Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to review this ARC!

When I first saw this title come available, I was so excited - I am always up for a new venture into gothic fiction, especially with all female authors! And I did enjoy so many of the stories within this collection - it just felt more like a collection of Fantasy and Sci Fi stories, rather than gothic.

The authors again are truly enjoyable, and I look forward to the opportunity to read more works by them, but I just wish this had been marketed more as a female author story collection, rather than a Gothic collection!

I should note that short story anthologies are sometimes a miss for me (the stories often feel rushed or unfinished) I feel like every single one of these stories felt well flushed out and were concluded very well. Because of this, I am bumping my 4.5 to a 5 star.

This book HIT. THE. SPOT! It was EXACTLY what I was in the mood for. I am a sucker for dark retellings of fairy tales, and gothic horror has recently become one of my favorite genres. There were fun and dark retellings of Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Baba Yaga, and Sleeping Beauty. There was maybe one story that I wasn't super into (a bit too sci-fi for me), although I still really enjoyed the ending.

Favorite Stories (5 stars):
Moonlight Sonata
Ring of Blood, Ring of Ashes
The Secret of Thornwick Hall

Least Favorite Stories (3 stars):
The Howling Places
Green Eyes

For anyone who wants to support women in horror, likes gothic tales/short stories, and retakes of fairytales, I would highly recommend this one.

I loved these stories!!! They were creepy, mysterious, haunting, and kept me on the edge of my seat! Honestly, I was waiting for some jump scares a couple of times. The stories were different but all that the horror/mystery aspect to them, which I loved!

Most of the stories are like fairy tales, fantastical and magical. I am not the biggest fan of retellings and some of the sories are like that, which was to be expected, but still I was left with more to be desired. I was highly impressed by the first story The howling place - it was absolutely amazing, this one I think is not a retelling. Strega was very disappoining Hensel and Geretel retelling, Moonlight sonata was too short and unimpactful, Green eyes was more of a sci-fi story, but I didn't vibed with it. Kiss me to sleep was boring, Ring of blood, Ring of ashes was pretty good, I probably liked it the most of the retellings. Please serve cold was so odd and weird, I liked it but I didn't get it. The last six stories were okay I guess. My favourite story is the first one. I recommend if you are a fan of the fairy tale narrative and are in a need of a good-night story to read before bed.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC.

With the word "Dread" in the title and mention of the Gothic in the synopsis, I expected an anthology leaning more on horror than dark fantasy; unfortunately, the stories are all mashups of fantasy and romance, or retelling of fairy tales (Hansel and Gretel in a post-apocalyptic context, Cinderella, Bluebeard). And the writing is not so good: the stories are dull, uninspired, and boring. One story I'd exempt from this is Elana Gomel's "Thief Dreams," thanks to which I give three stars to the book rather than the two I think it deserves. That said, I did enjoy the authors' interviews found at the end of the anthology.