2.75 stars

Ro meets four strangers at a soon-to-close diner, and they decide to make a tradition of spending Christmas together an doing a gift exchange. At the first inaugural event, the group shares ghost stories. Grayson tells a personal story of his run-in with Krampus at his childhood home. After two years the tradition dissolves, until several years later when Grayson invites them all to his estate for Christmas. Ro is now a famous horror author and can't help but wonder if that story of Krampus told all those years ago is true.

This was a slightly disappointing read. While the title and description would lead you to believe that this is a Krampus-themed horror novella, the story itself focuses more on Ro, her terrible past, and how the events of her past re-emerge to take from her again. Some of the dialogue was weird, it didn't sound like the way people would talk in the same era that Facebook exists. I also didn't really get the goosebumps I'd typically expect from a horror book! I think if I went into this with correct expectations I would have rated it higher.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing and ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lucky Girl is a jewel of a book. More of a psychological horror than anything else>, this horror novella will keep you guessing until the last page. Tightly written and dreamy, it will stick with you.

This story is told in first person from the point of view of Roanoke or Ro who previously met several other lonely people in a diner and invited them to her home for Christmas dinner and gift exchange. The reader is immediately thrown into this setting and it turns into ghost story time before they awkwardly part with some agreeing to meet again. The book jumps through time, only covering the gatherings of these 4-5 characters on a few occasions. While the cover had a creepy, ghostly vibe, and the concept intrigued me, this short read lacked suspense and atmosphere.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tordotcom for the free copy provided for an honest review.

Wonderful Krampus tale. This short read is sure to be on everyone's Halloween, Christmas, and Summerween reading list. Ro and a group of strangers meet at a cabin, and the body count starts rising. This book will have you asking whether you truly know anyone.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tordotcom for the opportunity to read an advance reading copy.

I loved this book. A few reviews claimed it wasn't scary. To me, nothing is scarier than people going missing, followed by lots of human bones found around where people went missing. As in most horror, it turns out that humans are the monsters.

I also liked the character Ro. She reminded me of myself, which is a scary thought indeed. I'm an introverted horror writer who also finds herself walking into situations better left alone. Unfortunately, I'm not a wealthy horror writer like Ro.

And oh, that ending. Just when life is looking good for Ro, we know she'll end up in a heap of trouble.

Much thanks to Netgalley and Tor for allowing me to read and review Lucky Girl.

Well this was a crazy pleasant surprise! I went into this one with low expectations, as I saw the 2015 Krampus movie this past winter and it was an enjoyable but very corny experience, so I had the same expectations here. This was not the slightest bit corny! This is a very quick read at 112 pages (not sure if that is considered a short story or novella!) and was super enjoyable and left me with lots of goosebumps at different moments. The Christmas/winter holiday feel is fantastic and my only regret is not leaving this for December! I thought this writing from this author was excellent and I’m definitely going to seek out more stories from Rickert!

Thank you to Tordotcom for the widget ARC!

Ro, an orphaned teen after her parents and sibling are murdered, meets a group of misfits in a coffee shop and these strangers begin to share their Christmas holidays together. How well do these five people truly know each other? Is everyone quite as they seem?

I enjoyed this novella, Lucky Girl, by M. Rickert. However, I would have loved to read more about the lives and learned the histories of each of the five characters. This book would have been great written as a full length novel. The premise for the story is spooky and mysterious but it felt rushed to me due to its length.

Thank you, NetGalley and Tor Publishing, for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed above are my own.

I wanted this to be a little more horrifying than it was. This book was ok but nothing I'd read again.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tordotcom, and M. Rickert for the advanced copy of Lucky Girl in exchange for my honest review.

Christmas in July! I really enjoyed this short story, it was sufficiently creepy with a few twists and turns I didn't see coming. I'm quite glad I read it while the sun was out or it may have freaked me out a little too much.

This was a new author for me but I will definitely be adding her backlist books to my horror lineup, as this packed quite a bunch for being so short.

Lucky Girl will be on US bookshelves September 13!

An intriguing short story about all the lucky breaks a woman has gotten over her life, only, she finds out she's not so lucky after all.

I wish it was longer.

Ro forms an unlikely group of strangers who only have loneliness during the holidays in common. They only meet a couple of times before they drift apart, but a once-told ghost story brings them back together.

For such a short read, I was impressed by how perfect the build-up was. It felt like the perfect number of pages. Ro is a flawed, interesting character. Loved the abrupt ending.

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

This was a lot of fun and definitely kept me engaged. I think this is a perfect novella to read in one sitting. The only thing holding me back from giving this a higher rating is that I felt everything was brushed over much too quickly. When I even began to feel even the briefest beginnings of something horrific, we'd already moved past it. I wish more of the plot points had been expanded upon, giving me more of an eery sense of dread. With that being said, I definitely can see myself reading more from this author in the future. I definitely enjoyed their writing style and could see a longer book receiving a higher rating from me.

Is the chill you're feeling the winter cold seeping into your bones or the fear of what's hiding in the blinding white snow? This short book is the perfect story to curl up with in the dark hours of winter, when the world hunkers down and hopes for the twinkle of holiday lights to chase away the darkness. The characters are well written and progress the story is meaningful, if short, ways. The plot is fast enough to keep you reading without skimping on the details that really bring the story to life.

I wanted to love this one but it just wasn’t for me. Didn’t get into the story much and I wanted more.

I didn't love this one. The plot got off to a very slow start before things finally started to get creepy and hold my interest. It took me two tries to make it through to the end and I'm not sure I'd recommend it.

There was a lot about this that just felt muddled and undeveloped. It is a short story and a quick read, but it felt like it needed polishing and tightening. I just didn't find anything special about this. It was fine, but nothing overly intriguing or creepy. There was a good premise, but the execution didn't meet my expectations. The writing was fine and I felt like maybe with a bit of redirection and editing this could have been made into something much more gripping. Instead, something about the character relationships and interactions felt off and the movement of the plot was a bit jerky. It was a disappointing experience, but it was short so I didn't feel the pressure to DNF.

Ro is alone and down on her luck one Christmas when she meets four strangers in a diner and impulsively invites them to a holiday dinner. They each tell a Christmas horror story, exchange meager gifts, and go on with their separate lives. Years later, now a successful horror novelist, Ro receives an invitation to a reunion dinner at a beautiful estate for Christmas. All too late, she learns that some stories are terrifying because they’re true. I received an invitation to read a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Macmillan-Tor/Forge. Trigger warnings: character death, parent/sibling death, fires, captivity, stalking, grief, guilt.

I don’t know whether the title of this novella is deliberately misleading or just accidentally, but this is only barely a Krampus story; it’s more like a decoration around the edges than the actual point. It’s also ill-suited to being a novella, since there are the bones of what could be a really good story here, except there’s no time to develop it to any satisfaction. It covers far too much time for the number of pages. Instead, we blow through years with characters we (and the main character) only barely know, and there’s no time to get attached to any of them or have any particular feelings about what happens to them. There are only the vaguest personalities there, most of them leaning into cliché, including the faux-goth horror writer who is our narrator.

All that being said, I liked the story itself. Ro’s grim history with the unsolved murders of her family provide a creepy backdrop, and it was probably my favorite part of the novella, well above anything supernatural. It’s also better developed, though. The Krampus thread is established at the beginning and then barely utilized, despite setting up an interesting point of potential crossover for the two storylines. Instead, it’s almost like two different stories got mashed together to lukewarm effect. I was so far removed from everything that the ending didn’t have much of an impact. Oh, well. Maybe it would make a better movie.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

Lucky Girl, the new novella for the incredibly talented M. Rickert, has two subtitles; How I Became a Horror Writer, and A Krampus Story, both of which instantly drew me in. Our narrator is a famous but lonely horror author, who lost her family in a horrific home invasion. She meets a group of misfits in a failing diner one Thanksgiving, and they form a bond out of desperation.

The following Christmas, the group reunite, and one member, Greyson, shares a terrifying true story about the place he grew up, and an encounter with Krampus. Flash forward past a few years of minimal contact, the group reconvene at Greyson’s manor. Is Greyson’s Krampus story real? Are the group safe? And how much can you really trust someone you barely know?

This brief story was a lot of fun. Full of twists and turns, and an absolutely killer ending. Lucky Girl is a fantastic festive horror story, perfect for reading in front of a roaring log fire in December.

This book was not what I expected going in, and I definitely like the Thing It Was much better than the Thing I Thought It Was. Somehow manages to provide heartwarming holiday feels like also providing some real scares and great horror storytelling. I love stories about loners coming together, and this one delivers.

Before I get into the bulk of the review, I want to say a quick thank you to NetGalley and the publishers over at Tordotcom for allowing me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Lucky Girl is a quick horror story set around the Christmas holiday. We start with. our main characters meeting up for Christmas after realizing they all had nowhere to go for the holiday. The recent college graduates decide to tell scary stories set around the holidays. This sets off events that none of them could begin to imagine. Lucky Girl is out on September 13th and is available for preorder now.

I want to start out the review by saying that this novella is not exactly what it says on the back of the book. I assumed that this story would start out with our five main characters meeting in this small town diner and deciding to meet up for Christmas a few weeks later, then the horror stories start flowing and possibly murder? But this story actually takes place over the course of about 25 years. I wish we had met everyone in the diner instead of that first Christmas they spend together. Also, this story is told with flashbacks to the main character’s past which sometimes feels like it gets in the way of the main plot, but does come around in the end. Tor usually does a pretty good job with keeping stories the right length. They’re usually exactly what a reader needs to truly enjoy a story, but this time I feel like they missed the mark. The ending to this one feels so unsatisfying. As the reader, I have so many questions and I don’t love how multiple plot points are left without resolution or explanation. The length of the story also keep me from feeling like I ever really knew any of the characters.

I will say that the atmosphere for this novella was the exact right mix of Holiday Spirit and Absolute Terror. I would feel comfy and cozy and then the author let the horror seep in. I also felt like I could picture most of the settings really well. I especially enjoyed the estate on top of the hill and the church on the grounds. This was the kind of story that you could read in one sitting. It kept me wanting more and was such a quick and easy read. I found the setting and the atmosphere and sometimes the plot compelling enough to keep propelling me through the story.

Overall, I think this is good for those readers who don’t like things wrapped up in a nice, neat bow and who like to come up with their own conclusions for the how or the why. It’s also good for people who prefer their mystery/thriller/horror novels over the Christmas-y counterparts.