This collection of stories was really well written, however the lack of over all theme for the collection really left me struggling to connect.. I never knew exactly what I was going to get and I felt like this was just a hodge podge of random things. This one just wasn't for me.

"Pre-Approved for Haunting" by Patrick Barb is a clever and eerie blend of dark humor and supernatural intrigue. Its unique premise and sharp writing make it a gripping read for fans of inventive ghost stories.

Going into this book was so fun. Collections of weird stories are always fun. Twists, turns, all things fun. Lots of tropes and horror themes. A fun time and a fun read.

I want to personally thank NetGalley, as well as the author, publisher, and anyone else involved in providing copies, for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Reviews will also be submitted to Goodreads when possible.

i dont typically like haunting stories, as i prefer a real haunting story, if that makes sense, but i felt submerged into this one. i really enjoyed the atmosphere and it felt like a real haunting.

This is one truly creepy collection of tales. From the very first, horrifying story of a lost boy in a bear suit to the dreadful, cataclysmic ending, you won't want to stop reading. Each story grips you by your innards and squeezes just a bit more. Patrick Barb knows how to not only chill you to the bone but also how to spin a tale so good you can't help but keep on reading. Horrifying, in the very best way!

A collection of short stories that cross every type of horror genre you can think of. Some are very clever, some disturbing, and some just didn't do it for me, but I'm hard to please.
Barb's style of writing is easy to read, and his imagination is witty, dark, and a little disturbing. I like that in an author.

Recommended.

Thanks to @netgalley for the opportunity to read this eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opion.

A fun (in a dark sense) collections of weird stories keeping you entertained. Barb hits a lot of the horror tropes and genres with these stories. I am sure there is something here for everyone to enjoy.
barb's writing style is nice and smooth. Enjoyable.

This book is a mystery/thriller with different point of views from the characters and beautifully written. The timelines were also very well written.

I read this book in a day and I never looked back! The twist and the plot were pretty easy to identify but the different POV's kept me intrigued to see how everything was going to unfold. A couple of the characters were so unlikable that it made it hard to feel bad or connect with them in any way. I do wish that the ending would've given a little more, I wanted to know how the characters dealt with the aftermath.

Overall I give this 5 out 5 because it really was a great book and I will definitely read more from this Author. I enjoyed the thrill of the plot and its twists.

Thanks to the publishers for sharing this book. This was a good collection overall. My full review appears on Weekend Notes.

Based on the title of this collection I had some high hopes going in. Over all this collection, as a whole, was just ok. These are very short horror stories with weird twists. I actually expected the title story to be a favorite, but I liked the first few stories a lot more. I would like to pick up a full length novel from this author at some point.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

The books definitely felt nostalgic and is perfect for old school horror fans .

Thank you NetGalley for the arc .

My favorite stories are Pre-Approved For A Haunting, The Crack In The Ceiling, Iggy Crane and The Headless Horse Girl. I think this is a really great collection with stand out stories. I would recommend this to those who enjoy horror stories. Special Thank You to Patrick Barb, Turner Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Patrick Barb's short story collection, Pre-Approved for Haunting, deals horror goodness with each story. Themes of familial relations, bullying, dystopian worlds, and revenge became encased in terror. A twist on the camp counselor/knife wielding maniac turns the genre on its head. Women's liberation becomes a gruesome blood bath of body horror in Shattered. Each story seems to get darker and darker, so make sure you don't read this before bedtime. These stories are definitely for horror lovers.

Pre-Approved for Haunting is kind of a hard one to review for me because there's no uniting theme and the stories were really uneven. There's a few stories that are really strong so I would still recommend the collection as a whole for these but there were quite a few of the stories that I felt needed more work.

Here's what I thought of each story in a nutshell:

Lost Boy... Short and uncomfortable. 4/5
A Portrait of... Family horror meets art horror in a beautifully fevered story. 4/5
Casual, well that was a different type of dating, possible not so positive aro-ace rep (/jk)? Not particularly scary but quite fun. 3.5/5
Have you seen... A cautionary tale about paying close attention when people speak. 4/5
Pre-approved for.... This one I would have wanted more of and I would recommend this collection solely for this particular story about a peculiar brand of haunting 4.5/5
The Crack in the... I feel like I've read this one before (an isolated community that performs ritualistic sacrifices...) 3/5
Melvin... I get the message, but it felt out of place almost inappropriate in the context of this collection.
There's No Bunk... I read it a couple of times and I think I don't *get* it. 2/5
Iggy... That one was really fun; horse girl horror is something I don't see often enough. 4/5
The Decimation... Oddly choppy read like almost like an outline more than an actual story.
Shattered, the women have been changed by The Signal, there's a nice little splash of body horror. 3/5
The Giallo Kid... Is another one that I could have taken more of, slasher action meets end of the world type scenario in a gritty and fast-paced package, really solid. 4.5/5
And rapid fire round for the other stories: Return to Voodoo... 2.5/5 And our Next... 3/5, Rose from... 2/5, I Will Not... 3/5, Other Half of... 2/5, Putting Down Roots 2/5.

Thank you to Netgalley and Turner Publishing Company for this ARC in exchanged for my honest review.
Pre-Approved for Haunting is a collection of short stories that were quick and interesting. Some more creepier than others but it was overall a nice read.

4/5.

A chilling collection of short stories. Patrick Barb is a new author to me and his terrifying tales are really a fantastic work. They make you want to sit around a campfire while reading aloud scary stories in the dark.
The stories were such a strange and creepy crawly gets under your skin kind of stories and they are relay suits to the weather in the fall. A perfect book just in time for spooky season. Ghosts, creatures, slasher horror, snorting ashes of dead people, when trees exact their revenge, and so much more.

Pre-Approved for Haunting is a set of 18 horror stories that are each unique in their own way. While most of these short stories are fantastic and hooked me from the beginning, there were a couple that just didn't do it for me. BUT that is the beautiful thing about collections and anthologies! They open you up to a range of reads for everyone. I Will Not Read Your Haunted Script was by far my favorite in the book. Cannot wait for more!

when I saw this book, I was really intrigued because it’s a horror short story collection containing 18 different stories. this was my first book by Patrick Barb, but it didn’t go that well for me sadly.

out of the whole collection, I didn’t have no 5 star nor 4 star stories. my highest rating was 3.5 and only three of the stories were rated that: Have You Seen My Missing Pet?, The Crack in the Ceiling and Shattered. all the other stories were either mediocre or I didn’t like them at all… I felt like some of these stories were quite thought through, but others felt like they were so simple and not at all scary or had any interesting plot about them and I just found myself wanting to be done with them…

even if I had three stories I enjoyed, I still wouldn’t really recommend this book, but that’s just my personal opinion. this could be a great book for horror beginners, I guess.

Interesting compilation of short horror stories. I like the twists in it. There are good ones, and some plain, I guess it depends how it affects the reader. I'd recommend it for quick-read spooky stories.

This was a very interesting collection. It begins with a foreword so elaborate and panegyrizing that one can only hope the book is decent, otherwise it would just be plain embarrassing. And then, sure enough, it is. Quite decent. Good, even, if not great. Somewhat uneven (the levels of reader’s emotional and intellectual engagement varied, and it was at times stylistically overdone), but very original, interesting, and a considerable amount of fun.
The foreword is written by the man who taught the author writing and operates the press the book is published by, so there’s definitely some vested interest there, explaining how it came to take up 5% of a reasonably slim collection.
The stories themselves are either completely original or offering an original twist on a classic premise, be it monsters or general creepiness. Will it haunt you? That wildly depends on a reader. But there’s so much trite crap out there, and it is nice to see someone trying to do something different, to write literary genre fiction as opposed to easy-gimmicky things that sell, etc.
Overall, an interesting and ambitious collection to attract discerning genre fans. Thanks Netgalley.