Thank you netgalley and Jon Cohn for the ARC of EverythingIS temporary.

This was my first book Ive read by Jon and it did not disappoint at all. I have seen people talk about it in the Book of Horror group so I was really pleased to get the Arc given its almost Christmas. I love the cover artwork. There is something vey creepy about a Christmas tree with eyes and a leer!

The story begins with Maya, who has cancer and has been undergoing chemotherapy. After being tucked up for the night, she is awoken by a noise and an open window. She can't move, can't speak. just feels a weight on her, pinning her. As she blacks out, she sees red and green lights

The story is nicely split between two main narratives, The present narrative, Sarah ( first person ) who is Wife to Tom and Mother to Emma. And the second is from a book that Tom has written at 12 yrs old called, Everything is Temporary. Both storylines tie in very well and Tom,s book acts like a flashback/information filler to the main present storyline.

I bonded with both Tom and Sarah straight away, their characters well fleshed out as the storyline unfolds. You have a sense that they really care for each other. Even with Emma, their daughter. She came across has a typical pre teen.

The storyline itself held its on. I devoured the book in 2 sittings ( life got in the way!) and had me hooked. There was a great build up of unease and creepiness surrounding the Christmas House and Mrs Claus and it's great to see some folklore seeking itself in there too. The book was well paced and gathered speed nearer the end and I didn't want to put it down! Loved the ending and how everything tied together, Ill definitely be reading more of Jon Cohn's books in the future.

Did not finish book. Stopped at around 12% after skimming ahead.
I generally avoid books with graphic cancer, terminal illness, or grief content as a main focus of the plot. With ARCs it isn't always possible to have content listed ahead of time, so I get it. The synopsis mentioned an unspecified tragedy and sounded right up my alley - unhinged character or something more, maybe a hint of the supernatural, family secrets, and Christmas vibes? Sign me up!

I can get through brief bits of mention of cancer, terminal illness, and grief, but the overall themes and plot revolve around these topics for a good portion of what I read so far (~12%) and includes descriptive experiences of suffering with cancer as well as all the deep grief of family of friends. I couldn't read on, my brain creates enough anxiety on it's own about those possibilities! It isn't a badly written book so it isn't fair for me to give it a poor rating just because I struggle with that content. Instead I'm opting to DNF.

I am not fan of Christmas but apparently I am a huge fan of Christmas horror! This is a fabulously fun read that serves a little terror with your holiday cheer

Tom Barnes has some serious childhood trauma surrounding Christmas. First, his mother dies on Christmas day and then he volunteers at the Christmas house to help sick children only to learn the house is run by an evil Mrs. Claus. As an adult, he thinks he has put these nightmares behind him until the day he sees Mr. Owens on a security camera. Something about Mr. Owens is not right and Tom is soon arrested for attempted murder. His defense? A book he wrote as a child detailing his experience fighting the evil Mrs. Claus. As his wife Sarah reads his book, she begins to wonder who she really married.

I think this book has everything a person would want in a Christmas horror story, an evil Mrs. Claus, a talking evergreen tree, killer toys, murder, arson, and a unlikely group of children banning together to fight evil. I loved the dual timeline especially reading Tom's book along with Sarah. I seriously couldn't decide if the events in the book happened or if Tom was a fruitcake!

A roller coaster ride! A quick, fun read for a horror novel. I loved how the author used a book within a book to flashback to events in Tom's adolescence. An evil twist to Christmas magic with the addition of a mythological scary. There are several references to Christmas movies, which I now have to watch again. I would definitely read more by this author.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Deadbolt Books for a copy of this book.

Holiday magic has arrived for the Barnes family, but not how you’d expect! I really enjoyed reading this story. The pacing was great and the plot was a lot of fun! I loved the demon/ creature concept in the story too! It gave me goosebumps. I would categorize this as a cozy Christmas horror book. This is one I’ll definitely be recommending!

**Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to review this book in exchange for an honest review**

I enjoyed this book. It’s funny how it was able to stick with me. I started reading this book Back in Oct, got away from reading for quite some time yet I still had this book with me when I picked it back up to finish it.

Enjoyed this one! The Christmas theme was a fun one and I appreciated the Greek mythology connection. The action was well done and the book absolutely captured my interest.

I did find some of the dialogue and interactions between characters to be a bit corny, so that would be my only true complaint. Beyond that this was a solid, enjoyable book.

I received an advance review copy for free from GoodReads, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Don’t let the name distract you. I absolutely devoured this book! If you are wanting a Christmas book, but are sick of all the romances you should definitely pick this one up!!!

This book is about a man who’s childhood comes back to haunt him when he grown with a family of his own. This book is full of all the sentient Christmas horror creatures you could imagine. Whether it be a talking Christmas tree, ornaments that take flight, or killer sharp candy canes,etc.

Another part of this book that I liked is that the chapters rotate between past and present. All of the past chapters are presented in the form of the book our MMC wrote as a child.

When the past meets the present our MMC’s wife will have to decide if her husbands story is fact or fiction before it’s too late.

So if you love yourself some “campy” horror like I do you should do yourself a favor and pick this gem up this season.

“Everything Is Temporary” is a perfect combination of thriller and comic relief. Murder? Check. Mystery? Check. Talking Christmas Tree? Check. The plot was filled with twists and turns that kept me turning the pages, and the Christmas references kept it from getting too dark. Character development was fantastic and limited to the most vital characters. Through Sarah’s lens, I was convinced the whole time that Tom was crazy while still wondering in the back of my head how the deaths could keep happening. Meeting Tom’s childhood friends, both as Tom’s friends and as Tim’s friends, added depth to the story that would have been otherwise impossible.

The author was a little heavy-handed with some of the Christmas references, though. I understand the story is about a Christmastime based tragedy, but a weight on one’s shoulders doesn’t need to be the chains Jacob Marley wore, and a bully doesn’t need to be compared to Scut Farkus. Additionally, the group of childhood friends assembling in adulthood to battle a being normally associated with happiness smacks of Pennywise in It.

Overall, the book was a page turner, and I’d definitely read more by this author.

I just absolutely loved this! Everything about it took me by surprise and has set me up for the rest of the season in terms of holiday horror! There's a bit to unpack with this book, but it really does do a wonderful job of portraying a theme, which is the same as its title: everything is temporary. Trauma, sickness, bad times, jail, etc. Everything is temporary.

This book was like a love child of Stephen King's IT and Paul Tremblay's The Pallbearer Club. We start with some trauma re: Christmas due to someone dying then. There's a past of pure terror from a man's childhood that seems to be rearing its ugly head again, this time coming for his own daughter. There's a book within a book telling the story of the past - but then what is fact and what is fiction? Is anything being misremembered? Will history repeat itself OR did history ever even happen as we are being told?

The holiday horror and vibes here are truly fantastic and I cannot recommend this book enough! It has a great sense of mythology about it all. And I also adore all the Home Alone references, homages, and callouts! HO HO HO!

This book is a mish-mash of horror Christmas movies and folklore as well as some Halloween splashed throughout. It addresses important points of bullying and the way the plot unravels made it interesting to read without relying on horror tropes to get to the point. A fun read as an in-between of holiday fun.

Everything is temporary was a great read. It definitely gave me Christmas “IT” vibes. The story line was great. I do wish the book had more of an ending— what happened to Tom, Sarah, etc. over all it was a great read and would definitely read more books from this author.
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this book!

EVERYTHING IS TEMPORARY by Tom Barnes ermmm I mean Jon Cohn. Advanced Readers Copy so add to your TBR!

As some of you may know I loved Slashtag by this author so when I saw this one I picked it up so fast! It did not disappoint.

This is a story about a man Named Tom and some Christmas themed trauma he remembers going though as an adolescent. It has many twists and turns and will leave you wondering what will happen next! It will have you questioning all the characters and trying to decipher who you can really trust.

The descriptions in this novel were extremely detailed and creepy and I even jumped out of my seat a few times when the phone rang at work. 😂

Come on, Christmas and horror what could go wrong?!

A incredible horror story involving Christmas characters. My gosh this book was everything one could wish for in a horror novel. There was a terrifying Mrs. Claus and all her helpers. There was destruction and chaos. There was a book that recorded a terrible tragedy when someone was young. Then all grown up, the terror came back like promised.
I would definitely recommend this book. I read it non stop because I needed to reach the end. I think I will never look at nutcrackers in the same way! 5 ⭐️.

I actually think, with some slight tweaks, this would have made for a fantastic middle grade horror novel. In some ways it already felt like it skewed younger, what with the book-within-a-book chapters, whose central characters were all middle-grade aged; the ridiculousness of the premise (which was fun, yes, but still ridiculous); and the less-than-subtle moral messaging.

As it was, Everything is Temporary was still a fun time, if a little heavy-handed. In fact, I'd highly recommend it if you're looking for something to alleviate your post-October blues (Christmas can be scary, too!). If Stephen King's IT meets Home Alone meets Small Soldiers (yes, the 1998 Kirsten Dunst movie) is a comp title combination that appeals to you, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a review copy.

This book was so much fun. It's a mashup of coming of age and holiday horror that kept my interest from start to finish. I also loved Slashtag by John Cohn, so it was really cool to see him do something completely different from that book. 4.5 stars, rounded up.

This was a very different book. I actually loved it. It was fantastic the author was great! I have read several of his books and loved them. This book I think was one if his best ones yet.

Read it in one day! It was excellent read.

I had a lot of fun with this! Jon Cohn's 'Everything Is Temporary' is an entertaining page-turner, quite an easy read, bringing Stephen King's 'IT' into the territory of "Home Alone" and "The Witches," and mixing up Christmas joy with Halloween horror! Sounds awesome? That's because it is! It's the perfect holiday horror tale, a brilliant take on a kid's love for everything Christmas, and how it all turns into utter chaos once we start zooming in! There's no gore, nothing too extreme, but expect some emotionally heavy moments (children do not always survive in the novel). But you get an evil Christmas tree, a sweet little Mrs Claus whom you shouldn't really trust, and, what's more, two books in one!

The main story focuses on the adults, the second story (an actual book called "Everything Is Temporary" by Tom Barnes!) relates what happened to the adults as children. It's all told through the eyes of Sarah, a strong yet very relatable mother and wife, who finds herself in the middle of a terrible situation when Tom Barnes, her husband, seemingly loses it and starts acting mental. Sarah is the perfect point of view for this story, her reactions are completely realistic, and turn the intricate plotlines into a fast-paced supernatural mystery novel any horror fan will certainly enjoy!

Another great book from the author of "Slashtag": original, fun and heart-warming beyond belief! What will he come up with next?

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Deadbolt Books for the ARC to review!

Surprisingly well done for a book that’s basically the Christmas version of IT. Sometimes the prose fell flat and took me out of the story, but the rest was so fun that it made up for the weaknesses.

I will be talking about this book for a while. I can’t recommend it enough! It was a great story and definitely spooky!