I read the occasional short story online, but don't buy them very often, but since I'm trying to step out of my reading comfort zones this year, I thought I would give it a try when Unsung Stories offered me a copy of You Will Grow Into Them to review. It's a collection of horror stories with a fantasy element to them, which varies in strength from one story to the next. I have to say that as a whole, I didn't enjoy the stories all that much, and it was for the same reason with most: the endings. I felt like most of them left the endings on far too much of a 'draw your own conclusions' note, and I would have preferred to have some more concrete answers to what was going on. Let me quickly hop through each of the stories. Passion Play - A girl acts out the last steps of her missing friend for a TV appeal. I really wanted to know what had happened to the friend, and how many of the things friends & neighbours thought they had seen were actually true, but the conclusion you get is a bit vague. Two Brothers - The older brother goes off to boarding school, when he returns for the holidays his younger brother knows something's not right. Again, I wanted concrete answers, and in this one the reader is very much left to draw their own conclusions. Breadcrumbs - Magic takes over a city tower block and affects all the residents. I think this was the one where I was happiest with the ending, I did quite enjoy how you see the attitudes change over the course of the story, and the gradual acceptance and adaption of the people. Her First Harvest - on a colonised planet, crops are grown on the humans themselves. This one icked me out a bit, so I skimmed through it - no strong thoughts about it other than the slightly gross factor! Dogsbody - A few years ago, some people turned into werewolves for a few hours but it's never happened again. I liked this story a lot, seeing the prejudices the main character has been facing and also how his attitude is affecting his whole life. I wanted to know where they would turn into werewolves again but that isn't where the story goes. I guess my own expectations and hopes got in the way a little bit with this one. We All Need Somewhere To Hide - This had the most promising set up for me. It's an urban fantasy-type story, with a demon hunter as the main character. I feel like there's so much potential in this story for it to be bigger - novella length at least - and obviously in a short story those avenues couldn't all be explored and not all questions could be answered. My favourite story in the collection. Songs Like They Used To Play - I don't know how to summarise this in one sentence. At one point I thought a cool time travel thing might be happening, but it turns out no. This story was just too weird all around for me, and there are no explanations at all of what was really going on in the spooky house. The Last Meal He Ate Before She Killed Him - I don't want to give away the twists in this one, because a lot happens in a small space. It was ok, a bit creepy, but not overly memorable or special. The Bridge - I didn't really understand what was going on in this story that was spooky, or what the story was trying to get at. A bit meh, unmemorable. The End of Hope Street - Houses on the same street gradually become 'unliveable', killing anyone inside, and the story looks at how the residents adapt. Interesting, but once again, no whys, which was frustrating. All around, the stories are interesting and have potential, but left me feeling unfulfilled & frustrated. 5/10. [Review originally posted on my book blog. A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.]

If there was a guiding theme that bound all of these stories together, I couldn’t tell you what it was. The synopsis says that each story is about transformation and change, which I suppose is accurate but it doesn’t really give you an accurate idea of what to expect. The only thing that I can really say about each story is that they’re specifically arranged to be open to interpretation at the end – they’re all very surreal and have no clear ending, it’s up to you to decide what it all means. Sadly, this is not my cup of tea when it comes to stories. I may be lazy (I’m totally lazy) and not literary enough to appreciate this style of writing but I like things spelt out for me and the conclusions of the stories to be well and truly concluded. I can’t really tell you about these stories either as they all have cliffhanger endings and I don’t want to give them away… just know that no two is alike so you’re bound to find something that speaks to you. That aside, the stories were really original and spectacularly well written, I really savoured every word the author put on the page but again, the style of endings ruined it for me a bit. If you like creepy, surreal stories and don’t mind pondering over them to get to the deeper meaning – this is a fantastic collection and well worth a read!