3.5 stars.

A collection of short horror stories set around the idea of home as a sanctuary and safe place being subverted.
Some of these stories worked better for me than others. The tales about the demonic child and the crying baby were both effectively creepy, but the others largely failed to hit the mark for me.
An interesting collection and idea though, and I'll definitely look out for more from this author

Don't sleep on this excellent debut collection of stories. The stories are (very) loosely themed around the home and not all of them really fit the theme, but who cares when the stories are this good?

Table Scraps is the story of one last meal to honour the life of the deceased.

Emily - standout story here for me - tells of a woman who moves in with her partner, only to discover that he has a daughter that he never mentions. That lives with him and never says much. That exhibits some increasingly sinister behaviour...

Riverquick, Saltfresh is another favourite of mine: a reflection on grief and the solace one young girl finds in the ocean.

These dark stories are emotive, written in a familiar and comforting tone that belies the strange twists they take. One of the best debut collections I've read in some time. I'll be waiting patiently for more from Vanessa Santos.

Whilst I am reviewing the contents of the book, let's also take a moment to appreciate the incredible cover.

I felt that the early stories, particularly the opening dinner part and the creepy daughter Emily were really strong, but after the half way mark I didn't think those stories were as strong or memorable and they frequently left me feeling like they needed a stronger ending.

If you like horror-tinged, weird girl fiction you need to get ‘Make a Home of Me’ on your TBR. This short story collection focuses on the domestic mundane but injects it with sinister vibes and shows you that home isn’t always a safe sanctuary. Whilst the home is a central theme of the collection, each story has different elements that make each story quite unlike the next- you’ve got changeling children, monsters in the woods and even aliens- yet nothing feels out of place.

I most enjoyed ‘Emily’, the longest story in the collection, which focused on an uncanny child and the lengths the characters would go to escape having her in their lives. ‘Changes’ was a close second however, and whilst this story was much shorter, it was even more unsettling and shows how good of a writer Santos is that she can build so much tension in just a few pages. Like with most short story collections, I didn’t enjoy every story to the same extent (‘Riverquick, Saltfresh’ and ‘The Wall’ didn’t really do it for me) but this is a very strong collection overall and I can’t wait to see what Santos does next!

Thank you to Dead Ink Books and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC.

3.5 stars
A great collection of eerie stories focused on homes and houses. There were some that I loved more than others, particularly “Emily” and “The Wall”. The entire book had an underlying theme of haunting, even though the stories weren’t connected they all felt uncomfortable to read, like I was being watched. A great horror collection!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my free digital ARC of this short story collection! The cover caught my eye on Netgalley, and I’m a sucker for a horror short story collection. I think horror is one of the genres that lends itself best to short stories, and this collection (mostly) didn’t disappoint!

To get the ones that did miss out of the way first, Table Scraps, Changes and Riverquick, Saltfresh. The last two were just too short to be impactful, but the premises were interesting. Table Scraps would have had more of an impact had I not read a better version of it in Sayaka Murata’s Earthlings.

But some of these stories knocked it out of the park! Emily, who I imagine is that creepy lass on the cover, was fantastic. It played with the idea of changelings, and it unnerved me no end. As Above, So Below was another creepy one, with a cool nod to the urban myth that NASA used to explore the ocean but stopped because of what they found. But the titular story - perfection. I’ve never met a sentient house story I didn’t love.

If you love stories about the sea and the homes we make for ourselves (and how they can turn on us) this collection will be right up your alley!

A collection of 8 short stories that build dread and leave you feeling creeped out. I enjoyed these - Emily dragged a little but the rest were all short and drew me in instantly. 3.5 stars

such a great collection of short stories.
some of these are better than the others but would highly recommend this book for anyone that loves horror.
I found myself feeling so tense with some of the stories.

The anthology as a whole (4 stars):
This horror anthology started strong, with some wonderful short stories that unsettled me to my very core. This said, many were just too short to flesh out their wonderful ideas and left me wanting. I'd love to read more from this author. I love the way she writes. The way she bleeds imagery into a shiver that runs down your spine... A brilliant collection of domestic horror stories that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to a friend.

SPOILERS BELOW!

Individual short story reviews (Average rating 3.75 stars)
Table Scraps
A solid, unsettling story to start the book. I guessed the premise straight away but I've been watching Hannibal recently so that's probably why! The dog/title tie in was a nice touch for an unsettling end.
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Emily
Bloody hell. Like, this is actually creepy. I thought for a while that maybe it was a cuckoo situation, or that Emily was an alien who made someone care for her. Having finished it, he could be anything. I'm just hoping I won't wake up to her standing over me tonight...!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Mouthful
A sweet, almost comforting monster story. Enjoyable but not scary in the slightest.
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Changes
I'm confused. But in the most delicious way! It seemed creepy to begin with and I love the manner in which it was written. A distinct lack of explanation in any form leaves your mind reeling in it's aftermath.
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Make a Home of Me
Make a Home of Me is almost gothic in it's conclusion. Whilst reading it, I was struck by Vanessa Santos' frequent use at the scary thing left unsaid, leaving the reader just enough to make their own fears true. Whilst in Changes I found this a little lacking, in Make a Home of Me, readers are given just enough to wonder. Though the house itself isn't particularly sinister, it's the not knowing what was on the youngest child's 'special' notes that makes it so. A classic horror story with an ending that leaves you wanting more
⭐⭐⭐⭐

As Above, So Below
This one feels very COVID-19 coded. It reminds me in a way of the book 'Our Wives Under the Sea' but without the suspense and body horror. I can't say that this one was scary, or really all that intriguing. I didn't care for the characters (they just don't have the time in such a small amount of pages to be fleshed out enough) and the ending was too tidy for a plot with no answers.
⭐⭐

Riverquick, Saltfresh
There wasn't enough about the characters to make you feel for them in any way. The parents locking her up bit didn't seem to have any relevance and it was confusing that the parents were referencing the water taking their first daughter when she could easily have been kidnapped ect (as it appears no one but the MC saw her fall in/was there?). The final ideas at the end were more atmospheric though and that saved the story a little.
⭐⭐⭐

The Wall
A much better story for being that tiny bit longer. The characters felt more real, with some horror aspects grounded in reality. This said, I'm not sure what the point of the ending was? Perhaps just a way to tie together an anthology under this title?
⭐⭐⭐⭐

A collection of strange and dark short stories, with the only common theme of an exploration of home - and what that means and how it can not be the idyllic refuse and oasis we crave it to be.

Masterfully crafted stories that surprise you with twists in their prosely paths, and leave you breathless and wondering what the hell just happened. This isn't sledgehammer horroe - rather nails down your spine that reveal themselves to be sharper than you originally thought.

A joy to read, I wolfed them down and wanted more - not that any of the tales left me wanting!

Vanessa Santos’s Make a Home of Me is a stunningly original entry into contemporary horror fiction—unsettling, poetic, and disturbingly intimate. Through a series of interconnected stories, Santos redefines what it means to feel “at home,” exploring how our most familiar spaces can become uncanny, dangerous, and even predatory.

Each story acts like a key turning in a different lock, revealing a hidden room in the collective human psyche: a mysterious dinner party curdles into a grotesque nightmare; a seemingly ideal romance with a single father is slowly unraveled by his daughter’s haunting presence; and a couple’s domestic bliss is undone by something as seemingly mundane as a crying baby next door. From journals soaked in obsession to cryptic notes that fracture a family’s reality, Santos threads these tales with the pervasive terror of losing control in the one place we should feel safest—our homes.

What sets this collection apart is Santos’s gift for atmosphere. Her prose is lush and immersive, often lyrical, yet always carrying a blade beneath the velvet. The houses in Make a Home of Me are never just settings; they are living, breathing entities—indifferent or even hostile to their inhabitants. Whether it’s the slow, almost imperceptible encroachment of dread or a jarring plunge into the grotesque, Santos maintains an impeccable sense of pacing, allowing horror to bloom gradually and organically.

There’s an emotional intelligence here too—grief, alienation, motherhood, and madness pulse just beneath the surface of each narrative. Santos does not rely on shock alone; her horror is existential, psychological, and deeply human. These stories are as much about interior landscapes as they are about the walls and doors that surround us.

Make a Home of Me marks the arrival of a bold new voice in literary horror. Santos doesn’t just write about haunted houses—she writes about how we haunt ourselves. For readers who enjoy the eerie domesticity of Shirley Jackson, the creeping dread of Mariana Enríquez, or the disquieting realism of Carmen Maria Machado, this collection is a must-read.

I have often dwelt on the world that exists in the corner of one’s eye. The unsettling feeling of something lurking just beyond sight. The palpable feeling of something being off. Often the real world provides for enough unsettling emotions that one feels little need to venture into a world of abject horror.
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I very much like horror that hints at something darker. A subtle horror that slowly percolates into one’s mind leaving a trace of dread and angst. ‘Make a home of me’ is a wonderfully creepy set of short stories. I very much like not having stories wrapped neatly, but left frayed at the end so that your own mind can make up its own ending.
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The writing isn’t particularly complex and some of the stories aren’t really even horror but more unsettling. This is probably a very poor comparison, but somehow I had the same sense of enjoyment that I did when, back in my childhood, I would devour countless Goosebump books.
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Since it’s a collection of short stories, some work better than others, but it feels somehow really accomplished. I also couldn’t place the book either in a physical location - I had somehow assumed it would be American, but Dead ink books, an equally interesting publisher is British and there are occasional references. Not that any of this matters but my mind did ponder it.
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I raced through this, in part because it was really very good, and because I had forgot that the archive date was approaching. I made an erroneous error on netgalley by letting a book disappear in the archive. You live and learn I suppose. As ever a big thank you to netgalley for being the bookish middleman and dead inks for publishing it!

I loved this, these creepy stories definitely left me feeling uneasy. A great collection of haunting tales that linger long after you’ve finished reading.

Vanessa Santos' "Make a Home of Me" is the perfect quiet horror collection: just eight stories at the absolutely right length, all easy reads, every one full of creepiness and shuddering terror with minimal gore (practically none) and full of emotional upheavals - exactly what you might need to read before bed, or during a hot summer afternoon. Their common theme, if any, is the undoing of domestic comfort, the collapse of those "places of safety" one craves for after an exhausting day at work, a quarrel with a neighbor, or even the loss of a loved one without warning. Santos deconstructs safe places the way one is supposed to enjoy a cigar: slow draws, enjoying the flavor, and letting the story burn itself out - a slow and deliberate process finely crafted in words most familiar, but with the strangest and the most unsettling of endings!

All nine stories are gems, but five of them stood out for me: "Table Scraps," the opening story, challenges the funeral rituals we may accept as proper and comfortable expressions of honoring the dead; "Emily," probably the best story of the collection, takes the "creepy kid" horror trope and gives it an original spin, reminiscent of "Let the Right One In"'s ending, but with a scary twist; the titular "Make a Home of Me," an outstanding tale of a house leaving notes to the family living inside it (this will probably be most people's favorite, the premise is genius); "As Above, So Below," a spooky story about the arrival of aliens, a tale of quiet sci-fi horror, with an undertone of grief and an atmosphere of quiet indifference; and the majestic "The Wall," about a baby that never stops crying, driving mad the neighbors.. The claustrophobic ending is very well-done, and will make you look twice at noisy newborns.

This is a solid 5-stars collection, and if you enjoy Shirley Jackson or Ray Bradbury prepare for some definite chills!

Make a Home of Me by Vanessa Santos is an anthology that takes all the places that we should be able to feel safe and comforted and turns them into something terrifying. Since it's an anthology, I decided to go through each story and give my impressions!

Table Scraps
Table Scraps is a funeral dinner like no other that will leave you wondering how far you would go to honor the wishes of a loved one. It's visceral and uncomfortable, while also showing the many ways in which grief can take root in a person.

Emily
Emily takes "weird girl" to a whole new level. What starts out as something a bit unsettling quickly ties a knot in the pit of the reader's stomach, and this was one of the scarier entries in the anthology.

Mouthful
Mouthful chronicles the last days of a reclusive artist through her journal entries about the monster she believes is stalking her remote home. I found this one to be quite creepy as well.

Changes
Changes is an eerie and atmospheric look at the way a social situation can change a loved one into someone you don't recognize. So spooky!

Make a Home of Me
The titular Make a Home of Me is about a family plagued by strange notes that seem to be coming from the house itself. This was one of my favorite stories in this book, and it genuinely made me tear up.

As Above, So Below
As Above, So Below shows the effects of an alien invasion confining people to their homes. This was the only story that didn't quite work for me. It was well written, but I didn't find it as spooky as the others.

Riverquick, Saltfresh
Riverquick, Saltfresh is a mermaid story, at its core, but with an eerie sense of foreboding. These are certainly not Disney mermaids!

The Wall
The Wall is the tale of an older childless couple who are being driven mad by the sound of an endlessly crying baby in the house next door, which shares a wall with their bedroom. Very effective, and a lesson in being careful what you wish for.

4.5 stars

Deliciously dark and delightful! I inhaled this collection of short stories and I loved each one. I could have kept reading, one more, one more, one more - obsessed! Vanessa's writing style is perfection, evocative yet consise whilst managing to be all encompassing.

The opening story Table Scraps is about a macabre dinner party organised by a deceased man, seasoned with black humour. When I realised what was going on, I gasped!

We then meet Emily, possibly the most unsettling and eerie child I've read about, she gave me goosebumps. The ending was just spine chilling.

In Mouthful a news story appears about a vanished artist. We are given a glimpse into her journal entries describing a monster living in the woods surrounding her home. Claustrophobic and creepy.

We then go off on a holiday in the story Changes to a quaint seaside town that distorts reality, with a dangerous sense of creeping unease.

The stunning titular story Make a Home of Me made is skin crawling in its effectiveness, a haunted house classic with a unique twist. Genius!

I adored As Above, So Below about a lockdown with no internet, soldiers on the streets and strange lights shimmering in the sky. Reminiscent of the pandemic we lived through with a sci-fi element, this one was very close for comfort!

There is also a very real horror story set in the depths of the sea about sisterhood and loss, grief and guilt. I found Riverquick, Saltfresh chilling and emotional.

We wrap up the collection with The Wall, a nightmarish suburban tale about a baby that won't stop crying, and the gradual drop off into helplessness that some parents may find all too familiar.

An absolute stellar little collection of perturbing stories - definitely not one to be missed! I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book - solid 5 stars. I'll be thinking about these for a long time!

Make a Home of Me by Vanessa Santos is a tender, lyrical exploration of love, loss, and healing. With poetic prose and raw vulnerability, Santos captures the complexities of relationships and identity in a way that feels both deeply personal and widely relatable. The writing is intimate and emotionally rich, offering quiet moments that resonate.

Each section unfolds like a meditation—on self-worth, connection, and the ache of becoming. While some passages verge on repetition, the overall rhythm and honesty keep the momentum steady. Santos has a gift for distilling big emotions into simple, powerful lines that linger long after the page is turned.

The book closes on a hopeful, grounded note, making the emotional journey feel whole. Make a Home of Me is a beautifully written and quietly powerful collection—an easy 4-star read for those who appreciate poetry that speaks to the heart and the hurt.

4.25 stars :)

A fantastic collection of psychological horror stories that delve into aspects of domesticity, and being trapped in places that should provide us with comfort.

Favourites included Emily, where our main character gets swept up in a new relationship with a single father of a strangely quiet girl, and Changes, which was too short to really give any detail about but follows a young couple on holiday in a remote seaside town.

A couple didn't really work for me (namely Mouthful and Riverquick, Saltfresh), but the rest all gave me the shivers, and all were written expertly with great pacing and not a word out of place. At this point I practically consider myself a horror short story connoisseur, and this collection did not disappoint for me at all.

Ooohhh creepy dwellings this is good. Bite sized stories to creep you out. They're short but highly descriptive and imaginative. Great if you need a quick blast of the macabre.

Thank you so much to Dead Ink Books & NetGalley for the e-ARC!!

4 stars!!

This collection was fantastic for variety! There's so much here that can be a hit or miss but so much to also have something for anyone!

My favourite has to be Table Scraps! What a way to open the collection!

I liked this one so much I'd actually love to read more / longer / novella version of it.

Another I liked but mainly because of the creepy ending was Emily, the middle of the story seemed to drag a little but the imagery of the ending I loved.

Make a Home of Me I loved creepy haunted houses and this one had something unique to it and I loved the writing and this can also be said for the writing in Riverquick, Saltfresh. Loved the writing

So happy to have read this collection and to find a new author I'm definitely keeping an eye for!