[Book Review] Horrific Holidays Volume 1 by Aiden Merchant

Aiden Merchant was asked for something bloodier and boy did he deliver in Horrific Holidays Volume 1! After I finished each tale, I immediately thought “HO-LY!” 

Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way.  I also purchased a copy.

Let’s dive in!

My Thoughts on Horrific Holidays Volume 1 by Aiden Merchant

Per usual with short story collections, here are my notes about each tale. 

Fresh Start, Fresh Blood – 5 Stars
Holiday: New Years Eve

While a man is set on ringing in the new year going on quite the bender, he’s soon about to realize that his girl has other much darker ideas. 

Phew, this tale was BRUTAL! Oh my god, the passage about this man’s cheek and then the “carving”… what a tale to kick this collection off with! And that last paragraph of the authors note for this story… I love this so much. 

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Love You Like Hell – 5 Stars
Holiday: Valentines Day

In this tale our main character is jumping back and forth to one, talk about his story in the present while he’s in jail, and two, retelling a story from the past that lead him to where he is today. As the reader you clearly knew something bad happened and with his controlling nature I was already fearing the worst. 

This one was nuts!! Another tale with so much horror and quite the dash of brutality! The controlling and paranoia really spooked me as I had a boyfriend that was super toxic in a stalker-like controlling way. Seeing the tale play out was super eerie for me, but I still loved it! 

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House Of Eggs – 5 Stars
Holiday: Easter

There’s nothing more exciting than participating in an Easter egg hunt! That is… unless you wake up naked, painted pastel colors, in a setting straight out of Honey I Shrunk The Kids, and realize you’re being hunted…

This was ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING! This is certainly an original tale! I love that this story left the readers just as shocked and confused as the characters were. And the gore… it was shocking with each occurrence! 

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Nummy Fingers – 5 Stars
Holiday: Halloween

The story is about a man who does some thing a bit more… creative this year for Halloween. It’s a thousand times more dark than his norm. But after all, it’s Halloween and no one‘s gonna second-guess what you’re doing. 

Phew! And other absolutely brutal one but very real world horror! I could never guess what was going to happen next. This one will make your stomach cramp up!

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Stuff The Turkey – 5 Stars
Holiday: Thanksgiving 

This character is prepping for Thanksgiving, but rather than a turkey in the center of the feast, this man provides a human. But just how does he find his dinner? We’re about to find out! 

Brutal! And my gosh, that last line!! 

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Awful Gifts – 5 Stars
Holiday: Christmas

Hooooooly. This tale!!! I don’t want to even hint at what this one is about. I’m just say two things. One, the level of nonchalance that the narrator brings to this by telling the readers what happened while jumping ahead to bluntly explain the end results was unsettling. And two, the level of joy that is included in the video diaries was such a great element to add in! It was SO creepy!

My Final Thoughts on Horrific Holidays Volume 1

I’m obsessed with holiday horror. Each of these stories were incredibly captivating and I loved every single one. I’m so pumped for a second volume!!

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Thanks for reading!