Short collection of 2/3 chapter horror stories good for a quick read when concentration is at an ebb and reading long stories is a drag

Visited by Dreamscape is a creative, chilling and dark collection of gothic-inspired short stories which deliver killer endings.

The Haunted Night –an atmospheric tale of despair and melancholy as a mother searches and finds her missing daughter in the neighbouring wood.

The Ailment – a wry tale about the repulsive and unspeakable journey made by Greasy Pete and his ‘third eye’.

The Haunted Nightclub – a chilling night of men, mystery and misery at Haunted, a local nightclub, doesn’t end well.

The Doll’s House –Child’s play gets dark when a younger sister receives a second-hand doll’s house complete with an unusual doll.

The Haunted Fairground – a widow and her two children experience more than they bargained for at the visiting fairground on Choices Meadow.

The Fashion Show - the deliciously dark and playfully malevolent fashion designer Richard Layman delivers The Cut Walk as his macabre swansong.

The Haunted Farm – a psychological and emotive tale about a brother and sister required to spend one night at their dead father’s farm as a condition of their inheritance.

I’m still struggling to fall in love with short stories but this was a collection that I actually really enjoyed (for the majority).

My fav reads were:

The Haunted Night - the torment and pain felt by the mother in this story was so visceral and the ending was shocking and disturbing (a great way to kick off the collection).

The Haunted Fairground - this one was terrifying in an emotional and ‘real’ way. The fear of death and loss permeated this story and it was a stirring read.

The Fashion Show - this one was my FAV! Hannibal Lecter of the fashion world - the concept was so wrong it was right and highlighted the raw (pardon my pun) horror of the lengths people will go to for art!

Worthington is def a writer I will be checking out again in the future.

#bookreviewsbymrsc #visitedbydreamscapes #louiseworthington

Unfortunately this book was a let down. I was very excited to read a collection of gothic short stories and the concepts of each one (except maybe Greasy Pete that was just barf) were great but the execution was not there. The author should have made the stories a little bit longer or tried to include less in them in order to get the point across. Instead each story was a weird limbo length that left the plots feeling unfinished. Several of the stories would jump around or include pieces that didn't seem to fit. Other times the big reveal at the end would happen but it didn't have the effect is was supposed to since the story hadn't been fleshed out enough.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was very entertaining and a nice easy, quick read. Some of the stories I thought could've been longer but overall I enjoyed this book.

These are well-written stories that put a fresh take on typical gothic settings alongside expected tropes such as madness, loss and death. I loved The Fashion Show in particular told by a menacing machiavellian fashion designer, and The Haunted Night is both unsettling and emotive. A very entertaining collection of tales full of creepiness and surprise endings.

This cover and description looked so promising. Unfortunately, the content didn't deliver.

This is a collection of short stories that are supposed to be horrifying, except there is too little plot development for the stories to truly be scary or complete even. I know a lot of horror can leave the fate of the characters to the reader's imagination but I found myself with most of the stories going OK here's going to be the good stuff and it turned out to be the end of the story. I only really felt two were complete, The Haunted Carnival and the Fashion Show. The Fashion Show was by far my favorite story and the one that felt tidy and finished and was actually full-on creepy.

The other thing was there is total lack of originality in the titles of the stories - three of them start with "The Haunted...". I think if the author would have given one more chapter to each story with a bit more explanation of the what/why, it would have made the stories much better. The one about the haunted club was too hard to follow.

Such a bummer, I had high hopes for being terrified and instead wound up mildly annoyed.