Horror and Christmas all wrapped into a nice little package. A short read that was enjoyable and not very merry! ;-)

In Lucky Girl, Ro is an aspiring horror author who finds herself eating a sad Thanksgiving dinner alone in Dell's Diner. Well, not exactly alone. There are four other single diners in the restaurant, and when one of them insists they all enjoy their meals together in the spirit of the season, they do. An awkward friendship springs between them all, and they decide to exchange gifts and have Christmas dinner at Ro's tiny apartment rather than spend another holiday alone.

After Christmas dinner, Ro suggests they all tell ghost stories before leaving for the evening. This is when Grayson, easily the most affluent of the group, describes an incident from his childhood involving the legendary Christmas creature called the Krampus. He tells the story so well, but it can't possibly be real...can it?

As the evening draws to a close, the group makes plans to do this again next year, and they do. However, they lose touch for the next decade until Grayson insists they all meet at his mansion for a Christmas reunion. Ro remembers the story he told. She remembers how it brought forth feelings about incidents in her past that she'd rather not think about, but against her misgivings, she goes. She soon discovers that her gut is worth listening to if she wants to stay alive.

Unfortunately, this is the point in the story that the narrative goes off the rails and lost me as a reader. I did finish the entire novella because it's very short, but this story had issues that were on exacerbated as it went on rather than alleviated.

The biggest problem I had was how large of a time-frame the author tried to cram into such a short story. It's barely over 100 pages, but the story spans 30 years easily. There are aspects of Ro's childhood and teen years that are important to events that happen 20 years later when she's an adult. This time of time-frame can be written well, but Rickert chose to hop between past and present without any transition whatsoever. One sentence might be about events in the past, and the next sentence is about the present, several years later. It made for a jarring read in which I wasn't sure when things were taking place or what significance they had.

The other issue I had with this story involved the twisting narrative itself. All of the plotlines were interwoven with twists and turns, but it felt like the author was told that's what a horror story should be like so it could be written that way rather than evolving organically. It made everything feel forced just for the sake of having a twist. It also made the twists predictable which negatively affected my immersion in the story. There's so much intentional misdirection in the latter half of the book that I knew the author was just trying to throw the reader off with haphazard plotlines.

Overall, this story had some interesting ideas. There aren't a lot of books about Krampus, and I was looking forward to reading about this legend. Unfortunately, it was executed poorly with the Krampus itself being an afterthought, and the true monsters being people. I feel like the story could have been improved with more time spent on transitions, and even another 50 pages of strategically place explanations would have helped. To be honest, I'm shocked this is something published by Tordotcom because I usually really enjoy novellas they publish. I doubt I go to the trouble of reading anything else by M. Rickert in the future.

I gave Lucky Girl by M. Rickert 2 out of 5 stars. The story had some interesting ideas, but the poor execution and forced narrative twists ruined the enjoyment for me. There may be other readers who would disagree with me on this because I've found many horror books and thrillers to be somewhat predictable. So, if you enjoy horror and thriller stories, this is short enough to try. Just maybe get it from the library.

Unfortunately, this is not a very memorable book. I guess it was ok. Can’t really remember it a few months later… which isn’t a great sign. Gave it 3 stars so it must have been somewhat entertaining in the moment. Perhaps it was the length of the story that made it so forgettable. It was very short. If you are looking for a quick (very quick) "horror" read around the holidays to get in the spirit of the season, sure, go for it! The book's tone does feel a bit depressing. If you put scary books in the freezer, you can relax and leave this one on the counter.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing the ARC in exchange for a review. This one just missed the mark.

This. Was. So. Fun.

I went into this one blind, not really knowing much beyond the title and cover. Being a short read it felt detailed and deep enough that it didn't leave me feeling underwhelmed how some novellas can. I can also get tired of the cheery holiday reads and need something darker. And other times, like when I read this one, I just need some holiday in the summer. LOL Would have loved to see more Krampus but like, I'm not mad about it.

I loved Christmas themed horror so I was excited for this novella. The story is more cozy than scary, which is fine. However the narrative itself was too short and too small. I wanted to love this one but it needed more punch.

This novella was mildly creepy with a fast pace. However, it may have needed to be a little longer to get more development and I had a hard time with the writing.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for my honest reveiw.

I’m not sure how I feel about this one still. I liked it while I was reading it but I found it very forgettable. I did really like the characters and the story line.

Maybe I went into this book with the wrong expectations. Since the title clearly states "A Krampus Story" I was expecting this to be about Krampus. Let's just get that out of the way, there is no Krampus in this story. Maybe if "Krampus" refers to a generic Christmas horror story, then yes this was that. But I kept waiting for Krampus to pop into the story so that may be clouding my review.

I thought the main character was a little dumb (especially since she's a horror writer and keeps making stupid decisions), but I did enjoy the story for what it was. I was trying to figure out where it was all going and I'll admit there were some twists and turns that surprised me in the end. I was left with two big unanswered questions so I would have liked a little more closure. But, since it was a short novella that I read in two sittings, I wasn't really that upset that I didn't get a full closure on everything. I think this was fine for what it was. It wasn't scary, but it was a decent darker Christmas story.

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor.com for a free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a sharp and shocking novella about monsters known and unknown. When a young woman thinks she is moving to a wonderful new stage in her life she instead finds herself living a life of unexpected horror. i really liked the female protagonist in this story and the narrative voice

It took me fifteen days to read this short novella, so there’s that.

I think the idea/premise was fairly decent? But I was able to put this VERY short novella down and literally had no care to pick it up again. The writing was good! The story/execution just didn’t work for me.

All though this was super short, it wasn’t engaging for me. I ended up skimming it about half way through.

If you're in the mood for a Christmassy horror read, LUCKY GIRL invokes all my favorite things about dark winter nights and spooky holiday traditions. This novella follows Ro, a struggling writer, who meets four lonely others celebrating one final meal at a local diner soon to close and invites them over for an impromptu Christmas dinner. Ending the night with a round of ghost stories invokes a bloody past that refuses to lay down once its ugly head has been reared.

I quite enjoyed the tone and prose of LUCKY GIRL, which to me perfectly encapsulated the feeling of hearing a story told by firelight. I think the characters' depths perfectly matched Ro's interest in them, and the balance between past and present was done quite well. I always love a story that blurs the lines between monsters of myth and monsters of men, and this really pulled it off for me.

I only had to qualms overall; one is that I fear the title is too long. LUCKY GIRL on its own perfectly encapsulates the story, and I think the rest of it may lead one to think the story drags on, but it certainly does not. I think the ending could have been drawn out a little more, less tell than show, because the narrative lost a bit of that spellbinding and engaging tension once the tone shifted to indicate the end.

The twists did get me and I adored the motifs of the bells, as is central to any Krampus story. If you're looking for a swift horror read this Christmas, I would recommend you try LUCKY GIRL!

❧ 3.5 ★

Lucky Girl is a holiday horror novella which I would label as cozy horror as everything occurs offstage. Perhaps that is why I found the story a little lacking (I prefer my horror to be more graphic or scarier). The premise is interesting... a final girl (Lolita situation) survives the murder of her family to grow up to be an acclaimed horror writer. Despite this, she is rather naive and clueless about those in her own life. I will chalk that up to the offstage horror piece though... she survived her family's horror by sitting in a local park. But if you are looking for a short read with a not so Hallmarky Christmas vibe, this light horror story may be just the read for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tordotcom for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

This sounded so interesting and it was short so I figured it’d be an easy read, but it just didn’t jive with me. I think this kinda story had potential, but I just wasn’t the right audience.

While I enjoyed this story in parts, I found it easy to put down and hard to pick back up. The writing is lovely, but Overall the story wasn't for me.

I didn’t find it scary, but I did really enjoy it. A great, short read for either Halloween or Christmas.

The concept of strangers coming together to share ghost stories during Christmas dinner is interesting, but the execution lacks the necessary depth to truly captivate. While the themes of past traumas and the power of storytelling are explored, they don't reach their full potential. Additionally, the blurred line between fiction and reality could have been further developed for a more impactful reading experience. Overall, a decent read, but with room for improvement.

I liked this story but by no means would I considerate horror. It wasn’t thrilling or scary but more of a suspenseful mystery.

It’s fairly predictable but not so bad you give up on it. It’s a short and quick read.

Give it a shot, you may love it.

Having just given lukewarm feedback to a book that received glowing reviews, I now find myself on the opposite end. I see that quite a few people didn't take to this novella, while I quite liked it. True, I didn't find it that scary, but my unfear should never be a measure of a spooky book's quality. (NB: I am an eldritch swamp creature who is unmoved by traditionally scary things.) Nevertheless, I still found this book to be a fun and nasty little Christmas surprise.

I wish that I enjoyed this novella more than I did. Unfortunately, I found it rather meandering and it didn't really grasp my interest. There are some beautifully written lines and the overall plot itself was compelling, but the writing style just didn't work for me -- it felt a lot longer than it is and I almost DNFd it.