This collection of short stories was edgy, and relevant. However, most of them felt confusing and incomplete to me and didn’t seem to flow well within the theme of the collective book. When I’m reading a cook of short stories, I prefer them to all flow well to hold my interest and I didnt Get that from this.

Thank you for this opportunity! This was an amazing series of short stories. Each one gripped the mind and would not let go. I throughly enjoyed myself.

These stories capture the dissociation required to exist in a femme body. Rebecca Hirsch Garcia uses surreal narratives to show how a woman’s body can be both a miracle and a curse. There is beauty and horror in this collection. Every single story was a gem that felt like it was born from the collective body. Many of these stories will haunt me because they spoke to feelings I never thought to share.

I received a digital advance reader copy from NetGalley and ECW Press in exchange for an honest review.

Completely brilliant. It’s so rare to read a collection of short stories where every single one hits its mark, and this is it!

it is always difficult with a collection of short stories, I def preferred some more than others
but I did enjoy the writing of this book even when I did not necessarily love the story

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC. I unfortunately did not find myself enjoying this collection of short stories. While intrigued by the title and cover, I failed to connect with many of the stories and the characters.

Just a heads up on this book! Thank you @netgalley for giving me access to it!

The girl who cried diamonds is a collection of short stories that sits with the best of them. The stories were each unique had held me captive as I raced to see what would happen next. They offered up a moment in time, offering little resolution but leaving you hungry for more, but also strangely satisfied.

I felt like each story held its own but personal favourites were, ‘woman into cloud’, ‘the girl who cried diamonds’, ‘damage control’ and ‘common animals’. They each left me with a whole in my chest and a feeling that lingered long after I finished reading. ‘Woman into cloud’ is particularly atmospheric, you feel the woman’s emotions so acutely as she looks over her life and her love for her daughters and desire to be free.

The book is out 3rd of October and I will definitely be getting a copy for my shelf’s as this is one I would love to come back to!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

The Girl Who Cried Diamonds & Other Stories, written by Rebecca Hirsch Garcia, is a collection of short stories loosely interconnected by what the official description boasts to be its "shatter[ing of] the boundaries of realist and fabulist." Relative strengths of this collection include having 1) an enticing title, 2) aesthetically pleasing cover art, 3) generally decent writing, 4) some interesting and well-developed plot lines, and 5) interspersed acknowledgement of relevant social justice issues.

Of the stories involved, the one I most enjoy is the very first, "A Golden Light," which follows a young girl who seeks meaning in a mysteriously sourced light that illuminates her bedroom after her father's untimely death. The premise and execution of "A Golden Light" epitomize the degree of intrigue and supernatural presence that one might expect from a vaguely (quote-unquote) fabulist/speculative collection. Precisely due to this promising setup is why some might generate confusion when reading the following two, decidedly hyper-realistic (not to mention, topically grotesque), stories about teenagers ruthlessly bullying each other and a young woman being stalked by a man she saves from certain death.

Ultimately, a cohesive topical or moral momentum is missing throughout this collection, and the plots and characters of the individual stories often lack substance and/or an inherent driving force compelling one to read on (especially notable during the final story about a woman-turned-cloud, which comprises a whopping 25 percent of the book in page length).

ARC Review via NetGalley

A haunting collection of short stories that focus on humankind, relationships, and strain. There are certainly a few standout short stories within this collection that have kept me thinking back on them even days after I finished reading them. If you enjoy short stories that intersect with eerieness and uneasiness, you may very well enjoy this collection. I wouldn't necessarily class this book as "horror" or fully as surrealism, but many stories do try to reach out toward those genres.. However, this book absolutely does have an element of psychology and strangeness to it.

Reviewing potential collections for Mslexia's short story column - "What's New in Short Stories"
Thank you for the early copy!

I didn’t connect with this. I didn’t find the stories particularly I rereading and did not finish reading it. The writing felt quite disjointed.

this definitely wasn't for me. After reading the blurb I expected the short stories to be more surrealist and weird, which they weren’t. Maybe I’m just so used to horror and surrealism and this could be a good starting point for people who want to try those genres out.
Most short stories had a very similar motif: a character not being able/not breaking the cycle. However, although the motif is similar, the stories are distinct from one another, which is a difficult thing to achieve!
Some stories ended before the build up could be successfully used, some stories had major rhythmical shifts without any noticeable reason. Woman into Cloud was simply too long. Unfortunately, every ending felt rushed and could’ve been done differently

I was a little disappointed in the book I thought it would be more insightful and more enjoyable but it was just meh

this was okay, but read a little juvenile and i didn't feel connected to the characters or what happens to them at all. i can see other reader enjoying this a lot tho!

— thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the free digital ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me an ARC to review.

3 stars!

I was so excited to read this! The cover drew me in and the fact this book was under the horror category. Some of the stories really caught my attention and some didn’t, but that’s what makes these collection of shorts stories so nice to read.

I wouldn’t really say every story fits within the horror realm, but some can be triggering to others, so definitely check out the TW before reading.

I really enjoyed My Full Catastrophe despite it making me somewhat angry at the main character and also really confused at the end, haha I wanted to know more!!!

I also think Mother was the most horror-esque story in the collection. And I’d love a full story of this!

Really nice to have such a good mix and quite enjoyed them!

I knew from the moment I read the description of this book that this was going to be different. I absolutely loved it. One of the most refreshing reads I've read all year. This totally felt like an A24 film packed into a book, the stories all varied and each one led to a really unique outcome. Plus, there's a story in here about someone turning into a cloud, I mean, talk about creative and unique. Brilliant!

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC.

I had high hopes for this but was sorely disappointed. Each story fell short for me. Some of them were hard to even get through and I found myself skimming. There were times I could feel the author grasping towards the kind of surrealism that Alain Robbe-Grillet did so well but not quite making the mark. More often a story started fine but just seemed to meander on until I lost interest.

An interesting and captivating collection of short stories. Many of these stories left me craving more, not wanting the story to end. I enjoyed "Mother" the most. Towards the middle, I did find myself losing interest in some of the stories, but overall I enjoyed this.

If every story in THE GIRL WHO CRIED DIAMONDS would have been like “Mother,” “Woman into Cloud,” or even the title story “The Girl Who Cried Diamonds,” this would have been a five-star collection. Unfortunately for the reader, these three stories all come toward the end of the book, and I can imagine some readers not having the patience to make it to these gems. If I hadn’t agreed to review this book for NetGalley, I would have put it down after the first few stories. That’s because, while every story in this book sounds pretty (Hirsch Garcia has a beautiful lilt to her language), many of them are not actually *stories*—i.e., nothing happens. There’s always a brilliant magic realist setup, but then just when we get to an interesting reveal, the story ends, leaving me deeply unsatisfied every time. Only the three stories mentioned “go anywhere” or “do anything.” The rest read like character studies about whom you might one day write a story. Also, I requested this book because it was shelved under horror, and “Mother” was the only story to come anywhere close to horror. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC!

AHHHHHHHHHH! GIVE ME ALL THE HORROR AND SUSPENSE SHORT STORIES AND I'LL BE THE HAPPIEST GIRL IN THE LAND!

Okay, I am so thankful to ECW Press, Rebecca Hirsch Garcia, and Netgalley for granting me early digital access to this absolute GEM (title pun) of a book that has me in the perfect reading mood just in time for summer's start. We love dark and twisted tales in this household and The Girl Who Cried Diamonds gave me everything I needed to scratch that itch. There were stories about supernatural abilities, and murderous families, all with eerie endings that will make you ponder for days on what you just digested.

The Girl Who Cried Diamonds & Other Stories is set to publish on October 3, 2023, so get your pre-orders in now yall!