All I Want : A Holiday Horror Story

by Marie Aitchison

All I Want is a fast-paced holiday short story for fans of the Scream movies and Eli Roth’s new film, Thanksgiving. It takes place at a ten year high school reunion. What is expected to be a normal event, quickly goes wrong when the group of former classmates are killed off one by one. In true slasher fashion, people meet gruesome deaths until all is revealed at the end. This is a gift for horror readers who are looking for a quick dark and twisty read this holiday season.

Genres: Horror, Christmas, Novella, Holiday, Short Stories

54 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 6, 2023

About the author

Once upon a time I worked as a Registered Nurse, now I write stories to entertain people and make them want to sleep with a nightlight on. I earned my BSN and Public Health Nursing credentials from Sacramento State University. When I'm not writing, you will find me reading and reviewing books on Instagram @topshelfbookreviews. I love stories that are strange, frightening, emotionally driven and witty. Dyer Lane is my first novel, but I have plans to contribute many more to the horror/thriller genre in the years to come. I live in Northern California with my husband and our two daughters.

Reviews

[Peter Topside · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This was a fun, quick read. Slasher all the way through. And I appreciated the author’s note on why the story was set up a certain way. No real depth, no hidden messages or symbolism, nothing to read into. Just a psychotic man who takes out his aggressions on his former classmates. And everyone is such an asshole in high school, so who can blame him, right? I wasn’t sure who to root for here. Now I find myself in a bit if a quandary. Gonna need all day to figure this one out. Hm…

[Celeste Velocci (bookrecs_by_celeste) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick Christmas in July horror short story. Fast paced and a fun slasher listen!

[Carissa | the.grim.readers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this gory little holiday novella! I’ve been following Marie on bookstagram for a while now and after hearing great things about her work I was excited to pick this up, and I’m so glad I did. It is the perfect ode to slasher horror lovers and I could not get enough of the perfect combination of snark and gore.

If you’re looking for a holiday-adjacent slasher novella that you can binge in one sitting, definitely give this a read.

[Bookaholic__Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this. It was the perfect little Christmas slasher that added some variety to my reading. I was honestly taking a break from horror and thriller to focus on holiday books. As I'm sure you're aware, basically almost all of the holiday reading is light and warm-hearted. I am so happy I came across this and a few others like it so that I could get my Christmas cheer in with a little bit of blood, too!

[Mia · Rating 5 out of 5]

as a fan of horror/slasher movies this was soooo good! it was quick and to the point. i appreciate the classic 90s slasher movie feel the author gave it. didn’t know i needed a horror christmas story but now i need more!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably 3.5 stars. It was short, fun, and a tad but festive.

[Jessica Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

High school "friends" gather for a 10 year reunion but they're not expecting to be murdered, one by one.

If you crave a little darkness with your tinsel, All I Want is the perfect HOLIDAY HOMICIDE! It's fast-paced and v. gory. If you love a good slasher with an unexpected FINAL GIRL, take a stab at this one right now! The story also features a killer playlist that makes gives it an even more sinister feel.

For fans of:
- 90's slashers (Halloween, Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, etc.)

The Intro ("dear reader, this is not a ghost story. We are in a new century. This is a slasher") and the Trigger Warning ("shallow characters being murdered" - haha) had me hysterical before even starting!

[Mickey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short read about what happens when the bullied kid organises their school reunion. A brilliantly festive revenge story. Perfect read to help get your reading goals up.

[AmyKHT · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could have been 3, but the AI audio was terrible, bringing it down. It was fun enough for a slasher

[Yasmin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick little read to start this holiday month. I did not expect the ending. Obviously fast paced but those twists were great. Can’t wait to see what the follow up short story entails

[Krystin | TheF*ckingTwist · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book Blog | Bookstagram

There is something here, but the setup takes too long which dilutes the immediacy of the horror elements, and the word flow is clunky.

Good gore, fun killer motivation, and any Scream fan will notice the influence.



⭐⭐⭐ | 3 stars

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining relationship listening 😏🙄

This kindle ebook novella is from my Kindle Unlimited account

There is a school reunion to take place. A few people have shown up when bad things start happening. First one then another is murdered until they are all murdered.

I would highly recommend this novella and author, one of two books, about relationships and the grudge that was held 😠 2025 😯🙃

[Katie Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Formal thoughts to come! I wanted more and I adore Marie’s writing and attention to her characters. The Christmas plus gore was an excellent combo for my 90s horror slasher heart. She developed every character (granted they’re shallow so I loved to roll my eyes at them) in just 50 some pages 🫨

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

ok this book was actually really entertaining

[Johanna Salazar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short but good little holiday horror book💕 If you love a good slasher this is the short story for you!

[Mai · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️

this was actually really good. I feel like in some aspects it was very rushed but i really am excited to read the sequel. i was not expecting that ending!!

[Melissa Milliken · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun slasher read with a pile of bodies in its wake. Ends on a cliffhanger so I am curious to see what happens in part two.

[unstable.books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun bite sized holiday slasher. Currently available on KU!

[Alexandra Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

a perfect snack that went 0-100!

[Hope Anderson (HopelessBookAddict) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun novella!

[Hannah Stalvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This felt the same way watching cabin in the woods for the first time felt- and I mean that as a compliment lol

[Kristen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confusing and short read

Very confusing. Short read. Slightly Christmas themed. Definitely check your trigger warnings. The plot twist was interesting. Do with this what you will.

[Roo · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was a fun quick read🙂‍↕️

[Sarah * Between the Lines Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Get ready for your high school reunion!
Will it be as slashing as this one? 🤪
This had a nice twist with a Christmasy theme to it and I loved that it was a quick read!
First book I’ve read by Marie and it won’t be my last!

[olivia (liv.isreading) · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read that was perfect for the little murder story that I’ve been craving 🎄🔪

[Gumpatches · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent quick murdery read!! Love this take on a Christmas theme!!

[Winter Arcane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Going back to the Christmas well for my novella binge. This time, a slasher story that takes place at around Christmas time. It's a Christmas story in the same sense Die Hard is a Christmas movie.

Some millennials meet up at a bar for a high school reunion. Murder ensues.

Slashers tend to be pretty formulaic, usually standing out on the basis of either interesting characters, interesting kills, or a clever twist. This story doesn't really stand out in any of those regards. It's only slightly better than the baseline. The most interesting thing about the book is the epilogue, which raises a ton of questions that aren't answered in this book (it has a sequel that I will be reading next).

Unfortunately, while this might have been a 3.5 (that I would have rounded up to a 4 on Goodreads), my actual rating is a 2.5 (rounded up to 3 for Goodreads). The writing was rough. Not the worst I've seen. It was actually fairly good a lot of the time. But the book may have not even been proofread, much less properly edited, given there's a part where a character wonders if she should tell herself to take her shoes off;

"They change direction, and even over the blare of the song, Alyssa can hear the subtle clip of Jade's shoes behind her and is grateful she took hers off. Maybe she should tell Alyssa to, also."

So, yeah, this could have been a much better experience than it was. But I did enjoy it enough that I'm very interested to see what the sequel is about and how it explains the end of this book (assuming it explains it).

Update: So much for reading the sequel. I started on it, and returned it to Kindle Unlimited immediately after it was revealed how things played out after the twist at the end of this book. I was so disappointed by how boring and lazy the angle they took was that it ruined what little I really liked about this book.

[Alexandra/ReadsWithRosie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Looking for some twisted holiday horror that will grab your attention from start to finish? I’ve got you covered.

All I Want follows six former classmates who reunite for their high school reunion. What they don’t expect is to fall victim to a sick person in a deer’s head who plays Christmas music while he/she murders their victims one by one…

This short story is fabulous. The high school tropes are so well done (the nerd, the popular girls and guys, the loner, the overachiever), and the horror aspect kept me on my toes (I literally jumped from the smallest noise lol). The ending was also such a fun twist on the “final girl” trope. I think one of the best parts of this short story was how the author intentionally drew on common slasher tropes and made them her own. You think you know what to expect, and then your expectations are thwarted by the end. Perfect when paired with the lights ON (lol) and your fave holiday treat. 4.5 ⭐️

[Peaches · Rating 2 out of 5]

***Spoilers included***
This was a quick read that came up in my recommendations and I thought it would be fun over the holidays. While I appreciate Aitchison’s commitment to the “purity” (simplicity) of the slasher genre, this didn’t do much for me. Other reviewers have called it fast-paced, and I suppose it is since it’s a novella and has a lot of action, but I zoned out multiple times. This could be because there is no character development because I definitely enjoy slashers overall.

I liked the premise of someone getting revenge on their high school classmates, but it didn’t build enough for me. I did, however, like how Chelsea thought there was “always next Christmas” for the people who didn’t show up and how she essentially used the former classmate/restaurant owner to do her bidding and be dubbed a final girl.

I didn’t hate it, but all I wanted was more!

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

All I Want follows a group of 28 year olds who graduated from the same high school together. They are all attending their 10 year reunion at a bar in their hometown. The story starts with giving a little background on each characters past and present which sets you up perfectly for what happens next. No spoilers, but lets just say, not all were as they seem and many were definitely not prepared for what happened next.

Marie is an incredibly talented writer. For such a short story, all of the characters were so well developed and I easily understood each of their stories and how they all intertwined. If you want to take a little break from your usual holiday reads, this is such a great short horror story