“I wanted to walk into the water. I wanted to march straight into the ocean’s mouth and have it swallow me up.”

I found this book while walking through one of my fav bookstores second-hand books and took a chance. I am definitely in a spooky mood + I do love a good short story collection. So this one had to come with me home, and boy I am so so glad I did because this was fantastic!

Reply Hazy, Try Again: : The MC wasn’t always likeable, but I did love the whole Magic 8 Ball going from your standard answers to some answers that shouldn’t be there, like our MC’s name, or other comments. It was a lot of fun to see how things escalated with each page and also see how our MC is slowly spiralling and making decisions that on the one hand I was happy with but on the other hand was WTF-ing about, haha. I am quite happy with the ending, though I hope that she got rid of the Magic 8 Ball after this. BTW, I would have yeeted that Magic 8 Ball way sooner. As soon as I would see my name pop up or getting more personal answers, BYYYEYEEEEEEEEE. NOPEEEE. XD But this was a good start to this collection!

Bachelorette: : A bachelorette party gone totally fucked up! I loved this, the opening sentence was just pure gold: “If I’d been told in advance about the blood sacrifice, I would have made up an excuse not to attend the bachelorette party.” I knew I was in for a heck of a ride. I mean, seriously, blood sacrifices at your pre-wedding party? WTF? But before that we get the party, we read about the friendship our MC had with the girl who is going to marry, about the fun times she had with her when they were friends, and how they drifted apart when they both went to different places. I felt for the MC as most of the group was college friends and they clearly were much closer. We see her struggle with things, and I seriously wanted to yeet some stuff at those girls for being such asses towards our MC. I could imagine the MC just drinking herself to oblivion, haha, I would have done the same. And then the blood sacrifice came by, and while I was a tad disappointed, it was still a ride. Some people are just crazy.

Goblin: : The hardest one to read because of my own problems. I struggled quite a bit, it was a good story so that is why I am giving it 4.5 stars, but dang, I had to take a few steps back at times because of everything, with my mental health and how I am struggling, but I persevered. In this one a girl is preparing for her ex’s wedding (why would you go to that, fuck that dude) and she and her friend download an app called Goblin. It is supposed to just tell you not to eat, warn you about your diet, and all that, but given all we learn about our MC and her problems with her body image + weight it takes a more literal form and she can truly see the Goblin walk around. Calling her names. Stealing her food. Making her feel bad. Things go from bad to worse to horrible and we see her just withering away. I was shocked that NO ONE seemed to notice, but then again, that is diet culture for you. Instead of trying to help someone, you compliment them on their weight going down. The ending though I hadn’t seen coming. HECK. That was a shock.

Bad Dolls: : My least favourite out the bundle. Still a good story at times, but I just had expected more scary doll and less mental health/less annoying MC. The doll was still scary when we got to see her, and I loved how things escalated more and more. From walking around, to waiting, to more violent bits, to even a medium calling our MC out. But the rest of the story was about loss, mourning, do I need to cry, what do I do now, parents who don’t get it, and other things. I didn’t like most of the characters and even the MC was a hard one to like, especially when she did that to her ex who is MARRIED. Everyone who knows me knows I hate that shit. BAH.

All in all, I had a great time reading this one and I flew right through it, I will have to see if I can get other Rachel Harrison books, not sure which one is next though I am eyeing both Black Sheep and Such Sharp Teeth! We will see~ I would recommend this collection, it is a fab horror collection.