ARC Review: The Exchange & Other Calamities by Mallory McCartney
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)

Mallory McCartney’s The Exchange & Other Calamities is a feverish, haunting plunge into horror — but not just the kind that lurks under your bed. This short story collection is drenched in metaphor, shaped by the author's own lived experience with chronic illness, and offers a powerful, often unsettling window into what it means to live with invisible pain.

Told through five interconnected horror stories, each tale explores a different facet of fear, from urban legends and supernatural hauntings to the psychological toll of illness and trauma. Yet beneath the monsters, demons, and cursed artefacts, a deeper horror unfolds — the medical gaslighting, misunderstanding, and isolation so many with chronic illness endure. McCartney doesn’t just write about nightmares — she writes from them, channelling the surreal and fragmented quality of chronic pain and fatigue into stories that feel both otherworldly and emotionally raw.

As someone with chronic illness, I found the metaphorical depictions of pain incredibly relatable. When you’re unable to articulate the intensity of your suffering, the mind paints pictures: claws in the dark, shifting shadows, distorted realities. McCartney captures that perfectly. Her prose reads like the kind of fever dream you fall into during a flare-up, migraine, or total burnout — unsettling, surreal, and impossible to forget.

At times, the pacing and scene transitions were disorienting, with the plot jumping unexpectedly — but this felt more like a deliberate echo of the chaos that chronic illness can bring, both physically and mentally. The fact that the stories intersect while also standing alone adds depth to the collection, and makes the reading experience more layered.

Horror fans will also appreciate the many nods to classic horror novels and films, cleverly woven into McCartney’s own twisted worlds. From ghost hunting to sleep studies gone wrong, she taps into familiar tropes but infuses them with personal vulnerability and urgency.

I devoured this book in just a couple of sittings — not only because it was compelling and creepy, but because it resonated. McCartney’s unique voice and personal insights give weight to each page, blending emotional depth with imaginative, spine-tingling horror. I hope that this book helps to raise awareness globally of the impacts of chronic illness, and helps people to empathise and understand the experiences of those suffering, and battling through the pain every day.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Mallory McCartney for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of The Exchange & Other Calamities in exchange for an honest review.

The Exchange And Other Calamities
By: Mallory McCartney

5 Stars

This was a genuinely good book with stories that legitimately were spooky, gory, and spine tingling. I find it hard to get spooked, especially with short stories, but this book did it. I found myself drawn into the vivid imagery of each story. So much so that I found myself with chills one minute and shivers from being so grossed out the next. The Bite was a bit disturbing and totally gave me the creepy crawlies, which probably made it my favorite. Each story was good in its own right, but all together, they present a real spooky horror show of a read.



*I want to thank Netgalley and the author for this book in return for my honest review*

Stormi Ellis
Boundless Book Review

A compilation of short stories, with creepy, frightening themes. A number of the short stories were interconnected and white I enjoyed this aspect, I found a number of the stories a little too ick for my enjoyment (I prefer my horror to leave more to the imagination). I also found the forward at the beginning quite confusing and didn't understand it's relevance to the collection. Once I finished the collection and read the acknowledgements at the end, I had a much better feeling for what the stories represented - a fictional interpretation of the author's personal journey. Quite cleverly done, once you understand the context.

Thank you to NetGalley and Anuci Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.
⭐⭐⭐.5

This book was a collection of shorts stories, but they all connected to each other which was a cool concept. I reallying enjoyed reading this. The author wrote this based on living with chronic illness and made it into a horror book to describe what she's gone though. definitely worth the read. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The book releases on July 22nd.

I really liked this book. I loved how all of the stories were interconnected and in the same universe of horror in Ontario. As someone who lives in Ontario, I recognized a bunch of the spots and felt like it made it even more creepy.

I enjoyed how brutal these stories are and the body horror. A few times I was like oh yuck. If you don't like body horror this isn't the book for you. I feel like some of the horror I've read builds up a lot of suspense and draws it out but Mal did a great job at setting the stage for the story and then things go from bad to worse for the characters. I appreciate and value the chronic illness representation. I feel like it brings an extra layer to the stories and it's deeply moving.

As someone who also struggles with health related issues including chronic pain I felt validated with the anger I've felt and grief I live with trying to come to terms that this is part of my life and it might never go back to what once was. Living in a body, grieving your life, living in pain, medical gaslighting when all you want is to get better and dealing with a broken medical system is horror.

Thank you to Netgalley, Anuci Press, Mallory McCartney and BookBuz.net for the opportunity to read this book and provide my voluntary review.

The Exchange and Other Calamities is my first read from Mallory McCartney, and I really enjoyed it. This collection of five short horror stories was a creepy, atmospheric ride. The writing was strong—easy to get into but still vivid and unsettling in all the right ways.

To begin, a thank you to NetGalley and Anuci Press for the opportunity to enjoy this eARC title.

I am somewhat hard pressed to explain how I feel about this title. Overall, I enjoyed the stories, but at the same time, I wanted something more. I think part of my disconnect is that I am not a huge fan of short story collections by singular authors where the stories are all interconnected. Those works always seem like novel cheats because the author has lots of great ideas but just can't figure out the connective tissue to make them a singular story. Each story, taken by itself, was very well done. The body horror element that suffused nearly every story was captivating without going for just the cheap gross-out. McCartney definitely has a very bright future ahead in crafting more great short stories. However, when the whole collection of stories is taken together, I feel like the story connections became distractions rather than enhancing the work. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for new works by McCartney, although I hope they will be in multi-author collections, magazines, or maybe a series of wholly unrelated stories in another collection of just her works.

This was overall a good read! Unsettling but intriguing. My mom has fibromyalgia and I never really understood it so seeing it from this view helped me not be judgmental. Also, I love horror books!!

Thank you for the ARC Netgalley!

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for granting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest rating.

This book is a collection of horror stories. I didn’t hate this book but I didn’t love it either. The plots of the stories did not captivate meme. On another note, I felt the author showed they are imaginative in the stories. My favorite story was The Exchange because I enjoyed reading about the monster the main character was tormented by.

Thank you Netgalley and Mallory McCartney for letting me read this ARC!

I didn't hate this collection, but I didn't love it either. While I absolutely sympathize and empathize with the messaging about getting medical issues like fibro and Lyme disease more public attention, I do think the introduction kind of undercuts any build up of tension or momentum for most of the stories. Maybe it would have been better structured with the introductory content and the ending acknowledgements combined, but as it stands, it immediately sets up the expectation of what these stories are about and the stories themselves confirm that, often in a heavy-handed tell-don't-show sort of way. This is unfortunate considering a lot of the horror does work, notably the body horror seen in the first half. The final story, more a novelette than a short story, is hampered by large chunks that might have been better kept a non-fictional essay or memoir as they repeat much of the introductory content. I also wonder whether the format of a short story collection could have been better realized as a cohesive novel considering the stories' connectivity taking place in the same small community of Haden (see Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad or qntm's THERE IS NO ANTIMEMETICS DIVISION for examples of where this worked well). Another struggle I had in the writing was with what we might call the adverb problem: almost no one ever "said" anything; they "bellowed," "whispered," "shrieked," and at least once "hiccoughed." Sometimes these flourishes can be to a story's detriment when they are overused. Overall, not terrible prose despite some of the overt telling throughout and some sections dragging their feet more than others. Anything with teeth icks me out good and proper, and one early story has this in spades. As eluded to, "The Bite" was by far the story that worked most for me and left me squirming through much of the read. Kudos.

Thank you to Anuci Press and NetGalley for this digital ARC in return for an honest review.

The Exchange & Other Calamities is like inviting a ghost to tea—equal parts unsettling and oddly comforting. Mallory McCartney serves up five twisted tales laced with grief, dread, and just enough supernatural spice to keep you checking the shadows. The prose is sharp, the emotions sharper, and the horror creeps in like a polite intruder—quiet at first, then impossible to ignore. I docked a star only because a few stories left me wanting just a bit more… but maybe that’s the point. Horror should haunt, after all.

I enjoyed this book. Mallorie’ explanation in the beginning on how she was inspired to write the stories gives each story an additional dimension. You could feel the anguish and terror and you could feel the pain her characters were going through.

I don’t think I could pick up a favorite story. I did devour this book in a day. I barely came up for a breath.

If you are looking for suspense, unease, discomfort and horror these stories are definitely for you.


Thank you NetGallery for sending me this ARC.

This book is a collection of horror stories that are a story within itself. It can be best described as being creepy, haunted and horror filled. First let me say the fact there is a playlist of songs for this book is most definitely a green flag!

Each story was well written and full of dread. I do love the authors diversity in her stories and how all of the stories were connected in a way. Although there are only 5 stories in this book that is more than enough. Each story contained depth and relatable characters it doesn’t get much better than that.

I seriously enjoyed all the stories in the book and it would hard for me to pick 1 or 2 I liked. So I’m not even going to try! To the author Mallory, thank you for being completely transparent with your medical history. It’s unfortunate how the healthcare system has failed so many people. You are a survivor and you’ll continue to thrive.

With you being completely transparent this makes the stories more rich, I felt your presence in every story you written. I cannot wait to read more of your books. If you are a fan of the morbid, dark, creepy, horror, ghosts, haunting and possessions this is definitely the story for you.

Thank you to NetGalley, Mallory McCartney,Anuci Press and BookBuzz.Net for providing me with an ARC! I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Mrs. McCartney has boldly taken her first foray into horror, and I'm proud to say it's ridiculously fun. I've read my fair share of horror, but McCartney writes in a way that made even my stomach turn at points. It takes a lot of skill to successfully create an atmosphere suitable for the horrific things happening throughout this book, but she does it here and then some, making you feel like you're smackdab in the middle of it all. By the time I turned the last page I felt like I'd been put through the wringer, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

Surprisingly not for the weak of stomach. Interesting and a lot of fun for a horror book.
It just lets loose at times and doesn't stop.
Enjoyable.

This was my first foray into this authors work and it definitely wont be my last. In this collection of short horror stories, each story had me invested as to the outcome for all the characters involved, the imagery involving the settings as well as the atmosphere was well executed and immersive and it had me gripped throughout the book.
Thankyou to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy- it was a an enjoyable, interesting one sitting read.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.
This was my first read by this author, and I was pleasantly surprised. Their writing style is easy to follow, and they kept my interest / attention early on!
As with any short story collection, some of the stories were better than others.
Well worth the read.

This was my first book by this author and it left a lasting impression. The subject matter and imagery were startling, tense and terrifying. The way it brought horror aspects to the medical world was genius and all of the stories had a way of pulling you in, creeping you out and making you queasy (sometimes all at once). The correlations between disease and pure terror were amazing (the first story will never be forgotten in my mind). I will be interested to see future works from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley, Anuci Press, BookBuzz.Net and Mallory McCartney for the advanced copy

My favorite aspect of this book is the strong imagery. The images were terrifying and helped create a mood throughout each story. I also enjoyed that the tone of each story differed slightly, which helped the stories not feel redundant. This would be a great addition to a Modern Gothic and Horror course.