must be aware that the poems do not lean much into the horror theme.

This cover is absolutely stunning, and should be framed in a museum! One of the most beautiful covers on any book that I’ve ever seen.

This was a very different type of poetry collections than what I’m used to reading. These pieces are so introspective and at times haunting. It is a different kind of horror that is written about in what one would expect in most horror work. This is very much focused on the horrors to women’s bodies that we face in our lives. Very profound and moving. I certainly would recommend this to my friends.

I would like to thank the many poets who wrote these works, editors Lindy Ryan & Toni Miller as well as Black Spot Books and Netgalley for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This collection of body horror themed poetry is unique.

These poems rip into the skin of women and pull out the raw meat of who we are and what we put ourselves through, pertaining to the perceptions of beauty, both privately and publicly.

Many of the poems touched on the horror theme subtly and at times generically, like mentioning a knife was enough to qualify. Others turned their poems into something with a pulse that slowly seeped into and unraveled within your mind. There were only a few poems that really leaned into the theme, unfortunately.

Topics touched on include: pregnancy, childbirth, weight, plastic surgery, relationships, violence, etc.

While I enjoyed some of the poems, the majority didn’t meet the horror standard in my opinion. Furthermore, the strongest horror poems seemed to be clumped together in the beginning of the collection leaving the middle and end wanting.

With such a unique premise, I feel like this collection would have benefited by leaning into the horror theme a bit more than it ultimately did.

Thank you NetGalley for sharing this ARC with me!

3 stars

Poems about the pain, oppression, & triumph of surviving life as a woman, from a diverse set of women (cis, queer, trans, enby, straight, POC, etc.) poets. There are some quite good poems, but many that felt repetitive & vague to me (thus only a 3 star rating).

[What I liked:]

•There are some gems in here, including poems by Linda M. Crate, Carina Bisset, Julieanne Lynch, Patricia Gomes, H. Grim, Tiffany Michelle Brown, & Morgan Sylvia.

•I appreciate that this collection includes representation of diverse writers, who are speaking from a variety of lived experiences & backgrounds, yet all are united by the unique beauties & horrors of womanhood.

•There are a lot of relevant topics explored in this collection: sexual violence & liberation, sexism & societal oppression, childbirth & reproductive health issues & bodily autonomy, self harm, body image struggles, etc. It’s refreshing to see some of these less-often addressed themes represented by such passionate female voices.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•Several of these poems didn’t seem to fit the “horror” genre description very closely. I guess that all depends on your definition of horror, though. Some of the themes & the way they’re explored (particularly self harm & mental illness) feel very similar to many of the contemporary poem collections I’ve read recently. So I guess it’s that some of these poems don’t seem particularly “horror” in comparison.

•A lot of the poems in this collection felt repetitive & vague: depictions of aging bodies & self-inflicted harm through decaying nature metaphors & gory descriptions of flesh being flayed. Not that any are badly written, they’re still very evocative, but they started to blur together after awhile. Possibly since many of them just express a general sense of rage & pain with similar language & images, without any concrete links the source of those emotions and/or personal contextualization.

CW: sexual assault, mental illness, sexism, eating disorders, self harm, suicidal ideation, miscarriage(?), abusive relationships/domestic violence

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

Thank you, NetGalley and Black Spot Books for a chance to read and review this ARC!

While I loved the concept behind this collection, most of the poems weren't for me. Unfortunately, a lot of poems seemed armature and trite. However, there were some that really stood out and I'm going to be looking for more by those poets.

These guys deserve a solid A for effort, but as a whole, this book fell short of my expectations.

A poem collection from a heap of different authors that's perfect for the spooky season. Some of the poems in here are dark. As a huge horror movie fan I jumped at the chance to read this book. And I wasn't disappointed. Some of the poems in here where alright but there were a few stand outs for sure. Definitely worth picking up if you are a fan of horror and poems. But it also in not for the faint of heart. Some of these poems are confronting.
Plus that cover ❤️❤️.

This was so haunting and beautiful, I just loved it. It was exciting to see how the authors perceive their bodies, their femininity, their identity and power. The prose was painful and delicate. Everyone should read this poetry collection, it’s amazing and full of creepiness.

Being a super fan of the monstrous, and given the description of this book and the mention of body horror, I was hyped to read this women and non-binary femmes horror poetry collection.
Sadly, I find few and small horror poems in this book.
It enrolls pretty well with the new wave of women poetry, that talks about pain and gender roles and beauty standards and how men has wrong us. But it doesn’t bring anything new; the poems are all very similar to some I have already read two years ago when Kaur and Lovelace boomed (or bloomed). It certainly adds little to the horror genre. And it’s mostly merged with the repudiation of societal norms and beauty ideals.
Some poems where really good; or at least were what the premise promised. (We, by Morgan Sylvia; metamorphosis by Marceau; Something that needs destroyed by Crate; and What the dead girl is trying to say… by King-Miller, among others). Most of them acutely following the proposition of horror themes.
Unsatisfactory I was hoping to read a new surge of women in horror, in every aspect of it (spaces that have been denied to us for centuries), but I guess we are still limited to the horror that the patriarchy plunges into our own bodies.

Thank you for NetGalley and Black Spot Books for sharing an ARC with me, in exchange for my honest review.

What a great choice choosing HER by Tabitha Wood as the opening poem. The poem altered my mood and made me feel dark—which is what I want. I want to be emersed into the poetry and this book of poems did that so well.

The book of poems is composed of beautiful artistry that makes you feel the horror and darkness in an unbearable way. It leads you to the emotion and buries you there. I commend not only the writers, but also the editors that stitched this masterpiece together.

I will say that I believe there could be more pictorial images involved in the book, either that or none at all.

Brava, to the womxn and non-binary people who created this work.