What do you think?
Dinner Date
Every relationship has needs. His are bloody.
Diederick is a shapeshifting monster who catfishes and eats women. Angela, meek and infatuated, cleans up after him.
Their partnership works until a woman survives him and ends up trapped in their basement. Forced into daily contact with a person Diederick plans to devour, Angela can no longer distance herself from the horrors she helps him carry out.
Dinner Date is a horror novella with a dark sense of humor about complicity, intimacy, and the price of feeding toxic love.
Diederick is a shapeshifting monster who catfishes and eats women. Angela, meek and infatuated, cleans up after him.
Their partnership works until a woman survives him and ends up trapped in their basement. Forced into daily contact with a person Diederick plans to devour, Angela can no longer distance herself from the horrors she helps him carry out.
Dinner Date is a horror novella with a dark sense of humor about complicity, intimacy, and the price of feeding toxic love.
112 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 21, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 12, 2026
A very good book about the dangers of abusive relationships, woman-eating shapeshifting monsters, and how dangerous a lack of self-esteem can be. The true horror of the story is how real it can feel.
August 22, 2026
Wow what a toxic relationship! 😅😆🫣🤣
Loved the writing! I can’t wait to see what she will do with a full length novel! 👏🏼
Loved the writing! I can’t wait to see what she will do with a full length novel! 👏🏼
August 21, 2026
This was such a fun quick read! It’s right down my alley of strange, weird, creepy, bloody, and down right thought provoking. I enjoyed every moment of this novella and look forward to future reads from this author!
September 7, 2026
A very thought-provoking novella about toxic relationships. I especially loved how well the author wrote the story with basically three characters. The dynamics felt real, and each person's backstory came through without slowing the pace.
July 17, 2026
4.5 Stars
Dinner Date is fairly short, even for a novella, and yet it is a full and satisfying meal. Beyond clearing the bar of having a beginning, middle, and end and having characters who are different at the end of the book than when they started, there are overtones of stronger themes around self-esteem/self-worth and how that plays into toxic relationships. While it's not overly subtle, it never hits you over the head with it either. The messaging is as clear as the more story-driven prose which makes it accessible to those who might not ordinarily read deeper than surface level.
The book also succeeds on a story level. I laughed aloud at least two or three times which is more than I can say for some other more broadly distributed "humorous" books lately. This is not a horror-comedy by any means, but Meredith wields the comedic relief very effectively, keeping the reader engaged and providing a welcome contrast from some of the more unpleasant bits of this bloody tale. I do feel that the relationship between two members of this small cast -Angela and Valentina- maybe needed a bit more time to breathe and grow, but it's a small quibble in an otherwise strong debut novella.
It's short, digestible and satisfying. It's the kind of book you can easily read in one sitting cover to cover, and walk away feeling it was an excellent use of your time. In an era where authors seem to be competing to see who can fill the most pages with unnecessary fluff, Dinner Date's efficient dopamine delivery is the perfect book for those who can't ordinarily "find the time" to read. Maybe we need more books like this in general.
Dinner Date is fairly short, even for a novella, and yet it is a full and satisfying meal. Beyond clearing the bar of having a beginning, middle, and end and having characters who are different at the end of the book than when they started, there are overtones of stronger themes around self-esteem/self-worth and how that plays into toxic relationships. While it's not overly subtle, it never hits you over the head with it either. The messaging is as clear as the more story-driven prose which makes it accessible to those who might not ordinarily read deeper than surface level.
The book also succeeds on a story level. I laughed aloud at least two or three times which is more than I can say for some other more broadly distributed "humorous" books lately. This is not a horror-comedy by any means, but Meredith wields the comedic relief very effectively, keeping the reader engaged and providing a welcome contrast from some of the more unpleasant bits of this bloody tale. I do feel that the relationship between two members of this small cast -Angela and Valentina- maybe needed a bit more time to breathe and grow, but it's a small quibble in an otherwise strong debut novella.
It's short, digestible and satisfying. It's the kind of book you can easily read in one sitting cover to cover, and walk away feeling it was an excellent use of your time. In an era where authors seem to be competing to see who can fill the most pages with unnecessary fluff, Dinner Date's efficient dopamine delivery is the perfect book for those who can't ordinarily "find the time" to read. Maybe we need more books like this in general.
September 5, 2026
After finishing the first chapter it was time for me to go to sleep, but I found myself skimming the first lines of the second chapter because I just had to know what was going to happen next! This is what you want a book to do for you. Well-written, with a good story line, this author's debut novel is a success. And just in time for Halloween, too!
July 14, 2026
Highly recommend this amazing writer!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews