C 8
A 7
W 8
P 8
I 8
L 7
E 8

I truly enjoyed each and every one of these short stories. Tananarive's forward was an absolutely beautiful introduction to these stories and spoke to the power of Black horror. After reading, I really found myself thinking about that breadth of these stories. Some were terrifying, others were creepy, while all of them were jaw-dropping. I found that no two stories were the same or even remotely similar. I really appreciated how each of the stories imagined horror in such an unique way. The audiobook made these even creepier. The only major critique I have is that I wished there were a few more narrators. I think it would have added to the overall production. All in all, I was so intensely pleased to find amazing horror stories where the Black girl is the final girl. My favorite stories were "The Brides of Devil's Bayou," "Welcome Back to the Cosmos," "TMI," and "Black Girl Nature Group."

This anthology of YA horror stories was really good. Each story was short and entertaining, but I did want a bit more from them. There are fifteen stories that highlight black female MCs that encounter fear, horror, and trials; some with supernatural and paranormal elements. I really enjoyed the FMCs in these stories. They were witty, resilient, and brave. The narrator was phenomenal. She embodied each character from each story. I love how she changed her tone when needed and presented the personality of each character. If you enjoy YA horror, short stories, and tough female MCs, then I highly recommend this book to you.

Wow! I really enjoyed this anthology. As with most anthologies, some stories were better than others, but overall, this was a slam dunk! So many of the stories had me wanting full-length novels to find out what happened next or to get more insight into the characters. The horror fanatic in me couldn’t be happier and I’ve already recommended this book in my Black Girl Horror group!

A great collection of YA horror stories featuring BIPOC main characters who take the lead and don't play the minor/supporting roles or get killed off first like in most classic films and books. This was a refreshing, much needed addition to the genre and great on audio! Recommended for fans of books like Dead girls walking by Sami Ellis. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review! This would make a perfect #spookyseason pick!

Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio, Flatiron Books, and NetGalley for access to this audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review. These opinions are my own.

Cover & Title
The cover of this work is absolutely STUNNING, and the title is both fitting and effective; as a browsing reader, I was immediately drawn in. Having now read the anthology, I think the cover works so perfectly with the content of these stories and the premise of the project. The title is well presented and explained in the foreword, although it is a risk depending on the reader. Telling us that “the Black girl survives in this one” has the potential to dampen the stakes and tension building throughout a story, since we already know part of the ending. Personally, I think given the goal of this work, it fits very well and properly introduces this anthology to the reader.

Audiobook Format
I chose to read this as an audiobook, and that was 100% a correct decision. Shayna Small did an INCREDIBLE JOB throughout—I mean PHENOMENAL—and, while I’m convinced these short stories work well in every format, I think her performance elevates each one. Her cadence, accents, and voices add depth to already well-written and layered stories.

There was also some music at the very beginning & end that I appreciated; it was a small addition to the sound design that set a nice tone for the reader going in.

Foreword
Tananarive Due’s foreword serves as an excellent introduction with some history & context of the horror genre as a whole. I would definitely love to read more from her on the subject.

Overall Thoughts!
As I am now in my 20s and feel myself increasingly reaching for adult books, I have grown more intentional with my YA picks. That said, the second I read the synopsis of The Black Girl Survives in This One, I KNEW I had to read it. I am a lifelong fan of the horror genre in movies, TV shows, and books (admittedly, I haven’t read as much horror as I would like, but I’m fixing that rn okay!!), and I deeply appreciate both the classic campy fundamentals (i call these comfort horror idk if that’s real but it is to me) and the exceedingly weird often-disturbing experimental stories released every now and then.

Before I dive into my general thoughts, I will admit that I often struggle with anthologies and short stories: I have greedy tendencies, and I almost always want more😭😭 + I think this is especially likely for me with YA.

Well… that’s exactly what happened here ahaha I WANT MORE PLEASE. As I read, I could conceptualize almost every single one of these as the first chapter to an AWESOME YA horror novel, and now I can’t release that thought (as I said: greedy😅); I think I’ll try to combat it by reading through as much of these authors’ other works as I can.

I love the premise of this anthology, and I am so happy that it exists & that I read it. These authors cover a range of classic fundamental horror sub-genres and setups—cabin in the woods, haunted house, zombies, demons, ghosts, shapeshifters, and more—in short stories that center voices of Black girls and women so long excluded from final girl roles in the genre. I loved reading these stories told through their eyes.

Many did feel a bit predictable, but I think that necessarily comes with the decisions to tell readers upfront that “the Black girl survives in this one” and to focus on many classic well-loved horror frameworks. Many of these are familiar stories (or at least setups), so I think feeling familiarity and some level of predictability makes sense here. Horror fans have seen many of these premises before, but we have not necessarily seen these characters star in them or read their voices narrating them. And I don’t think they’re all meant to be new stories so much as they’re stories we should have been seeing in the spotlight all along too.

I greatly enjoyed the writing of each author throughout. There were so many different important themes and discussions raised over the course of the anthology beyond the immediate horror plots, which added depth and context to the characters and world around them. I felt emotionally connected to the protagonists; the stories and settings felt vivid, and there were many sentences that really got me.

My primary—and really only—critique is that I do wish some of these stories were longer or more fleshed out. Most of the short stories stand on their own, but there were a few that felt less complete and more like seeds for something more.

By the end of each story, I had grown invested & attached, and then it would be over 😩. And I’d want to know what happened next in that world! Basically, I wasn’t always ready to move on from a chapter when it was over, and sometimes it felt a bit jarring how quickly a story would end (at least in the audio format when you’re not watching the progress bar). I think this feeling might lessen for me if each story had more space and spent a bit longer on the ending or its consequences; often, most of the time was dedicated to the introduction of the characters, setting, dynamics, etc.—which was all well done! As I said, I was invested & happy to have the context!—but perhaps could have been balanced with a bit more time in the last scenes.

That said, I think part of this could also just be the nature of short story anthologies: the stories are by definition short. And wanting more from them is also a good sign: I didn’t want them to end!

Overall, as I said in the beginning of this section, I really enjoyed this book; it’s important and well-written, and I absolutely recommend checking it out!!

Some Favorites <3
I won’t go through with my thoughts story by story, although I know many people do with anthologies, because I am incapable of keeping things brief; instead, I would like to highlight some of my favorites from this book. As I started writing, I kept wanting to add more and more lol, so this list of favs is not exhaustive — just some highlights.

Black Pride by Justina Ireland
Inheritance by Camara Aaron
Black Girl Nature Group by Maika Moulite & Maritza Moulite
Queeniums for Greenium! by Brittney Morris
Local Color by Eden Royce
Foxhunt by Charlotte Nicole Davis

I’m very excited to see which stories speak to different people. It seems everyone who has read this so far has a different set of favorites, which I think is really cool and speaks to the strength of the anthology.

4⭐️

I absolutely loved the narrator for this one. They did such an amazing job with setting up the tone and characters.

I really enjoyed this anthology, it's a perfect level of suspense with some horror. Although it's low stakes, it does leave some open endings where it does leave you thinking more about it and what it's trying to tell.

It wasn't a perfect 5 stars though because of the low stakes I was never quite fully engaged.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for this advanced listener copy. My review is voluntarily my own.

I think this will be a great addition to the anthology section of our YA collection. It is a small section and horror anthologies always do well with teens. Especially around Halloween.

This book was soooooo good. I like thriller but I struggle with horror but these stories are the perfect amount of scary! I love the premise of this! I will deff purchase this to have on my bookshelf. The very first story I was mouth dropped when it ended because I wanted more! A lot of the stories made me wanted to see them played out in full stories but an amazing read!

The cover is what made me request this audiobook. The narration was excellent!

This audiobook was excellent and the short stories was great! All the stories were a little different but they were all my favorites! Seems like the audio went really quickly, which is a great thing!

I will definitely read more by this author and really enjoyed the writing on this book!

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

<b>*4.25 Stars*</b>

I liked this a lot. But I do have some trouble with anthologies, I feel like the pacing is often a bit off. I did really love some of those though. Some were so good and the whole premise of the book was excellent. I really enjoyed this book overall. Some of the stories truly stayed with me and some I've already mostly forgotten, as it often happens with anthologies.
This one was a really good one overall and I'll definitely look into these authors for more stories by them.

For starters, I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC.

Alright, let’s get into it. The Black Girl Survives In This One is a ya horror anthology that focuses on Black girls who survive to the end of the story.

There’s a very interesting and informative forward at the beginning that I suggest everyone read/ listen to.

For decades, Black people have been the first to die in horror films. And the final girl was never Black. Black people existed as the mystic negro, a Black person with special magical powers that was there to aid the journey and survival of the white characters. Or to be sacrificed to save the white characters. No matter the shape the story took, the Black characters were never there alive at the end of the film.

I enjoyed this. Since it’s an anthology, there are some stories that are stronger or more entertaining than others. One takes place in the 70’s. One takes place in the future. All of them are creative. Sometimes the monsters are physical, real monsters. Sometimes the monster is misinformation.

Almost all of them were my favorite. I really did enjoy it. And the narrator did a really good job. I liked her take on all of the different characters.

I’ll keep this review short and sweet. Pick this up when it comes out. Do yourself the favor and get it. For me it gets 5 stars.

I had an absolute blast with this one.
The forward? On Point.
The Short Stories? Immaculate, out of 15 stories, 7 were my favorites and these are imprinted in my brain. These are the stories that I didn't want to end. It was so much fun. All kinds of horror visited, all with a central focus point on the black girl experience, it was perfection. Everyone needs to read it!

Audiobook file didn't work. This seems to be a NetGalley issue and not the author/publisher. Disappointed. Rating is reflection of the experience, not author's ability.

I had a chance to check out the novel via audio, featuring Shayna Small's voice. It would have been nice to hear multiple people telling the different stories, but that's the audio snob in me. Small did well navigating 15 stories; I appreciate her relaxed mannerisms more than other audios I've heard her perform.

What I loved most about this book is that it's Blackity Black. It was the tone of the book. The mannerisms. The knowing. Something that didn't have to be explained because it's a part of our being. Dialogs didn't sound forced or out of place. Pop culture isn't heavily ridden in the text, so others can feel included or know what we discuss. This book was truly meant for us and all the horror geeks who want to see Black people survive in any situation. I also liked that each story wasn't a typical horror story. It wasn't drowned in anything political, slave-like, or have a racist agenda. Here, we get to enjoy what others find horrifying: Zombies, cults, ancient dwellings, ghosts, etc.

I am a sucker for short story anthologies! So when I saw the chance to read a collection of horror short stories written by authors of color, I screamed! LOL. I excitement of course, and that scream was absolutely an indicator of just how dang good these stories were.

We had a great mix of ghost stories, slasher, zombies, curses, vampires and other cryptid beings. There truthfully was only one or two stories I was indifferent to, all the rest absolutely captivated me. Please add this to your TBR or preorder yourself a copy!!! You’ll be sorry if you don’t. 😏

This is an amazing collection of short stories! It starts off with a bang from the first story ( which I gave a 5 stars). No story in this collection was bad. High 3, 4, 5 across the board. If anything I wanted them to be longer . I loved this short story collection and HIGHLY recommend.

This was such a great collection of stories! I've only read from a couple of these authors before, mainly Justina Ireland, but I had a fantastic time reading these stories-the theme of the black girls surviving in these horror stories was so great!

I don't read a lot of horror, or watch much, but the first few stories endings weren't my favourite. Like, the title is correct, they survived to the end of the story, but after the story ends? Are they going to survive much longer after that? They might not, and that kind of ending isn't my favourite, but right until the end they were fantastic!

I loved the variety of horrors there were, from the The Scottish Play, to zombies to demon deals. They were all so creepy and at times terrifying, and I was rooting for these characters even if I knew that they were going to survive, they deserved it!

I think my favourites were Black Pride by Justina Ireland, and Foxhunt by Charlotte Nicole Davis. In the former, the whole story, and what it turned out to be was so awesome to read. And the latter, yeah, it was just so satisfying, and I was cheering Flex on, I couldn't get enough! It was a great end to the anthology, I keep thinking about it!

This was a really fantastic anthology and I had a great time reading it!

My request to listen to an ARC of the audiobook for this was accepted. I do apologize if any character names or names of places are spelled incorrectly as the ARC audio book does not give any of that information in writing, so please forgive anything that is misspelled. I wish GoodReads allowed partial starts because this book is more like a 4.5 overall for me. Here is my reviews of each story...but backwards lol. While I do give some details of the story... nothing is spoiled any further than the title of the book in that The Black Girl Survives This One!!!

15. Fox Hunt by Charlotte Nicole Davis: I give this story 5/5. FLex and her sister Amarantha moved to Arbor Hill 12 weeks prior to the Homecoming game. Homecoming queen Chloe informs Flex of their annual traditional game of Fox Hunt. The homecoming queen gets to pick their fox, the fox is given an hour headstart to hide, and the rest of the student body are hounds. Like hide and seek but reverse and with a twist. Flex is picked as the fox by Chloe and the hunt ensues. Flex quickly finds out that Chloe may not have been completely forthcoming about the objective of the game. While the story is short, the author definitely gets the character development nailed! The premise of the game seems like something straight out of a bad dream. I enjoyed this story so much!

14. Local Color by Eden Royce: I give this story 4/5 . Veron lives with her grandfather and is always searching for information on her parents who went missing in an expedition 5 years prior. She purchases an ancient journal from an online bookseller that documents ancient lore which her parents would travel the world to get similar stories. She finds a story within the journal that mentions a being that was summoned to guard treasures. This sends her searching to find a treasure that is in her local area. This search puts her on a path that forces her to face her families truths and to realize, that nothing is what it seems. This was a cute story. More heartwarming that scary, but the supernatural side was a cool concept within the story.

13. The Black Strings by Vincent Tirado: I give this story 5/5. This is a first person POV from Mal who is a band member of The Fates 3 with her sister and her sisters best friend. They enter a music competition where the winners will be signed to a major label. Mal has a "gift" of being able to see a black string above people's heads when their death is near. As soon as they enter the hotel where all the bands are staying, she notices the black strings above a lot of people's heads including her own and her band mates. The story has tragedy after tragedy and a twist at the end. It was such a good story and had me really invested into all of the characters.

12. The Skittering Thing by Monica Brashears: I give this story 4/5. Sunny and her friend Charlotte meet Rae who is the daughter of the new pastor for the town church. Rae invites the girls to a sleepover the night of Sunny's birthday. Rae's mother suggest they play a game of Skitter which is a game to tap into the primitive instincts. Its kind of like hide and seek in the dark. The game begins and quickly everything starts to go wrong. This story to me needed to be a little longer. I felt like for a short story, it took too long to get to the part that was to be scary but it was a good story and I would love for it to be lengthened and more in depth in its own novella. The scary part felt a little rushed because the set up of the story was more than half of the story. And there is just so much lore surrounding the area and the house and it needs to be it's own book.

11. Cemetery Dance Party by Seraciea J Fennell: I gave this story 4/5. Traditionally the president of the graduating class holds a massive senior class party and this year Ale is the president and decides to throw a silent dance party in a cemetery. During the party her best friend gets into a fight with her rival and during the altercation they crash through a mausoleum door. A foul stench and a black mist escapes and soon havoc is unleashed upon the party goer's. This story is their fight for survival. I liked this story and it was pretty fast paced giving plenty of time for the scary parts. I feel like this one could have been an episode of Are You Scared of the Dark back in the day.

10. Black Girl Nature Group by Maika & Maritza Moulite: I gave this story 4/5. This follows Lucky who goes on a trip into the forest where her aunt went missing to enjoy a "once in a lifetime natural wonder" or as her mother calls it "the most supernatural moment of the decades" which is a blood moon occurring at the same time as the Crusader's meteor shower. Lucky and Jazmine were invited to this event by Patricia who may or may not have given all the details of this event. They must survive the night until her parents come to pick up the two girls. This story took a turn I did not see coming. It had the creep factor and the "whaaaaaatttt!!!!!!!" factor. Great story idea!

9. Inheritance by Camara Aaron: I rate this story 3.5/5. Delaney is about to enter 9th grade. Her friend convinces her to go to a party where Delaney is sent up to the attick with Miles during a spin the bottle/7th heaven game. While up there, Delaney shares how her aunt is rumored to be a soucouyant. She flashes back to a memory of getting attacked by a dog on a beach while visiting her and how her aunt confronted the hotel owner about taking over the beach and releasing the dogs on them. Turns out it's a small world and Miles is unexpectedly connected to her story. This story was a good story but it definitely wasn't scary to me.

8. Queeniums for Greeniums (again...audio book so I am not sure if this is spelled the way it should be and I apologize if it isn't) by Brittney Morris: I rate this story 3.5/5. We meet sisters Diana and Cynthia who are going to a retreat for Diana's "smoothie club" which is a product that falls under an MLM. When they arrive Cynthia is forced to put their cell phones in a brass urn and is escorted to her room and promptly locked in. As she discovers the truth of the "smoothy club" and their goal while she is at this retreat, she is forced to find a way out. This story is a great take on the way that MLM people tend to act and think while trying to build the not-pyramid as well as the way that health nuts who feel everyone needs to be on their same health journey behave. It was cute. But more of a thriller than a horror but still entertaining none the less.

7. The Screamers by Daka Hermon: I rated this story 5/5. We meet Amani and her family as they move into a new home. During their first dinner it is revealed that there had been a murder in the home previously. Amani starts to google the incident and gets in trouble for revealing details in front of her younger siblings. She take the dog for a walk and encounters an old lady who tells her the family is in danger and it may be too late to save them. Once this happens everything goes super fast and is tense and I held my breath through a lot of it without realizing I was holding my breath. This was a really good story and Shayna Small performed the heck out of it.

6. Black Pride by Justina Ireland: I rated this story 4/5. This starts off with a bang as Macy is running from a creature in the forest. Cut to Sheryl in 1973 on her way to a cabin at Lake Preston which has a reputation for bad things happening. Her friends and her arrive and soon things take a turn which has a strange twist to it! This was a pretty good story and also feels like it should have been an episode of Are You Scared of the Dark. lol I do think it would be cool to get a follow up story that continues on with the after part of the story continuing to follow Sheryl.

5. TMI by Zakiya Dalila Harris: I rate this one 3.5/5. Eda Vee who is a well known author that graduated from Beakon Prep High School. After visiting the school for an appearance she meets Sam, a fellow scholarship student at the school who also wants to be a writer. Eda has a very strong and lasting impression on Sam. The story is the effects of this impression on Sam and how she gets through it. The story was well written but because it had to be a short story, the ending felt rushed. I would have liked to have either had a little less set up of the story to include more at the end or to have had a longer story all together. The concept was good. Kind of reminded me of an episode of Tales from the Crypt when I was a kid. It wasn't really scary but... had it been longer and there been more affects and danger it could have been an amazing story.

4. The Brides of Devil's Bayou by Desiree S Evans: I gave this one a rating of 5/5. Aszia was moved out of Devil's Bayou as a child being told she was the last demon bride promised in a deal made by her ancestor. Her family felt that if she didn't live there or go back, then it would never happen. For her 19th birthday, her friend and her go back to research this curse and as she discovers that the curse is real they try to figure out how to break the curse. I absolutely love ancestral curse stories especially when they are based in the south with the basis or Voodoo and/or Hoodoo. This story had me anxious and holding my breath and delivered everything it was meant to deliver.

3. Ghost Light by Erin E Adams: I give this story 5/5. A haunting? In a theater? Yes Please!!! All theaters are rumored to have ghosts. Because of this a "ghost light" is left on at the end of the night. During a production of Macbeth the play is rumored to contain a real curse that when performed correctly will also complete/end the curse by the end of the scene. The actors forget their lines properly but the show goes on. Jeaneen being the youngest to be production stage manager is left to clean up and close up. A girl offers to help her clean. As she gets things situated and ready to go, the girl breaks the ghost light. The story following is absolutely amazing and I wish it were longer just because haunted anything is my jam!!

2. Welcome Back to the Cosmos by Courtney Nash: I gave this one 4/5. This story follows Danica who is in space. The crew arrives at a factory that was seemingly abandoned by the crew mysteriously. While exploring the factory some weird things start happening. The exploration, the encounters, and even the return to the ship were all tense. I am not a big space story person, but it being more of a ghost ish story (kinda but not really) made it enjoyable. I like the ending.

1. Havesters by L.L. McKinney: I gave this one 4/5. Jo and her best friend Missy attend a house party that ends abruptly due to someone catching an expensive couch on fire. Reggie, the kid who hosted the party kicks everyone out in a hurry. Missy and Jo find that they have lost the car keys somewhere along the way. Jo's crush Brandon and Missy's new found drunken crush Mason get Reggie to agree to let them in to look for the keys which proves fruitless. Mason offers to drive everyone home since he lives a 20 min walk from the house. They decide to cut through the cornfield. Missy and Mason walk in front away from Brandon and Jo. Once they hit the cornfield this proves to be a bad choice. They should have all stuck together. It was a creepy story and a great way to start the book off. I don't like that it was left on a cliffhanger.... I need to know what happens.... I hope there is a follow up at some point lol.

Forward: Tananarive Due - I love that Tananarive contributed such a great forward introducing the book and it's theme. She delivers a history lesson on black woman in horror that left me in awe and reflection.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this wonderful anthology that breaks the stereotypes of the roles of black woman in horror stories. Shayna Small performs her butt off in this and made each story come to life!

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the chance to listen to this!!

This was a definite spooky anthology, I was hooked from the first story immediately had goosebumps! I recommend listening to it at night and in the dark like I did.

As always there’s a few duds but overall AMAZING. If you like horror, anthology’s, strong Black female protagonists highly HIGHLY recommend.

I really enjoyed this anthology! What a refreshing take on a horror standard that was years overdue!
I thought the narrator was perfect. I stayed engaged and entertained. I’ve already recommended this read to multiple people!