I received this as part of another Netgalley promotional period where this book was available to read now. Hailey Piper has long been one of my favorite indie authors and this collection further cements Hailey as one of the genre's biggest stars.

An excellent and inventive story collection, one of the best short story collections I have read. Piper is certainly a master at weaving in complex tales and building tension, emotion, and horror. She's an instant buy.

Fantastic collection from Hailey Piper. Each story is full of feeling and lingers long in the reader's mind after the pages are closed. The prose is rich and the characters are memorable.

the cover is what drew me in, the stories was so well done. Each story was interesting and I loved getting to read each one.

Overall I really enjoyed Piper's anthology. She is someone to watch out for in the horror realm. My favorite was Feast of Small Pieces. She has the ability to create stories you don't want to put down - even if they leave you feeling uncomfortable.

While I greatly enjoyed the few other novellas I've read from Hailey Piper, particularly Benny Rose, The Cannibal King and her more recent release, The Worm and His Kings, this novella-sized collection of short stories didn't quite satisfy as a whole. Although there are a few very strong pieces within Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy, it's notable that I preferred the longer, fuller pieces, which really allowed Piper's voice to shine and allowed her the room necessary to more deeply explore her characters and themes.

Piper kicks things off well with a pair of powerful pieces in "Feast for Small Pieces," about a woman who uses men in very intriguing ways, and "The Law of Conservation of Death," which explores the reincarnation of a woman unable to escape the ghost of the man haunting her. In "Demons of a Particular Taste," Piper puts a unique, and wickedly fun, spin on demonic possession, while "I'm Not a Chainsaw Kind of Girl, But..." allows her room to riff on The Evil Dead when a woman conducts a summoning ritual to destroy her friends' relationships with their boyfriends.

Unfortunately, a bulk of the middle stories here didn't work too well for me, for various reasons. Some employed too many fantasy elements for my taste, like "Elf-Bride," or used an animal as our main POV character, like "Daisy," which is told from the perspective of a dog, a cloying device that has simply never appealed to me. Others, like "Candyland" and "Hairy Jack" presented some neat ideas but weren't afforded the amount of room needed to fully explore their otherwise intriguing concepts.

Things get back on track with the legitimately awesome "The Umbilical Chord." God, that title is just freaking perfect, the concept of a cursed tape and the havoc it's wreaked across a generation is fantastic, and a splash of body horror for good measure, hit all the right notes. "The Burning of the Blueberries" kicks off a trio of instant favorites that help close out Unfortunate Elements. Here, a young, recently-transitioned man is drawn into the secret society of the Brotherhood of the Horned, which seeks to draw forth the primordial masculine. "Jormungandr's Dance" is an apocalyptic killer worms piece and, goddamnit, what's not to like there? The long-ish "Recitation of the First Feeding" ends the collection on an absolutely stellar note and might be the tastiest morsel here. This Hellraiser-inspired short centers around a young boy haunted by the ghost of a girl who goes to great lengths to free himself by summoning the Culinary Court, a Cenobite-like group of foodies. This one's a damn good work of cosmic horror and Piper's tack-sharp writing and knack for crafting stimulating, quease-inducing imagery is on full display here. It's the perfect story to end on.

Although I'm fairly evenly split between the stories I dug versus those I didn't, those that I did enjoy I liked a lot. I'd recommend Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy just for "Recitation of the First Feeding," but thankfully there's a number of others herein to justify a purchase.

With Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy, Hailey Piper has succeeded in writing one of those collections that calls for a slow consumption. You want to savor each story and meditate on what you're reading. Her writing is rich and thoroughly thought through. Something that further encourages this reading approach is that Piper shows the breadth of her range throughout the collection. Her stories explore scifi horror, horror comedy, folk horror, body horror, dark fairy tales, and more. It is a wonderful representation of what Piper can do. While the genres, settings, and tones may change from story to story in Unfortunate Elements, the themes are recurring and complimentary. Piper writes eloquently about gender identity, bodily autonomy, and power (both personal and external). Some of my favorite stories are "Demons of Particular Taste", "I'm Not a Chainsaw Kind of Girl, but...", "The Burning of the Blueberries", and "Recitation of the First Feeding". There is lots to love about this collection! And if you're looking for an LGBTQ+ horror read for Pride month, look no further.

I love Hailey's work and this was no different. Anthologies are always a hard thing but I think these were fantastic and really took aim at the patriarchy, which I'm always here for. Most of the stories I enjoyed, a couple did fall flat for me but overall a good read.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC of Unfortunate Elements of my Anatomy in exchange for an honest review!

Were he to write about me, it would be my fault, but the pen is in my hand today.

It was from the very first story, “Feast for Small Pieces,” that I knew Unfortunate Elements of my Anatomy would be something special. Hailey Piper’s words resonated with me in a way that made me want to punch the patriarchy. Alright, alright, I feel that way everyday but the point is, this short is so phenomenal and was a perfect way to get the reader excited for the rest of the collection.

Hailey Piper never fails to amaze me with her writing and range. At times, I’m in awe with the lyrical quality of her words, while other times I’m laughing out loud over a demon attached to a Skip-It (“Demons of Particular Taste”). We love a Horror Queen that can hit all of the spooky spots. Each time a story ended, I would promise myself, “just one more!” and ended up reading a little over half the collection in one-sitting. This is something very rare for me, as I’m not huge into collections. Unfortunate Elements of my Anatomy is officially one of my favorite short story collections.

Unfortunate Elements of my Anatomy has queer themes sprinkled throughout, and when I say sprinkled, what I really mean is that Hailey Piper threw eight cups of queer into the recipe and it’s fantastic. Loves the representation.

I’m not a chainsaw kind of girl, but her teeth sure are pretty when they catch the sunshine.

Top Three Favorites in Collection:

“Feast for Small Pieces”
“I’m Not a Chainsaw Kind of Girl, but…” Note, this also wins best title ever.
“Daisy”
Unfortunate Elements of my Anatomy has possession, a spooky ice cream man, witchcraft, reincarnation, and more! I 10/10 recommend picking this collection up, because on top of Hailey Piper’s A+++++ writing, there is seriously something for everyone. You really just can’t lose with this one.

Laurel Hightower, author of Crossroads, writes the introduction to Unfortunate Elements of my Anatomy and she really sums up how I feel about Hailey Piper and her work so well. Basically, if you want to hear even more of my thoughts, just pick up Unfortunate Elements of Anatomy & read the intro, because same.

Any quotes used in review is from an early copy of Unfortunate Elements of my Anatomy and may not line up with the finished copy.

What an absolutely magnificent collection of stories. My first introduction to Hailey Piper was The Worm and His Kings. I loved her characters and imagery so much, so I swiped an advance copy of Unfortunate Elements of my Anatomy from NetGalley.

If you are a woman, queer, or trans, you will probably see yourself in these pages. Hailey Piper writes incredibly meaningful horror, and she manages to sneak meaning in even when a story is silly and quirky (see *We All Scream* for an excellent example).

The stories in this collection are going to stay with me for a long while, and this is a book I will definitely be purchasing a copy of. My favorites were Feast for Small Pieces, We All Scream, The Burning of the Blueberries, and Recitation of the First Reading. Wonderful collection!

After reading and enjoying a few of Hailey’s other stories, I was excited to dig into this collection! As with most short story collections, there are always some that don’t clique as well as the others and I did find I struggled with more of these stories than I would have liked, but overall there were some real gems and I just find Hailey’s writing so haunting and beautifully poetic.

“𝙄’𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙖𝙬 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙝 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙨𝙪𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚. “

One of my favorite stories was the last one, Recitation of the First Feeding. The twisted storyline and creepy characters made for a great read. And it is in this story we learn of the origin of the collections title.

“𝙈𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙖𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙜𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙧 𝙣𝙤𝙩, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙪𝙣𝙩, 𝙩𝙤𝙤, 𝙖 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙥 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙪𝙚, 𝙖 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙧 𝙮𝙚𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣.”

To summarize, I think Hailey is a great writer and puts to paper some immensely creative imagery and prose. This will not be the last title of hers I pick up.

I give this one ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy is my third read from Hailey Piper, and I’ve given five stars to all three. An amazing writer, Piper gives us lyrical stories that make you uncomfortable, yet you can’t look away.

This collection contains 18 short stories, all horror, but genre-bending all the same. We get ghost stories, body horror, possession stories, witchcraft, secret societies, and even a sci-fi horror (yes!!!) all in less than 300 pages. Y’all, Hailey spoiled us with this collection. There’s revenge. There’s gender euphoria. There’s cannibalism. There’s folklore.

Some of my favorites in this collection were “Dreams of Particular Taste,” “Candyland,” “Hairy Jack,” and “The Burning of the Blueberries.”

If you haven’t read any of Hailey Piper’s work, go now! Run. Faster.

Thank you to NetGalley, The Seventh Terrace, and Hailey Piper for this advanced review copy!

Laurel Hightower’s introduction nicely sets the tone for this wonderful speculative fiction collection as does Janice Blaine’s cool cover and internal illustrations.

As I made my way through the stories, the first thing that caught my attention were Piper’s awesome openings. Each story start acts as sticky spider silk. Soon the reader is transfixed and trapped in Piper’s wonderful web.

Whether the story is a flash fiction piece or the long fiction tale at the end of the book, Piper proves her story spinning mastery over and over in this collection.

My favorites are as follows:

“Recitation of the First Feeding,” which includes a line that became the title of this book, is a disturbing fairytale with a stunning theme around identity. Alex seeks to rid himself of a ghost only to trade the problem for a kind of curse. This story equally charmed and horrified me, while sliding inside my skin.

“Feast for Small Pieces” is all about recycling and turning a bane into a boon.

“The Law of Conservation of Death” tackles a death-defying obsession.

“Demons of Particular Taste” involves an exorcism with a twist. This whole story has a humorous element that’s carried along to the perfect ending.

“Seven Signs He Doesn’t Love You” follows a couple on an off-season vacation get away. This story made me nostalgic for an old Scooby Doo live action movie only because the setting provided a similar eerie sensation.

“Crones in Their Larval State” and “Hairy Jack” both deal with witches, but in vastly different worlds.

The plucky protagonist “We All Scream” finds her favorite ice cream treat sullied by a magical creeper.

Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy includes 18 stories, which includes three new tales exclusive to this collection.

This collection enchanted me, making this a four and a half star read, rounded up to five.

Everything Hailey writes is solid gold dripping in gore and cosmic chills and this is no exception. I can't even pick a favorite. They're all awesome but the one that really sticks with me is We All Scream. It paints vivid images in melted vanilla and fudge. It's enough to make anyone lose their taste for ice cream.

This collection leans far more heavily on fantasy than on horror, and it's just not to my taste. Lovely writing, though.

While I have read other works of Hailey Piper’s, this was my first collection of short stories written by her. Like her other work, I was not a bit disappointed. Hailey is famous for creating consistently excellent writing. This collection has 18 stories, a little something for every taste, be it body horror, queer horror, cosmic horror, dark fantasy, and more.
With it being a collection of short stories, I thought that I would be able to jump from story to story, but this was not the case. Some stories required deep thought and reflection.
As with all her writing that I have read, there are deep themes of trans rights and gay rights, of love, of isolation and loneliness, of longing for acceptance, and despair upon being rejected. Themes of tearing yourself apart and rebuilding yourself into the person you were born to be.
For me, the standout stories of this collection were “Feast for Small Pieces,” where a woman brings home a man who comes on to her sexually, only to use the best parts of him to heal others who are sick or broken, “The Law of Conservation of Death,” tells the story of a ghost who pursues the woman he claims to own him throughout her every reincarnation, and “Candyland”, my favorite in the collection, where teenage girls make themselves “sweet” to be valuable to aristocrats for whims until they are consumed by them.
I could go on and on about this book. I highlighted and copied so many quotes that spoke to me, but I will not add them here because this review would be nothing but quotes. You will get something from every story in this collection, some deeper truth that will strike you when you read Hailey’s words.
Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy is an amazing collection of stories by the supremely talented Hailey Piper. The stories contained herein range from dark fantasy to the macabre. The themes and ideas explored can be both touching and terrifying. I honestly enjoyed every story.

Some of my favorites were:
Feast for Small Pieces
The Law of Conservation for Death
I'm Not a Chainsaw Kind of Girl, But...
Seven Signs He Doesn't Love you
Hairy Jack
The Burning of the Blueberries
Recitation of the First Feeding.

A copy of this book was provided by Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Enmeshing horror with dark fantasy, Piper's collection of eighteen new and previously printed tales stretches across a diverse universe of styles and characters. Witches, monsters, elder gods, secret societies, and cosmic realities all find a new face under her tutelage. While often collections can be haphazard—an accumulation of bobs and bits that often aren't cohesive—it's Piper's characters that unify this collection. In each of these carefully molded stories, her characters are put in situations to experienced things distressingly poignant and ultimately metamorphic. They all share the underlying theme of becoming something not wholly unexpected, something that has been there all along waiting oh, so patiently to say "I exist".

Piper has been on my horror radar since the publication of The Possession of Natalie Glasgow and she continues to deliver narratives that have snapping jaws and a fiery soul at their core. Her writing is often lyrical, wrapping itself around you as you stop to ponder the greater meaning hidden inside each piece. A few favorites from the collection: "Feast for Small Pieces" brings about poetic undoing in that the parts could be greater than the whole; "We All Scream", where the quandary of which restroom to use becomes much more terrifying set to the tune of "Pop Goes the Weasel"; and "The Burning of Blueberries", the very core of Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy, which must be experienced.

I am a sucker for a good set of short stories and these stories were more than I expected. It's not horror in any typical way but stories that stay with you and squirm under your skin. I loved the feminist bent of them and it was fun to be in the mind of female characters experiencing these odd, terrifying, and sometimes funny events. Hailey Poper is a new author for me but this won't be the last time I partake in her writing.

I received an e-arc of this from the publisher through NetGalley.

I had the privilege and the honor to read Unfortunate Elements of My Anatomy by Hailey Piper.

Hailey is one of those authors that writes incredibly consistently. If she wrote the instructions on how to build furniture I would read them.

Hailey doesn't disappoint with this book you get 18, yes 18 short stories. All of them just as incredible as the next. I have a spot in my brain where "We All Scream" lives. It's in there and it's ruining my life and love for sweet desserts. The other 17 stories are all so good and you will really root for the characters.

The stories are based around nightmares, love, femininity, and queer horror. It's hard to classify them as a whole because they are so different.

Do you yourself a favor and pick this up when it comes out. You deserve this book in your life.