Christmas and Halloween all in one? Count me in! I really enjoyed this short tale although I don't consider it a Krampus story and found that part of the title to be misleading. A group of strangers meeting for Christmas and exchanging scary stories was so much fun! I would have liked to learn more about who Ro is as a person. Also, I really wasn't expecting the twist this one took and enjoyed that. I'm not going to pick it apart as it's a novella and there's only so much you can fit into this format. That being said, I did feel that the ending was a bit rushed. It was fantastically creepy that I honestly wanted more.

A novella that’s part horror, part holidays, it’s exactly what I expected for this type of story. There were parts that were predictable and the ending seemed a bit rushed. Overall, a solid read I’d recommend for Halloween or for Christmas if you’re into spooky holiday tales.

A more accurate rating would be 3.5 stars.

I find it a bit hard to review this short story because I'm slightly confused by it even though I enjoyed it. I'm a short story writer, which makes it easier for me to appreciate the structure, but I can see many people being bothered by it. The open ending is a bit abrupt and while I know I'll appreciate it more the more I think about it, it can be seen as anti-climatic.
Also, the plot twist was not very surprising to me. And that is something that makes or breaks a story like this for the reader.

But let's focus on the positives now. The character development was excellent. In just a few sentences, we got a good description of who is who. With our main protagonist, there was a bit of exposition but nothing too long.
And the plot was good. It was a very interesting premise, but I don't know if it was explored as well as it could have been. I would have preferred more focus on the horror than on the personal relationships.

However, at the end of the day, it's a very short story which I can see people reading in one sitting and enjoying enough. So I do recommend it.

This was a really good novella. So good. I was disappointed the story was short. I don't read too many novellas for this exact reason. I wanted to know much more about the strangers in the diner who met and celebrated a few Christmases together, what happened during their lives between that first and last Christmas.

So many questions, alas, that's the beauty of a novella, right? Short and to the point.

I'm not too familiar with the Krampus Christmas monster lore, but this book made me become more interested.

While it's mostly set during Christmas it's a perfectly good story for the month of October.

It was also interesting how the character who had a traumatic past turned her own horror into best-selling novels and embraced her "weirdness."

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor Forge for an e-copy of LUCKY GIRL to review.

I rate LUCKY GIRL four out of five stars.

Being completely transparent, I was unaware this was a Christmas themed story until I started reading it. I have grown a lot in the past year, but I remain unchanged in my utter dislike for the holiday season—especially in August. However, a reverence for all things holly jolly is probably a disadvantage when it comes to reading a story with as much horror, murder, and fear as Lucky Girl has. Unfortunately, the ending just wasn’t my cup of tea.
If we’re going by structure, this book is teeny tiny. It is barely over 100 pages, and I very much enjoyed the first two-thirds of it. The tension was real, people were creepy, paranoia was creeping in. As a horror novel, Lucky Girl was hitting all the right buttons. However, the last thirty or so pages, where the conclusion was meant to start picking up, just fell sort of flat. They felt rushed, like the last key points of an essay question written in the final fifteen minutes of an exam. The plot started bulldozing through too quickly for anything that occurred to really resonate. It wasn’t enough for me to say I disliked the novel, but it was enough to prevent me from recommending it. It just wasn’t satisfying to be left feeling like I was reading a synopsis for an ending rather than the actual ending. It also opened up some pretty glaring plot holes that I don’t really want to get into because of spoilers. Just know that the person I would term as the main “villain,” some of their actions make no sense and are never explained.
Overall, not bad if you’re desperate for Christmas themed horror, but that might be a little specific of a niche.

I have a love/dislike relationship with this book. I really enjoyed it, but I wish it was a full length novel, not a novella. I feel that a lot of the story was rushed and the character development could have used more time. Not that anything about this novella was bad, it was just too short (and I’m usually complaining things are too long!!!)

Ro struggles with the holidays due to a horrific accident that happened when she was a teenager and she lost her entire family. She finds solace in a group of unrelated people and they share horror stories as one of their favorite diners closes. After swapping stories the group goes their separate ways, and ultimately ends up reconvening later. Ro goes on to be a successful horror writer and forgets about the group until she is summoned for a meet-up many years later. Sure they follow each other on facebook, but they don’t truly know one another. Ro finds comfort in one of the men, and she learns that not all horror stories are for novels – people are psychopaths and they live among us.

This was a solid read, and a horror intro to the upcoming spooky turned holiday season. Pulling in stories of the horrific Krampus, this book is a thrilling tale. I enjoyed the references to Krampus as my own image of Christmas is of the fat jolly Santa Claus. This book could have easily been developed further and turned into a novel. I felt that I read a draft or a storyboard – not a finished product. The development of the story, and characters, just was not there. I will say that if you have a quick minute (I finished this in about 1.5 hrs) and want an intro to the spooky & holiday season than this book would be a good pick. Just don’t go into this expecting character or story development. I would recommend this book, but with several caveats as mentioned.

I had so much fun with this nouvelle, even though it wasn't perfect at all. It's really short, and it has it's creepy moments. Altough, I think I was expecting something else, more focused on Krampus and all the spooky Christmas folklore. The main problem with this book is that it's tries to cover a lot of topics and problems, but doesn't solve anything, everything is a bit messy.

This was an interesting slice of a horror novel, more like a short horror story or novella within an anthology than really a quality standalone. But it was enjoyable foe what it was - a bit of a jumble of situations crammed into a too short format, but, again, it worked for what it was. It was creepy enough, more strange than anything.

Well, well, well how the turn tables.
This went from a relatively humdrum story of Ro’s life and meetings over the years with her by-chance friends from an old café. It steadily ramps up until it has your heart beating trying to escape your chest. Then it calms down a little just enough to lull you into thinking you’re done and then it get you.
Truly well done build up in the story. And I loved how the characters were all kind of unlikeable it seemed to work in the story’s favor. Who can you trust? Why doesn’t so and so like the other? Is there a reason this one is such a creep?
This is how a ghost story should be which is very apt considering ghost stories are a major theme in this.

For fans of The Quiet Boy and The Need.

"Lucky Girl, How I Became A Horror Writer is a story told across Christmases, rooted in loneliness, horror, and the ever-lurking presence of Krampus written by World Fantasy and Shirley Jackson Award-winning author M. Rickert.

Ro, a struggling writer, knows all too well the pain and solitude that holiday festivities can awaken. When she meets four people at the local diner - all of them strangers and as lonely as Ro is - she invites them to an impromptu Christmas dinner. And when that party seems in danger of an early end, she suggests they each tell a ghost story. One that's seasonally appropriate.

But Ro will come to learn that the horrors hidden in a Christmas tale - or one's past - can never be tamed once unleashed."

Because one can never start planning their holiday reading too early!

Group meets during christmas at a dinner then does exchanges after. Main character is horror writer with trauma. The story is about Krampus, but is it true to life? This book is short but it is also very creepy!

Ro has had a difficult life and faced more tragedy than most people at a young age.

She meets a group of strangers at a diner and they form a bond over their shared loneliness that spans several Christmases.

As the years pass the bond never deepens enough to reveal dangerous secrets until it's too late.

This is a tough one to review, I feel like Ro is the only character I really got to know but I suppose there are reasons for that since we can't be let in on the secrets before she is. The pace was a little slow for such a short book but the payoff at the end was worth it. I would recommend it to readers who like holiday horror but Krampus doesn't make much of an appearance here.

Lucky Girl is a novella following Ro throughout several Christmases. It is a quick read full of tension. The backstory is excellent, and I enjoyed the overall tone of the novella. Each character's action leaves you wondering what is going on. It has a twist and an open ending that I loved, but I know won't be for many.

This was such an interesting book! It was a quick read, well written, and very entertaining. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC.

It was a quick read but the entire book seemed rather jumbled and not quite sure if itself. Not the worst, but not the best I've read either in this genre.

Ro is lonely. When she meets a few other individuals at a diner she decides to invite them all over for Christmas dinner.

I guess I didn't fully understand the premise of this story. It sounds amazing but it felt all over the place to me. The pacing was off, which is probably because so much was crammed into a novella (which I didn't realize this was to start with).

It's really not a long book but it felt long and while I loved the premise, I didn't think it was fully flushed out.
I also thought this would have a bit more suspense and 'scary' aspects to it and it just didn't deliver on either of those for me.

I guess it was fine but nothing memorable.

I wanted to like "Lucky Girl" by M. Rickert more than I did. The set up is interesting, with four strangers meeting at a diner and then convening for a Christmas dinner to tell each other ghost stories, but the plot loses focus from that point on. By the end of this (quite short) novella, I found myself underwhelmed.

Thank you to Tordotcom for the eARC!!

I’m not normally one for holiday themed books but the mix of horror and Christmas had me intrigued.

This was super short, and unfortunately that’s my biggest complaint. I think the twists would have been much more impactful if we had more time with the characters and events could play out in full. It felt a bit rushed and undeveloped, leaving me feeling a bit winded by the end. Things unfolded so quickly that it just didn’t really hit me like I think it was meant to.

I did enjoy the minimal Christmas themes. This wasn’t a full in your face Christmas story, which was nice. But I do think the title will likely ward off readers. I think not having the secondary title would help, especially with dropping Krampus out of the title fully.

Overall, this was a fun read, it would make a for a fun read on Christmas Eve!

This was such an interesting read!

When 5 strangers meet in a cafe and decide to spend Christmas together they end up on a trajectory that intwines their lives. We get to see everything through the perspective of Ro who has a strained relationship with the Christmas season. However, it sets her up to become a horror author.

I know that synopsis seems a bit short, but this is a short book and saying too much more would give too much away in my opinion. The set up of this book is different than I'm used to reading but I very much enjoyed it. It spans a length of times and moves through it pretty quickly. The ending really threw me for a loop and I loved it. That moment the title makes sense is perfect.

I can't say too much as I think going into this as blind as possible is best, but I very much enjoyed the quick read and I highly recommend.

Nice little novella. The pacing felt a little off but overall I enjoyed the back and forth of storytelling. I would have liked more on the krumpus story but still pretty good.