I was not sure what to expect when I dove into the novel but I enjoyed it. I find that the best horror stories have fear and brokenness associated with the protagonist, and this one does just that. Tom is haunted by his traumatic past, and it has come back to finish the job it started during his childhood. Not only him, but his childhood friends as well-giving the book an “IT” vibe, and a nod to Stephen King. What I also liked about this story is the relatability of the characters and their wide range of emotions to their childhood trauma, the flow and pacing of the plot, and the horror twist on the joy and happiness of Christmas. The villain in the stuff of nightmares. All and all, I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked this book. It is a great fit for the holiday horror genre, and I would recommend any horror fan read this one. It was a fun ride. Thank you to net gallery and the author for an e-copy of this novel.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy to read, and review.

This was such a fun book. I read it in one sitting. Let's start with the cover, it is pretty awesome. It is hard to see on Kindle, but just pull it up on your phone, or laptop to see it fully. It's wonderful, and creative.

I found the story itself pretty fast paced. I liked how it went back and forth between two time lines. It wasn't terribly scary, but it did have some thrills. I think it was meant to be a little campy. I loved the references to Christmas movies it had throughout. If you're looking for something quick, and fun then this will be the perfect book for you this holiday season.

This was an extremely creepy Christmas horror that will haunt me for years to come.

I really loved the way this story was told. The main story takes place in the present following Tom and his family and in the past- through passages from a book written by Tom about his childhood experience with a Christmas monster. I find dual timelines usually slow down the pacing of a book and leave me bored- this was not this case with this book. I was fully engaged in both stories and flew through the pages.

This book does a great job of making all things Christmas absolutely terrifying. I will not be looking at my Christmas decorations the same way ever again.

Everything is Temporary by Jon Cohn is a Christmas themed horror novel. The story is told in alternating timelines, which I thought helped keep the story suspenseful and engaging while slowly revealing the backstory necessary to understand Tom’s character and why he has such strong feelings about Christmas. Another fun element was the references to classic Christmas movies. Admittedly, I didn’t find the story to be overly terrifying, BUT there were a few elements that were definitely creepy. Overall, I had a good time reading this book and I would recommend it to readers that are looking for either Christmas horror or Christmas books that aren’t the typical holiday romances. 4/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Deadbolt Books for the opportunity to review an eARC of this title!

This was a surprisingly fast and fun read with lots of twists and turns. I really liked how it set you up to believe that Tom was vastly unstable and then made you rethink your assumptions on the reality in this world. The clever twists and the use of a in universe written novel to tell the flashbacks was very clever and made the jumping back and forth seem less difficult to comprehend. I liked most of the characters well enough, including the bully, who was shown to be caught up in an unfortunate cycle and not just a flat one sided antagonist. The real evil in this book is timeless, and wears the most devastatingly disarming face of all as it embodies a childhood myth of pure innocence to lure in its helpless and most vulnerable prey, even going so far as to make excuses for attacking sickly children. Sarah is a heroine that initially seems overbearing but quickly becomes someone who you feel a connection to as she struggles to make sense of the supernatural events unfolding around her and tries to keep her family from being ripped apart after her normally calm and sedate husband seems to commit an unnecessary and reckless act of violence that has no apparent defense. His shrouded past is brought to light in the most drastic ways and he seems to be delusional , even dangerous. Her faith in him is put to the test at every opportunity. Awesome book, very exciting and different.

This book will make it so you never look at a Christmas tree the same again.

This was a great horror book. It is a great length and keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole book. I love the unique set of elements and characters in this book and tying in some mythology.

You never know until the end of Tom is telling the truth or actually crazy. This was a great change from the normal holiday book

Genre: Horror
APK: Ebook
Pages: 276
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Series or Standalone: Stand-alone

This was a really entertaining and fun read! It's perfectly paced and really unique. This is a perfect Christmas horror book that I highly recommend! Special Thank You to Jon Cohn, Deadbolt Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Before I begin this review, I want to thank Net Galley and Deadbolt Books for allowing me to access Everything Is Temporary by Jon Cohn. Check out this book now!

Cohn weaves horror and Christmas together in an exciting tale about a woman discovering the dark secrets of her husband's childhood. To truly understand the traumatic events of her husband's past, Sarah must read a book filled with magical toys and talking Christmas trees, talk to her husband's childhood friends, and question everything that she has ever known to be true.

I enjoyed the book as a whole! In every chapter, it seemed as if something new and interesting was happening and being introduced to the story. Though admittedly, I could not focus on the story itself, as it just didn't capture my attention or keep me engaged.

Sarah is the main protagonist. She is trying to help her husband, Tom, not end up in jail after he has been charged with attempted murder. To do this, she must dig up bits and pieces of his past that he has always been reluctant to talk about. Being practical and realistic, Sarah refuses to believe that her husband's tales of a talking tree and a shape-shifting Mrs. Claus are nothing more than a psychotic break on his part.

One thing I love about Sarah is that she deeply loves her husband and daughter and is willing to do everything she can to keep them safe. She is even ready to figure out what exactly happened to her husband as a kid, even if it all sounds ridiculous.

That said, I didn't care much for the side characters, and I thought their daughter seemed to switch moods and personalities a lot; however, I am willing to let this slide, considering that she is a preteen going through some traumatic stuff.

As for the plot, it was excellent! There were twists and turns, and the closer to the truth you got, the hazier things started to appear.

However, I do feel as if things were missing. I never fully understood just how Mrs. Claus was able to do what she did, from making the Christmas tree talk to having an army of toys or even sneaking into strangers' houses and killing them without anyone noticing. It's easy to pin all of this on magic, but such magic was hardly ever addressed.

The story takes place in present-day California. While the author didn't detail the setting, everything was still easy to imagine and grasp. Nothing seemed out of place, and Cohn did a great job shifting between settings and letting readers know when and where something was happening.

The writing style was simple and easy to follow. The viewpoints between Sarah and Tom as a child were easily distinguishable from one another. The author created clear images and offered great insight into each character!

I recommend this book if you are interested in a Christmas story mixed with horror and mystery. I especially recommend it if you like a strong, rational female lead willing to do anything for her husband and daughter, even if it means navigating through the unthinkable.

This review will be posted on my blog on Friday, December 15th, 2023.

Generally speaking, this was an entertaining and quick read. Things escalated very quickly! While I accept that this book is very much a work of fiction and should be viewed as such, I found some of the “Christmas magic” happenings to be a bit much to the point that horror crossed into the realm of ridiculous (and ultimately funny). It was real and relatable in the sense that everyone in the story was grieving in some capacity in a way that was relevant to the overall theme.

I found Jon Cohn's, "Everything is Temporary," to be an engaging Christmas-centric horror story. I liked that it sort of kept you guessing as to what was real and what was imagined until the final act, and it was certainly an eventful final act.

Tom is a mess of a human being, trauma-riddled enough to seem untrustworthy. So, when he winds up in jail for arson, and his wife, Sarah, goes investigating we're left wondering what's actually happening especially when we learn the villain goes by Mrs. Claus .

It's nice to take holiday imagery and themes and to warp them in new ways. I particularly enjoyed the "A Christmas Story" thread.

There were times Sarah's reactions didn't feel realistic and that took me out of the story a bit, and I was bothered that Julia was simply "head of a major company." That didn't quite feel fleshed out.

Overall, though, this was a fun, interesting, festive horror story. I enjoyed my read and certainly recommend others take a look at this one.

This was another Jon Cohn book that I found incredibly hard to put down!

It's about a man, Tom Barnes who starts acting weird after his daughter's friend passes away. After Tom gets arrested for attempted murder it's up to his wife, Sarah to to solve the mystery of what's going on with Tom, and the truth lies in Tom's over-the-top Christmas book that he wrote. 

Everything Is Temporary was such a fun, immersive, well-written story. I loved all of the references to A Christmas Story and Home Alone, and I loved that it had an IT vibe to it.

All of the characters were fantastically fleshed-out and it was heartbreaking to read about the Barnes family, where they are suffering from one tragedy to the next.

I also enjoyed that the chapters would switch from Sarah's POV to chapters of Tom's book. It was a great way to show just how much Sarah and Tom are willing to go for their family.

I highly recommend checking this one out if you're looking for some holiday horror with a heartwarming tale about family. I'm really excited to read more from Jon Cohn, as he's quickly becoming a new favourite author of mine!

Thank you to NetGalley for the gifted copy!

This book was so much fun! Highly recommended if you are looking for a Christmas horror novel. I didn't find this to be particularly scary, but I really enjoyed the creativity of all the Christmas creatures. At times it felt like a young adult novel, but there is some graphic violence. This was my first Jon Cohn novel, but I will definitely be checking out more of his work!

I really enjoyed this book it was a really great Christmas horror story and It had me intrigued and on the edge of my seat the whole time. The author did a great job at not giving anything away and making the readers question themselves and what was happening in the story. I didn't know who or what to believe and I was constantly switching what I thought was happening every moment. Overall this was a great read I would definitely recommend and I will definitely read more by this author.

Yes! This is the Christmas book I needed in my life. It’s a little NOS4A2 with Puppet Master. Once I started this I couldn’t put it down, it had me hooked from the beginning. Looking for a thrilling Christmas read? This is it!

Wow, this was crazy and a great Christmas horror story! It’s reminiscent of It with a sinister holiday twist. I’m looking around my house decorated for Christmas with a new, terrified perspective. The body count isn’t high in this but it’s upsetting. The story and the story within the story are incredibly creepy. Thank you to NetGalley for a digital copy

I am prejudiced because I love Christmas horror. This book is fantastic: nothing is as it seems, and in fact, everything is a good deal worse.
Tom is acting oddly and his wife wants to help. Unfortunately, she can't believe what he says is happening (who could?) so she investigates on her own.
As we follow them on their journey, we get a glimpse into typical but horrible situations, such as bullying and an alcoholic father, but there is something much more frightening happening.
I really liked the story and how it told the stories in past and present without breaking the flow.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

This one was trippy and weird and cool and creepy all at the same time. It was also perfectly timed for a December read! The writing style is very easy to fall into, and while things start out relatively banal they take strange left turns very quickly. While by rights much of the story should have been too ridiculous to enjoy, I found it strangely enjoyable nevertheless. I loved the homage to Christmas movies and Christmas traditions, even while they were spun on their head. This was a fun and funky read.

This book took me by surprise and absolutely loved the Horror theme about it!

This book does a great job of letting you know the theme. It definitely is true with the title everything is temporary.

This books starts with some trauma due to someone dying. The past of a mans childhhod seems to come up again and is on the ugly side. and the ugly is his daughter. the man is wondering will history repeat itself or did history ever even happen as we are being told?

The holiday horror and is fantastic and I will be recommending this book to all readers. All the Home Alone references, callouts is awesome since i am a huge Home Alone fan.

Great Read! Thanks NetGalley for allowing me to read and review.

Last Night, I finished "Everything is Temporary" and loved it. I will be putting my review on Amazon and Goodreads today.

The book is magically horrific. There is a total Christmas environment and a twist that I did not expect. Jon Cohn, actually, pulled off the coming-of-age story well.

This tale takes us on a journey of a family coping with the recent loss of their daughter's best friend. The sudden death leaves a shadow over their lives. To complicate matters, Tom begins to exhibit enigmatic behavior, possibly tied to events from his childhood. The narrative unfolds from there, with Sarah’s, Tom’s wife, efforts to piece together the puzzle.

“Everything is Temporary” had great pacing. Cohn seamlessly transitioned between the present timeline and Tom’s journal which provided enough of a back story without slowing down the story. I would recommend this book.

3.5 Stars
Everything is Temporary is a book within a book story, featuring Tom relieving a traumatic event from his childhood after seeing someone at the mall, and Tom as a child dealing with a traumatic event that almost had him and his friends killed. I'm not typically a fan of the book within a book scenarios, but this one worked for me and the author used the concept quite skillfully.

The overall story was quite fun, and I loved the fact it revolved around Christmas. Creepy Christmas horror can be fun, and while I didn't find this one scary or creepy, I did find it engaging. Sometimes though, you need something lighter and this fit the bill. The alternating POVs worked, and I liked seeing the multiple perspectives of Tom's erratic behaviour and the impact it had on his family. To be honest, I would think my husband was losing his mind if I was every in that same situation. When your husband starts talking about talking Christmas trees and evil Hummels, well...how do you respond to that? I did like the themes that were discussed in this book: trauma, loss, grief, bullying, redemption, and friendship.

The characters were all interesting, but honestly, I don't think I connected with them all that much. I just felt like they needed to be fleshed out a bit more so we could fully understand their motives and why they chose to do some of the things they did. They were relatable however, and I definitely enjoyed the on-going references to Home Alone and Home Alone 2. I did feel like the kids acted a bit older than their 12 years and were quite quick to set up a home to kill like in the movie, something that took me out of the story a couple of times as it jarred with what was happening, but like children, there was no comprehension of the consequences until something happened. I had to remind myself of their ages a few times.

Everything is Temporary was a fun Christmas horror that was light and fast. I like how the author takes these things we associate with the holidays and turns them into little, or big, monsters that can be frightening, using something we treasure to kill. I did think the characters and the story could have been fleshed out a bit more, but overall, if you are looking for something light, quick, and fun, then I recommend this book for you.