What's more terrifying than love? Death? At least you know the ending. Sex? You let them in deep, but what will they take when they leave, and what will they leave inside of you? When you LOVE - oh, my - you open up WIDE and expose the very core of your body, your soul, your mind, your heart...your YOU. You can't be any more vulnerable than when you're open. What's more terrifying than that? Let's talk about it.
"Sick xoxo" is a chilling collection of horror stories that burrow deep into the darkest corners of love, sex and other in-between connections that bind. In these twisted tales, love transforms into malevolence, bending hearts and souls into something haunting, terrifying, and beautiful. These stories show the depths of obsession, possession, and the horrifying consequences of love taken to extremes in this long awaited release from the "nightmare vendor" Kenya Moss-Dyme!
Kenya is the proud author of the collections Sick xoxo, Daymares, and The Mixtape. Her novels include Prey for Me, the hard-hitting story of a monstrous child-abusing preacher, the romantic thriller series A Good Wife, and Devil Inside, a disturbing tale about a cancer patient who morphs into something unrecognizable during treatment.
Dipping her toes into dark fantasy, Kenya debuted The Forever Souls, a bloody romantic series set in the distant future. A talented multi-genre writer, Kenya also appears in the Freestyle Cypher, a collection of urban drama/thrillers, with more volumes on the way.
Watch for her dark fantasy brand to emerge in 2024!
Find her short stories in other anthologies such as Forever Vacancy, Black Magic Women, and Deadly Bargain.
Reading this collection has made me so grateful that I am more comfortable being single over being in a committed relationship.
Anyway, these are some terrifying and twisted tales of obsession. Some are about people trapped in abusive marriages, while others explore the lengths people will go to get close to whoever they're obsessed with. Whether the stories are supernatural or not, they are all worth reading.
The final story, appropriately titled Seed, is a dystopian satire that deals with the fetishization of mixed-race babies. It's the beginning of an upcoming novella and I am looking forward to checking it out.
As with any collection, there were those that I liked and those I didn't. The shorter stories that started a little before Tue midway mark were the ones I liked best, so I did jump around while reading.
These stories were definitely sick! I’ve never been this in love!
My favorite was Unfuck Me.
Some of my favs (excuse my language):
Limbo-dude must have been fine fine FOINE, making them do that crazy shit. Idris Elba/Stringer Bell in The Wire fine, Denzel/Easy Rollins Devil In a Blue Dress fine, Ralph Angel Queen Sugar fine, Morris Chestnut in everything fine! They might have got a pinky toe out of me.
Iceman Cometh-freaky ass family!
Unfuck Me-had me fucked up, although there are few names I would’ve used. LOL.
Pins and needles-where does one get this doll, asking for a friend? LOL.
This was my first read by this author and I enjoyed the collection of short horror love stories. My favorite short stories from this book was B.M.G., Bruce Loves Mary, Unfuck Me. If you love horror stories do yourself a favor and pick this one up. You won’t be disappointed.
Kenya Moss-Dyme's Sick Xoxo is truly a sick sight to behold (and that's a compliment!). These varied stories center on themes of romance, relationships, sex, and human desire. What happens when we go too far in love? Bastardize intimacy? Moss-Dyme explores the concept here in juicy and terrifying ways.
Moss-Dyme begins the collection of horror stories with "Limbo." It is an alluring story of lust with a Mean Girls twist. Actually . . . it might be something closer to Heathers. "Limbo" is the perfect story to set the tone for the remainder of the collection. Amongst my favorite stories, including "Limbo," are "Bruce Loves Mary" and "Lovesick." As several stories deal with dysfunctional marriages or relationships, Sick Xoxo is just the thing for divorcees and those who may have a wild story about that one ex.
In the stories, the reader'll never see what's coming. Most of the time, it makes for a great twist. In a few though, I found myself re-reading to see if any hints were given as to the situation. Because of this, some of the twists felt rushed or a Diabolus ex Machina (the villainous version of a Deus ex Machina). Still, rushed twists do not take away from very entertaining stories and Moss-Dyme's digestible and descriptive writing.
Sick Xoxo is a collection for any lover of horror. It is easy to see why Moss-Dyme is solidified in indie horror as she is.
SICK xoxo by Kenya Moss-Dyme is a love letter to un-lovely horror. Each story in the collection focuses on relationship ‘love’ of some sort. There are selections dealing with familial love like “The Kids Are Alright” or “Men Don’t Leave” but, mostly the pages are filled with startling and immersive stories of partnership love.
The love theme is carried through and is very strong in each story. No spoilers here but if you need a good story about using an app for relationship payback, unrequited love for Bloody Mary (yes, the one in the mirror), or a factory boss that inspires extreme devotion (and I mean extreme) then this is the book for you.
Standouts IMHO were the stories “Groundhog Day” about a time-looping murder plot, “Pins and Needles” involving a voodoo doll, and “Labor Pains” where a man leaves one priestess for another and how this affects their ability to start a family.
There is a bonus at the end. The beginning portion of the novella, SEED, which I super enjoyed reading. Overall I enjoyed the stories, the voice of the author is very clear and distinct, i.e. she isn’t trying to sound like someone else. She sounds fresh and unique to her.
If you like collections, I LOVE collections, this might be a good one to check out.
Kenya Moss-Dyme's collection of Black horror stories in "Sick Love" is captivating and thought-provoking. Her ability to craft engaging short stories left me wanting more and wishing that these stories were full-length novels.
The book includes several standout stories, including "The Kids are alright," "B.M.G," "Lovesick," and "Labor Pains." Each story adds something unique to the overall collection and offers a glimpse into Moss-Dyme's talent for crafting compelling narratives.
The author also provides a sneak peek of a story called "Seed," leaving me anticipating its future release.
This collection of Black horror stories offers a fresh perspective on toxic love, and readers who enjoy the genre will undoubtedly enjoy this book.
Limbo - ⭐️/5 The timeframe that stuff happened in was all jumbled. A lot of stuff just didn’t make sense and/or we didn’t get answers for a lot of it. The falling in love was done so poorly. The writing itself wasn’t great. AND THE ENDING… WTF….
The Kids are Alright - ⭐️/5 I’m one more story away from DNFing this. These aren’t written well. They are supposed to have a level of mystery but you need a little context to make it a good story and these just don’t have that.
B.M.G - ⭐️⭐️/5 This one was better but still not great. With a little more writing I’m sure these could’ve had a lot of potential.
Men Don’t Leave - ⭐️⭐️/5 I like the idea behind this one but it still wasn’t written very well. Stopping this book and moving on. I tried to give it a shot.
Not sure about the XOXO part, but definitely Sick!
I didn't realize that I was about to read an entire novel of short stories because I didn't read the description LOL it was a very quick and easy read, but I wanted to know more about each story. What is going on with these body parts? Why does this woman keep trying to kill these people every night? Why are we eating people? And what is going on with this suitcase situation? Like I just wanted longer stories lol which I guess is a good thing because if it were poorly written, please just stop. 😂 Loved the preview for the upcoming novella and looking forward to reading that.
I'm pretty new to the horror genre and was excited to give this one a try. However, the characters for each short story really gave me the ick. I 100% believe they were written this way to make the reader uneasy and to add shock-value, but it felt really overdone. I'm also someone who cannot stand second-hand embarrassment, so this was a tough read for me.
That being said I did not finish this book, and it may have gotten better. It just wasn't for me, and others may really enjoy it.
I'm not sure how I came across this book! Or how it ended up in my kindle but I'm glad it did! LOL..... these stories were WILD and that's putting it mildly! I laughed at a few! Some left my mouth hanging open!!! Lol this was AWESOME!!!! ma'ma! Idk who you are! But your stories are awesome!! And that last story!! 🤌🏾Chief kiss🤌🏾 I really can't wait for that Novella to be finished you really saved the best for last!!
I was immediately drawn in from the first story in this anthology. Each one had its own purpose and meaning. I loved how the author crafted a clear message mixed in with trauma and humor but she also left things open to interpretation. I think this would be a great conversation starter for readers groups who enjoy horror stories with a message. Bravo!
This was my first time reading collection of stories in a single book and I have to say, I was entertained the entire way though! Some of the stories were better than others, but the ones I did enjoy had me absolutely hooked. All of them were so different from one another too, and so creative. This was my first read from Kenya Moss-Dyme and will not be my last! PS: Looking forward to "Seed"!
When I say I want horror, THIS. IS. WHAT. I. WANT!
This book is a collection of short horror stories about love and relationships on every level. The horror. The shock. The damn Iceman (iykyk!)!! I flew through this book lol. Sick, xoxo isn't JUST shock and horror either. There's so much depth to each story that just adds to the great storytelling and horrors of real life.
These stories were creepy. BMG and Pins and needles made my skin crawl. Labor pains was really surprising for me. I didn't think the ending would go that way but I really liked that story. Unfuck me is probably what a lot of women wish they could do. But BMG will be my favorite.
Moss-Dyme has such a fluid way of storytelling. Moving from scene to scene while still giving character development, she told unique and beautiful stories. As with all short story collections, there are hits and misses which I don't mind at all. I can see raw talent and I'm looking forward to reading more from this author!
This was a phenomenal book! If you’re looking for something that will start off your spooky season Reed, I definitely recommend this! You must put this on your TBR and read right away!!
Sick is a collection of weird love stories that are more cringe than creepy. They were too out-there for me, but “The unfuck me” story was tolerable, which is why I'm giving it 2 stars, but let's just say this book didn't exactly sweep me off my feet.
The only reason I’m giving this a 2 star is because I read it all, and still not sure why I didn’t just dnf. I tried to give this a chance but not one story could I even keep up with. Every one was just all over the place.
Has the potential to be good but relies on bad clichés constantly. This book also has a handful of typos and grammatical errors and it makes it hard for you to care about a book when they didn't even care enough to go back and do some light editing on the stories. Some of the stories were well written, but rather than fleshing any of them out in any way it cuts them off before it gets interesting in any way and rather than making your mind run wild with possibilities it just makes each story end up having no impact on you. Overall, was a book I wish I skipped.