This is a super interesting collection of four short stories which are what I would call soft-horror. Most of these tales are on the lighter side of dark, with horror-esque subject material but a much more comedic or optimistic execution. Since there are only four stories, I'll review each of them.
Reply Hazy: A woman picks up a magic 8 ball which starts to make all of her decisions for her. This was probably the weakest story for me. It ends a little abruptly and the horror never really takes off. I wouldn't mind if the story was a bit more complete, but it falls a little flat overall.
Bachelorette: A woman attends her childhood best friend's bachelorette party and things take an ominous turn. This was a much stronger story, maybe my favourite of the bunch. The horror element ties really well thematically to the idea of outgrowing your friends and holding on desperately to old times whilst dealing with female jealousy. All the elements worked really well together.
Goblin: Desperate to lose weight before an ex's wedding, a woman downloads an app where a goblin will help her control her diet. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this one as much as I did but it's a solid execution of a fundamentally wacky premise. It ended quite abruptly again but with a bit more of a satisfying conclusion than the first one.
Bad Dolls: After the death of her sister, a woman becomes overly attached to a doll in her house. This is probably the closest to 'true horror' and again the horror analogy works well for the situation, even if it is a little bit obvious. This one has a good atmosphere but I think the lack of originality holds it back, even though the character and emotions within it are solid.
Overall, I really liked this story collection. It felt like 'feminist horror' and there were strong themes of womanhood and women's issues tying all four stories together. It has an interesting core concept and enough going on that I am happy to overlook the minor flaws. I would definitely recommend this if you're intrigued by any of these stories or would like to read some horror that is a little outside the box
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