Lucky Girl starts out as a classic horror story, setting up a group of strangers each with a scary story to tell on Christmas Eve. One of the stories leaves the group with the feeling that there is more fact than fiction to it and it stays with all of them for years.

Picking up decades later, the story moves at lightning speed to the detriment of the characters and the story itself. The author set up a great framework and interesting characters only to completely ignore fleshing out details in order to rush to the ending. By telling rather than showing, this short story/novella ends up falling flat simply because I lost interest in caring about any of the characters or following what exactly had happened.. A hundred more pages of detail, dialogue, and background would have given this creepy original idea a slow burn horror feeling and it would have been better served as a shorter novel than a novella. .

Thank you to NetGalley, Tordotcom, and M. Rickert for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

"Lucky Girl" is structured as a story within a story. It follows in the English tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas time, To hearken back to this trope, the narration is stilted, sounding from another time despite it very much taking place in the modern day; it took me a bit to figure out exactly when this story was intended to take place. It's fun, it's cozy horror, and it's quick, clocking in just over 100 pages. It definitely felt like an extended short story but that isn't a complaint - it was just a delicious between-seasons spooky story for anyone who wants a brief escape to an eerie world.

When Ro, a struggling writer, invites four strangers to an impromptu Christmas dinner and the evening ends with each telling a ghost story she quickly learns the horrors hidden in a Christmas tale can never be tamed once unleashed.

I have mixed feelings about Lucky Girl. The pacing felt a little off… so for a novella, it took me much longer to read than a book of its size normally would. But, at the same time, I was intrigued enough to see where the story was taking me. The characters had just enough revealed about each person that there was mystery and intrigue about who they were and what they were capable of. The ending was definitely satisfying and left my mind reeling and wanting more. All in all, I still feel it was a solid 3.5 stars and would be a great pick for your holiday reading list if you’re looking for lite horror filled with atmospheric dread. I only wish Krampus had more of a starring role, but what can I say, this girl likes carnage.

Thank you Tordotcom for the gifted eARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. Expected publication date 9.13.22.

Scheduled Instagram post 8.30.22. For questions please contact rvaughn6@gmail.com.

2.75 stars

Ro meets four strangers at a soon-to-close diner, and they decide to make a tradition of spending Christmas together an doing a gift exchange. At the first inaugural event, the group shares ghost stories. Grayson tells a personal story of his run-in with Krampus at his childhood home. After two years the tradition dissolves, until several years later when Grayson invites them all to his estate for Christmas. Ro is now a famous horror author and can't help but wonder if that story of Krampus told all those years ago is true.

This was a slightly disappointing read. While the title and description would lead you to believe that this is a Krampus-themed horror novella, the story itself focuses more on Ro, her terrible past, and how the events of her past re-emerge to take from her again. Some of the dialogue was weird, it didn't sound like the way people would talk in the same era that Facebook exists. I also didn't really get the goosebumps I'd typically expect from a horror book! I think if I went into this with correct expectations I would have rated it higher.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing and ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lucky Girl is a jewel of a book. More of a psychological horror than anything else>, this horror novella will keep you guessing until the last page. Tightly written and dreamy, it will stick with you.

This story is told in first person from the point of view of Roanoke or Ro who previously met several other lonely people in a diner and invited them to her home for Christmas dinner and gift exchange. The reader is immediately thrown into this setting and it turns into ghost story time before they awkwardly part with some agreeing to meet again. The book jumps through time, only covering the gatherings of these 4-5 characters on a few occasions. While the cover had a creepy, ghostly vibe, and the concept intrigued me, this short read lacked suspense and atmosphere.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tordotcom for the free copy provided for an honest review.

Wonderful Krampus tale. This short read is sure to be on everyone's Halloween, Christmas, and Summerween reading list. Ro and a group of strangers meet at a cabin, and the body count starts rising. This book will have you asking whether you truly know anyone.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tordotcom for the opportunity to read an advance reading copy.

I loved this book. A few reviews claimed it wasn't scary. To me, nothing is scarier than people going missing, followed by lots of human bones found around where people went missing. As in most horror, it turns out that humans are the monsters.

I also liked the character Ro. She reminded me of myself, which is a scary thought indeed. I'm an introverted horror writer who also finds herself walking into situations better left alone. Unfortunately, I'm not a wealthy horror writer like Ro.

And oh, that ending. Just when life is looking good for Ro, we know she'll end up in a heap of trouble.

Much thanks to Netgalley and Tor for allowing me to read and review Lucky Girl.

Well this was a crazy pleasant surprise! I went into this one with low expectations, as I saw the 2015 Krampus movie this past winter and it was an enjoyable but very corny experience, so I had the same expectations here. This was not the slightest bit corny! This is a very quick read at 112 pages (not sure if that is considered a short story or novella!) and was super enjoyable and left me with lots of goosebumps at different moments. The Christmas/winter holiday feel is fantastic and my only regret is not leaving this for December! I thought this writing from this author was excellent and I’m definitely going to seek out more stories from Rickert!

Thank you to Tordotcom for the widget ARC!

Ro, an orphaned teen after her parents and sibling are murdered, meets a group of misfits in a coffee shop and these strangers begin to share their Christmas holidays together. How well do these five people truly know each other? Is everyone quite as they seem?

I enjoyed this novella, Lucky Girl, by M. Rickert. However, I would have loved to read more about the lives and learned the histories of each of the five characters. This book would have been great written as a full length novel. The premise for the story is spooky and mysterious but it felt rushed to me due to its length.

Thank you, NetGalley and Tor Publishing, for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed above are my own.

I wanted this to be a little more horrifying than it was. This book was ok but nothing I'd read again.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tordotcom, and M. Rickert for the advanced copy of Lucky Girl in exchange for my honest review.

Christmas in July! I really enjoyed this short story, it was sufficiently creepy with a few twists and turns I didn't see coming. I'm quite glad I read it while the sun was out or it may have freaked me out a little too much.

This was a new author for me but I will definitely be adding her backlist books to my horror lineup, as this packed quite a bunch for being so short.

Lucky Girl will be on US bookshelves September 13!

An intriguing short story about all the lucky breaks a woman has gotten over her life, only, she finds out she's not so lucky after all.

I wish it was longer.

Ro forms an unlikely group of strangers who only have loneliness during the holidays in common. They only meet a couple of times before they drift apart, but a once-told ghost story brings them back together.

For such a short read, I was impressed by how perfect the build-up was. It felt like the perfect number of pages. Ro is a flawed, interesting character. Loved the abrupt ending.

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

This was a lot of fun and definitely kept me engaged. I think this is a perfect novella to read in one sitting. The only thing holding me back from giving this a higher rating is that I felt everything was brushed over much too quickly. When I even began to feel even the briefest beginnings of something horrific, we'd already moved past it. I wish more of the plot points had been expanded upon, giving me more of an eery sense of dread. With that being said, I definitely can see myself reading more from this author in the future. I definitely enjoyed their writing style and could see a longer book receiving a higher rating from me.

Is the chill you're feeling the winter cold seeping into your bones or the fear of what's hiding in the blinding white snow? This short book is the perfect story to curl up with in the dark hours of winter, when the world hunkers down and hopes for the twinkle of holiday lights to chase away the darkness. The characters are well written and progress the story is meaningful, if short, ways. The plot is fast enough to keep you reading without skimping on the details that really bring the story to life.

I wanted to love this one but it just wasn’t for me. Didn’t get into the story much and I wanted more.

I didn't love this one. The plot got off to a very slow start before things finally started to get creepy and hold my interest. It took me two tries to make it through to the end and I'm not sure I'd recommend it.

There was a lot about this that just felt muddled and undeveloped. It is a short story and a quick read, but it felt like it needed polishing and tightening. I just didn't find anything special about this. It was fine, but nothing overly intriguing or creepy. There was a good premise, but the execution didn't meet my expectations. The writing was fine and I felt like maybe with a bit of redirection and editing this could have been made into something much more gripping. Instead, something about the character relationships and interactions felt off and the movement of the plot was a bit jerky. It was a disappointing experience, but it was short so I didn't feel the pressure to DNF.

Ro is alone and down on her luck one Christmas when she meets four strangers in a diner and impulsively invites them to a holiday dinner. They each tell a Christmas horror story, exchange meager gifts, and go on with their separate lives. Years later, now a successful horror novelist, Ro receives an invitation to a reunion dinner at a beautiful estate for Christmas. All too late, she learns that some stories are terrifying because they’re true. I received an invitation to read a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Macmillan-Tor/Forge. Trigger warnings: character death, parent/sibling death, fires, captivity, stalking, grief, guilt.

I don’t know whether the title of this novella is deliberately misleading or just accidentally, but this is only barely a Krampus story; it’s more like a decoration around the edges than the actual point. It’s also ill-suited to being a novella, since there are the bones of what could be a really good story here, except there’s no time to develop it to any satisfaction. It covers far too much time for the number of pages. Instead, we blow through years with characters we (and the main character) only barely know, and there’s no time to get attached to any of them or have any particular feelings about what happens to them. There are only the vaguest personalities there, most of them leaning into cliché, including the faux-goth horror writer who is our narrator.

All that being said, I liked the story itself. Ro’s grim history with the unsolved murders of her family provide a creepy backdrop, and it was probably my favorite part of the novella, well above anything supernatural. It’s also better developed, though. The Krampus thread is established at the beginning and then barely utilized, despite setting up an interesting point of potential crossover for the two storylines. Instead, it’s almost like two different stories got mashed together to lukewarm effect. I was so far removed from everything that the ending didn’t have much of an impact. Oh, well. Maybe it would make a better movie.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.