Some of these short stories were absolutely amazing! And some were just not for me. I found quite a few authors that I'm going to read more from, including Darcy Coates, Lee Murray, Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon, Kristi DeMeester, Sara Tantlinger, and Mercedes M. Yardley. Their stories were my favorite. I especially enjoyed "Threads of Epiphany" by Sara Tantlinger. It reminded me of Katherine Arden and Naomi Novik in the way she handled the mythology. I would read an entire book based on this story! Same for "The Ladies' Society for the Dead" by Darcy Coates. I was gripped by this story and absolutely loved the ending. The last story, "Bruiser", by Jamie Flanagan was really good. I wish it were novella-length so we could dive deeper into the story and the paranormal aspect of it.
Like I said, there were some stories that just weren't for me. Some were just not my taste content-wise or thematically. Some were a little bit of a mess and reminded me of bad creepy pasta on reddit.
I would recommend this collection to anyone who loves horror and is looking for a good December read.

The Darkest Night is a delicious collection of creepy and spine-tingling stories. I mostly wanted to read this book for Rachel Harrison's short story, but quickly fell in love with ALL of them. This was a fun collection with the biggest and best names in horror. Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for this ARC!

As we’re making our way towards the shortest day of the year, I finally finished this collection of short stories that give you the chills in more ways than one.

As with all short story collections whether it be from one author or multiples there were some stories I loved and others that left me wanting more.

Overall this collection is a solid collection perfect for this time of year.

Every anthology is a mixed bag, but I have to say this one was pretty uniformly bad. There was not a single story of the 22 featured that I 100% liked. With some of them, the writing was very poor, others were just deliberately nasty or veered into fantasy/fairy tale territory (yaaaaaaaaaaawnnothanks) instead of horror.
Personally, my verdict is: Stay clear of this one. Why? Let me count the ways.

Gwendolyn Kiste, "The Mouthless Body in the Lake": uninspired story that takes its time going nowhere (decades, to be precise). Also explains the MC's lack of initiative with the fact that she's 39 and it's obviously MUCH too late to turn her life around. Thanks for the laughs, girl!
2 stars out of 5.

Tim Waggoner, "Cold as Ice". Started out nice, then lost the plot and ended up in Deluluville. Isn't it sad when you come up with this super cool idea but have no idea how to turn it into a satisfying story. You know, with a fitting conclusion and stuff.
2 out of 5.

Josh Malerman, "Children Aren't the Only Ones" etc. This one was fairly interesting but hampered by the fact that it was also inescapably dumb (lady sees her childhood closet standing by the side of the desert road she's driving down... um, yeah. Of COURSE she stops to check it out, and OF COURSE it's totally real, so if suspension of disbelief is not your thing, you might be in trouble here). Also, way too long.
3 out of 5.

Hailey Piper, "The Vermin Moon": Actually had high hopes for this one, until it turned the final corner and lost me. 3 out of 5.

Stephanie Wytovich, "The Body of Leonora James": Ugh. This lady is trying WAY too hard. I don't think there's a single sentence in this thing that reads like it was written by a human. "It was early yet, the part of morning when it's still dark, still quiet, and the earth vibrates with rage, but the cardinals flew down to the forest floor in a conclave of slaughter, their feathers like crimson scalpels slicing through branches and leaves." I'm sure there is something resembling a story buried beneath the juvenile up-to-11-prose, but I was retching too hard to look for it.
0 stars.

Clay McLeod Chapman, "Mr. Butler". Story about a sentient cardboard box. I think? Stephen King would have turned the concept into 1980s gold, but Mr. Chapman is no Stephen King, so I'm afraid the whole thing reads as ridiculous as it sounds. Also, WAY too long.
2 stars.

Ryan/Brooks, "Feast of Gray". Dude takes a Christmas takeout to his abusive mom's grave. Why? No idea. 2 stars.

Eric LaRocca, "I Hope This Finds You Well". Fake old time-y prose that turns grating from the first line because the execution is simply lacking. The story itself is just as tedious. 2 stars.

M. Rickert, "The Buried Child". I suspect this story was meant to be "literary", probably with a capital L, but, well, it isn't. Throwing in some story-within-a-story fake fairy tale-ish stuff certainly doesn't help. Very weak. 1 star.

Lee Murray, "Father's Last Christmas". Interminable fantasy (!) story, complete with kings and knights and clerics and succession woes and plucky bastard daughters and a pseudo-medieval castle. Did not sign up for this kind of thing, so DNF.
0 stars.

Cynthia Pelayo, "The Warmth of Snow". I don't know what this is. Maybe this is another author with delusions of being highbrow, but quoting Shakespeare at length really is not that great an achievement, and it does not make for scary reading. I literally could not care less about what the author was trying to tell me with this. 0 stars.

Golden/Lebbon, "Wintry Blue". At first I was like, FINALLY a real horror story. FINALLY something with a plot. FINALLY somebody who knows what they're doing. Then... it fizzled. I mean, this could have gone in a number of directions, but for some reasons the authors settled on that most tired of chestnuts, the Twist Ending. It's enough to send me into hibernation.
(And by the way, Katie must be the dimmest nine-year-old on the planet. So she and her dad are up in the mountains and she's going on about how Santa won't be able to find her, so instead of behaving like a normal person and telling his NINE YEAR OLD daughter to knock it off with the Santa business already, Dad tells her that up here, it's the snowmen who help Santa along. Cue clueless Katie doing a little happy dance in her car seat: "So we have to build a snowman called Frosty, and he can tell Santa where I am? [...] Yay! Yaaaaaayyyy!" Let me repeat this one more time: that kid is NINE.)
Still, IMO it's among the best of the (admittedly sad) bunch, so I'll go with a 4 star rating.

Kelsea Yu, "Carol of the Hells". Not as bad as the pun might make you think, but not that great either. 3 stars.

Nat Cassidy, "Nice". This is someone who really has not grasped the concept of POV yet. Also, there are some pretty pathetic attempts at humor. The prose, let's just say it's inching towards pedestrian, but it hasn't quite gotten there yet.
The piéce de resistance here is a Christmas tree aiming for maximum yuck: "Human organs hung from the branches... . Ropes of intestines twined around like tinsel. [...] Other organs [...] smeared across the evergreen in unrecognizable clumps. A spleen, a gallbladder, a lung -- who the fuck knew?" Also, one of the MCs is named Twinklebottom. So yes, this obviously was written by a 13-year-old who felt a bit full of himself.
0 stars.

Rachel Harrison, "Thaw". Another one from the "Started out great, then fell apart" school of writing this anthology is so fond of, this one involving a new-ish couple, a snowman and a lonely cabin. I know what you're thinking, and yes, you are right.
3 stars.

Thommy Hutson, "Candy Cane". Whatever. Way too long, convoluted prose, familiar plot. 1 star,

Kristi deMeester, "Eggnog". Not horror, more like insecurity chicklit involving protecting your property (husband) from pesky tarts who are prettier than you. Don't know how this ended up here. 2 stars.

Sara Tantlinger, "Threads of Epiphany". Pseudo-Germanic fairy tale fantasy thing. Ugh. No horror, no stars.

Darcy Coates, "The Ladies' Society for the Dead". Featuring a plot twist you see coming from miles away, but still one of the best stories in this mess of a book. 4 stars.

Jeff Strand, "Being Nice". Gimmicky in a dumb way. 2 stars.

Mercedes Yardley, "Ghosted". Yay! More "revenge" chicklit. Involves characters with names like "Jak" and "Analee", so it shouldn't come as a surprise that nobody here behaves like a real person. 1 star.

Jamie Flanagan, "Bruiser". Starts out as a ghost story set in a nursing home and then takes a sharp turn into Crazytown, complete with designs on compromising the Mona Lisa. Yes, *that* Mona Lisa. I think this wanted to be a Stephen King novella but it could have used a bit more editing. Still, one of the better ones, all in all. 3 stars.


And that's it. The Goodreads blurb calls this an "advent calendar" of horror stories, but of course at 22 stories this doesn't really work either, unless you count the weird-but-not-in-a-good-way "illustrations" (why?? Really -- why???). As a lifelong horror fan, this collection depressed the hell out of me.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, but this just wasn't for me.

This book is a collection of short stories of Christmas horror, perfect for those who wish halloween season lasted longer.

A very good and chilling collection of horror stories set in winter. As with any collection there are bound to be hits and misses but overall I enjoyed the collection and the authors that it's put on my radar.

I was really excited to read this anthology during winter 2024, so I requested it. Here we are. The weather has changed and I dove in head first. I have to say, it is similar to most anthologies. There are good and there are great. There are also some that just don’t hit, but could work for others. I have to say many of my favorite authors hit these stories out of the park. And I even found a few new authors that I am curious to read more.

I’d you are looking for a collection of stories to read for cold weather or winter holidays then I would definitely recommend this collection.

Overall this was a very enjoyable winter horror collection! There is a really varied mix of settings, moods, and plots. Grief horror, ghosts, creatures, & slashers; from darkly atmospheric & moody to funny & gory. Some take place at Christmas, some are just set during winter. We get isolated snowy locations, desert roads, forests, and suburban neighborhoods. I really think there is something here for everyone.

I did rate each story individually to help me decide on an overall rating for the collection and while I didn’t love every single story, a little over half of the 22 stories were a 4-5⭐️, which is a percentage I am very happy with! Especially considering how much I loved the ones I did enjoy and less than a handful of the others were under a 3 star experience.

My very fave stories:
- The Vermin Moon by Hailey Piper
- Mr. Butler by Clay McLeod Chapman
- Nice by Nat Cassidy
- Being Nice by Jeff Strand
- Threads of Epiphany by Sara Tantlinger

Others I loved:
- The Warmth of Snow by Cynthia Pelayo
- Candy Cane by Tommy Hudson
- Eggnog by Kristi DeMeester
- The Ladies Society for the Dead by Darcy Coates
- Thaw by Rachel Harrison
- The Body of Leonora James by Stephanie M. Wytovich
- I Hope This Finds You Well by Eric LaRocca


Very happy with my overall experience with the anthology and definitely recommend if you like short horror stories and are looking for something with lots of winter and Christmas vibes!

This book is available now in all formats. Thank you so much to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the arc!

I think I’ve found my new favorite collection of wintry horror stories! This book is filled with amazing authors. We’re talking Rachel Harrison, Josh Malerman, Nat Cassidy, Clay McLeod Chapman, and Christopher Golden just to name a few. While those were all familiar names to me, this book also introduced me to Tim Waggoner, Sara Tantlinger, and Jamie Flanagan—all of which I hope to read more from soon.

The Darkest Night contains 22 stories, all of which are winter and/or holiday themed. Some are fun and humorous, while others will leave you glancing nervously over your shoulder. And one story…well, that one will break your heart. I rated 13 of the stories 4 stars or higher. I’ll be adding 2 of the stories to my all-time favorite short stories list. The remaining 9 stories were all 3-3.5 stars for me (solid stories, I just didn’t connect with them as strongly).

My Top 5:

▪️ Mr. Butler by Clay McLeod Chapman
▪️ Nice by Nat Cassidy
▪️ Cold As Ice by Tim Waggoner
▪️ Threads of Epiphany by Sara Tantlinger
▪️ Bruiser by Jamie Flanagan


Seriously, if you’re looking for the perfect wintry read, pick this one up. I’m already planning to reread the Cassidy story on Christmas Eve, and I can definitely see myself adding this book to my yearly holiday reading list.

4/5 stars
Recommend!

Absolutely Fantastic story collection perfect for cold wintery nights I need the physical copy now I enjoyed it so much

I'd like to thank netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read and review this book

I thoroughly enjoyed this horror collection of short stories revolving around winter.

Each storey for me had eerie elements and kept me engaged.

If you love anthologies and specially creepy, scary stories, you'll love this one!!

This anthology is the perfect read for the holiday season. The 22 stories are all winter themed with chilly snowy settings. A handful are specifically holiday themed and so much fun.

The Mouthless Body in the Lake by Gwendolyn Kiste: A spooky and haunting start, but I wish it was not in 2nd person. (3 stars)

Cold as Ice by Tim Waggoner: Another 2nd person story with a creepy creature. (3 stars)

Children Aren't the Only Ones Who Know Where the Presents are Hidden by Josh Malerman: This seemed to be a story in the same world as Incidents Around the House. (5 stars)

The Vermin Moon by Hailey Piper: A tale of a mother's grief. (4 stars)

The Body of Leonora James by Stephanie M. Wytovich: This story had beautiful flowery language, but that made it somewhat hard to follow. (3 stars)

Mr. Butler by Clay McLeod Chapman: This was a very unique story, and unexpected. (5 stars)

Feast of Gray by Lindy Ryan and Christopher Brooks: A man reflects on a traumatic life and has a haunting experience. (4 stars)

I Hope This Finds You Well by Eric LaRocca: Horror in a gay gentleman's club set in the past. (4 stars)

The Buried Child by M. Rickert: A sad story of grief and trauma. (4 stars)

Father's Last Christmas by Lee Murray: A dark fairy tale of cut throat royalty. (5 stars)

The Warmth of Snow by Cynthia Pelayo: A dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship with a lot of Shakespeare. (3 stars)

Wintry Blue by Christopher golden and Tim Lebbon: A scary story of a father and daughter try to save a woman who was attacked by a creature. (5 stars)

Carol of the Hells by Kelsea Yu: Wow, this story is so sad and well done. (5 stars)

Full of Toys, a black-out poem by Jessica McHugh: I am assuming this black-out poem came from The Night Before Christmas. It did well making it creepy. (3 stars)

Nice by Nat Cassidy: A Christmas obsessed boy is convinced to be naughty by one of Santa's helpers. (5 stars)

Thaw by Rachel Harrison: A romantic Christmas trip in an isolated cabin turns sinister when a snowman appears in the yard. (5 stars)

Candy Cane by Thommy Hutson: A author of a serial killer series is visited by an unexpected guest at his isolated cabin. (5 stars)

Eggnog by Kristi deMeester: A holiday party gone so wrong. (5 stars)

Threads of Epiphany by Sara Tantlinger: A dark fairy tale folk horror story about as woman who seeks help from a witch. (5 stars)

The Ladies' Society for the Dead by Darcy Coates: A group of women meet to share ghost stories and hold a seance. It is great ghost story. (5 stars)

Being Nice by Jeff Strand: A 17 year old boy tries to prove he should be on the nice list which goes horribly wrong. This story is mixed with a fair bit of humor that I enjoyed. (5 stars)

Ghosted by Mercedes M. Yardley: A woman is haunted by her dead husband. (5 stars)

Bruiser by Jamie Flanagan: A nurse has strange encounters with a patient in a nursing home. (4 stars)

My Rating: Averages to about 4.5 out of 5 stars

This was a superstar lineup of short stories by superstar horror authors! While not all of them were my favorite, that is to be expected with an Anthology and among those there were some great ones!

Winter Horror is some of my favorite kind of horror stories so when I saw this short story collection I knew I had to read it. So many amazing horror authors have stories in this collection. It was so fun to read from some of my favorites again. I few of the stories fell short for me but overall I really enjoyed this collection as a whole. I would highly recommend this one to any who loves a scary short story set during the most magical time of year.
3.5/5 Stars

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for sending me an arc copy in exchange for my honest review.

No one should be surprised that my favorite stories in this book were by Rachel Harrison and Darcy Coates. I did enjoy some of the other stories more than others while some grossed me out or were just dumb. I will say that I read this book on an 80 degree day and I was getting cold with the descriptions of all the snow and frigid temperatures.

Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books for the gifted copy for my honest review!

A well=balanced and frightening collection of short stories revolving around winter and its attendant terrors. I really enjoyed this anthology! Named for the darkest night of the year - the winter solstice - this collection doesn't just feature Christmas and other holiday-themed tales, but also incorporates secular stories, which I appreciated. Some of my favorite authors are featured, such as Josh Malerman, whose contribution to the anthology seems to be an early version or a companion piece to his recent novel, Incidents Around the House. The opening tale from Gwendolyn Kiste is gripping and eerie, and left me with mental images that will last for much longer than one winter season. Although anthologies are difficult to rate due to the varying impact of each story, I give this collection a 4-star rating overall.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an early copy in exchange for my honest review!

I loved this! Lots of original tales, some creepier than others! I especially loved the one about the mysterious box! Great way to spend time when doing other things! Really enjoyed the narrator’s too!

I almost gave up on The Darkest Night: A Terrifying Anthology of Winter Horror Stories. The first few stories fell flat, leaving me less engaged than I had hoped. But just as I was ready to set the book aside, a few gems turned it around. Stories like Nice, Thaw, Eggnog, and Candy Cane grabbed me and didn’t let go. Each taps into different shades of darkness while maintaining that winter chill as both a literal and symbolic backdrop.

Eggnog by Kristi DeMeester delves into the frustrations women often experience, especially as new mothers. At a Christmas party, tensions brew between a wife, her husband, and an over-friendly coworker. The story captures a mix of resentment and loss, the kind of emotions that simmer beneath the surface, and it delivers a gratifying punch. It’s both dark and snarky, pulling no punches about the often unseen struggles many women face.

Rachel Harrison’s Thaw leans into the kind of horror where women’s warnings are ignored until it's too late. A couple spending Christmas in a remote cabin finds themselves stalked by an unknown presence. Without giving too much away, Harrison turns the tables on the typical horror trope, leaving you with that rare feeling of justice in a genre that often denies it.

In Nice, Nat Cassedy (whose quickly becoming a favorite author) brings a fun and twisted take on the idea of "being good." Mitchell, a young boy who has been following the rules to the letter, suddenly finds himself tempted by the elf on the shelf to embrace his darker side. It’s a reminder that sometimes, the urge to be naughty is all too human. The payoff of this story, though expected, still lands with a wry grin.

Lastly, Candy Cane by Thommy Hutson evokes Stephen King’s Misery with its portrayal of an unhinged fan who interrupts a horror author’s quiet night. What I loved most was the “just desserts” quality of this story, even though it follows familiar beats. There’s something satisfying about seeing karma served cold, wrapped in holiday spirit.

What connects these stories—and why I loved them—is not just their winter settings but the shared themes of hidden darkness within people. Whether it’s suppressed emotions or the temptation to unleash chaos, each story explores how far people will go to maintain control—or lose it. There’s something both expected and refreshing in how these themes play out in winter anthologies; the icy cold becomes a metaphor for isolation, fear, and deep-seated human desires.

As a whole, The Darkest Night may not have hit the mark for me from the start, but these stories gave it the weight I was looking for. It’s a reminder that in anthologies, there’s always the potential to find gems among the snow.

This is an anthology of 22 short horror stories by a variety of authors, some known to me and others not. As with most anthologies, it’s a mixed bag of really like, like and eh. There were definitely a few new to me authors that I would love to check out again. With twenty-two stories, mileage may vary. My favorites may not be yours. It has enough good stories to be worth your while if you enjoy a bit of a chill on a cold, dark night. I did rate each one as I read them and made a few notes. Some stories were scarier than others and some I found difficult to discern any horror elements at all.

Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for a copy provided for an honest review.

-The Mouthless Body in the Lake by Gwendolyn Kiste 4 stars for its eerie, cold atmosphere
-Cold as Ice by Tim Waggoner 4 stars for the dread I felt while the MC was driving down an isolated stormy road with something out there
-Children Aren’t the Only Ones Who Know Where the Presents are Hidden by Josh Malerman 4 stars for the bah-humbug MC and her family dysfunction
-The Vermin Moon by Hailey Piper 2 stars this one lost me
-The Body of Leonora James by Stephanie M Wytovich 2 stars eh
- Mr Butler by Clay McLeod Chapman 4 stars for a boy dealing with an emotionally abusive stepfather
-Feast of Grey by Lindy Ryan and Christopher Brooks 2 stars maudlin
-I Hope This Finds You Well by Eric La Rocca 4 stars for the jaw-dropping ending
-The Buried Child by M Rickert 3 stars inspired by The Juniper Tree (Grimm)
-Father’s Last Christmas by Lee Murray 3 stars Royal Court shenanigans
-The Warmth of Snow by Cynthia Pelayo 3 stars not to my taste
-Wintery Blue by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon 4 stars another road trip delight
-Carol of the Hells by Kelsea Yu 3 stars dysfunctional family
-Nice by Nat Cassidy 3 stars twisted
-Thaw by Rachel Harrison 4 stars creepy snowman
-Candy Cane by Tommy Hutson 3 stars serial killer
-Eggnog by Kristi deMeester 1 star mommy horror
-Threads of Epiphany by Sara TantLinger 2 stars Rumpelstiltskin style story
-Ladies Society for the Dead by Darcy Coates 4 stars ghost coven
-Being Nice by Jeff Strand 1 star not for me
-Ghosted by Mercedes M Yardley 1 star writing not for me
-Bruiser by Jamie Flanagan 2 stars I didn’t get it

I find it hard to review anthologies. The stories are short, and some draw you in while others don't. This anthology of horror novellas takes place during the winter and Christmas seasons.

My favorites were
The Body of Lenora Jones by Stephanie M Wytovich
Wintery Blue by Christopher Golden and Tim Leebbon,
and The Ladies Society for the Dead by Darcy Coates,
are the ones that I still thought about after I finished the book. Others were enjoyable and one that while creepy was about a sentient box. While a weird concept, I think it will make me look at large empty boxes differently.

If you like short horror stories I would definitely check this one out.