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Restless: A Year of Ghost Stories
Some ghosts appear in mist.
Others in decay.
Some seek revenge.
Others only want closure.
Regardless of what ghosts want or how they act, it is common knowledge that they are the most active on Halloween. But what do they do on the other 364 days of the year?
Restless: A Year of Ghost Stories answers that question in twelve short stories. Curl up on Valentine's Day with the tale of a living man who has fallen in love with a ghost; endure April, the month of the diamond, with a woman who is as hard as ice; and face the consequences of disrespecting Death on Dia de los Muertos in November.
No matter what day of the year you might find yourself in, they will always be able to find you.
Others in decay.
Some seek revenge.
Others only want closure.
Regardless of what ghosts want or how they act, it is common knowledge that they are the most active on Halloween. But what do they do on the other 364 days of the year?
Restless: A Year of Ghost Stories answers that question in twelve short stories. Curl up on Valentine's Day with the tale of a living man who has fallen in love with a ghost; endure April, the month of the diamond, with a woman who is as hard as ice; and face the consequences of disrespecting Death on Dia de los Muertos in November.
No matter what day of the year you might find yourself in, they will always be able to find you.
351 pages, Paperback
Published May 3, 2018
About the author
Renee M.P.T. Kray
15 books30 followersRenee M.P.T. Kray grew up in Michigan with eight siblings and a small army of cats. Her love of reading and writing went into maximum overdrive when she read The Lord of the Rings at age 10 and since then she’s spent her time obsessively scribbling story ideas into notebooks. After being homeschooled all through elementary and high school, she earned her BA in Literature from Ave Maria University and her MFA in English and Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. She has self-published two collections of short stories: Think Again: A Captivating Compendium and Restless: A Year of Ghost Stories. However, none of these pursuits have been as challenging as trying to get her pug, Potato, to stop eating dirt.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 8, 2018
*I actually gave this a 4.5 rating, but it wont let me do half stars*
Restless is a collection of 12 short ghost stories that give you a bit of insight on what ghosts are up to the rest of the year, when they are not getting up to mischief on Halloween.
Each story is set during each month of the year. February features Valentine's day love, April studies a woman as hard as ice, and November teaches the consequences of disrespecting Death on Dia de Los Muertos.
I found this anthology creative and entertaining. There are a range of emotions that each story evokes; from love to fear to revenge to hope. I felt that the wide range of emotions gave this collection a more well rounded feel. As all of the stories are about ghosts, I wouldn't consider this in the Horror genre, more Dark Fiction.
These were well written, spooky tales, that must have challenged Kray to come up with a story for each month of the year. But she delivers, and I have a lot of respect for this self published author.
Restless is a collection of 12 short ghost stories that give you a bit of insight on what ghosts are up to the rest of the year, when they are not getting up to mischief on Halloween.
Each story is set during each month of the year. February features Valentine's day love, April studies a woman as hard as ice, and November teaches the consequences of disrespecting Death on Dia de Los Muertos.
I found this anthology creative and entertaining. There are a range of emotions that each story evokes; from love to fear to revenge to hope. I felt that the wide range of emotions gave this collection a more well rounded feel. As all of the stories are about ghosts, I wouldn't consider this in the Horror genre, more Dark Fiction.
These were well written, spooky tales, that must have challenged Kray to come up with a story for each month of the year. But she delivers, and I have a lot of respect for this self published author.
January 10, 2019
Restless: A Year of Ghost Stories
.
Back in May, the lovely Renee asked me if I could read her novel and review it. I gladly said yes, but at the time I was extremely busy with Medical School and I didn’t get the chance to read it. September came along and I decided it was time to check out her novel and OMG I absolutely regret not reading it sooner.
Let’s start off with how her novel is constructed. Basically, each chapter is a different horror short story and each story set in one of the months of the year (so in total, 12 short stories; January to December). I thought this was a pretty creative idea! the fact that each story is set in a specific month and this month plays a huge role in the plot of the story was a very authentic idea. Each story carried a different character, a different plot, a different moral and even different ethnicities. Kray’s writing was so consistent and well structured. She used metaphors, descriptions, and dialogue to convey each short story. I never got bored while reading the story, in fact, I used to get excited every morning once I start reading a new one (i read one story every day), Kray’s stories made my lonely car rides to university more interesting.
Alright now, let me list my top 5 favorites!
.
5. July: Ten seconds in summer
now I chose this as my number 5 because it had a completely different structure than the rest of the short stories. This one was more of a poem that told a story. It was about a young boy and his crazy uncle that used to play Ouija (I know weird). I loved the structure of this story and I was amazed how Kray managed to find words that rhyme and make the story flow nicely. The poem followed an ABAB rhyme scheme which I know it pretty difficult to construct (I've written something like this back in high school) hence I genuinely admire her for taking this challenge and actually succeeding in it.
.
4. November: Sugar, Sugar
This story was the definition of a plot twist! It was so messed up and I loved it. It’s about this old woman who recently got her kidney transplanted (the donor was her young ex-boyfriend who died) and she is spending the Day of the Dead in her prosperous house complaining about the festivities. The story also follows a very young girl old who makes dolls from twigs and yarn of dead people upon the request of others. Now this story is so creepy, it gave me goosebumps, but it's so good and the ending is so satisfying.
.
3. September: Come With the Rain
“Not every spirit comes in fear to haunt the living through the year. Some only seek to once more be close to those whom they once loved the most”
This one was a very heartwarming story. It followed a couple who walked a certain path during rain. No matter where they are or what they are doing they’d walk that path if it rained. After the death of his wife, the main character (the husband) fell into a depression and promised himself to continue that tradition regardless (he truly loved his wife and wanted to be with her). I loved how Kray used the rain as a symbol of love and tranquility. The rain was the couple’s paradise and quality time. Generally speaking, rain is usually used as a symbol of sadness and death, however, sometimes rain can symbolize change and growth; regardless I thought it was very unique and daring for Kray to use rain as a symbol of love and I truly admired that.
.
2. June: The Good One
Now, this now was probably the longest one out of all. It’s about an old woman who runs a circus. Her circus is very popular and all the performers love her. She receives an email every year from her hometown’s Council to host her circus there but she always turns them down. This time however she was forced to agree and decides to host the circus there. Soon enough her past starts to haunt her to the point of insanity. Now, I can't say any more than that, but I thought this story was very detailed, creepy and creative. It makes you question your morality and your sense of justice.
.
1. April: Snow Sister:
Now this story is sooooooooo heartbreaking and I cried and ughhhh. This story follows a young woman who died while mountain climbing. Everyone gave up looking for her when she was announced missing and this pissed her off. So like any vengeful spirit, she started haunting the place and leading hikers to their death eventually becoming a well-known terrifying spirit of the mountain. One day a hiker comes long (he escaped from the town for being falsely accused of stealing) and the spirit sees him. Instead of killing him like the other hikers she decides to spare him and soon enough she gets to meet him and befriend him. This story was so painful, it makes remember the value of life and friendship and how your actions can change a person for the better or the worse.
.
Renee Kray is truly an exceptional author! As a reader, I truly enjoyed every single story and every single character! I would definitely recommend these short stories to anyone who enjoys thriller/horror with a twist. I even wanted to draw some of the characters (and that just shows how beautifully descriptive her writing is) I truly wish her the best and hopefully, her short stories become well-known! And I’d be honored and more than happy to read and review any other story she writes.
.
Back in May, the lovely Renee asked me if I could read her novel and review it. I gladly said yes, but at the time I was extremely busy with Medical School and I didn’t get the chance to read it. September came along and I decided it was time to check out her novel and OMG I absolutely regret not reading it sooner.
Let’s start off with how her novel is constructed. Basically, each chapter is a different horror short story and each story set in one of the months of the year (so in total, 12 short stories; January to December). I thought this was a pretty creative idea! the fact that each story is set in a specific month and this month plays a huge role in the plot of the story was a very authentic idea. Each story carried a different character, a different plot, a different moral and even different ethnicities. Kray’s writing was so consistent and well structured. She used metaphors, descriptions, and dialogue to convey each short story. I never got bored while reading the story, in fact, I used to get excited every morning once I start reading a new one (i read one story every day), Kray’s stories made my lonely car rides to university more interesting.
Alright now, let me list my top 5 favorites!
.
5. July: Ten seconds in summer
now I chose this as my number 5 because it had a completely different structure than the rest of the short stories. This one was more of a poem that told a story. It was about a young boy and his crazy uncle that used to play Ouija (I know weird). I loved the structure of this story and I was amazed how Kray managed to find words that rhyme and make the story flow nicely. The poem followed an ABAB rhyme scheme which I know it pretty difficult to construct (I've written something like this back in high school) hence I genuinely admire her for taking this challenge and actually succeeding in it.
.
4. November: Sugar, Sugar
This story was the definition of a plot twist! It was so messed up and I loved it. It’s about this old woman who recently got her kidney transplanted (the donor was her young ex-boyfriend who died) and she is spending the Day of the Dead in her prosperous house complaining about the festivities. The story also follows a very young girl old who makes dolls from twigs and yarn of dead people upon the request of others. Now this story is so creepy, it gave me goosebumps, but it's so good and the ending is so satisfying.
.
3. September: Come With the Rain
“Not every spirit comes in fear to haunt the living through the year. Some only seek to once more be close to those whom they once loved the most”
This one was a very heartwarming story. It followed a couple who walked a certain path during rain. No matter where they are or what they are doing they’d walk that path if it rained. After the death of his wife, the main character (the husband) fell into a depression and promised himself to continue that tradition regardless (he truly loved his wife and wanted to be with her). I loved how Kray used the rain as a symbol of love and tranquility. The rain was the couple’s paradise and quality time. Generally speaking, rain is usually used as a symbol of sadness and death, however, sometimes rain can symbolize change and growth; regardless I thought it was very unique and daring for Kray to use rain as a symbol of love and I truly admired that.
.
2. June: The Good One
Now, this now was probably the longest one out of all. It’s about an old woman who runs a circus. Her circus is very popular and all the performers love her. She receives an email every year from her hometown’s Council to host her circus there but she always turns them down. This time however she was forced to agree and decides to host the circus there. Soon enough her past starts to haunt her to the point of insanity. Now, I can't say any more than that, but I thought this story was very detailed, creepy and creative. It makes you question your morality and your sense of justice.
.
1. April: Snow Sister:
Now this story is sooooooooo heartbreaking and I cried and ughhhh. This story follows a young woman who died while mountain climbing. Everyone gave up looking for her when she was announced missing and this pissed her off. So like any vengeful spirit, she started haunting the place and leading hikers to their death eventually becoming a well-known terrifying spirit of the mountain. One day a hiker comes long (he escaped from the town for being falsely accused of stealing) and the spirit sees him. Instead of killing him like the other hikers she decides to spare him and soon enough she gets to meet him and befriend him. This story was so painful, it makes remember the value of life and friendship and how your actions can change a person for the better or the worse.
.
Renee Kray is truly an exceptional author! As a reader, I truly enjoyed every single story and every single character! I would definitely recommend these short stories to anyone who enjoys thriller/horror with a twist. I even wanted to draw some of the characters (and that just shows how beautifully descriptive her writing is) I truly wish her the best and hopefully, her short stories become well-known! And I’d be honored and more than happy to read and review any other story she writes.
August 13, 2018
This is a collection of ghost stories, but they're not all horror. It is incredibly well rounded. Some stories will absolutely creep you out, and some will leave you feeling sad or hopeful. Some stories are stronger than others.
There is a cleverness to this writing that I absolutely adore. Wordplay where you dont expect it. The entire concept of the book and how layered and well thought out it is is impressive. I honestly think this really showcases the author's range. It's not all about being scared. Theres love and loss that goes along with it. Except Darla. Shes terrifying.
There is a cleverness to this writing that I absolutely adore. Wordplay where you dont expect it. The entire concept of the book and how layered and well thought out it is is impressive. I honestly think this really showcases the author's range. It's not all about being scared. Theres love and loss that goes along with it. Except Darla. Shes terrifying.
June 25, 2019
Really great collection of short horror stories based on a theme I haven't seen done before which is months of the year, my favorite was March!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews