Stories for Homes Blog Tour - review

Information about the Book

Name: Stories for Homes volume 2

Release Date: 28^th September 2017

In Support of: Shelter Charity

In Response to: Grenfell Tower

Link: http://storiesforhomes.wordpress.com

Published and unpublished writers come together to create an anthology of stories about what ‘home’ means.

55 writers are included in a second charity anthology that brings issues around housing, poverty and crisis to life through the power of storytelling. Volume One of the Stories for Homes Project raised over £3K for housing charity Shelter and raised awareness of housing issues.Volume Two of the anthology includes stories, poems and flash fiction and again all proceeds will be donated to the charity.

*****

It's a rare book that is so brilliantly written and edited, at the same time as raising money for such a worthy cause. It's also one of my favourite adult books, and short story anthologies, that I've read this year. If those aren't good enough reasons to go out and buy this book immediately, let me share a few more. 

As a whole, this anthology covers a huge range of subject matters and writing styles, but is unified by the theme of what home means. I really enjoyed the fact that this was a varied reading experience, with an insight into the lives of people from different cultures and backgrounds. 

It also gives a lesson in how to be economical with words. Though some of the stories are only a few pages, or verses, long, they are written with such consistently strong voices that I immediately felt present in the world they created. 

The stories were consistently interesting and thought-provoking, but I had a few favourites.

Day 89 is a really touching story about refugees that made me feel intensely for the characters, and also made me think about the privileges it's all too easy to take for granted.

The Tiger Who Came Back to Apologise takes a very creative approach to the subject matter, and at the end of the book was the one that stuck in my mind.

Straw Houses also stood out for the humour, voice and immediacy of the writing. It made me want to read a whole book written by Caroline Hardman.

This is a thought-provoking book that had me thoroughly engrossed throughout. I strongly recommend it for the storytelling and the motivation behind it. 

 

Further Stories

A dedicated website includes a further collection of flash fiction and poetry, real life experiences from people who have had housing problems or have experienced homelessness, as well as a series of articles from a professional working with homeless people. 

www.storiesforhomes.wordpress.com

If you want to follow this wonderful book throughout the blog tour, you can find the next stops below:

My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins - Review

Since I've been feeling festive since about Halloween, I decided to give this book of twelve short stories a go. Another plus is that many of my favourite YA authors contributed to this including Jenny Han, Rainbow Rowell and Laini Taylor among others

The best thing about this book is that the stories are all so different! Yes there's the unifying themes of love and Christmas running through them, but I loved how many variations there were. Some stories had a supernatural or fantastical element and others were more contemporary and this made for a very moreish read.

Though there wasn't a bad story in the bunch for me, these were a few of my favourites: 'Midnights' by Rainbow Rowell, 'The Lady and the Fox' by Kelly Link, 'Angels in the Snow' by Matt De La Pena and 'The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer' by Laini Taylor.

In these stories in particular, I marveled at how well-developed the characters were in such a few pages. The only problem is that I'd like a whole book dedicated to them!

My only regret is that now I've finished I need a break from all things Christmas-related. I'm sure I'll get over it after some Stephen King or Star Wars.

This was a really fun read and I will definitely seek out the authors in here that I was previously less familiar with.

Slasher Girls and Monster Boys Review by Amy at YA Under My Skin

Slasher Girls and Monster Boys edited by April Genevieve Tucholke

Publisher: Dial Books

Kindle release date: Out now!

Hardcover: 13^th October (Just in time for Halloween...)

The fabulous authors included (in order): Nova Ren Suma, Carrie Ryan, Cat Winters, Leigh Bardugo, Megan Shepherd, Danielle Paige, April Genevieve Tucholke, Jonathan Maberry, Jay Kristoff, Stefan Bachmann, Marie Lu, A.G. Howard and Kendare Blake.

I started reading Point Horror books when I was 9 or 10 (which probably explains a lot). For me, this book felt like the best kind of childhood flashback.

I’m not usually a short story reader, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this collection. Part of it was to do with the amazing selection of authors (Marie Lu and Carrie Ryan – in the same book?!)

All of the stories left me at least unnerved, and at best were downright disturbing and terrifying. I felt like the authors pushed into some dark, twisted places, and I loved that! Only a couple of stories were less engaging, retreading familiar horror movie ground.  

I’ll give a quick rundown of my favourites, but I’d hate to ruin them by saying too much!

-My favourite by a long lead was Carrie Ryan’s story ‘In the Forest Dark and Deep’, based on elements of Alice in Wonderland. ‘The Forest of Hands and Teeth’ by Carrie Ryan is one of my favourite books, and I loved the dark depths that this story went to. Two trembling thumbs up!

-I also really enjoyed Marie Lu’s story ‘The Girl Without a Face’. It has an unusual narrative style, and a very unpredictable plot.

-My next top pick was ‘Sleepless’ by Jay Kristoff. This was an inventive take on the potential for horror surrounding internet chatrooms.

-Another story that I really enjoyed was Stitches by A.G. Howard. I’m not going to say anything except how wonderfully strange it was!

This book is a must read for horror adrenaline junkies. You weren’t planning to sleep tonight, were you?

If you liked the sound of this, now try:

-Absolutely anything by Stephen King

-…or Neil Gaiman

-Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

-The Forbidden Game by LJ Smith (the author of ‘The Vampire Diaries’)

-Go old school and track down some Point Horrors