I really disliked the writing style in this book. It made it very hard to get immersed in the story, so unfortunately, I ended up quitting on it.

3.5/5

Christmas has long been a time for spooky ghost stories – hauntings, dark tales, even time-travelling, life-changing beings. But, I’d never previously read anything where someone was being haunted by a ghost *story*, yet that’s what we get here.

I’ll admit, this one took a little while for it get its hooks into me. While I loved the Britishness of the opening third, I was getting ever so slightly bored with it before the first card arrived and things changed for the better.

So, the cards…our main character Russell – sorry, Rust – is starting his family’s traditional Christmas celebrations on 1 December with his mum when he receives a weird and somewhat sinister card in the mail. He gets another on the second, and third, and so on. It turns out that these cards are mimicking the story of a spooky tale Rust’s mum swears she saw on TV when she was a kid. And yet…that show never existed. As the story progresses, Rust and his mum are further possessed by this odd and increasingly spooky ghost story takes over their house and their lives.

Once this got moving, I really enjoyed it. The quirkiness stayed throughout and, while I’ve read plenty of things that were outright scarier, I really appreciated the building of dread and sense of Something Not Right that was building throughout. I’m also fascinated and creeped out by the milk float delivering the cards with its festive horn…how did it manage?

This is a fun read as we get closer to the big day and something a little different too. It also made me think a lot about the traditions we each build in our own families and why we do it. Oh, and it *also* made me want some mince pies stuffed with too much mince.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy – out now!

DNFed at 40%

First off, this ebook was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

And while I am going to be very honest in regard to my review I really wish the synopsis was honest when it said it was “the perfect gift for those who love the dark fantastic imaginations of Neil Gaiman and T. Kingfisher.”

I thought “Perfect! Finally a seasonal holiday read I am guaranteed to enjoy!”

I can go in expecting an atmospheric, Christmas ghost story that has beautiful prose and depth similar to authors that I love.

But nope, this is nothing like Gaiman or Kingfisher. In fact the writing style was so tiresome that I dreaded picking it up. I got to the point where I legit said “why am I doing this to myself.”

The story itself maybe interesting but the writing was choppy, lacked development on all fronts and was difficult to follow.

Personally, I wouldn’t recommend this one but if you want to know more you can swipe for the synopsis.

Thank you so much for a copy! Unfortunately I had such a hard time getting into it and staying interested. :(

A Christmas Ghost Story by Kim Newman  is a ghost story???

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Titan Books, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

 
My Synopsis:    (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)
Angie Wickings  (an author), and her son Russell (who prefers to be called Rust), are decorating for Christmas.  Their home (Six Elms House), is on the outskirts of  "the most haunted village in England", and is somewhat isolated. They have their traditions as to when to put up the decorations, sharing the advent calendar, opening and placing their Christmas cards, and many others.

This year will be different.  The first chocolate in the advent calendar is horrendous.  The first Christmas card (addressed to Rust), is unsigned, and a little strange.  Now Angie is freaking out a little.  Every day a new card comes,  and Angie freaks out a little more.  Then a lot.  Rust starts to worry about his mom.

Finally, Angie divulges why she fears these cards, and she wants to do so in one of Rust's Paraphenomena Podcasts.  Apparently, she recalls a seasonal tv show episode entitled The Cards, where a warlock sucked all the happiness out of Christmas, and he became stronger.  But the Spirit of Christmas was determined to get revenge, and did so by turning into the Holly Child and sending the warlock a different horrible Christmas card each day.  It didn't end well.

Unfortunately, no one believed Angie saw this episode....and there is no record of it ever bein broadcast.  She was only eleven.  Everyone told her that it was all in her imagination.  If that's the case, why are these cards arriving?  And why is Christmas being poisoned for them?


My Opinions:
I guess I wasn't the right audience for this one, although I'm not sure who would be.  I struggled with the writing.  Yes, there was a story within a story, and that worked fine.  However, there were no real chapters, and a couple of times I wondered if it was Angie speaking or if it was Rust.   As well, some of the phrasing was just poor.

The story seemed to drag as we learned about Angie's childhood, and friends (which as far as I could tell had no real bearing on the story).  I may have missed a few things, because I started skimming, and hoping it would end soon.  I kept telling myself this is a rather short story, you can do this!  That's not a good thing to have to tell yourself..

The whole thing felt disjointed, and seemed to go off in all directions.  Yes, there's a paranormal element to it, and other dimensions, and a bit of grossness and horror.  But there was mainly confusion.  As well, I couldn't connect to the characters, so I didn't really care if they were "got good" or not.

Now, the actual ending was quite good.  It was just a really bumpy and confusing road to the end.  That being said, it could just be that it wasn't for me.  Maybe you'll have a totally different reaction to the book.  I hope so!

A Christmas Ghost Story by Kim Newman is a delightful blend of festive charm and eerie suspense, perfectly capturing the spirit of the season. Newman's atmospheric writing immerses readers in a haunting tale that intertwines holiday traditions with supernatural elements, creating a captivating narrative. The characters are vividly portrayed, and the plot offers both intrigue and nostalgia, evoking the classic ghost stories of yesteryear. This enchanting novella is a must-read for those looking to add a touch of the supernatural to their holiday reading list.

Very disappointed by this book. It was not what I expected. If you want a Christmas ghost story maybe pick up something else?

In keeping with the British tradition of ghost stories set around and told at Christmastime, Newman's new novella brings in the ghosts with some help from M. R. James, Dickens, Doctor Who, and others. A young man and his eccentric mother have all sorts of Christmas traditions to drive away the bleak midwinter, but this year, they're not working, as a series of mysterious and violent holiday cards arrive and morph during the days leading to December 25. Newman is a bit ham-handed with the characterizations and character development, and brings in perhaps a few too many memes and threads--perhaps trying to prove some kind of technological competence?--that are too ephemeral to be recognizable for very long, but at the moment--2024--it's a fine read.

I have never got around to reading Anno Dracula although it is on my to be read pile. But I will say the blurb for this one really caught me and more so that I really like mixing horror with Christmas time. I did enjoy A Christmas Ghost Story. The plot and pacing were a bit disjointed but I think that was the point. I did enjoy the characters and the setting overall. The writing style itself did seem to be a bit choppy at times but I think, maybe I’m totally off the mark, that was the intension? I’m not sure if it’s to highlight the unreal-ness of it all. Or for us to question if it is really a ghost story or something else like a hallucination. It was still enjoyable to read since I do like my books to be a bit odd sometimes.
As always thank you to Titan Books and Netgalley for my copy. My review is always honest, truthful and freely given.

I was intrigued by the idea and love the cover, but I struggled to get into the flow of the story from page one. As it continued, I felt more confused and frustrated than curious. This one was a miss for me.

Teenage son and mother alone in an isolated rural house, following family traditions, a darker humourous edition of the festive season. Intercut is a separate narrative which it becomes clear is an older story initially of unknown origin, a folk horror of sorts which is seeping into the son's life. No giving things away, so what worked was the depiction of an unusual home and life, people with their own traditions and relationship with each other and the world around them.

There seems an inbalance, the gradual build-up to a relatively short ending. I can imagine the descriptive element being more effective on screen in some form. Generally a good story, unusual and worth reading.

I need someone to tell me what I just read. A Christmas horror story? The hallucinations from someone who had a bit of undigested food (thank you for that one, Mr. Scrooge….) A story about a mom (Angie? Lynda? The book uses Angie, the description says Lynda) and her son Rust, both of whom enjoy ghost stories/horror. She writes, he does a podcast. And their lives take an odd twist down that path. Interesting plot but the author uses a lot of repetition ('too much mince meat in the mince meat pie' - over and over, for example). And the story was, at times, difficult to follow, it felt 'cluttered' with too much going on. This book uses a type of humor that I don’t quite know the name of - not slapstick, not exactly deadpan, and personally it doesn’t work. For me, anyway. But it very likely works for others so to people who enjoy repetitive, often ridiculous humor, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. It’s a short book/quick read, so give it a whirl.

My copy of this ARC was provided by the publisher and NetGalley; the opinions expressed herein are strictly my own.

This is going to be a great read for Holiday season. I am so grateful to have gotten this from Netgalley. I loved this a lot. I can't wait to suggest this to people for christmas.

Rust and his mother, Angie, have many Christmas traditions. When they start receiving mysterious Christmas cards reminiscent of an old tv program, it forces them to confront Angie's past.
To put it plainly, I did not enjoy this novella at all. The pacing is a snail's pace and dragged especially with the inclusion of script parts. The "humor" did not do it for me, and I found it to be rather grating. There's moments that make me wonder if the author put it in just to be edgy, such as when Angie constantly calling her son Russell instead of Rust and referring to it as "deadnaming". That seems to just be a nickname he likes so it's not that. Even the "plot" if you can call it that is just, lackluster.
I cannot in good faith recommend this to anyone and will not read anything else by the author.

I wanted to love this book but unfortunately this story didn't hit the mark with me. The writing style didn't connect with me and the story was a little confusing. I do see other great reviews for it so please give it a try if you enjoy short spooky reads.

Thank you to Titan Books and NetGalley and Titan Books for a sneak peek of A Christmas Ghost Story.

Unfortunately, this book was just for me. I had no idea what was going on. The writing felt very disconnected and choppy. It just wasn't what I was hoping for.

4.5 stars

Angie Wickings and her 15-year-old son Rust live in Angie’s childhood home of Six Elms outside Sutton Mallet, the most haunted village in England. In the Wickings family, Christmas is kind of a big deal and comes annually with highlights such as too much mince mince pie, an ostentatious number of fairy lights, crosses carved into the sprouts, and other charming traditions. But this year, the festive season brings with it something more unsettling than the annual morbid parodies of beloved carols (aka “Christmas Cruels”), when, on the first of December, the first in a series of anonymous cards arrives at Six Elms, heralding the coming of something far more sinister than Saint Nick.

I thoroughly enjoyed A Christmas Ghost Story from start to finish. With direct references to some of my favorite classic ghost stories and authors, such as M.R. James, as well as the BBC’s well-loved series “A Ghost Story for Christmas," and indirect nods to other standout horror works like the story “Petey” by T.E.D. Klein, there was little chance that this novella wouldn’t be right up my alley. However, the influences of these straightforward and classic stories are really limited to certain plot elements and not necessarily the telling of Newman’s story. A Christmas Ghost Story has a decidedly weird flavor in the way the goings-on at Six Elms are related, and floats in and out of that fever dream style which is more common in contemporary horror fiction.

Newman’s style of writing, at least here, is also rather disconcerting, and while this lends itself to the overall strangeness of the story, I can very much see this not working for some readers. The writing reminded me of Ramsey Campbell's fiction, where the reader feels like they are dropped into the midst of a story well in progress without having the benefit of all of the references being made, and associations don’t always make a lot of sense. While this type of writing adds to the fever dream atmosphere and dislocation felt by the reader, I know it is a style that is not for everyone. As a fan of both Campbell and fever dream horror, I ate it up and felt the writing served the story well. I could definitely see myself rereading this during the festive season at some point in the future, and I now plan to check out more of Newman’s work.

Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for a digital advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review. A Christmas Ghost Story will be published on October 8, 2024.

I loved this book and this is going in a masterpost I'm making about christmas horror soon after Halloween passes. This book was 4 stars for sure.

Everybody has the perfect scary read for Halloween, but one for your cool Yule? Well, step right up, because here it is! And just in time for, well, Halloween, but I would save this one for the holidays.

It’s December 1, and deep in the Somerset countryside Angie and her teenage son, Rust (if you please) are preparing their isolated home for Christmas. Angie is a small-time sexy suspense writer and Rust is into archeology, Gorgantuabots and his podcast on the paranormal.

And on that same day, Rust receives his first Christmas card. It’s addressed only to him, very formal, and it’s unsigned with an odd, somewhat disturbing picture and message.

Each day, day after day the cards keep coming, each more sinister than the last. The mail carrier is always just out of reach, or they’ve just missed them. And the cards remind Angie of a TV movie from her childhood called “The Cards,” but, strangely, no one else seems to recall it, and there seems to be no evidence of it having been shown.

Then Rust becomes ill, a winter storm traps them in the house and strange things start to happen. I’m not sure this is going to be a happy Christmas for Angie and Rust.

This was a delightfully dark novella, with hints of even worse stuff (but nothing explicit; it’s perfect for a pre-Christmas read on a snowy day, if you live in a part of the world where you get those (we might get some rain, so I would have to make do with that. It’s witty (“supernatural curse delivery isn’t what it was before Brexit”) and very British with multiple mentions of David Attenborough, which is, of course, the universal measuring stick.

And don’t be lulled into thinking this is some sweet Christmas tale. “At some point, every mystery story turns into a horror story.” It’s marred only by a slightly rushed ending, but is still great fun. 4.5 stars and I’m rounding up because it’s Christmas, dammit!

Given their shorter length its unusual to think of novellas as hard to finish but thid one was an exception.

The syntax of this novella is difficult to parse through in a lot of sections but smooth in others, making it feel choppy.

This book is also chock full of British Emglish colloquialisms that are going to leave American readers in the dark, this also contributed to my struggle with reading it.

It felt like being forced to learn a lot of irrelevant details about this household before the horror sets in.

Honestly the story within the story was far superior in quality to the modern framing around it.