Sadly I had to dnf this book but it is no way due to the book being bad or badly written in fact I found the writing to be gorgeous and the stories I did read really did evoke alot of emotions for me.

I have just come to realise this will be the final short stories collection I will read/try to read because I can now say they are not for me.

If however you do enjoy short stories I would highly recommend this book as I said the writing is so beautiful and the stories are very deep and somewhat magical or have magical realism.

The ones I read were on the darker side but I still did enjoy and could relate. If this author wrote a novel I would 100% read it and probably love it!

This is a really interesting collection of short stories that lean towards the magical realism genre. The prose is absolutely beautiful, and the metaphors are alluring. It feels like walking through a garden and each word you read is a flower you pick and take the time to smell. Maybe that’s why I took such a long time with this book. Even though most stories were about 10, 20 pages long, I found myself rereading whole paragraphs – sometimes even whole pages.

I couldn’t help but compare the writing to Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Cycle. There was something about the magic in the words that just reminded me of that series.

Even after weeks, I still think about the third story, “The Hand that Sews”. Such a powerful and compelling read! “Chinchilla”, “Cross” , and “Where Parallel Lines Come to Touch” were also delightful.

J. D. Scott is to release a poetry book in 2021 and I’ll definitely look out for that one as well. Thanks to the publisher for granting me an e-ARC of this book through NetGalley!

Realmente não é o que estava esprando! (isso pode ser bom ou ruim, depende do ponto de vista).

Estou simplesmente chocada com a beleza dessas histórias e como elas são reais e sinceras. Se eu pudesse dar um conselho, diria pra você ir ler esse livro sem saber nada e mergulhar de cabeça nessa narrativa, garanto que sua experiência será fantástica!

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

I tried and tried to read this book and I couldn't get into it. I went back to it many times and wanted to love this book because it was different and intriguing. But it just wasn't happening for me. I have a hard time getting into books in general and getting to know the characters, so short stories are harder for me with less character and story building.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

The writing style was definitely unique. but sme of the stories fell a little flat for me. I wasn' tsure what to expect overall, and as with mos tshort story collections, there are usually a few duds. I read more duds than successes though.

I enjoyed this book, even though, it is a different style of writing then I am used to, I would recommend others to read moonflower, Nightshade, all the hours of the day

I found this to be a very interesting collection of stories. The writing was completely mesmerising and brilliant, the mix of genres throughout was a great choice as there is at least story for everyone in this collection. Some of the wording and quotations I read in this book made me so envious of the author, they were so beautiful and cleverly constructed, I almost gasped and wanted to read the same lines over and over again.

Some of my favourites included:
Where Parallel Lines Come to Touch
- A wonderfully emotional story of loss, memories and letting go.
Night Things
- An eerie tale that kept me on my toes wanting to read on
Their Sons Return Home to Die
- a unique story bound in the author's beautiful writing.

Each story within this collection is different, from genres ranging from sci-fi and thriller to love and romance. I found some to be more enjoyable to read than others but I think that's the best thing about this book, although I may not have enjoyed a story or two, others might absolutely love them!

It's new and unique, it may not be for everyone but it was for me!

This was such an interesting collection. The author really knows what they're doing. I would go on and on about the beautiful writting and the stories but I believe the best thing you could do is walk into Moonflower, Nightshade, All the Hours of the Day blind. This book is not what you're expecting. I'll let you decide whether that's a good thing or not.

I really enjoyed this book! Although, as happens with short stories, I found myself wanting to spend more time with some of the characters (particularly the title story and The Teenager).
The writing is spellbinding and so emotionally evocative. One of my favorite excerpts: "The truth is: sometimes there are endings and they occur so unapologeticlly that no sense can be made of them. You're bound by your love in a tiny box, and then you emerge from the shroud, unaccompanied, walking through the presence of so much open space" (From Chinchilla). There are moments where the plot, writing or language completely tears me open emotionally, but there are also delightful moments of whimsy and humor (like getting "sassed" by a deer). This book made me cry, and laugh out loud, which I think speaks to it's range. A fresh and sophisticated approach to magical realism.

2,64/5

Single story ratings:

The Teenager: 2.7/5
Chinchilla: 3/5
The Hand that Sews: 3/5
Cross: 1/5
Moonflower, Nightshade: 4.5/5
Where Parallel Lines Come to Touch: 3.5/5
Night Things: 3/5
Their Sons Return Home to Die: 2.5/5
After the End Came the Mall, and the Mall Was Everything: 4.2/5
Fordite Pendant: 1.5/5
General Thoughts:

This book was definitely a different read for me. I was pretty excited to start it but ended up with mixed feelings.
I’ll explain. Every story is completely different and the arguments are very various. There are different worlds and some are real worlds, others are fantasy settings.
In each, there’s a main protagonist dealing with (for what I understood) a life difficulty of different type.
Some of them were interesting and fun to read, others were all over the places, that’s why I have huge mixed feelings.
The most interesting was the second to last one, this world made just of shopping centers was so absurd and scary at the same time, but my absolute favorite remains the one that gave the title to this book.

I think that the least you know about this book the better you will enjoy this journey. It’s definitely a different book and definitely not for everyone, but it was still interesting to explore.
Hands down to the writing style, that was awesome!

e-ARC provided by NetGalley but all opinions are my own.

"Mina does this thing, sometimes, where she looks like she's glaring right at you, but you know she's glaring ten, twenty years into the past."

uf, where do i start with this? i've struggled a bit with the rating to be honest, because i was torn between 3 and 4 stars. the thing about collections of short stories and anthologies is that there can be stories you really like, and others you really don't. so where does that leave you?

i rated each story individually as i was reading and they look like this:
the teenager - 2/5
chincilla - 3.5/5
the hand that sews - 3.5/5
cross - 2/5 (only for "just got resurrected, lol")
moonflower, nightshade, all the hours of the day - 4/5
where parallel lines come to touch - 3.5/5
night things - 4/5 (reminded me a little of siken)
their sons return home to die - 3/5
after the end came the mall, and the mall was everything - 3.5/5
fordite pendant - 1.5/5

now, what i can say without a doubt is that the writing style is really beautiful. there are so many quotes that made me gasp and made me feel, you know. but the problem is, where they were supposed to be eerie and whimsical, they ended up being confusing and weird. at least from my subjective pov.

however, i loved the diversity in this, queer and poc, and the relationships between the characters, like the twins from "where parallel lines come to touch" and mina and joshua from "after the end came the mall, and the mall was everything", and as i said before, i really liked the writing style, very metaphorical and beautiful, which is why you should read this.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. I really enjoyed each story in this book. Would love to read more by this author.

I really enjoyed these short stories. They all have very different angles to them, very emotive topics and some are moving to read. Over all I world recommend this book, it’s lively, fast paced and makes you think.

A wonderful and genre-expanding collection of short stories that culminates with a never-before-published novella. Each story is driven by a complex character with entirely surprising motivations. Woven throughout are elements of magic-it's ability to enchant and wreck carnage on our lives. And yet the works are so firmly rooted in the real world that it feels as though these things could really happen, whether in our present dystopia, or in a near future dystopia.

Amidst the high stakes and difficult choices each character is faced with, the collection offers hope, and an alternate way of looking at the world and relating to it. It imbues the every day with a spark that will challenge readers to peer out into their own world in wonder.

A powerful debut collection from a unique voice transcending genre and audience. From Young Adult to Seasoned Reader, the stories and the character will captivate with their complexity.

individual story ratings
* The Teenager - 2
* Chinchilla - 3.5
* The Hand That Sews - 4
* Cross - 2
* Moonflower, Nightshade, All Hours of the Day - 3
* When Parallel Lines Come to Touch - 3.5
* Night Things - 4
* Their Sons Return Home to Die - 3
* After the End Came the Mall, and the Mall Was Everything - 5
* Fordite Pendant - 4

* First two stories both have similar plot points and themes. The conversation on religion and drugs felt like it was being told rather than shown. Chinchilla had such an interesting concept but was weakened by its similarity to the first
• also the tone of voice and perspective of the first two are very similar in these two stories, as well as some minor plot, which made them even less distinguishable
* Third story onwards, the collection felt more distinctive voices and the stories felt more individual
* Some ‘unsophisticated’ awkward sounding language in some places
• some parts of all the stories don’t flow well as a whole, with sections of thought and discussion seeming out of place and forced as paragraphs within the stories
* Cross was an absolutely ridiculous story and for that i kinda liked it, but also - what the hell was that??? I liked the contrast in the story and that ending made me laugh so much but there is no way i could give it more than 2 stars although i kinda wanna give it 5 because of it’s ridiculousness
* Themes that were explored in many of the stories - such as religion, drugs, city life - felt like we were told rather than explored, not just in the first two
* Night Things was the story that flowed the best and had less sections of thought that felt didn’t feel forced, as they blended into the story well
* After the End Came the Mall was by far my favourite - loved the setting so much i would absolutely read a full length novel set in that world. Though satisfactory for the story’s length, i would love to see the fabulist aspects and especially the world-building expanded upon. i was anticipating this story the most out of the collection and it definitely lived up to my hopes - made reading the whole collection worth it
• however, because of the strength of this story, and the fact it was the longest, some of the other stories felt much weaker, even more in comparison
• my final rating is a 3 or 3.5 due to the various ratings of each story, which is a typical rating i would give a short story collection. I know, however, that i will be thinking about and remember ‘After the End Came the Mall, and the Mall Was Everything’ for a long time after finishing