Pretty Good

So my former roomie, Nancy, she had this code worked out with her daughter, when she was a little kid. When her daughter was away or on a trip or vacation with a friend's family or something and she called her, but wasn't alone and couldn't talk freely, Nancy would say, "How's it going?" and if Lizzie said, "Pretty good," that meant Lizzie was having a terrible time. A Vacation(s) from Hell, if you will.

I have to say that the five vacation stories in this book are of truly terrible vacations, but the book itself is awesome. I don't understand the people who gave this book any less than the 5 stars you can give on goodreads. It is just such a fun and interesting collection of horror stories that all happen to take place on vacation.

I loved each story and they were all different. The first, written by The Divine Miss Sarah M., Cruisin', takes place in modern times on a cruise ship. Two friends are on their first cruise together and determined to have a memorable time. However, there have been reports of vampires on cruise ships and well, that could put a damper on any vacation.

The second story, I Don't Like Your Girlfriend is truly funny. It is written by Claudia Gray, and I haven't read anything else by her, but I will now. It is story of a young witch, daughter of a witch, set in modern times. These ladies are good witches and every year they get together at the beach to get the college coven back together, hang together as families and friends (the husbands and sons don't know anything about the witch stuff, just the moms and the daughters. Great stuff and more funny than horror, an excellent story.

The Law of Suspects is a truly bizarre, yet funny, yet gruesome story of a cursed story and two American teenagers stuck in a little French village. Gruesome, but great! It is by another author new to me, Maureen Johnson.

Fourth is The Mirror House by Cassandra Clare (new to me, too) and this is a dark story about domestic abuse and witchcraft. Excellent.

Finally Libba Bray, author of my beloved Beauty Queens writes a tale set in Eastern Europe and filled with graphic violence, the stuff of nightmare and a bit of humor.

I loved all five of the short stories and I can't say enough about this book! And I have three new authors to explore!