Defy the Dark

Across the Universe #0.7 (Night Swimming)

by Saundra Mitchell, Aprilynne Pike, Carrie Ryan

The seventeen original stories in Defy the Dark , an eerie, mind-bending YA anthology, could only take place in darkness. Open the pages and A creepy guy who stares too long. The secrets of the core of the earth. Dreams of other people’s lives. A girl who goes mad in the darkness. Monsters in Bavaria. A generational spaceship where night doesn’t exist. And other mysteries and oddities. The contributors to the enthralling collection Sarah Rees Brennan, Tessa Gratton, Rachel Hawkins, Christine Johnson, Valerie Kemp, Malinda Lo, Myra McEntire, Saundra Mitchell, Sarah Ockler, Jackson Pearce, Aprilynne Pike, Dia Reeves, Beth Revis, Carrie Ryan, Jon Skovron, Courtney Summers, and Kate Espy, winner of the Defy the Dark new author contest.

Genres: Young Adult, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Fiction

496 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 18, 2013

About the author

Saundra Mitchell is the author of SHADOWED SUMMER, THE VESPERTINE, THE SPRINGSWEET, THE ELEMENTALS, MISTWALKER, and ALL THE THINGS WE DO IN THE DARK. In non-fiction, she’s the author of the non-fiction THEY DID WHAT!? series for middle grade readers. Her first adult novel, THIS SIDE OF GONE, will be published by William Morrow in January 2026.

She’s also the co-author of the CAMP MURDERFACE series with Josh Berk, and the editor of four YA anthologies: DEFY THE DARK, ALL OUT, OUT NOW, and OUT THERE. She also adapted the hit Broadway Musical THE PROM for teen readers!

Mitchell writes under multiple pen names, including Jessa Holbrook (WHILE YOU’RE AWAY,) Alex Mallory (WILD,) and Rory Harrison (LOOKING FOR GROUP.)

SHADOWED SUMMER was the 2010 winner of The Society of Midland Authors Book Award for Children’s Fiction and a 2010 Edgar® Award Nominee. It was chosen as a Junior Library Guild selection and an ALAN Pick in 2009. In 2020, ALL THE THINGS WE DO IN THE DARK was a Lambda Finalist, and the winner of the Indiana Authors Award for Young Adult Fiction.

Her short story “Ready to Wear” was nominated for a 2007 Pushcart Prize after appearing in Vestal Review Issue 27. Her short fiction and non-fiction has appeared in anthologies including TRANSMOGRIFY!, FORESHADOW, YOU TOO?, A TYRANNY OF PETTICOATS, FORETOLD, and DEAR BULLY.

For twenty years, she was the head screenwriter and an executive producer with Dreaming Tree Films on their various teen filmmaking programs, including the largest teen filmmaking program in the United States, Fresh Films. They produced more than four hundred films from her screenplays, and she earned Academy Award eligibility ten times during her tenure.

In other arenas, Ms. Mitchell was interviewed by the New York Times and the BBC for her part in exposing the Kaycee Nicole hoax, and she’s been tapped by morning radio shows all over the United States as a guest expert on Urban Legends & Folklore.

In her free time, she enjoys fandom, studying history, playing ttrpgs and video games, and spending time with her wife and daughters. Her pronouns are she/they.

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad little collection of stories. Some stories are disturbing, others creepy. We had modern tales, medieval fantasy, urban fantasy, dystopian, science fiction and more in this book! If it has to do with darkness or nighttime it could be in hear. Many of the stories leave you with a feeling of wondering what happened as you use your imagination to fill in the blanks.

So here are my thoughts (briefly) for each story.

Sleepstalk by Courtney Summers
The main character stalks her ex-boyfriend who she finds sleepwalking. something happened betwwen them that is stimulating their behaviors, but what? The girl terrifies me slightly with her though process a bit. 3.5/5 stars

Nature by Aprilynne Pike
Dystopina cast system for what you will be for one's adult life. Due to her physical measurements, a girl is put into the ‘wrong’ caste. This story left me wanting more! i loved it but so much of the girls life, the world around her, is left unanswered. If the author ever writes more of this world, I will jump on the chance to read it! 5/5 stars

Dark side of the Moon by Dia Reeves
Was I suppose to be high reading this? Does it take place in another ‘world’ setting? Strange town, everyone wears black, monsters exists, unusual is common place and boy gets on Night trolley whch all the town people fear, for once you get on, you don’t come home. This book reminded my of those psychedelic movies. Interesting concept on one level but needed a lot of polishing. 2.5/5 stars

Ghost Town by Malinda Lo
Story works backwards and filled with ghost pranks, but is any of it real? This was done in an interesting style and has me curious for the authors work. 4/5 stars


Eyes in the Dark by Rachel Hawkins
Okay so the first thing that REALLY jumped out at me was that cost of the food. Peaches were on 25 cents! And this is relatively current times as the have cell phones and texting. So my first though is "Where is this store, I want to go shop there." Anyways for the story itself... The girl goes with ‘bad boy’ for a ride and goes to a forbidden bridge Where they see red eyes belonging to...something...
Not a bad story idea. Just creepy enough without actually being scary. 4/5 stars

Stillwater by Valerie Kemp
A teen boy questions the town he lives in. Why does he keep finding notes to himself or from a brother he doesn't always remember. Also a family fued to add some spark! I have lots of questions on this one. Some practical plot holes but otherwise an interesting premise. 3.5/5 stars

I gave you my love by the light of the moon by Sarah Rees Brennan
A girl is transformed into a werewolf and is 'rescued' by a vampire who helps her cope with her new identity. Fluff piece with potential romance. I felt this was a part of a full novel, broken and turned into a short story. 3/5 stars

Night Swimming by Beth Revis
Science fiction. Based on the summary of Across the Universe, I think this is ashort story in that 'world.' A group of teens are on meds to 'keep sane,’ but what is really going on? What I couldn't figure out is if the main character was male or female! It about drove me nuts. Behavior had me thinking it is a gut but thoughts had me thinking a girl. We get no name, nothing! Still the storyline has a curiosity to it that I enjoyed. 3.5/5 stars

Almost normal by Carrie Ryan
Zombie carnival! Need I say more. It reminded me of the movie 'Frozen.' Both are stuck in a bad place, at a very bad time! A short fun read.

There’s nowhere else by Jon Skovron
Teen boy lives with his mother and her abusive boyfriend but finds himself dreaming of being another person. Literally! But when one person observes his 'ability' what will happen? I felt bad for this kid in a way but his choices (big and small) have me shaking my head. He does not seem to have a lot of common sense. 3/5 star

Naughty or Nice by Myra McEntire
Private school vacation is about as far as I could stomach on this one. The book just set me on edge with the how the story is laid out. Settings and conversations seem jumpy and out of place. Too Boring so I didn’t finish. 1/5 stars


Shadowed by Christine Johnson
Interesting shadow curse has been placed on the Duke’s daughter. She cannot see light (daylight, candle light, etc) for fear of what her shadow will do. Medieval setting with knights! 4.5/5


Now bid time return by Saundra Mitchell
We get a story by the editor!
A young teen girl goes to take pictures of the northern lights but something is in the pictures and someone seems to be entering her cottage she is staying at. Bit of romance. Sweet! 4/5

The moth and the spider by Sarah Ockler
This all takes perspective from a suicidal girl who is very distant from life, family, etc. She wants to ‘do it right’ with suicide note. Very distorted story. Didn't make a lot of sense. was her mind just that broken or did I just not get it. 2/5 stars

Where the Light is by Jackson Pierce
A high school graduate finds himself working with the other townsmen deep in the mine. His father was a hero so he has a lot to live up to. A strange noise leads him to a girl who lives in the mines. Interesting idea. I could not quite tell if this was a dystopian world or just a community that really stuck together. 4/5 stars

This was Ophelia by Tessa Gratton
I have NO CLUE what was happening here. Not sure if I was just tired of the story that confusing. Did not finish.

[Heather ~*dread mushrooms*~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book as a gift. It's not something I would have picked up on my own, as none of the authors featured number among my favorites.

This collection of short stories was an easy, quick read despite the page count. I skipped a couple of the stories and skimmed others. I only liked a handful of them. My favorites were "The Dark Side of the Moon" by Dia Reeves and "Stillwater" by Valerie Kemp.

[Mizuki · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, most of the stories are descent.

Thoughts about the short stories within the book:

Nature by Aprilynne Pike

Read the first few pages then gave up. Eventually I skimmed to get to the last page of this story, only to find in a dystopian future society, everything is alright because the MC found true love with a boy who showed interest in her!

Totally not amused. 0 star.

Ghost Town by Malinda Lo

It's a nice LGTB paranormal YA short story, the MC isn't an idiot, and I like it. 5 stars.

"The Sunflower Murders

Telling us how sorry you are because you were making out with a boy when your best friend was murdered doesn't make a good story. 1.5 star.

Stillwater

It is a okay short novel, but nothing is explained when it comes to the paranormal happening in town, so I can only give it 3 stars

Almost Normal by Carrie Ryan

It's decent zombie story but it adds nothing to the already established world of The Forest of Hands and Teeth. 2.5 to 3 stars.

Dark Side of the Moon

It's a very strange short story so it takes some getting used to but the writing is highly imaginative, so 4 stars.

The Moth And the Spider

I don't even understand what this story is about, so no rating.

I Gave You My Love By The Light Of Full Moon

An *utterly* uneventful story, 2.5 to 3 stars.

Bit Time Returns

It is an okay-ish short story, but the idea is so interesting, and it could have been so so much better, 3 stars only.

Shadowed

A bit on the "Meh" side, 2 stars.

Where The Light Is

It is a very nice coming of age story, with a paranormal touch. 4 stars

This Was Ophelia

5 stars! Glad to see a twisted LGTB version of Hamlet retelling which has a happy ending this time and no one has to die needlessly. Good.

There're a few stories I didn't bother to read, so no comment.

[Dark Faerie Tales · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: An interesting collection of short stories that I enjoyed but would never read again.

Opening Sentence: Jed Miller is a sleepwalker.

The Review:

Defy the Dark is collection of seventeen stories written by various authors. For the most part they all feature something to do with darkness. Many of the stories are on the scary side, there are also a few paranormal ones, and one dystopian one as well. It was a unique blend of mostly interesting little stories but to be fully honest it wasn’t something I would ever read again. I’m not going to go into detail about all of the stories because this review would be way to long if I did, but I will feature a few of the ones I really enjoyed.

First up was Nature by Aprilynne Pike. This was a dystopian story and it was very different from any of the other stories. To be perfectly honest, I’m not quite sure why it was included in the book because it really didn’t have anything to do with dark, but it was my favorite story in the whole book. I actually really liked the main character, she was smart and someone that I could cheer for. The story also had a really great message and unlike most of the stories in the book it actually had a resolution at the end. I have read many other works by Pike and I thought Nature was a great addition to her works. I would love it if she decided to expand on the world she created and write more books. I think they would be fascinating.

The other two stories that stood out to me were Sleepstalk by Courtney Summer and Eyes in the Dark by Rachel Hawkins. These were both scary stories that reminded me of something you would tell at a sleepover or around a campfire. They were both on the jumpy side and made me feel like a kid again while reading them. I’m not a huge fan of scary stories, but I thought that both of these were fun to read.

As for the rest of the stories I thought they were fine, some were certainly better than others, but the anthology as a whole was an interesting read. To be perfectly honest, I am not a huge fan of short stories that aren’t part of a series. I feel that you don’t quite get enough to really connect with the story and most of them don’t have any kind of resolution, which I’m not a huge fan of. It is refreshing at times to not have to commit to a huge book, but I just felt I didn’t really get anything out of reading most of these stories. If you are a fan of short stories then I think that you would probably really enjoy this for the most part. Like I mentioned earlier, I think this would be a wonderful book to take to a sleepover or a camping trip where it is fun to share scary stories.

Notable Scene:

I am nearly sobbing with frustration when there’s a thump under the truck. A small, stifled scream bursts from my throat, and I freeze.

The thump comes again, harder this time. The sound of my own blood rushing in my ears is almost painful. It’s like every piece of me, every last molecule, is straining to hear. Another thump. And the another.

FTC Advisory: HarperTeen provided me with a copy of Defy the Dark. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

[Anna Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

The whole idea of this anthology is to explore things that happen in the dark and the ways they change us as people. I first decided to pick up this book because I have read full length novels by most of these authors and enjoyed their writing styles/plots. I was particularly excited about the stories written by Malinda Lo, Beth Revis, Saundra Mitchell and Sarah Ockler. There were some really good stories and some really weird, on the fence ones. I'm going to give a story by story breakdown, but they'll each be short as I am loathe to give anything away. I will say that overall it was an interesting anthology, so far I still haven't read an anthology that I've loved completely.

Sleepstalk by Courtney Summers

- From what I managed to figure out, this was a story about a girl obsessed with a boy who doesn't feel the same. She stands outside his house every night debating whether or not to throw a rock through his window. This was more contemporary than paranormal (unlike most of the other stories) and in so short of a story, the girl came across completely crazy to me and not at all likeable or relatable. Definitely my one of my least favorite stories in the anthology. VERDICT: 1.5/5 Stars

Nature by Aprilynne Pike

- This story had the spark for me that I wished Bumped by Megan McCafferty would have had. I like the premise, a dystopian world where people are separated into the educated and the menial laborers. Nature versus Nurture, a very old debate. Only your test scores and your physical characteristics can decide which one you are. And the latter can outweigh the first so easily. The main character is on one track and gets thrust in the opposite direction after a routine physical. This broke my heart, but I could honestly see it happening. Scary, but really good and I would love to read this as a full-length novel! :) VERDICT: 4/5 Stars

The Dark Side of the Moon by Dia Reeves

- To be completely honest, I was bored straight out of the gate with this one. I could tell it was a sort of dystopian universe or something, but it started out so trite. Girl and boy are in love, but sneaking around because her Mom and Dad won't approve (he's wrong side of the tracks). There was a paranormal element to it, but it just never struck a chord with me. VERDICT: 1/5 Stars

Ghost Town by Malinda Lo

- I really enjoyed this story and while I didn't love it, I think I could have if there had been more time with the characters developing the plot. I did love that it wasn't the typical thing, but at the same time I enjoyed the whole cliché of new girl Ty being lured to 'explore' a haunted house by mean girl McKenzie. The ending was different from what I expected and I can honestly say I really enjoyed this one.
My only complaint is it started to seem repetitive closer to the end. VERDICT: 3.75/5 Stars

Eyes In The Dark by Rachel Hawkins

- This story was a lot like those really weird urban legends that everyone believes. Like what happens when the guy gets out of the car to explore the mysterious noise and the girl finds his corpse hanging from a tree or something. There was a little bit more to this one, with the girl expecting to cheat on her boyfriend and ending up in creepy, deadly situation. Gave me chills, but was really undeveloped and simplistic for my tastes. VERDICT: 3.5/5 Stars

Stillwater by Valerie Kemp

- Possibly one of my favorite stories in the whole anthology (by an author I've never even heard of before), it is set in a small southern town where nothing ever changes - until a boy and girl whose families have been feuding for generations manage to look past the fog and actually see each other. Can they escape the madness embraced by the rest of the town? I liked that it had a contemporary setting, but an element of magic/random paranormal events to its plot. Also, I really liked the main characters and got invested in their fates. This was some powerful writing and I'll definitely be looking this author up. VERDICT: 5/5 Stars

I Gave You My Love By The Light Of The Moon by Sarah Rees Brennan

- Berthe is just an average teenage girl, but when she's bit by something on a hiking trip her life changes drastically. With the help of Stephen, will she be able to keep living her life like always? I liked the growth of the relationship between Berthe and Stephen. I thought though, that it was kind of bittersweet and unrealistically drawn. But I honestly liked this a lot more than the actual full length books I've read by Rees Brennan. She's a great character writer, and that really shines through in this piece. VERDICT: 4/5 Stars

Night Swimming by Beth Revis

- This was a short story set in the same universe as Revis' Across the Universe series. It was distinctively different from the others in the collection, being the only one with any real sci-fi elements to it. I wanted to love it, seeing how I'm a gigantic fan of her series. But I spent the whole story unsure of who the narrator was and that ruined it for me. It had no true emotional impact, because I didn't know who I was supposed to be feeling sorry for. I did like having a peek into Elder, Harley, Kayleigh and Orion's past before Amy entered into their lives. VERDICT: 3/5 Stars

Almost Normal by Carrie Ryan

- Something about the hopefulness and youthful feeling of invincibility on the part of the main characters endeared this one to me. The zombies are closing in, so a group of teenage friends decides to spend one last night being free at the amusement park. Things go horrifically wrong. I have never read Ryan's zombie series, Forest of Hands and Teeth, but I felt like this short story was a part of that universe. That said, it was easy to immerse myself into it and get completely terrified. I did want to shout at the kids about their stupidity, just like when you watch a horror movie and can see the killer behind the victim! Interesting, but in this case the lack of resolution wasn't a good thing for me as a curious reader. VERDICT: 3.75/5 Stars

There's Nowhere Else by Jon Skovron

- Basically a twist on the downtrodden hero, where Sebastian's Mom has an abusive boyfriend and refuses to leave him. At night when he dreams, Sebastian becomes other people - literally. And the things he does as other people have very real consequences. With a power like his, soon he'll have a choice to make. Good versus evil, what will Sebastian choose? The random entry of an entity that almost reminded me of Loki (only super evil) and another entity who was basically a voodoo priest made up the interesting parts of this story. Honestly, felt mediocre about this one. Could take it or leave it. VERDICT: 3/5 Stars

Naughty or Nice by Myra McEntire

- Bex is on a school trip to Bavaria with her best friend Henry. Things start to go awry when a local legend of a killer in a guise resembling Santa Clause throw them into terrifying circumstances. Will they make it home alive? This was so creative! :) I absolutely loved the premise and the execution had the right amount of sass, mystery, legend and spine-tingling creepiness. Probably tied with Stillwater for my fave story in the book! VERDICT: 5/5 Stars

Shadowed by Christine Johnson

- The second out of two stories that I completely had no interest in, over the course of reading the anthology. Princess Esme is cursed and must keep in the shadows, away from the light. Longing to be free, maybe the handsome Knight Rylan can help her escape her tower. Not at ALL in keeping with the rest of the anthology, which seems to be made up of contemporary or futuristic dystopian stories. This was a jarring addition, that felt to me like it didn't fit at all. I was not paying any real attention and was glad when it was over. Maybe if it had been in a different anthology I would have liked it. VERDICT: 1/5 Stars

Now Bid Time Return by Saundra Mitchell

- Dacey enters a contest and wins the trip of a lifetime, to the Scandinavian part of Europe to photograph the Northern Lights for a week. When her pictures all have the same mark/defect on them, she thinks her camera is faulty. But there might be another more supernatural explanation, by the name of Kristian. The imagery, plot and romance in this one were absolutely gorgeous! I loved that it was part ghost story and part alternate dimension/time travel interlude. It was wonderful and while I am a romantic at heart, it still had my eyes rolling slightly at the tooth achingly sweet ending. Still one of my top stories in the anthology for sure. VERDICT: 4.5/5 Stars

The Moth and The Spider by Sarah Ockler

- Very different from everything else I have ever read by Sarah Ockler, but definitely intriguing. As always she has a way with words and I enjoyed the machinations of the main character, Cali. Felt like there was something missing, but overall it grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go. Another good piece of writing from one of my favorite authors. VERDICT: 3.75/5 Stars

Where the Light Is by Jackson Pearce

- Born a miner, die a miner. Or at least that's what Will thinks his fate is until he meets Ennor, one of the Knockers, a creature living in the mines with the power to create cave-ins. The power to control a miner's very fate. Will they be able to bridge the gap between their worlds, or will they both combust from a lethal encounter? An interesting and more literal take on the theme of darkness and I enjoyed the folklore feeling that the myth of the Knockers created for the story. It was very American to me, in that everything has to have it's own origin story. I liked it, but felt that the romantic interest between Ennor and Will was entirely unnecessary. VERDICT: 4/5 Stars

This Was Ophelia by Tessa Gratton

- Ophelia wishes she'd been born as a man and lives like one, in the time of Prohibition. She meets and falls in love with privileged Halden King. The only trouble is, he thought he was falling in love with another man. And he may not want Ophelia romantically once he knows she's a woman. She wants freedom and Halden, but he wants a different kind of love. Will they stay together? Ophelia in this was portrayed definitely as a stronger woman than in the original play...but the point is that she doesn't even really view herself as a woman. I did like the premise, but at the same time thought it was kind of dated in its execution. Thoroughly original idea though. VERDICT: 3.5/5 Stars

OVERALL AVERAGE VERDICT: 4.56/5 Stars, Overall it was a very good collection and I would highly recommend it to fans of these individual authors and fans of scary stories or stories with paranormal elements at the foundation.

*I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie. No favors or money were exchanged for this review. It became available for purchase on June 18th, 2013.*

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Rating* 3-3.5
*Genre* Young Adult

*Review*

When I heard that this book was being released, I decided to join the Defy The Dark's mini blog tour and agreed to post my honest thoughts on the stories, and the book itself. There are many different authors that I have followed or have read (1) or more of their works, that I had to see if this was worth the effort to read. I have decided to break down each story individually, instead of at a whole, so that you can see which one's I really liked, and which ones where just okay. Thank you to Valerie Kemp for sharing this book with me!

Sleepstalk by Courtney Summers
-I'm not sure what to think about this story, sorry to say. It's focuses on an unknown girl, who apparently drowned but did not die and still has a major crush on the boy who apparently saved her life but has a girlfriend who he was matched with. The story focuses on the fact that the boy sleepwalks which is dangerous in itself and that she wants to throw a rock through his window to get his attention. I would have liked more information and the name of the person telling the story. 2/5

Nature by Aprilynne Pike
-The basic premise of this story is that society is broken into 3 separate categories after the Bust: Nature, Nuture, and Labor. With this story, the main character is Kylie who thought she was going in one direction, only to end up in Nature where women are expected to produce babies. At least we get SOME world building with this story. 3/5

The Dark Side of The Moon by Dia Reeves
-This has paranormal aspects to it. It's the story about a boy and a girl who attend the same band camp and become more than friends. Then, Cado, the boy decides that the only way to impress Patricia's parents is to do something risky by taking what's called The Night Trolley. Obviously, there is something hinky about the town where Patricia lives, and Cado gets pulled in to it. 2/5

Ghost Town by Malinda Lo
-Tyler White is the new girl in town, but she doesn't seem to fit in because she's butch. She gets lured by McKenzie into going to a place where two women died, mostly likely they were lovers at the time. One thing leads to another and it seems as though the ghosts understand her emotional turmoil and decide to help her. This was actually pretty good especially the freaky ending. Could definitely see myself reading a longer version of this story. 3.5/5

Eyes in the Dark by Rachel Hawkins
-This story also has some paranormal aspects to it in the form of spooky red eyes that belong to unknown creatures that live in the dark. The story is basically about a girl, Samantha, who decides to take a ride with Kelley, the boy she liked until he moved away. Sam & Kelley end up in a place where they shouldn't be, and end up in a terrifying situation where you just know that bad things are going to happen. 3/5

Stillwater by Valerie Kemp
-This short story reminded me of an episode from The Twilight Zone which I've always loved. You have a boy and a girl with the same last name, living in a small town, with prejudices based family feuds that goes back generations. It had the feeling that they're trapped in a bubble with no way out until stumbling upon a secret. I liked this story a lot and will be looking for more works from this author soon. 4/5

I Gave You My Love By The Light Of The Moon by Sarah Rees Brennan
-This is also a pretty decent story that features a teenager Berthe who was bitten while camping, and ends up meeting Stephen, a vampire who saves her from hurting those around her. It's definitely a romantic story with a predictable ending, and yet, I can't find any faults in this story. 4/5

Night Summary by Beth Revis
-Apparently this story is set on board a starship heading towards new Earth. The story focuses on an unknown character, which I hate by the way, and his/her apparent friendship and love for a fellow traveler/patient. Forced into taking a blue pill to keep them sane, this character and friends have to figure out the secret that is being kept from them by the Eldest and which has cost her friend her life. I'm to understand that this is set in the same universe as her series Across The Universe which I haven't read yet. 3/5

Almost Normal by Carrie Ryan
-Ryan is a new writer to me since I haven't read her series called The Forest of Hands and Teeth which I just added to my TBR pile after reading this story. Apparently, the zombie apocalypse is coming hard, and 4 friends, Connor, Sarah, Bart, and Wyle decide to have one last night of fun before it's too late. This story was actually pretty decent although too short. I would love to see a full length story based on these characters. 4/5

There's Nowhere Else by Jon Skovron
-Sebastian Younger has some really vivid dreams. So vivid, in fact, that he actually finds himself in the bodies of real individuals and he doesn't understand the consequences of his actions. Caught between good and Evil, Sebastian must make a choice between the two before he causes too much damage. A very interesting story. One that, again is too short, and leaves readers wondering what will happen next with Sebastian and his decisions. 3/5

Naughty or Nice by Myra McEntire
-This is the story of Rebecca (Bex) and Henry who are on a school trip to Bavaria. After being put into an awkward situation, they discover that a being known as Krampus gives out punishments instead of presents like Santa. The only way you can survive is to steal his sack and run like hell. Really interesting story, but way too short. Still an enjoyable story IMHO. 3.5/5

Shadowed by Christine Johnson
-Cursed into a virtual prison of darkness by someone believing she was wronged, Princess Esme is forced to avoid light of all sources at all costs. Can she survive or will her Shadow find a way to take over her body and Esme's life? Can the charming Knight Rylan find a way to break Esme's curse before it is too late? The ending left me with some questions that I have no answers to. ::shrug:: 2.5/5

Now Bid Time Return by Saundra Mitchell
-This story is part time travel, part ghost story, part romance. It tells the story about Dacey Shen who wins a one week trip to Norway to photograph the Northern Lights. While experiencing "technical" glitches with her camera, she meets the handsome Kristian who apparently can time travel or who never really did die. I think this will be one of the more popular stories of the anthology and the one with the best ending. 4/5

The Moth and The Spider by Sarah Ockler
-This story is slightly disturbing due to it's subject matter. Cali is home again after attempting what apparently is suicide. She no longer has any friends, and her parents basically treat her like an inmate now even ensuring that she takes her mandated pills and is monitored. The strangeness begins when she gets an anonymous phone call while writing a final letter good-bye and watching a spider spin its web. Yeah, I was left unsatisfied with this particular story. 2.5/5

Where the Light Is by Jackson Pearce
-Will is like his father was, a Miner who went to work at the mines right after graduating from High School. Something those who live in Pennsylvania and West Virginia know all too well. Will is also different in that he finds himself in the presence of a being that should not exist; A Knocker. Knockers like Ennor reward respectful miners and has the power to create cave-ins that claim miners lives. This is a romance in the darkness sort of story and I really liked this one. Definitely an author I want to read more about. 4/5

This Was Ophelia by Tessa Gratton
-As I've been told, this is a take on Shakespeare's Hamlet. Told during the Roaring 1920's, Ophelia Polonius goes out at night dressed a man. She openly flirts with women, and things appear to be going smoothly for Ophelia until she meets Halden King and falls in love with him. This is a difficult story for me to rate even though I liked the premise behind Ophelia's reality. Perhaps a bit androgynous mayhaps, although I would never want to judge anyone who refuses to swing to the party line about what constitutes a male, or a female. 3/5

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sleepstalk: ✮✮✮
This was a twisted little story that revolved around a young girl stalking someone, as the title eludes to. It was a decent book, but I couldn't stand the girl, because she was very disturbing, and her thoughts were pretty twisted. All in all, not a bad story.

Nature: ✮✮✮
I enjoyed Nature, it was amazing and a fast read... and not at all scary or dark in any way. Nature takes place in the future in a post-apocalyptic world... the setting is the only thing "dark" about this story. It's more about a girl discovering how she can be happy in a world that she didn't want to be apart of. No monsters, no dark twists, no creepy thoughts, nothing... just a simple story about a girl, but a good story.

Dark Side of the Moon: ✮✮
So I wasn't really expecting anything from this story, mostly because I had no idea what it was about before reading it, but I can say one thing... it fell short of being a great story. I didn't connect with the main character, couldn't stand any of the supporting characters, and at the times where I believed it was going to get creepy, it didn't. Honestly, I feel like there was so much about this story that I felt was pointless, it didn't add to the story at all. If the story had been on the trolley (which I feel was supposed to be the main point's setting - unless I missed the actual point) for the majority rather than just a few pages (on my kindle), I think it would have been more developed, and the story could have been flushed out to be more creepy and twisted. Instead, we are left with not much action or horror, and characters that I couldn't stand. This story had so much potential that I feel was wasted.

Ghost Town: ✮✮
Ghost Town was an ok story, not as thrilling or scary as I was expecting it to be. I was also expecting more focus on a ghost, which there is, but not at the level that I was expecting. I, personally, wasn't a fan of the way the story progressed back in time. I just feel like the level of excitement decreased each time we moved to an earlier time of the day. I feel that this story had so much potential, which the first time (out of three) lived up to that, but then it just went downhill from there, and the potential was wasted.

Eyes in the Dark: ✮✮✮✮
This short story by Rachel Hawkins was intriguing. It started off somewhat slow, but as the story progressed, it picked up the pace. I didn't know what to expect as I was reading this, and even though I wasn't expectecting to be happy with the ending (considering that this story should be "dark"), the ending wasn't a favorite of mine, but I felt that it did do the story justice. I wasn't a super fan of the characters, but at the same time, I didn't not like them. Although, there were times where I wanted to give them both a few shakes for being stupid.

Still Water: ✮✮✮
Interesting. That really sums up this short story. I was not expecting what the story was about. I was actually expecting more of a... ghost storyish (just based on an aspect in the story). This was anything but. I thought both of the characters were likable. I don't know how I feel about what happened between them, but that's just me. Overall, a nice, quick read.

I Gave You My Love by the Light of the Moon: ✮✮✮✮
What a cute little story. I loved Berthe and Stephen, and how their story unvraveled for them. This story, I felt, was more about acceptance and learning to live with the changes that come rather than a story full of action or horror. It was dark in the sense of paranoraml aspects, but not really dark in the aspect of scary or twisted.

Night Swimming: ✮✮✮
I enjoyed this litte short story sent in the Across the Universe Universe, and getting to know the characters and the background of the Godspeed more, it adds more to the story with just a handful of pages. This story was a little slow for me, but it was still a good story. It was a good addition to the series.

Sunflower Murders: ✮✮✮
I thought this was a decent story, but it was over too quickly, and there really wasn't any time to start to care about the main character. My first impression of her was negative, she was a jerk, and the story was too short for her to redeem herself. Even though she obviously regretted the choice she had made, it didn't change how I felt about her. The story also wasn't scary or creepy at all, just sad.

Almost Normal: ✮✮✮
Almost Normal was a quick read about friends trapped in a zombie-infested park. It wasn't a bad story but it wasn't the greatest either. At moments it was sad, but it wouldn't be a zombie story without some sadness. I didn't really connect with any of he characters, and I do t know how I feel about the ending. It wasn't bad, but there was something about the way it happened that I didn't like.

There's Nowhere Else: ✮✮✮
This was an interesting story, but it took a weird turn more than halfway through and I don't know how I, personally, feel about that. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't at all what I was expecting when the turn happened.

Naughty or Nice: ✮✮✮✮
I loved Naughty or Nice. I find the story or legend of Krampus to be quite interesting, and I think this story did a great job of bringing Krampus to life. I wish it had been longer and Krampus had been much more active in the story, but it was still a wonderful, and quick read. I also really enjoyed both Bex and Henry.

Shadowed: ✮✮✮✮
I really enjoyed this story. I wasn't thrilled with the ending, but I at the same time I thougth that it was different than expected, and it wasn't horrible. I really enjoyed the setting: medieval, which means knights, and Sir Rylan was pretty awesome. I enjoyed the way the story flowed, and the uniquesness of the story itself.

Now Bid Time Return: ✮✮✮✮
This was an interesting story. Still not exactly sure what happened at the end. All I know is that it is not a ghost story. I really liked both characters, and thought the setting was different from what I am used to.

Moth and the Spider: ✮✮
So... I don't know how I feel or what I think about this one. It was kind of weird. I do t understand the point of Theresa. She was just there, she didn't really add anything to the story in my opinion. I thought the ending was decent, better than what he alternative could have been.

Where the Light Is: ✮✮✮
This was an interesting. It was very original and I thought the setting was different from your average YA book. I liked the characters, and I though the concept of "Knockers" was very unique.

This Was Ophelia: ✮
This one wasn't a favorite of mine. I didn't really connect with either Ophelia or Hal, and there were parts in the beginning where I wasn't exactly positive of what was going on which just kind of ruined the whole story for me.

[The Reading Raccoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like all short story collections this had a mixed bag of some 2,3 and 4 star reads. I gave it a 3 as average. My favorites were by Courtney Summers, Carrie Ryan and Tessa Gratton.

[Adriana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally at: http://yabooknook.tumblr.com/post/549...

DEFY THE DARK was one of my very anticipated reads of June, and I only hadn’t recommended it before because I wasn’t sure how you went about recommending an anthology. Here’s what I concluded, though:

Read it.

Enough?

DFD was an amazing collection of short stories from an even better line-up of authors. I can honestly say I read them all in one night and loved them. That’s not to say that I didn’t have my favorites oh i did and so I’ll use them to tell you why you should definitely read this.

So, my Four Favs:

Night Swimming by Beth Revis: I cried tears of blood reading this. It takes place in the world of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, on the generational ship Godspeed, and basically took my heart out for a nice little walk and then stepped on it. I won’t spoil anything but it tells the story from an ambiguous POV and half the fun was figuring out who it was. (The other half was getting your emotions toyed with, of course.)

I Gave You My Love by the Light of the Moon by Sarah Rees Brennan: Or, as I like to refer to it, IGYMLbtLotM. no, i don’t really refer to it like that Oh, SRB does it again, what’s new? This was the first short story of the anthology I read and it was fantabulous. How anyone can pack so much character development in so few pages will always be a mystery to me. Vampires? Werewolves? Tropes standing of their heads? Yes, please.

Stillwater by Valerie Kemp: I’d never read Valerie Kemp before, but when I turned my electronic page and saw that the story was over I was horrified. I literary just sat them going wat. The short story was just unf. Mind-bending and beautiful and mysterious and engaging. Is there more to this? Because I kind of need a whole book out of it now.

Naughty or Nice by Myra McEntire: McEntire is another author I’d never read, but I loved loved this short story. I think out of all the stories, I might have connected with her characters the most. And the mythology behind it was fascinating. Props for flawless dialogue as well, it had me laughing and clutching my iPad for longer than was altogether normal.

And these are just some of the stories that I loved. Like I said, DEFY THE DARK is amazing—hands down the best anthology I’ve read so far.

[Trisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prequel to Forest of Hands and Teeth - but based on the setting being the amusement park, I think it's a prequel to book 2: The Dead-Tossed Waves

and I loved it. I really did! It's so crazy to read these stories from before or as the zombies are coming and then to read the actual books about after they've come and how they've lived with them.

this is a great addition to the series and I'm glad I read it!

[☠︎︎༒︎✞︎ ѕℓιм ☠︎︎༒︎✞︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok

Rate this a 4 I did read two books out of this book. I only brought it so I can read Almost Normal that went with the other short stories to forest of hands and teeth. I mean I wanted to read the other stories but I got bored! So anyways I'll rate this for almost normal which I enjoyed that book and for the first book that was in the beginning of the book it was something about sleepwalking I did enjoyed that even though it was mad short and I wanted that boy to wake up and see her for goodness sake. And almost normal was mad short to smh. But I did enjoyed it.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the best anthology I've ever read.

That wasn't something I was expecting. Sure, it has two authors I enjoy, but it also has a few that I don't, and the premise... wasn't great, exactly. But this book fortunately surprised me, by offering some of the most consistently good short stories I've ever read, trumping my previous favorite, Geektastic. It's also one of only two anthologies where I didn't DNF a single story. So, here's a story by story review.

Sleepstalk by Courtney Summers: 4/5
Courtney Summers was one of two authors that tempted me to read this book, and thankfully, it doesn't disappoint a bit. This story was about a girl stalking a boy she liked by taking advantage of his sleepwalking (hence the title), making it fantastically creepy. The main character was also interesting, and her voice was captured well. This made it very psychologically realistic and interesting, comparable to Edgar Allan Poe. The one problem is the ending, which was pretty nonsensical and unexplained. Other than that, this was a phenomenal short story. I was disappointed by Summers recently, in Some Girls Are, but this was thankfully strong.

Nature by Aprilynne Pike: 5/5
I was all set to hate this one. I've heard all about the terrible writing and fucked up eating attitudes of Wings, and I was ready to have that kind of experience here. But actually, this was one of the better stories in the anthology. Sure, it opens with the protagonist intentional starving herself, but there was a necessary, plot-relevant reason for it, it was presented as unhealthy rather than natural, and the rest of the story shows her having a perfectly natural and healthy attitude towards food and sweets. The protagonist was interesting all around, actually. The plot was equally strong, with lots of thought-provoking social commentary - surprising for a story so short. The writing was also good; not at all awkward and adverb-heavy, like I expected. The one problem I had was the worldbuilding. Basically, in this world, there are three classes of people: the ones who do menial labor, the ones who do business jobs, and the ones who breed. (Our protagonist is one of the ones who breed, of course.) Polygamy (and, it's implied, rape) is encouraged among the breeders, but they're not actually assigned; they're given plenty of freedom. This provided plenty of opportunity for the social commentary I discussed above, but it didn't make much sense. First off, the people who did each job were determined by body type and weight; so wouldn't all the non-breeder people be bred out after a few generations? Also, why give people the freedom to not breed at all if they want? Wouldn't that result in a lack of population? But other than that, it was a very good story, one of the better ones in the anthology.

The Dark Side of the Moon by Dia Reeves: 5/5
This story takes place in a fantastical town called Portero, where the main character decides to take the Night Trolley, mostly to impress his girlfriend. This particular town was built incredibly well, this being probably my favorite aspect of the short story. Instead of relying on infodumps, Reeves spreads out the information evenly throughout the story. We get new information from plot-relevant incidents, rather than plot-stopping dumps. This kept the plot going, and more importantly, it make Portero constantly mysterious and fascinating. It also made the worldbuilding feel complete; I didn't feel like I got everything, of course, but I got a reasonable amount for a short story, and it all felt cohesive. As I read the story, I kept thinking, yes, this is how worldbuilding should be done, this is how you should create a setting. It was also funny, for the most part, in a way most of the anthology wasn't. I mean, tell me you didn't laugh out loud at this, set at a fancy diner:

Cado wanted to stick a fork in his eye, but there were four to choose from, and the Markhams would sneer if he chose wrong.

Gotta love good comedy, rare as it is for YA. The story was also well-written, if not particularly good, the characters were interesting and realistic, and most of the plot was engaging. That said, the night trolley itself was pretty anticlimatic; I was expecting something huge from it, but it wasn't nearly as weird and disturbing as I expected. Nevertheless, this was an exceptional short story.

Ghost Town by Malinda Lo: 5/5
Malinda Lo was the other author that convinced me to read this anthology, and like Summers, she didn't disappoint a bit. The plot was told backwards in time, which is a pretty risky choice, but it worked. The scary part of this quasi-horror story occurred towards the beginning, and it was set up effectively that the (very interesting) protagonist seemed creepier and creepier to the reader as the story went on, despite her remaining sympathetic throughout. The writing was also very good, as is typical for Lo. She has a wonderful ability to capture what it's like to be a teenager along with creating a suspenseful fantasy or science fiction work, and it's on display here, as strong as ever.

Eyes in the Dark by Rachel Hawkins: 2/5
This one has some potential, but it ruins it by using every single horror movie cliche in the book. Stop me if you've heard this one before: our particular heroine goes off into the woods in her car to make out with her boyfriend. (Terror at Make-Out Point, Auto Erotica, and Death by Sex? Check, check, check.) Suddenly, they see a pair of red eyes in the dark and hear a sound. (Red Eyes, Take Warning? Check.) The girl (playing the role of TThe Chick? Check.) wants to leave, but the boy (who's Too Dumb to Live? Check.) decides to take a look at the monsters. (Curiosity Killed the Cast? Check.) They decide to drive away, and despite a key fumble, (My Car Hates Me? Check.) they manage to get out. But then they go back in, thus continuing the plot.

Alright, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but there was still an enormous number of cliches in the story. That's what ruined it for me. It doesn't help that it was badly paced (a full half of the story was dedicated to making out with the guy before the horror started), the cliches ruined any potential creepiness. The writing was largely fine, but other than that, I can't say I was a fan of this story.

Stillwater by Valerie Kemp: 3/5
This was a story I wanted to like. The setting was wonderfully mysterious, and the plot managed to slowly and cohesively build up to its exact nature. But much as I liked the setting, it also made up my biggest problem. This story was set in Stillwater, a small town in Nowhere, U.S.A. It was characterized exactly as you'd expect such a town to be: the people act like hicks, the economy is based entirely on farming, and there are undertones of racism. (Not Kemp's racism, just the town's.) The narrator's voice was done exactly as you'd expect it to be done based on the town. This leads to some horribly sterotypical turns of phrase, like this:

I'm not gonna lie, [my family's past] ain't pretty. Although if you ask my folks, they'll say they don't know what you're talking about. Our ancestors weren't bad people. They didn't break the law or nothing.

Couldn't Kemp have painted the setting with more subtlety? Couldn't she have did something less stereotypical? The narrator himself was pretty interesting, but his voice, and his setting were too badly rendered for me to fully enjoy it.

I Gave You My Love By the Light of the Moon by Sarah Rees Brennan: 1/5
All I can say here is that I've never liked Brennan's writing. I read The Demon's Lexicon, and I even started (but didn't finish) The Demon's Covenant. The writing was just as terrible as ever; same awkward turns of phrase, stringiness and runnyness, same odd avoidance of contractions. It also led to some rather important confusions, most notably making me think that Stephen was a werewolf, rather than a vampire. Speaking of Stephen's vampirism, the humour was as bland as ever. I don't find predictable sarcasm funny, nor do I find it funny for a vampire to quote Dracula. (How original! Nobody has ever thought of doing that before!) Anyway, the plot was pretty boring, too - there wasn't much of a conflict, and it didn't really go anywhere - and Berthe was a bland narrator. Brennan is an author that, simply put, I can't enjoy. This only convinces me further.

Night Swimming by Beth Revis: 5/5
I've heard a lot of great things about Across the Universe; thankfully, this story doesn't disappoint. It's actually set in the same world as Across the Universe, guaranteeing me one good thing about the series: the worldbuilding will be good. Revis does a great job of quickly setting up how people live on the generation ship she created, and the world is cohesive and logical. Moreover, the main character of the story was well-developed and interesting; Revis perfectly captured the feeling of an unrequited crush in him. The writing was also refreshingly good, and the plot was interesting and unpredictable. The unpredictability really climaxes in the ending; I won't spoil it for you, but the ending was surprising and interesting. This is overall an exceptionally good story, even in an anthology full of very good stories.

The Sunflower Murders by Kate Espy: 1/5
This story came into the anthology by winning a contest, as it turns out. But the story left me thinking, "Is this really the best entry they got?" Because honestly, I'd label this as one of the worst stories in the anthology. There wasn't much of a plot, for one; it's about the murder of Tasha, the narrator's friend, but Espy makes the mistake of putting her murder at the very beginning of the story and making the rest a 'How We Got Here' situation. This drained the story of any potential suspense and intrigue. This also made the eventual ending jarring; I almost felt like it was from a completely different story, rather than it being a natural conclusion to what I saw. It doesn't help that the narrator's voice was badly rendered - it went from being teenagerish to literary in the space of a paragraph pretty consistently - and the narrator herself was uninteresting. There was some potential here, but the story fell flat almost entirely for me.

Almost Normal by Carrie Ryan: 4/5
I was a bit nervous for this one. I've read a couple of Ryan's short stories in the past - one from Foretold (which I liked) and one from Zombies vs. Unicorns (which I DNFed). Thankfully, this turned out to be one of Ryan's better ones. My one complaint was that it was pretty rushed; I kind of wish Ryan had chosen to write a full novel, or at least a novella out of this idea. Because really ,it was a great idea. The plot concerns a zombie apocalypse - as many of Ryan's stories seem to - and the main characters get stuck at the top of a roller coaster when they come. The plot was pretty rushed, but the characters were excellently developed, and the writing was great. This one had a lot of unfulfilled potential, but it was still an enjoyable short story.

There's Nowhere Else by Jon Skovran: 5/5
This is probably my second favorite story in the anthology. My favorite thing about it was probably the narrator's voice, which kind of reminded me of The Perks of Being a Wallflower; childish and innocent, to contrast with the harsher world being described. And this world is definitely harsh - the narrator has an abusive father and a mother who's implied to be alcoholic. The plot lapsed a little into escapism from this, but it was delightfully weird enough that I didn't mind. It helped that the escapism was used for metaphor, rather than something more straightforward. (Yes, I'm referring to Harry Potter.) And the narrator was also very interesting. This was a very successful story, overall, and I would love to see more like this.

Naughty or Nice by Myra McEntire: 2/5
This, in contrast, was one of my least favorites. It centers around a holiday that I've forgotten the name of. This holiday was barely given a half-assed explanation - I had no idea what exactly they were celebrating and what the traditions of it were. Combined with an incredibly contrived plot, the story felt confusing and uninteresting. The boring characters didn't help - I couldn't be roused to care about any of them. The writing was the one saving grace, it being fairly good. Other than that, however, this was one of the worst stories in the anthology.

Shadowed by Christine Johnson: 3/5
I felt like this story was written by a good author that only gave a half-assed attempt at writing a good short story. I'm not familiar with Johnson's works, so I can't confirm this, but it seems like a likely explanation. The premise was packed with potential - basically, this girl's shadow wants to kill her - and combined with Johnson's excellent writing, I thought the story might've been able to come through. Unfortunately, the plot fell flat for me - the resolution was incredibly predictable and rather cliched. The worldbuilding was also a little lazy - it felt incomplete, really. I'm sick of books and stories that think they can just default to a vaguely medieval setting and call it their world. The worldbuilding here is incomplete - even a short story needs some logic, and this has none. The main character, however, was interesting, and like I said, the writing was great. It's not a bad short story, overall, just a tired, predictable one.

Now Bid Time Return by Saundra Mitchell: 2/5
This one was written by the editor of the anthology. I'm always nervous going into stories like these, because I'm never sure if they've been properly edited. The writing was indeed awkward, as I suspected it would be. It was written in third person, but it still tried to imitate the voice of its narrator - this is a technique I've never been fond of, because it always ends up sounding awkward and forced. It's especially annoying here, because there's no good reason to write it in third person - if your story focuses on only one person, and you've developed a distinct voice for that person, then by all means, let that person narrate. The main character herself was interesting, but the plot fell flat for me as well - I found it too contrived and low-tension. There was some potential, especially in the protagonist, but it ultimately fell flat.

The Moth and the Spider by Sarah Ockler: 5/5
This was probably my favorite story in the anthology. What can I say? When someone handles a suicidal person as well as Ockler did, it always ends up being a favorite of mine.

That's all I have time for, now, but I'll finish this review later.

[Kaleena Melotti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Defy the Dark is a collection of sixteen short stories all by different authors. They're all stories of what happens when you're in the dark, but vastly different writing styles and genres. I don't quite know how to rate/review a collection of stories. Some I loved, some I didn't, and some I just... didn't get, I guess? So, rather than give a detailed review of each (they're short... I don't want to give anything away), I'm going to give a snippet of my thoughts on each.

Intro by Saundra Mitchell
Technically, I guess I don't have to review her letter to the readers, but it's worth noting that I feel like she was talking directly to me... like she made this book just for me to read... and thus, I had an instant connection to the book which made it all the more enticing to read.

Sleepstalk by Courtney Summers
This was an exceptional story for me. Probably one of my favorites. The writing was super eerie. And, I understood what was going on in the story, but I was confused at the same time. I guess I didn't understand the "why" of the main character's actions. Last sentence, BAM, hits you like a truck, and it is perfection.

Nature by Aprilynne Pike
I took notes on each of the stories I read, just so I wouldn't lose thoughts I had by the time I was done with this collection, and I literally called this dystopian story "a little gem." I thought it was a fantastic post-apocalyptic tale of what happens when you hand over a large freedom to the higher powers that be in the name of rebuilding. Honestly, this felt like a set-up for something larger. I could see this short story being an awesome novel.

The Dark Side of the Moon by Dia Reeves
Okay, this one... The writing was beautiful. I will say that. But, other than that, I didn't understand it. I got some of the ideas about this story. Boy (Cado) likes girl (Patricia), girl likes boy, but it's taboo for some reason (I'm really not sure why). Or, Patricia's parents don't like them together. So, he decides to do something to impress them. Unfortunately, all I got from that point on was the town is weird and there's a Night Trolley that when people ride, they don't come back. That's his bright idea - ride the Night Trolley, live to tell about it, and impress the folks. Unfortunately, even though I get the premise of how it ends, I still have no solid clue of what went on or what you were supposed to get about the ending.

Ghost Town by Malinda Lo
This one was alright. Although, it centers on a strong female character who is lesbian and prefers to look like a boy. And, with a name like Tyler (called Ty), she now expects the behavior that she gets in her new small town. I felt that was a nice change of pace from the usual characters I read. The story wasn't anything spectacular. There were three sections to the story and they were backwards in time sequence. (i.e. The first section was the last thing that happened, the second section was the second thing that happened, and the last section was the first thing that happened.) The sequence of events did nothing to add to or detract from the story. I would have preferred it in time order, but even as is, it was still a run of the mill ghost story with a kick butt main character that I liked. Her inner dialogue was highly amusing.

Eyes In the Dark by Rachel Hawkins
This was a good story. As I was reading, I felt like this would be a perfect story to tell around a campfire in the middle of the woods! The suspense was good. The situation that the characters were in was spectacular. I just had a problem with the characters/development. Without giving much away, I couldn't stand Sam (the main female), Kelley (the main male), or their "relationship" (or rather lack thereof since Sam actually has a boyfriend).

Stillwater by Valerie Kemp
This was probably one of my absolute favorites out of this entire book. Imagine Groundhog Day meets Under the Dome and you've got literary short story gold! Mix into that the fact that the Reese families have a big split in their family tree going back to before the Civil War starting with the ax of infidelity. Half the Reese family is white, half the Reese family is black with Pruitt Reese and Delilah Reese trapped in Stillwater, in the middle of it all. They have to escape before they go to sleep, but can they?

I Gave You My Love by the Light of the Moon by Sarah Rees Brennan
This story was good, but it wasn't exceptional. It was just another "teen" vampire/teen werewolf story for me. I don't know if I'm desensitized to them at this point, since they're all the rage now or what. Don't get me wrong, the writing was wonderful, and it truly was a likable story for the most part. Honestly, I'll read more by the author if I get the chance, as I did like her style.

Night Swimming by Beth Revis
This one was very sci-fi. I liked it, but I felt like I got a chapter of a novel to preview. The story developed beautifully, thinking it was headed one direction, and with one paragraph, it turned everything around in my mind. But, then it ended and I was left wanting more. I wanted the knowledge the characters had/were learning. I was intrigued by the entire thing. The one downfall to this was the main character was unknown (no gender/no details/completely nondescript), which both annoyed me, as well as added to the feeling that this was a chapter out of something larger, in which the main character was fully explained.

Almost Normal by Carrie Ryan
This was another favorite of mine. Amid a zombie apocalypse, the dead bearing down on them relentlessly, four teenage friends decide to go to an amusement park for one last fling. Everyone knows they're fighting a losing battle and the normalcy of everything they're doing is basically a moot point. But, when the world is crashing down, don't we all turn to the mundane for comfort?

There's Nowhere Else by Jon Skovron
This story felt awkward to me. I just couldn't get into it. The premise is fantastic, but I can't really say anything without spoiling it. It was the writing style, but I can't pin down exactly what. I did love the voodoo feel to the whole thing though.

Naughty or Nice by Myra McEntire
I've probably watched too many episodes of Tales from the Crypt, but I couldn't help feel like this would be a perfect story for an episode! Bex and Henry are in Bavaria for the holidays and they find out the story of Krampus who doles out punishment and certain death like Santa gives presents. The only way to escape being his dinner is to steal his sack and get away. Perfect length, perfect pacing, perfect characters. BRAVO to Myra McEntire!

Shadowed by Christine Johnson
The anti-fairytale of the bunch, it's the story of a duke's daughter locked in a tower to keep her safe from her shadow, who seeks to kill her. It was one of the more well-written stories of the book and despite not liking stories of knights/princesses and the like, I really enjoyed this.

Now Bid Time Return by Saundra Mitchell
Dacey gets to travel to a quaint cabin in Norway with a camera to photograph the northern lights that she never really cared about. She cared about getting away. She cared about one glorious week where the sun never came up. Dacey is an insomniac. But, a "glitch" in the photographs she takes shows her Kristian, a cute Scandinavian boy that she falls for. I understand the main ideas of the story, but I'm confused on the sequence of it. I'm just not sure if it was paranormal or time-travel or whether Dacey or Kristian was the ghost/time traveler. (Honestly, I may just be thinking way too hard about it...)

The Moth and the Spider by Sarah Ockler
I really, really didn't like this story. Cali is apparently like an inmate in her own home after an attempted suicide followed by a month-long stay at a center. After everyone is asleep, she answers the phone that has been ringing all night and that's where the weird gets weirder. I didn't really understand the phone call or the conversations Cali had with the girl at the Eastport Juvenile Detention Facility while she's writing a suicide note and watching a spider spin a web. I was thoroughly confused with the whole thing.

Where the Light Is by Jackson Pearce
I loved this one. Probably because I'm from PA and this is coal mine country... It centers on Will, a coal miner, like his Daddy before him, straight out of high school. He discovers Ennor, a Knocker, and she's a faery of the mine. Knockers reward respectful miners, while causing cave-ins to kill those who aren't. It's a story of friendship, and finally love, in the dark, where things that "can't" happen, do and a man becomes a hero.

This Was Ophelia by Tessa Gratton
For me, this one was strange. It's kind of a rehash of Shakespeare's Hamlet, but with gender-confused (or perhaps not confused - I was) characters in the 1920's when issues of that nature were taboo. Ophelia goes to clubs at night, dressed as a guy, calling herself "O" where she falls in mutual love with Hal King, only Hal doesn't know O is Ophelia. It's a dizzying ride of self-discovery, discovery, and testing boundaries, but I felt it stopped too short.

Overall, I absolutely loved most of these stories. This was (with few exceptions) a wonderful collection of what can happen... if you just turn off the light.

[Cyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

GENRE: YA Paranormal
THEME: Romance, Magic, Paranormal, and Science Fiction
RECEIVED: Epic Reads
BLOG: http://seeingnight.blogspot.com/

REVIEW:
I haven’t read or reviewed many anthologies before and to me it’s hard to pinpoint everything without spoiling too much. I’m going to try my best and give an idea of what I enjoyed about each one and hopefully it will help recommend some great story telling. At the beginning it does mentioned that there was a contest for a new author to debut their story in this book. For me since I have the ARC I didn’t get a chance to read it, so I look forward to reading reviews on that story when Defy the Dark is released.

The first story is Steepstalk by Courtney Summers: This was a twisted tale that confused me at first. The reader follows a young girl who is obsessed with a boy she as fallen for but can never be with. The protagonist has an interesting POV and will take the reader through her obsessed thoughts. I loved the ending because it left me wanting more and so curious to what she’s going to do next. Let’s just say I wouldn’t want to be on this girl’s bad side.

The next is called Nature by Aprilynne Pike: Pike is an author whom I have read before so I’m familiar with her writing. She created a unique dystopian world. The readers will follow one girl who is just at the right age to be chosen on her new path, Nature, Nurture, or Labor, she has been chosen for Nature. I liked the protagonist and watching how the world was structured. But I wasn’t able to connect as well as I would have like with the characters and it was missing something in the plot that I cant put my finger on.

The Dark Side of the Moon by Dia Reeves: I haven’t read anything by Reeves before. This was an interesting paranormal story following two teens that are at band camp. It was actually a fun story with magical elements and a boy trying to impress his girlfriend’s parents and this is where things get a little crazy.

Ghost Town by Malinda Lo: I’ve read a lot of great reviews on Lo’s books but never actually read anything by her yet. This story was super creepy, but as a fan of the television show Ghost Hunters it was definitely one of my favorites. This story follows the new girl in town Ty, who is hurt by a mean prank by a girl at school. There is the story of a hunted place where two women died and Ty comes in contact with something eerie.

Eyes in the Dark by Rachel Hawkins: I really enjoy Hawkins Hex series and was super excited to read her short. This was another paranormal story that follows two young teens that get into a scary situation, let just say creepy red eye creatures in the dark forest. My only issue with this story was I didn’t like the female character that does something immature.

Stillwater by Valerie Kemp: Loved this story, I felt this was the most science fiction among all the paranormalish shorts. It’s about a small and strange town in Texas who has two families that are connected. From each family there are two children who discover a secret and pretty much cant fall asleep or they might forget about it. Kemp is a new author I’m looking forward to reading more of her books. Stillwater could defiantly be a full-length story and it left me wanting to know what happens next.

I Gave You My Love By the Light of the Moon by Sarah Rees Brennan: I can never resist a werewolf story and a bonus there are vampires. It has romance elements and about two teens meeting while camping. The boy helps the girl who was bitten, which I’m sure everyone can piece it all together. Even though I feel its been done before I liked this one just because it’s a classic paranormal tale and really well written.

Night Swimming by Beth Revis: I felt I was missing something when I started this one. I actually gave up because I just couldn't get into the story. This was a DNR short for me.

Almost Normal by Carrie Ryan: Ah! I loved how intense this was and really gets the adrenaline pumping. Let’s just say I’m not a zombie fan and would be in major freak out mode if this happened. Once again following a group of teens at the beginning of an apocalypse. There are bits of romance elements but we get some insight on to how scary their lives are about to get.

There's Nowhere Else by Jon Skovron: This story has some great potential for a full length. I loved the idea of body jumping and not understanding that there may be consequences for this. I wished this one were a bit longer because I felt I was missing something at the end… or I just wanted to read more. But great male lead who has to make a tough choice.

Naughty or Nice by Myra McEntire: I haven’t read McEntires young adult series but this one made me really want to start it. I loved the creepy monster aspect that creates an odd situation for two teens Bex and Henry. Both have been friends since they were little and can’t wait for their school trip that brings them a little more adventure than they hoped. This is another one I wished was a bit longer, I liked the romance and humor that was much needed for me with the dark tone of the other stories.

Shadowed by Christine Johnson: More unanswered questions but still an interesting story. A fantasy tale with some romance that is a bit insta-love. A curse must be broken, a bit of light a dark elements and a two character I really liked. As I said this anthology is full of endings that are left with questions, this ending was a bit of a bummer.

Now Bid Time Return by Saundra Mitchell: Another favorite, I always wanted to read a good story that has the myth of the Northern Lights. This one follows Dacey whom has won a contest to take picture of the lights. She ends up meeting a boy that isn’t from her time and seems to know her. Love, love this one! I hope Mitchell will write a longer version of this; she’s a great writer that I’ll be watching out for.

The Moth and the Spider by Sarah Ockler: This was probably the darkest story out of all, dark being the not scary type. Cali the protagonist is in a dark place in her life feeling lonely, until she gets a call. I’m not really sure what this story was aiming for but I wasn’t too fond of it.

Where the Light Is by Jackson Pearce: Pearce is a great character writer; I felt this showed a little hint at what he does best. Two characters from two different worlds, a young miner named Will who becomes friends with a creature called a Knocker. Great writing and something I would love to read more about.

Lastly, This Was Ophelia by Tessa Gratton: This was probably one of my least favorites, which is sad since I love Grattons writing. It’s about a girl who likes to dress as a boy who falls for a guy who likes kissing boys. The young girl “O” likes the freedom she gets from being a male but everything changes when she meets the mayor’s son. I liked the character “O” but the story fell flat with Halden the mayor’s son. I haven’t read Hamlet but I’ve heard this is a take on that story.

RECOMMENDATION:
As I have said before I haven’t read many anthologies so this is my small glimpse of the stories I liked and disliked. I highly recommend checking out each of these authors as the all have something special in their writing.

[Laurie Treacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first have to begin my review by stating I have grown to love reading anthologies. Not only do these collections provide readers the opportunity to discover new writers, the shorter works are fabulous when we don't have time to read an entire novel. Plus, I enjoy the variety of works and diverseness of subject matter made available. Defy the Dark contains an amazing array of stories, some I loved and others I liked. I'm on an anthology kick now--I'm reading Shards and Ashes (dystopian YA). Here are my thoughts:

Sleepstalk by Courtney Summers
Oh, this is typical Courtney Summers. Different with a twist. A young girl "stalks" a guy by waiting outside his house late at night and finds out he sleepwalks. Each night she waits, he occasionally shows up, and she follows him on his travels. We also learn exactly what happened between these two. Very creepy, has a dreamy feel, and I don't trust the narrator. Very good (3.5/5)

Nature by Aprilynne Pike
Kylie lives in a totalitarian dictatorship and in this "well ordered community" she learns she is a 'perfect' Nature (she has roomy hips for childbirth). She doesn't want to be a Nature. When the hottest guy in the community begins paying her attention, she's surprised to find out why. I found this one slow going and it took time to figure out this 'new' society but by the end I thought it was sweet and different.
Good (3/5)

The Dark Side of the Moon by Dia Reeves
Offbeat and different, this is the story of Cado and Patricia, a couple described as "the Bonnie and Clyde of the classical world" and Cado's wish to ride the night trolley.
Good (3/5)

Ghost Town by Malinda Lo
Ty, a LGBT girl, has recently moved from California to the small town of Pinnacle. McKenzie befriends Ty, 'leading' her on at times until Ty decides to stop being nice. I loved Ty's voice, was enticed by the fast pace, and wouldn't mind reading more about Ty.
Very good (4/5)

Eyes in the Dark by Rachel Hawkins
Sam meets the hot Kelley Hamilton outside her job one night. He drives her to Cater Creek Bridge in Alabama which has been closed off. All she wants to do is make out with this hottie, he wants to explore the local urban legend. He's driving. She's cheating on her boyfriend. Suffered a bit from insta-lovelust. Entertaining, fast paced, even though I disliked Sam.
Good (3.5/5)

Stillwater by Valerie Kemp
This story made me sit up and look up the author's name. One of my favorites in this book. Pruitt Reese , 17, is a normal teen guy, makes deliveries for his father in the small town of Stillwater (population 319). There are two sides to the Reese family and each side hates the other. A bike accident and Pruitt is seeing a sibling who doesn't exist. Small town life gets a creeptacular makeover in this story. I wanted to read more and see these worlds explored further.
Loved it! (5/5)

I Give You My Love by the Light of the Moon by Sarah Rees Brennan
Berthe gets sick in a coffee shop while a strange guy watches her. Her condition worsens, forcing her to leave her friends. Once outside, said guy follows her and offers his help. Each is different and he assists her in her new 'life.' This oddball story about love and acceptance is so sweet, humorous and whimsical. I liked it.
Very good (3.5/5)

Night Swimming by Beth Revis
I haven't read this author's books and felt this story had to deal with one of her books. It took some time to get into it and was my least favorite.
Can't rate since I felt lost

Almost Normal by Carrie Ryan
Sarah, Wylie, Bart and Connor go to the amusement park at night seeking to do something regular like ride the Screaming Terror Coaster. Except this world isn't normal anymore and the coaster lives up to its name as zombies swarm the park.
Good (3/5)

There's Nowhere Else by Jon Skovron
The only male author with a story. Sebastian has dreams where he's someone else, someplace else. When he is able to interact in one dream with his mind controlling the body of another, he decides to test out his new found talent further. The next body greets him, calling him a "night walker." I liked the idea of this but thought it needed to be longer.
Good (3/5)

Naughty or Nice by Myra McEntire
Best friends Henry and Bex take a trip to Bavaria with their private school. While there, they learn about the lore of Krampus (tourist eating monster). Both teens hang out, Henry hitting on a local girl while Bex tryies to attract the bartender when all she wants is Henry. The American teens get more than they bargained for with the locals and get real close to a true legend. Will they survive? Strange, entertaining, but left me with many questions.
Good (3.3/5)

Shadowed by Christine Johnson
This fantasy has tremendous potential but lacked enough depth to make it fully believable. Esme is restricted to living in the tower of her family's castle. She is cursed and her shadow has the ability to kill her whenever she steps into the light. Watching a knight battle outside, she finds him attractive. Insta-love between them and I wondered how much of the knight she could see from the distance of her window to the ground.
Good (3.3/5)

Now Bid Time Return by Saundra Mitchell
Dacey wins a one week trip to Norway to photograph the aurora borealis on polar night. Out at dinner, she is told the story of the legendary Kristian, and learns the cottage she is staying at was built by him for his true love. Soul mates and true love make this a cute story.
Very Good (3.5/5)

The Moth and the Spider by Sarah Ockler
Cali has been back home for two weeks. She's on medication (suicide?) and her doctor has described her behavior as attention-seeking. She becomes fixated with the moth and spider in her window. Another of my least favorites.
Can't rate, didn't get it

Where the Light Is by Jackson Pearce
My second favorite! Will is a Middleview boy and like his father before him is now a miner. Dad was a hero but Will hates the mines. While working he hears sounds and discovers Ennor, a "Knocker" who are the faeries of the mines. They become friends over time. Friendship, trust, love and respect for the earth make this a truly entertaining and fully fleshed out favorite.
Loved it (5/5)

This Was Ophelia by Tessa Gratton
She dresses like a guy and hits the popular clubs of the 1920's in New York City. "Call me 'O'" she says. One night, she attracts the attention of the dead mayor's son, Hal King. They fall in love but Hal doesn't know her true gender. They correspond, their families are celebrating their union until these two come face to face. A wacky love story. A highlight are the references to the madness of Shakespeare's Ophelia. Enjoyed it but was left wondering.
Liked it (4/5)
(http://www.readergirlsblog.com/2013/0...)

[Kim Maule · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a big fan of this collection of short stories. There were several "new to me" authors whose other work I'm now determined to track down. In the interest of not spoiling any of stories, I'm not going to provide summaries of each one, just my own overall impressions.

Sleepstalk by Courtney Summers

This was seriously creepy and a great start to an anthology about darkness. I love everything Courtney Summers writes, so I wasn't surprised that I enjoyed this.

Nature by Aprilynne Pike

This was my first experience with Aprilynne Pike, and I loved it. I desperately wish she would turn this short story into a full length novel. I loved the dystopian concept and I was so bummed when this story ended. (This is my only complaint with short stories... when I find one I really love, I always wish for it to be developed into a full novel and sadly, that never seems to happen. Sadface.)

The Dark Side of the Moon by Dia Reeves

This story was so, so weird, and I started out having a hard time connecting to it because of that weirdness. By the end of the story I found myself disappointed that it was over, so I guess the weirdness won me over! Days after reading, I was still thinking about this story - definitely a good sign. I was intrigued by the idea of this Texas town with kind of tears in reality where darkness could slip through. Chilling.

Ghost Town by Malinda Lo

This was great. I liked the backwards timeline, I loved that it was about a haunted house, and I liked the inclusion of a lesbian as the main character. Everything moved really quickly; it was very plot-driven.

Eyes in the Dark by Rachel Hawkins

This one was kind of your basic teen slasher flick with a twist... but I enjoyed it, and it definitely gave me a building feeling of dread as I was reading it. It ended before *I* wanted it to, but that worked for the story so I'm okay with it.

Stillwater by Valerie Kemp

This might have been my favorite story in the collection. I really, really wish this was a full novel. I had so many questions when it ended and I think there's more than enough material here for a full length novel. I need to know what happens to Delilah and Pruitt! I want to meet Matt! Augh, don't leave me hanging!

I Gave You My Love by the Light of the Moon by Sarah Rees Brennan

For me, this one was a good read, if not super original. That said, I know a lot of people are kind of "over" vampires and werewolves, but there were a few aspects of this story that I thought were different and nicely done. I liked the shy, nerdy vampire and his "unsexy" age (62). I liked the way the romantic relationship developed over time, too.

Night Swimming by Beth Revis

This was a great story, and I liked seeing another little slice of the Across the Universe series. That said, I would kind of like to see Beth Revis write something completely apart from that series.

The Sunflower Murders by Kate Espey

I didn't love this one, but I feel sort of weird saying that because I did love its potential, I just feel like it ended way too quickly. What I read felt like the beginning of a really compelling novel, but I didn't feel like it really worked on its own as a short story. It's frustrating, because I feel like it could be great if fleshed out into a full length novel, and I wish that would happen.

Almost Normal by Carrie Ryan

Loved this, love zombies, love everything Carrie Ryan writes, basically. I've read several short stories that are set in the time period before the events of The Forest of Hands and Teeth, and I feel like I could happily read dozens more. This setting just doesn't seem to get old for me. I;m always so bummed when one of her short stories is over. Moar please!!

There's Nowhere Else by Jon Skovron

This story frustated me because I liked it a lot in the beginning, but toward the end it abruptly got kind of cheesey and I wasn't as into it. It also ended sort of abruptly and way before I wanted it to, which was disappointing.

Naughty or Nice by Myra McEntire

I completely adored this story. I need more Krampus stories!! This was the perfect mix of creepiness, romance and thrill. I loved the foreign setting and the foreign holiday and the best friends doing the awkward "is this something more or isn't it" dance with each other. I pretty much loved every word of this one. Please tell me she has written dozens of books for me to obsessively devour.

Shadowed by Christine Johnson

I enjoyed this story, but I didn't feel like it totally "fit" within this anthology, really only because it was the only midieval setting and that felt a bit jarring. (To be fair though, the author took a really creative angle on the "darkness" theme.) Without getting specific, there was one moment when this story made me want to throw this book violently across the room, but on further reflection that ended up being my favorite element of the story!

Now Bid Time Return by Saundra Mitchell

I loved this story, and I was sad when it ended. It was super creative, and again, the foreign setting really added to the mood and the creepiness. I sometimes struggle with insomnia, and it was kind of cool to see a protagonist with this issue. I haven't read many time travel stories before, but this story made me think that might need to change.

The Moth and the Spider by Sarah Ockler

I go back and forth on this one, which I guess ultimately means I didn't love it. I liked it at first, and I was into the topic of suicide being included in an anthology about darkness. I think my biggest issue with this one was that I didn't really "get" how the phone calls played into the rest of the story, and why or even if they contributed to how the story ended. Not bad, but not a favorite.

Where the Light Is by Jackson Pearce

This one was great. I totally did not expect to love a story about a coal miner, but it snuck up on me and ended up being one of the highlights of the anthology. I've never read anything about the type of fae featured in this story, but it was very compelling. Lots of great imagery in this one.

This Was Ophelia by Tessa Gratton

I have a soft spot for Ophelia, always have, and I've read and loved Tessa Gratton's stories before, so I went into this story expecting to love it. I wasn't disappointed, this was great. I loved Gratton's portrayal of Ophelia, and the chosen setting was perfect for the story. Much love to this one.

Overall I would rate this collection a solid 4 stars. There were some pieces that I adored, quite a few that were solidly good, and not a single one that I disliked outright. Win!

View my full review on my book review blog: http://theavidreader.typepad.com/the-...

[La Coccinelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Defy the Dark offers seventeen (I don't know why the synopsis says sixteen) short stories that all involve things that happen in the dark. I wasn't sure what to expect, genre-wise, from this collection. It's actually a mixed bag: contemporary, science fiction, fantasy, historical...

It's difficult to review and rate a book when it's written by seventeen different people. So I thought I'd share a little bit of my reaction to each story in the collection:

"Sleepstalk" by Courtney Summers - This is an okay story about a girl who follows a sleepwalking boy around at night. You can kind of tell from the title what's actually going on. As short stories go, it's fairly typical and not that original. Though I was glad it at least hinted at a proper ending.

"Nature" by Aprilynne Pike - This one is dystopian. The world-building was pretty good, but this story felt more like a chapter removed from a longer novel. It just ended... and it seemed like a waste of a perfectly good set-up.

"The Dark Side of the Moon" by Dia Reeves - All I can say about this one is, "WTF?!" It's like it's weird for the sake of being weird. I didn't get it.

"Ghost Town" by Malinda Lo - A decent ghost story. It's nothing special, but it's not awful, either.

"Eyes in the Dark" by Rachel Hawkins - This is creepy, but also somewhat unsatisfying due to the characters. Why is Kelley such a jerk and what (if anything) does it have to do with his past... and is it even relevant, or is it just a contrived way to put the characters into a predicament? The suspense in this one is good, but I was left with too many unanswered questions.

"Stillwater" by Valerie Kemp - Creative and original, with a different sort of voice. This is probably my favourite story in the whole collection.

"I Gave You My Love by the Light of the Moon" by Sarah Rees Brennan - I had a hard time even getting through this one. It was something about the syntax; I don't think my brain is compatible with this writer. The plot is nothing too exciting, either. It's just another werewolf/vampire story.

"Night Swimming" by Beth Revis - Much like "Nature", this is a science-fiction story that seems like a chapter taken out of a novel. The big questions aren't answered; important things are only hinted at. I would've liked to read more... but the story ended just as it was getting going.

"The Sunflower Murders" by Kate Espey - This is a short -- and I mean really short -- story written from the point of view of the best friend of a murder victim. There's not a lot to it; it's more like a character sketch than anything else. While it was fairly well written, I didn't find it all that memorable.

"Almost Normal" by Carrie Ryan - Ostensibly taking place in the same world as The Forest of Hands and Teeth, this is mostly just a story about a group of teenagers riding a rollercoaster and their varying reactions to a zombie apocalypse. It's creepy, but I didn't like the characters... especially after the ending.

"Nowhere Else" by Jon Skovron - The writing in this one was really weak. It alternated between sounding like an after-school special and the creative-writing assignment of a sixth-grader. Too much pontificating by the villain. Probably my least favourite of the bunch.

"Naughty or Nice" by Myra McEntire - A weird sort of holiday-themed horror romance that takes place in Bavaria. The characters are interesting, and the pacing is just right for a short story.

"Shadowed" by Christine Johnson - A fairytale-esque story about a cursed daughter of a duke and her murderous shadow. This is one of the stronger stories in the collection.

"Now Bid Time Return" by Saundra Mitchell - This is another of those "I-wish-it-were-longer" stories. The Norwegian setting, an intriguing paranormal story, and a cool dog character are a nice change of pace.

"The Moth and the Spider" by Sarah Ockler - A truncated, pointless tease. This one reminded me of the short stories we had to read in school, where we had to divine meaning with not much to go on. Reading stories like this feels like work.

"Where the Light Is" by Jackson Pearce - This one is a bit different, told from a young male coal miner's point of view. The paranormal element isn't overdone, and there is just the right amount of suspense.

"This Was Ophelia" by Tessa Gratton - A gender-confused, 1920s-era retelling of Hamlet that I didn't quite understand. Is O transsexual? Is Hal gay? Are we even supposed to know, or is it a statement about confusion and gender identity in a time where such issues were suppressed? Oh, and if you're going to retell Hamlet, you can't go and give it a happy-sappy ending. It's a famous Shakespearean tragedy... just sayin'.

All in all, it was a middle-of-the-road collection. There were a few stories I really enjoyed, but most of them were just okay, and there were a couple that I really didn't like. I had hoped to get more enjoyment out of this group of stories.

http://theladybugreads.blogspot.ca/20...

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Punteggio reale: 3,5 stelline.


Ho scoperto - che poi "scoperto" è un parolone - che di fatto le raccolte di racconti dopo un po' mi annoiano. Magari mi godo anche le singole storie, ma ammetto che arrivata ad un certo punto non vedevo l'ora di terminare il libro perché mi sembrava infinito.

Inoltre mi aspettavo qualcosa di più dark oppure horror - ci sono storie realistiche, paranormal, sci-fi, ma di base in alcune mi è proprio mancato il senso di quel "defy the dark" che dà il titolo all'antologia.


Sleepstalk di Courtney Summers - 5/5
Questa è una storia di sonnambulismo e stalking - inizialmente non è ben chiaro come sia la dinamica tra i due personaggi protagonisti ma, man mano che entriamo nel racconto e nella mente della ragazza, ci accorgiamo di quanto i suoi pensieri siano inquietanti. E sì, forse sono di parte perché si tratta della Summers, ma i suoi finali aperti sono sempre i migliori.

Nature di Aprilynne Pike - 4/5
Qui abbiamo una società distopica, ambientata molto avanti nel futuro, viene divisa - secondo test di intelligenza, ma anche misure fisiche del corpo una volta terminato lo sviluppo adolescenziale - tra lavoro intellettuale, mettere al mondo figli e lavoro manuale. La protagonista è molto intelligente, ama la chimica e studiare, ma per un solo centimetro i suoi fianchi e il suo bacino sono della misura perfetta per far parte di coloro che metteranno al mondo la prossima generazione della società. Sebbene non sia "obbligata" a trovare un compagno e a mettere al mondo figli, la società e l'edificio in cui è stata trasferita incoraggiano in maniera non tanto sottile la promiscuità e la riproduzione - ma lei non è l'unica che ha visto i suoi sogni andare in frantumi. Questa storia costituisce un'ottima base per un intero romanzo.

The Dark Side of the Moon di Dia Reeves - 2/5
Non si capisce se il mondo in cui è ambientata la storia sia il nostro oppure no, se sia ambientato nella realtà oppure in un mondo fantastico. Abbiamo una città piena di mostri e nessuno batte ciglio, i cittadini trattano i cadaveri per strada come una cosa normale e si vestono sempre di nero in pubblico perché tanto c'è un funerale ogni giorno - forse abbiamo anche degli alieni. E il nostro protagonista, che viene da un'altra città dove i mostri non esistono ma ne ha appena scoperto l'esistenza dopo una battuta di caccia, è andato a trovare la sua ragazza con cui ha una relazione a distanza e intende provare a lei e alla sua famiglia - che storce il naso di fronte a lui - che non ha paura di nulla e che quindi può affrontare l'unica cosa che spaventa i cittadini di quel paese: un viaggio su un autobus notturno infestato/indemoniato/qualsiasi cosa sia, da cui nessuno fa ritorno. Racconto troppo psichedelico e assurdo per avere una parvenza di senso.

Ghost Town di Malinda Lo - 4/5
Racconto con protagonista LGBT che non segue l'ordine cronologico, ma che parte dalla fine per arrivare all'inizio, su una casa ritenuta stregata e un tentato scherzo durante la notte di Halloween. Creepy il finale - che poi sarebbe la fine della parte iniziale.

Eyes in the Dark di Rachel Hawkins - 4/5
Questo sembra uscito direttamente dalla serie Supernatural. Paesini isolati e circondati da boschi, posti in cui è proibito andare, leggende metropolitane che si rivelano vere... creepy e spaventoso quanto basta, infuriante sotto certi aspetti, dal finale aperto e ambiguo. Peccato che non siano apparsi i fratelli Winchester.

Stillwater di Valerie Kemp - 4/5
Questo è stato molto interessante e sarebbe bello leggerne un intero libro perché la storia ha molto potenziale. Stillwater si dice che sia un cittadina maledetta e ogni giorno sempre uguale - un po' troppo uguale - in un'estate che sembra non finire mai. Pruitt ricorda un fratello che in realtà non ha e trova messaggi criptici incisi sulle rocce al confine di Stillwater che lui è certo di non aver lasciato - mettiamoci poi anche una faida famigliare di mezzo...

I Gave You My Love by the Light of the Moon di Sarah Rees Brennan - 4/5
Qui abbiamo una ragazza appena trasformata in lupo mannaro che ancora non sa cosa sta per succederle alla sua prima luna piena e un ragazzo vampiro che le offre ospitalità nel momento del bisogno. Racconto molto carino e scritto bene.

Night Swimming di Beth Revis - 3/5
Per quanto possa "sostenersi" da sola, è chiaro che questa storia fa parte di un universo più grande e molte cose restano poco chiare - non ho mai letto la serie Across the Universe dell'autrice (dovrebbero essere tre libri e altrettante novelle companion), pertanto mi è risultato tutto alquanto oscuro. Da quello che ho capito, tutto quello che succede qui avviene prima dell'inizio della serie vera e propria e i protagonisti - sebbene stiano viaggiando su una navicella spaziale - vivono in quello che è stato designato come ospedale (di preciso nel reparto psichiatrico) e ogni giorno vengono date loro delle pillole per mantenerli sani. Ma ogni tanto qualcuno sparisce perché diventa troppo triste (ho letto su Goodreads che Selene ha una novella tutta sua in cui si racconta che le è successo) oppure perché è troppo intelligente e ha capito/scoperto cose che non avrebbe dovuto conoscere. La cosa che più mi ha urtata di questa storia è che non si capisce se a narrare sia un maschio oppure una femmina - non abbiamo un nome oppure pronomi e atteggiamenti e pensieri sono ambivalenti.

The Sunflower Murders di Kate Espey - 5/5
Racconto molto breve, mi ha ricordato per certi versi Cracked Up to Be di Courtney Summers e Gli occhi neri di Susan di Julia Heaberlin - anche se non vi posso dire in che maniera o misura. La protagonista vive parecchi sensi di colpa nei confronti della sua migliore amica e il mistero resta irrisolto - ma credo che anche questo verrebbe fuori come un buon mystery thriller, volendo.

Almost Normal di Carrie Ryan - 5/5
Racconto a tema zombie, su un'ultima notte di "normalità" che quattro adolescenti vogliono passare prima dell'ondata di morti viventi che sta per colpire la città dove vivono di lì a qualche giorno. Ovviamente non andrà tutto bene.

There’s Nowhere Else di Jon Skovron - 3/5
Storia di un ragazzo che quando sogna entra nel corpo di altre persone e ne prende possesso. Nessuno gli crede, tutti attribuiscono i suoi sogni alla sua difficile situazione famigliare e ben presto qualcuno - nel sonno - si accorge delle sue abilità. Forze del bene e del male verranno a contenderselo e se il racconto fosse stato più lungo non avrebbe guastato.

Naughty or Nice di Myra McEntire - 4/5
Una vacanza in Bavaria a dicembre si trasforma presto in una lotta per la sopravvivenza quando i turisti vengono attratti dalla gente del posto per sfamare i mostri delle favole che prendono vita. Mai sentito parlare di Krampus?

Shadowed di Christine Johnson - 5/5
Abbiamo un contesto medievale, una ragazza figlia di un duca costretta a vivere nell'oscurità da una maledizione che rende la sua ombra viva e intenzionata ad ucciderla. Finale da mandibola per terra, degno di un film horror.

Now Bid Time Return di Saundra Mitchell - 2,5/5
Storia ambientata in Norvegia, dove una ragazza americana si trasferisce temporaneamente per fotografare le northern lights nel periodo dell'anno in cui il sole non sorge mai per mesi, in un cottage lontano da tutto e da tutti. Inizialmente sembra una storia di vampiri o fantasmi, ma poi si rivela una storia di viaggi nel tempo con un instalove decisamente troppo insta.

The Moth and the Spider di Sarah Ockler - 1/5
Non l'ho proprio capito. Protagonista è Cali, tornata a casa dopo essere stata in cura per un tentativo di suicidio declassato dal dottore come "ricerca di attenzioni". Ora Cali vuole farlo per bene, ha tenuto da parte tutte le pillole che avrebbe dovuto prendere per andare in overdose e sta decidendo il modo migliore di scrivere una lettera di addio, ma viene continuamente distratta dal pensiero di falene, ragni e da una chiamata di una ragazza che ha sbagliato numero - e questa particolare storyline nel racconto non ha né capo né coda. Avrebbe dovuto farmi effetto, toccarmi in qualche modo visti anche i trigger warning, ma invece non è successo - mi ha lasciata perplessa e annoiata.

Where the Light Is di Jackson Pierce - 3,5/5
Will ha ereditato il mestiere del padre - minatore in una cava di carbone - e ha anche addosso una pesante eredità morale perché, un decennio prima, suo padre ha salvato un gruppo di minatori dal crollo di una cava. Ma Will non vuole fare il minatore - peccato che però è il mestiere della sua cittadina, tutti finiscono a fare i minatori e chi se ne va, viene poi disconosciuto anche dalla famiglia. Un giorno però Will scopre che il popolo fairie delle leggende esiste davvero e che forse è la sua occasione per cambiare vita.

This Was Ophelia di Tessa Gratton - 4/5
Sebbene non specificato, siamo negli anni '20 o '30 e Ophelia non si sente a suo agio nel suo corpo - preferisce di gran lunga uscire la sera con i vestiti di suo fratello maggiore e spacciarsi per un ragazzo. Non sa ancora chi è di preciso o chi vorrà essere in futuro - sa solo che nei panni di O si sente davvero chi dovrebbe essere. Ed è una di queste sere che incontra Halden King, figlio del sindaco - la complicità e l'intesa sono immediate, i baci nei vicoli bui sono roventi, ma se venissero scoperti potrebbero venire uccisi. Figurarsi se poi venisse fuori che O è una ragazza che ama travestirsi. Il loro amore è destinato a rimanere nel buio? E come la prenderebbe Hal se scoprisse Ophelia?


Media dell'antologia, quindi?
3,70 stelline.

[Mhairi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted at Mhairi Reads

Defy the Dark is an anthology of stories set under the cover of darkness. Written by seventeen Young Adult authors, the stories cover a wide variety of genres, including dystopia, horror, paranormal, romance and crime. I picked this one up for two reasons:

1. It features stories by my perrenial favourites Sarah Rees Brennan and Carrie Ryan.

2. It has a super pretty cover and I am a total sucker for those.

In addition to some great standalone pieces, Defy the Dark also features expanded world stories from Beth Revis’ Across the Universe and Carrie Ryan’s The Forest of Hands and Teeth series so if you’re a fan of those series I advise you pick up a copy.

It was really hard for me to narrow down the stand out stories for this post so I’ve left it at my Top 6. In no particular order:

Eyes in the Dark by Rachel Hawkins

Very much following the trope of the ‘teens making out in the car’ horror set up but I was still pretty creeped out by the end of it. Not to mention very angry at Kelley for being a total wanker (spoilers).

Stillwater by Valerie Kemp

Every day Pruitt Reese drives the mind-numbing delivery route from his family’s farm around the small town of Stillwater. The only highlight of his day is his neighbour Delilah. Delilah is also on the wrong side of a longstanding family feud and Pruitt knows his romantic notions will never come to pass. But there is something strange about Stillwater and, together, Pruitt and Delilah are going to discover what it is.

Almost Normal by Carrie Ryan

Set in Vista, the town featured in Ryan’s The Dead Tossed Waves, at the start of the zombie apocalypse. Four friends decide to have one last hurrah at the amusement park before the dead descend on their town. Of course, nothing involving zombies ever goes to plan.

Shadowed by Christine Johnson

Esme has lived her whole life in darkness, confined to a tower in her father’s castle thanks to a curse placed on her as a baby. If she ever casts a shadow it turns on her and tries to kill her. She is resigned to a life in the tower until a new (and very handsome) knight arrives to fight in her father’s tournament. Could he be the one to break Esme’s curse?

Where the Light Is by Jackson Pearce

Deep underground a young miner hears a strange knocking sound. Following it he discovers a mysterious girl named Ennor, living in the earth. Although he never sees her they soon become close friends. But trouble is brewing between the miners and Ennor’s family and the pair find themselves caught in the middle.

This Was Ophelia by Tessa Gratton

A beautiful story about being true to youself, not what society expects of you. I was all in for Ophelia/O and Hal’s stuggle to be who they wanted to be. Their love story is wonderful, one of my absolute favourites in this anthology.

4 stars.

Similar reads: After by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, Shards and Ashes by Melissa Marr and Kelley Armstrong.

[Kathryn Grace Loves Horror · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection! Anthologies tend to be a mixed bag, and it's always exciting to find one with more hits than misses. My favorite stories include:

The Dark Side of the Moon by Dia Reeves, where a boy tries to prove himself by facing the one thing in his girlfriend's strange town that everyone's afraid of, the Night Trolley. And in a town where monsters are an everyday encounter, the Night Trolley has to be particularly frightening. This story was wonderfully strange and had me eager to read more about the characters and the town.

Stillwater by Valerie Kemp is the story of an town where every day is eerily similar, and two teens who seek to break free of its spell.

Naughty or Nice by Myra McEntire, two old friends realize their true feelings for each other as they battle Krampus in Bavaria. This one was fun, and my only complaint as I would have liked it to be longer. I think this would have worked better as a full fledged novel.

Where the Light Is by Jackson Pierce-I expected this to be a lot of different, for some reason, but even though it's not what I expected I really enjoyed it. I can't quite put my finger on what exactly I liked so much about it, but it was excellent.

This Was Ophelia by Tessa Gratton. Oh my god, I loved this story. Most stories in the collection were more horror or at least dark sci-fi/fantasy, but this one was romance, which is not usually my cup of tea. However, this story was so beautiful, and I can't stop thinking about it. It was the last story in the collection, but possibly my favorite.

Other gems include "Sleepstalk" by Courtney Summers was a fascinating look inside a disturbed mind, "Ghost Town" by Melinda Lo was good but would have been much better had it been longer, "Nature" by Aprilynne Pike, a dystopia that didn't really fit well with the rest of the collection but was enjoyable nonetheless, "Almost Normal" by Carrie Ryan, a tragic tale of the beginnings of a zombie apocalypse, and "Eyes in the Dark" by Rachel Hawkins, which was entertaining and left me wanting more.

[Krystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars for the stories I loved. I tried, but I couldn’t rate it any higher. In order of appearance:

Sleepstalk (Courtney Summer) – Contemporary – I found the narration a little strange, but once I got into it, I really liked it. The point of view character was very disturbed in a very good way, and the author managed to keep her motives hidden until the very end.

Nature (Aprilynne Pike) – Science Fiction/Dystopian – This isn’t something I would read in novel form, so I was surprised by how much I liked it. I was grounded in the story right away. The plot was really low key and sweet, but I surprisingly didn’t roll my eyes at it.

The Dark Side of the Moon (Dia Reeves) – Um…I think it’s Science Fiction with a touch of Horror – Totally not the last thing you want to read before going to bed! It was quite creepy. I’m not entirely sure about the genre because it starts off normal enough and then gets really weird, then really creepy, then really otherworldly. But I had a good time reading it.

Ghost Town (Malindo Lo) – Paranormal? – I didn’t like this very much as I was reading it. The story starts with the ending and then backtracks and explains everything. That in itself is fine, but the first section was too inconsistent to be enjoyable. She was trying too hard, and what little paranormal elements there were felt contrived and came too late.

Eyes in the Dark (Rachel Hawkins) – Contemporary Horror – This was SO good! Omg! The kind of story I wished I was reading in the dark and ESPECIALLY in the woods before a dying campfire. ^_^ This is exactly the kind of story I was hoping for in this anthology! Tension? Check. Awesomeness? Check. Creepy? Heck Yes! I LOVE Rachel’s writing!! Like so much.

Still Water (Valerie Kemp) – Contemporary with a Supernatural Element – AHH, this was so good, too!! Great concept. Likeable main character. Not creepy at all, but very good. It would make a great novel – I would love to read more! This and “Eyes in the Dark” are my favorites!

I Gave You My Love by the Light of the Moon (Sarah Rees Brennan) – Paranormal – I just didn’t like this. There was some cliche vampire and werewolf stuff with an MC who was 16 but felt 25 and had the worst name for a teenager ever. It felt very chunky and very long. Made worse by awkward writing, pointless and underdeveloped side characters, lots of big words smattered across the page for no reason, and awkward descriptive passages.

Night Swimming (Beth Revis) – Science Fiction – I hate not knowing anything about the point of view character. We don’t even get a name, which is very annoying and distracting. I also hated the faux swear words. I don’t care if it’s sci-fi – it was juvenile. Furthermore, I didn’t know what was going on, so I couldn’t care. It just felt way underdeveloped and like it focused on all the wrong things.

The Sunflower Murders (Kate Espey) – Contemporary – Just when I think I found my least favorite story in the anthology I read this one. This is where the YA voice was starting to get on my nerves. Like, I could not even deal with another stupid-ass, crabby-ass teenager lusting after some other stupid-ass, pointless-ass teenager. It grated on my nerves really bad. And this was really short. Nothing happened. It’s just the main character whining the whole time about what happened some indeterminable amount of time ago. No thanks.

Almost Normal (Carrie Ryan) – Apocalyptic/Sci-fi – This probably isn’t too fair to the author, but I freaking hate zombies. Like, ugh, zombies. But more than that, I hate hormonal teen crap. There is a time for that, and times when it doesn’t bother me at all, but in this story, it was irritating and nauseating. I didn’t even want to read this. That said, it was really well written, and I probably would have liked it if the zombies were replaced by literally anything else. Totally biased.

There’s Nowhere Else (Jon Skovron) – Contemporary Fantasy – I wasn’t crazy about the style of this. The guy journaled and recounted what happened since the last time he journaled. It was interesting…until it got super, duper weird. And I mean SUPER. With a mega weird ending that left me not knowing what to think about it at all. Plus, the mom in the story was very unlikeable and strange.

Naughty or Nice (Myra McEntire) – Paranormal – This was fun. An interesting take on the old Krampus tale. Great descriptions. It wasn’t very realistic – not just the plot, it was also some of the dialogue and character actions – but that’s okay. Fun is fun.

Shadowed (Christine Johnson) – Historical/Paranormal (Medieval) – Ugh! This was such a great premise! It was so unique and terrifying. And then the story just ended, and I was sad to find myself a little confused and very unhappy. The set up had so much potential. It’s endings like this that make me hate short stories. If it was longer, it would have been incredible.

Now Bid Time Return (Saundra Mitchell – Editor of the Anthology) – Paranormal?/Sci-Fi? – (sigh) This story didn’t make any sense to me. I hated how I had to suffer through endless details of EVERY BORING BLASTED INCH of what some random dude looked like, who I couldn’t care about, because he was only in two SHORT scenes. I hated the ending. And by this point in the anthology, I’m not only tired of boring-azz love interests, I’m tired as hell of unresolved endings. Just because you only have a few pages, doesn’t mean you can’t resolve the story. This was super long, in a bad way, and a very poor use of space. And really, does NO ONE on earth know how to write a YA without a damn love interest in it?

The Moth and the Spider (Sarah Ockler) – Contemporary – I didn’t go into this with an open mind. But right after I pleaded for story without a love interest, this was delivered into my hands. It was very low-key and solemn and a little off-beat. It took me a few pages to start liking it, but I liked it by the end, mostly because it was free of hormonal angst, because it wasn’t actually all that great.

Where the Light Is (Jackson Pearce) – Paranormal-ish – This got off to a very boring, tell-y, and pretentious start. I can’t say I enjoyed it, but it was interesting. Too sappy for my taste, but well done if you like sweet, hopeful stories with weird faery creatures in them.

This Was Ophelia (Tessa Gratton) – Historical – Okay, best opening line to a story! And then…well, honestly, at this point, I just wanted to be done reading this anthology. I don’t like more than half of the stories, and I didn’t like this twist on Hamlet. I was disappointed to discover she wasn’t actually mad. REALLY disappointed. She was only considered mad because she was rejecting the societal norms of the 1920s. I get it. I appreciate that the girl wanted to be different, but something about it just didn’t gel. I wasn’t buying it. But at least the ending was resolved.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of fun, as these YA anthologies typically are! Some of the stories are more my thing than other. The "dark" element brought out a lot of Stephen King-for-kiddies, and I didn't like those as much as I liked the other stories that were less creepy/gross.

Here are the stories I LOVED:
Stillwater by Valerie Kemp
I Gave You My Love by the Light of the Moon by Sarah Rees Brennan
Shadowed by Christine Johnson
Now Bid Time Return by Saundra Mitchell
Where the Light Is by Jackson Pearce

Honorary mentions go to:
Nature by Aprilynne Pike
Night Swimming by Beth Revis
Naughty or Nice by Myra McEntire
This Was Ophelia by Tessa Gratton

Lots of fun to be had here.

[Emelie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a really fast paced book even if it almost 500 pages! A book with 17 short stories about to defy the dark (duh?!)

My favorites were:
- ghost town - Malinda Lo
- night swimming - Beth Revis
- the sunflower murders - Kate Espey
- naughty or nice - Myra McEntire and
- now bid time return - Saundra Mitchell

[Louisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know the title is Defy the Dark, but a good deal of these stories were about living in the darkness! Lots of creepy books, a lot with no real happy endings, but oh, well, really great short stories, loved reading them!

[☠︎︎༒︎✞︎ ѕℓιм ☠︎︎༒︎✞︎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

To short again :( but I did enjoyed it though I already figured Bart was going to die and turn into a zombie. Hard headed people or know it all never listen

[Abi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating - 3.5

[black lamb · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all: Overall, I greatly enjoyed this anthology. There were a few duds, but overall the stories, even if they didn't engage me and weren't really what I was interested in, were interesting and well-written. There were a couple stories I was absolutely thrilled to discover, and a few that I rolled my eyes at so hard they nearly rolled right out of my skull. I'm going to go over the highlights only, since there are like seventeen short stories in this and that's too many to go in-depth on all of them. Spoilers abound.

But the tl;dr version of this review is going to be - this is a great anthology, I highly recommend it! There are stories about queer and trans* people, interracial relationships, people of colour, among other diverse subjects, and in horror/fantasy/sci-fi/magical realism settings, which I have absolutely been craving. I know my friends are into that stuff so yeah. Check it out!

TW for discussion of rape.





"Sleepstalk" by Courtney Summers - My notes for this were "Ugh, really?" There's a line that is actually verbatim "Nothing happened until something did." Like... duh. The language is really repetitive for the sake of trying to create a sense of unhinged urgency but it was mostly irritating, since I saw the ~twist~ coming a mile away. Yep, she kills him. Because surprise, she's a psychotic stalker! VHAT A TWEEST.

"Nature" by Aprilynne Pike - Mostly just derivative and boring. Look, I am tired of dystopian romance. This one was especially grating since it was specifically a socialist dystopian romance, and I dunno, I just feel like considering the times we're in, writing about socialist dystopias seems a little confused; speculative fiction is supposed to reflect and comment on the age it was written in, so writing about socialist dystopias right now is just like some weird red menace paranoia repackaged for the millenials. Um, but maybe that's just my politics? Anyway, I imagine this went over well with the Hunger Games set. Totally boring romance between a heterosexual couple in a broken dystopian society. Yawn. Pass.

"The Dark Side of the Moon" by Dia Reeves - "Life doesn't stop just because a spider creature nearly lays eggs in you, Cado."

Yes! Yes. Yes yes yes. Yes. Yes. Um, yes. I cannot gush about this story enough. Yes! More of this, please. Please give this woman all your monies. Every monies you have. Um, to put it succinctly, this is a horror-slash-magical-surrealist young adult romance story between a black girl and a white boy with some nifty little commentary about the patriarchy and gender stereotypes tossed in for good measure. The prose is beautiful, the setting absolutely lush and captivating, but with enough of a twisted, dark edge to appeal to the part of me that loves horror and gore. The story gets very graphic at times - there's a bit of body horror - but it's tempered with such a bright sweetness that it reinforces the two simultaneous facets of magic - the darkness and the horror, and the brilliance and the beauty. Definitely check this author out. I'll be tracking down her other works for sure.

"Ghost Town" by Malinda Lo - Augh, yes! I'm so tired of stories about queer people, especially queer youth, that rehash the same boring coming out narrative all the time. Maybe it's because I never had coming out/identity angst; I always knew who I was, except for a brief period in the fourth grade where I remember freaking out in my diary about how what if my family hates me because I have a crush on a GIIIIRL?!?!?! So whenever I read a story like this, where the character's queer identity is not the major crisis, which addresses other issues people in the queer community face - like ostracization, like leaving your liberal hometown to move out in the sticks and suddenly be confronted with vitriolic homophobia hiding under a mask of passive-aggressive "tolerance" - I get giddy. Also, there were ghosts. Do you know what I love most in the whole world? LGBTQ people and ghosts. The prose is first person, which is not my favourite (it makes things awkward), and the narrative is not strictly linear which makes it a little confusing, but overall it's a great, solid story that will appeal to those of us flaming queers who want to talk about something other than ~gay marriage~ and ~coming out~.

"Eyes in the Dark" by Rachel Hawkins - This is the one I wanted to address in the most detail because as I was reading it I became more and more uncomfortable... for reasons that are um, a little personal.

First, a summary of the plot: a girl runs off with a boy she has a crush on in his car, desiring a sexy smooching session with him. He takes her out in the woods, to this old bridge that a few kids died in a while ago. She becomes uncomfortable. She wants to leave. He gets them trapped there. She really wants to leave. They hear a noise, and see a weird animal. He gets out of the car to go chase it. She freaks out and really, really wants to leave. Her phone is dead. She's trapped in a car in the dark woods alone and she can't leave because it's his car and he's gone and the truck is shaking and she can hear clawing outside and he comes back and he won't let her leave and she keeps telling him no, no, no, I want to go, stop, I want to leave, stop this, please let's just go. He doesn't. He keeps going. They crash their car, they're surrounded by red-eyed monsters. End story.

Now I bet I am not the only girl who reads a summary like that and notices something that feels... disturbingly familiar and off. This happened to me, only the monster was the one behind the wheel. When I said no, he didn't stop. When I said I wanted to leave, he wouldn't let me.

Do I have to spell it out? Yes?

This story read to me like a rape allegory. Using horror.

Which raised some interesting questions to me about the idea of consent, and made me wonder how other people who read this would read this story... probably as a simple little story that's the very basic and most cliche horror plot in the world, hitting on all those old horror cliches of teens who go out in the dark spooky woods to make out and then get eaten by the monsters because they're too stupid to just leave, though usually the girl is uncomfortable and saying no, that she wants to leave, and he insists on exploring the dark spooky woods and the creepy noise they heard. This scenario happens a lot in horror movies, but watching the main character, Samantha, in this story express her desire to leave and how she wants it to stop, being inside her head the whole time with her fear and panic and trepidation, were just such an intense punch to the gut to the part of me that remembers being trapped in a car with a boy who wouldn't stop touching me that it made me completely reconsider this scenario and teen-slasher-horror itself as a genre.

It made me feel like horror has a lot more interesting things to say about rape culture than that stupid fucking tree rape scene in Evil Dead ever did, or all those tittilating images of barely-dressed young women running around screaming in the woods being chased by X Monster or whatever. Specifically, that rape is not always a case of being held down and assaulted while you scream and fight, that it's not a stranger in the woods with a mask and a gun - it's usually someone you know. A husband, a boyfriend, a boy you wish was a boyfriend who won't listen to your repeated "nos" to the point where you start to question whether you even said no at all, because surely if you did, he would have listened to you, right?

I don't know. I have a lot of jumbled feelings that are hard to put into words. I walked away from this wanting more stories to use horror as a vehicle to discuss rape culture and consent, to kind of turn the genre around and make us question the narratives we're presented with in regard to teen girls in slasher fiction. I'll have to come back to this sometime.

"Stillwater" by Valerie Kemp - I don't actually have anything much to say about this one, except to note that it's another story in this anthology that deals with an interracial relationship between a black girl and a white boy, which is not something you see a lot in YA/horror/sci-fi/etc.

"Night Swimming" by Beth Revis - OK, maybe I read this one totally wrong, BUT, this is a sci-fi story taking place on a space ship in the nebulous future, and what is notable about it is that it is a romance story about a girl and the narrator. But the story's in the first person and, unless I missed it, we never get any gender cues about the narrator - not a name, not a set of pronouns, not a physical description. I read the narrator as a girl, but it's equally valid to read the narrator as a boy or as a genderqueer individual - non-binary, maybe neutrois or bigender, after all this is the distant future in which case being a non-binary individual may just not be notable enough for any character to comment on or for it to be an issue at all. (But the character is not an alien, removing the "oh the character is non-binary because they're MAGIC and/or an ALIEN SPECIES" trope. It's pretty alienating, pun intended, to see yourself reflected in fiction only in characters that aren't even human.) That made this stick out in my memory and return to it eventually. I wish more first person narrative were written by that - no thoughtful lingering on the narrator's appearance, no repeated gendered cues to remind us that it's TOTALLY NOT GAY U GUYS REMEMBER THEY'RE A GIRL SO IT'S NOT GAY!!! TOTES NOT GAY!!! NO GAY PEOPLE HERE!!! HETEROS ONLY!!! You know what I mean? YA dystopian heterosexual romance between two or three cis characters is something I'm bored stupid of.

"There's Nowhere Else" by Jon Skovron - I hated this so much I had to comment on it in a status update, which I believe was something like "UGGGHHH rolling my eyes." This was just... a bad story on many levels. This kind of first person juvenile narration is lazy, you guys. It's straight up lazy. It's easy to write from the perspective of a teenager who doesn't have the perspective or vocabulary to describe what's happening to them in a clear, precise, or interesting way; instead it allows you to use the vagueness of their limited perspective to be vague about your plot and the mechanics of it. Furthermore, you had a black ~witch doctor~ helping this white boy with his special uneek powers and then this like disease god thing as a cardboard cutout eeeeeeeeevil! villain with the most hilariously crappy Saturday morning cartoon dialogue that made me want to bang my head against a wall. No... just no. Flat, one-dimensional, cliche, boring, thoroughly, laughably bad.

"Naughty or Nice" by Myra McEntire - There are a lot of great ways to write a horror story about the Krampus... this was not one of them.

"The Moth and the Spider" by Sarah Ockler - "She sighed and wormed her way along the floor until her upper body birthed its way out." WHOA THAT UH... THAT SURE WAS A CHOICE OF VERB, THERE, AUTHOR. That sure was a thing that you wrote.

"This Was Ophelia" by Tessa Gratton - A love story between a gay man and a trans* individual set in like... the 1910's, I think? I'm unclear on the timeline, I'm not a history buff and it wasn't mentioned, but I THINK it was pre-1920's. Anyway, I liked the way the protagonist, Ophelia/O, discussed their feelings about gender and sexuality. It was not a clear-cut case of being a trans man - it's implied that O leans much more heavily towards the male side of the binary spectrum, but at one point in the story, they express a desire to live either outside of it, or in between the two extremes:

[Hal said,] "Don't fool yourself. You're no girl. I don't know what you are. Girls don't do what you did. You're neither."
I want to be both, I think, but I can't say that.

See - that's a genderqueer character right there. I can't speak to the accuracy of this story but it was definitely interested and handled in what I think was a respectful and interesting way without being unnecessarily maudlin, cliche, or derivative; there was very little wailing and gnashing of teeth about it, just confusion and distress, aaaaand in the end the trans* person doesn't die or have anything terrible happen to them (they get a happy ending! Yaaaay!!) so that was really cool to read!

So, overall there were about seven, maybe eight stories in this anthology that I enjoyed, and several that I enjoyed so much I'm making the effort to track down the rest of the authors' work, and one story in particular that raised a lot of questions in me about consent and rape culture and horror as a vehicle for discussing those things - so despite the few duds in this book, I would say I greatly enjoyed it and highly recommend it if you, like me, really enjoy horror, sci-fi, fantasy, magical realism/surrealism, and general dark themes. Definitely check out Dia Reeves and Malinda Lo, two authors I may slowly become obsessed with. Glad I picked this little book up.

[julieta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read Courtney Summer's story.

[Eliza · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting little collection. I wasn’t really expecting all the fantasy stories, but i did enjoy them. I do enjoy the main idea, things that only happen when it’s dark, though how it was portrayed was not how I was imagining it at all. Overall, some of them didn’t really make sense, or seem to have a point to them at all, but some were pretty cool.

Individual Reviews (Minor Spoilers Ahead)~

Sleepstalk~
This one..made no sense?? I actually was incredibly confused and thought I was going crazy reading this. It had bits of “okay..trauma…” but then a lot of “WHY IS SHE TRYING TO THROW A ROCK AT HIM WHAT IS GOING ON??” One of my least favorites because what was going on here??

Nature~
I actually loved this one! The worldbuilding was super interesting and i was totally interested in knowing more. The romance part kind of annoyed me until it kind of went away and she likes books yay :)

The Dark Side of the Moon~
This one…huh? I like it, i guess…it was weird. I mean demons and monsters all over the place, fun. Love the demon bus. But…? It was written oddly in a not very interesting way and kind of annoyed me as I read.

Ghost Town~
This one..confusing? The timeline was totally out of wack plus i don’t really get the point. Like seriously..why? But anyway, yay ghosties!

Eyes in the Dark~
This one was honestly kind of boring for me. Don’t have many notes about it. Shes cheating on her boyfriend with this random hot guy who makes her come with him to the haunted woods? Why?

Stillwater~
I do like this one! The family dynamics, the sleep and memory stuff. Don’t really get what is going on but its an interesting mystery.

I Gave You My Love by the Light of the Moon~
This one..was..interesting? So i got half way through this before realizing that she was a werewolf and he was a vampire. I was really interested and confused about what are they? What happened to her?? Then hes like “oh im a different type.” And then it’s all full moon stuff snd i finally figured it out. It’s good i suppose, not super engaging.

Night Swimming~
First of all, love the generational ship isea. Also really corrupted one? Love it!! Also gender of protagonist?? Any idea? Nope! The ending was interesting. Would be interested in more about the society, I’m curious!

The Sunflower Murders~
I liked it? I guess? It was kind of boring. Interesting idea for a serial killers style. I didn’t really get the point, honestly.

Almost Normal~
Oof. Like?? Zombies, love story, brutal murder of best friend???? Why??? Not my fav especially because WHY WOULD YOU GO OUTSIDE IN A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE. TO A CARNIVAL??? Why??

There’s Nowhere Else~
I liked the beginning..but by the end i was just skimming. It was not super engaging by the end. I do like the concept though.

Naughty or Nice~
Yet again..why?? Also wHaT? What is going ON in this place?? Not super interesting/doesn’t make sense.

Shadowed~
This was a surprise, compeltely different setting. I did like it though. The kinda renaissance time period, cool magic concept.

Now Bid Time Return~
I do like this one. Love setting and the main idea. I was not expecting that SHE was the one he was building it for. I didn’t really want aNoTheR love story out of this, more just a ghost story. But still good!

The Moth and the Spider~
I like this one. But the end…did not make sense. At all. What was going on with that girl? And did cali kill herself or not?? Very confused.

Where the Light is~
I really like this one, i love the concept of the Knockers. But also…hOw are they knocking down a MouNtAiN. HoW.

This Was Ophelia~
I also like this one. The logistics of their future relationship confuse me a bit…but still good story.

[Katlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nature by Aprilynne Pike - So cute! I loved the society she created and the romance made it so awesome! Two super smart people who have been screwed over (and made more attractive) by genetics! 4.5/5

Stillwater by Valerie Kemp - I liked this story. It felt mysterious and well developed at the same time, if that makes any sense. And I liked the hopeful feel to it. I would love a full novel based on the world of this story! 4.25/5

The Moth and the Spider by Sarah Ockler - I liked this story. It felt rather meaningful and the protagonist just felt... real. 4/5

I Gave You My Love By the Light of the Moon by Sarah Rees Brennan - I enjoyed this story! It was super cute and I loved how the characters made the best of a terrible situation! 3.75/5

There's Nowhere Else by Jon Skovron - I loved the imagination in this one! Being a dreamwalker is an intruiging concept, especially because he can control others. And I actually did like the open ending for once. 3.75/5

Sleep Stalker by Courtney Summers - I enjoyed the mood in this story. It just felt so ominous! It didn't go anywhere though. 3.5/5

Night Swimming by Beth Revis - I liked the background this provided on the Across the Universe series. I feel like it wouldn't have been a good addition if you hadn't read the series though. 3.5/5

Where the Light Is by Jackson Pearce - All of the authors in this anthology are just so creative! I don't know how they thought up all these premises! This story was pretty cute and I just loved the whole... balance of it all. 3.25/5

Shadowed by Christine Johnson - This story wasn't quite my thing, but the concept was intriguing and fit the book absolutely perfectly! I mean, a girl whose shadow attacks her when she goes in the light? Awesome! 3.25/5

Now Bid Time Return by Saundra Mitchell - Another story that I wasn't into, but I liked the concept enough that it worked anyway. I would like more explanation, but short stories are best left ominous! 3.25/5

Eyes in the Dark by Rachel Hawkins - Typical cliche horror story of people getting trapped in the woods with a supernatural creature. I enjoyed the mood though. Very ominous! 3.25/5

The Sunflower Murders by Kate Espey - This one had promise, but I don't feel it worked very well as a short story. It should have been at least a novella, if not a full length novel... 3/5

This Was Ophelia by Tessa Gratton - I enjoyed this story, but it was honestly nothing special. Definitely worth reading once though. 3/5

Almost Normal by Carrie Ryan - I think this is a companion to The Forest of Hands and Teeth. It did alright on its own as a standalone story, but it probably would have meant more if I had any clue who any of the characters were. It kind of reminded me of the end of Zombieland. 2.75/5

The Dark Side of the Moon by Dia Reeves - I honestly feel like I missed something with this story. It was very creative, but I just felt... confused mostly. 2.5/5

Ghost Town by Malinda Lo - I feel like I missed something here as well. I couldn't get into it. It just didn't make me feel anything. 2/5

Naughty or Nice by Myra McEntire - This one honestly just didn't grab me. I'm usually a sucker for romance, but I just wasn't feeling it. 2/5