Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes

Another day, another Eric Larocca book I'm not sure if I enjoyed ✨
*Edit to add star reviews to each story. The average of the 3 ratings equals the overall star rating!

The first story I found extremely unnerving and by the end, I felt like I needed to take at least 3 showers to wash off the feeling of reading that story.  4/5 ⭐️

The second story had so much potential to really disturb me, but I was so let down by the direction the story took and the way it ended. 1/5 ⭐️

The final story I found too short to really make a huge impact on me like the title story. I get the direction where they were going, but I wanted a little more of a slow burn. 2/5 ⭐️

things have gotten worse was a reread for me and it is one of my absolute favorite books/stories of all time. the other two stories were new for me and the first one was also a 5 star but the second was more like a 3/3.5 star but because things have gotten worse is a 100/10 for me i'm giving the collection a 4.5

everything eric writes i adore. eric and i just click like that what can i say 

Possibly the worst horror book ive ever read. Wattpad creepypasta levels of quality. Scratch that, that's a disservice to wattpad. The characters are sloppily written, changing personalities, goals, beliefs every other second like a schizophrenic war veteran. The settings are lazily written, almost as if they were an afterthought.

And the plot. Christ the plot. A dementia ridden grandmother could write a more coherent plot. The macarbe lesbian internet story has the two women go from just meeting, to forming a slave contract in a matter of pages. Pace as a concept is thrown out the window.

Props to the guy who somehow crucified himself onto a cross without any help. That feat is more impressive then any writing in this book. I've tutored 13 yr olds with better aptitude in writing, and this is published work.

I want my time back >:(

1/10

Since there are only three stories I'll give them each a rating.

Things have gotten worse since we last spoke.
This wasn't bad, it was definitely creepy and I could the descent into danger and madness that our character Agnes heads into. I think that end lack a little bit and maybe due to how much it was hyped I expected it to be more disturbing. 4/5

The enchantment.
This one was odd and I don't think I really caught on to what it was saying until I read the afterword. It seemed a bit all over the place. I'd give it a 3.75/5 as I still do enjoy the writing.

You'll find it's like that all over.
Weirdly I think this one might be my favourite it really fit into the good short story formula, he got in he got out and I could easily pick up the ideas the author was exploring, I also think that as a woman the idea of social expectations of being polite is something that really spoke to me. The end wasn't wasn't perfect but overall was good. 4.5/5

So all together I think the collection sits at about 4/5 definitely worth reading, and will give his other works a try.

Eric LaRocca has become one of my favorite authors. The first story THINGS HAVE GOTTEN WORSE SINCE WE LAST SPOKE was good but not as good as I remember. It definitely hit as good the second time reading it, I would give the first story 3 stars. The second story THE ENCHANTMENT was my favorite. I absolutely loved this story. The religious tones were so interesting. This story had me hooked, I could not stop reading it. I would give this story 5 stars, I want a full-length novel of this story. The last story YOU'LL FIND IT'S LIKE THAT ALL OVER was really good. It wasn't my favorite but I did not hate it. I would give this story 3.75 stars. Overall, I'm giving this collection 4 stars.