Graveyard Shift A Novella

kinda wish it was longer

Really interesting fast read. For a novella, I think it was well written (pacing) and had a good storyline overall, however the ending was really abrupt and kind of confusing (??), mostly on Hannah’s pov. I do wish we had a bit more of each character but for the shortness of this story, I think it dives enough into each character to make out the relationship they have with each other and how they each are able to help figure out the mystery.

This was short and snappy and original and gross and i loved every second

Deeply unsatisfying.

A sad 3 stars... This started so well and feeling really interesting and atmospheric, I was really drawn into the mystery of it. And then it just sort of ended. OK?

I think this concept was really cool, and was it a fast read? Yes, but if the book were a bit longer I think we wouldn’t have gotten such an abrupt, confusing and loose ending.

if you’re going to do more than three povs i think the book should be longer .. also needed more tuck

One of the best books I've read this year.

This was a really fun read. It wasn’t quite as spooky as I was expecting, but it was creative and well-written.

The first thirty pages where good, creepy and perfect for.ocotber then it just went downhill,.it lost the creepy earie vibes and got way into tje sciene talk that I was board. Two many characters the book could have just followed Edie and tuck possibly hannah I suppose and would been better.

It was hard to keep myself reading I do not understand the hype at all. So dossapointdd

pretty disappointed

Really good easy read, flows amazingly, I liked each of the characters and how they developed , I did find that I can’t remember what has happened in this book, I think due to how short it was there wasn’t enough development but overall I would recommend as it’s a nice read!

this deserved to be longer

Those characters were way too relatable.

I actually really enjoyed this story, from the point of view that it’s a novella. I knew I wouldn’t get all of the answers from 108 pages over 10 hours. The author did a great job at writing the way that a potentially world changing story can stumble across normal people on a normal night, without worrying about how the cast of characters must save the world. the lack of knowledge as a means to humanize the characters as unknowable wholes was perfect.

would have worked better as a full fledged novel

I’m honestly just glad to have a new work by Rio. The characters were intriguing and her use of multi perspective used in a way I really enjoyed (I sometimes find it hard). Mushrooms and graveyards and bad smoking habits. A great combination

Honestly, I enjoyed the characters and the hints of their backstories, but the plot was a bit difficult to follow. Unfortunately, I didn't quite grasp the ending, which was disappointing. Still, it was an enjoyable experience overall.

very fun concept and cast of characters, but i was expecting a bit more from the writing and the ending was a little unsatisfying - could've been a great full length novel

i need a novella for the novella

this is so good, ML Rio’s writing is, as always, top tier, and while I don’t read many novellas I think this is exactly how it’s meant to be done; it’s a compelling story with excellent and instantly defined characters, it gets straight to the point of the story and then resolves. I wish this was a full length novel purely because it was so well-done and I want more of the characters. one thing I love and appreciate about ML Rio’s writing is how much research goes into it—in the Barnes and Noble exclusive edition of this, she gives further reading in the back with fiction and nonfiction recommendations that she read which inspired this novella, and just the fact that there is so much nonfiction about mycology shows how much went into writing this. I am so impressed and I will read anything she puts out!

Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books/Macmillan Audio for this one. I received the audio, of which there were multiple narrators, each doing a different POV that kind of felt like Scooby Doo to me (for adults, and in a good way). This is a first for me from the author.

This is a novella that features a ragtag group of late night smokers that meet every night in the local cemetery. At the beginning of the story, which atmospherically takes place in October, they stumble upon a hole in the ground that was definitely not there before! They think that this digger may be linked to other strangenesses around town.

Unfortunately for me, while I did enjoy each of the characters and their differences, the paraphrase of the blurb above is just about as deep and descriptive as the novella as a whole. While I’m still kind of in the middle on this one, as there were several things I did enjoy, this just read like an introduction, not a story. There’s more development of the characters as they are introduced in the switching POV than there is in the development of the story itself.

They chase a suspect of the digging, which you’d think would be this giant reveal, but it just kind of happened before petering out. Then they were onto the next thing. Which is what left me hanging, because the atmosphere is palpable during the scene. And the scene that involves a certain rat was a highlight for me, creepy, dark, eerily toothy, but even though it does tie into the overall arc, it just needed more for me to sink my teeth into.

I really like the cover, and as both rats and fungus are kind of topical for the FanFiAddict crew, I wanted to feel like this was a hit. I don’t want to bring in any spoilers here, but the ending felt rushed, underdeveloped in the sense that it’s just handed to you and it’s over.

Thanks to Goodreads and Flatiron books for sending me an ARC as part of a giveaway! Anyone who knows me knows I love If We Were Villains an abnormal amount so I was so excited to get this novella. I love M.L. Rio's prose and narratives and to have something new of hers was amazing. I'm admittedly a bit underwhelmed by the ending though. The pacing otherwise is great and just barely dips you into each of the characters, a good amount for a novella, but it peters off towards the end and leaves me a bit unsatisfied. It almost feels like this was intended to be a full length novel and Rio had to wrap it up quickly. Overall though, this novella about insomnia, medical ethics, and weird fungi is definitely worth a read, especially for how fast it moves, and lurks perfectly in the hours of the night we don't typically exist in.