A Woman Like Jo: & Other Dark Pieces

Title: A Woman Like Jo: & Other Dark Pieces
Author: Kenzie Jennings
First Published: July 15, 2024
Publisher: Blistered Siren Press
Pages: 182
Genre: Feminist Fiction, Horror, Satire, Short Stories
Format: eARC
Source: Review Request
Rating:


Synopsis:

There are those who are familiar with a woman like Jo, who steals a man’s heart during his own midlife crisis on the other side of the world…

…or a woman like Deandra, who robs the wealthy during the stormiest night of the season when the dark reveals its secrets…

…or a woman like Cassie, who collects airline travel perks no matter the cost to her, or others’, well-being…

…or a woman like Heather, who succumbs to a lifestyle brand, the kind one doesn’t ever recover from…

…or a woman like Jillian, who promises herself, after her divorce, to never be seduced by a stranger…

…or one out of a number of other women whose stories are told here, as cautionary tales, perhaps, of the absurd, the grotesque, the demented, the forlorn, the brazen, or the downright strange.

Perhaps even you may find some of them awfully close to home.

Buy the Book: Amazon

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Review

Hard-hitting and original, A Woman Like Jo is a short story collection full of female rage sharpened like a knife and it was feminist as fuck. There is a great mix of stories and genres in this collection all told through the eyes of women with themes that are relevant and relatable. The stories are dark and dripped with wickedly wry humor.

Some of the women in these stories are victims of circumstance, others put themselves in harm’s way, and more still lash out, overcome, take control of their destiny. There is a lot to admire about this collection and there will be something for everyone, I was blown away and had so much fun diving into each story. This was my first Kenzie Jennings book and it certainly won’t be my last.

Individual Story Notes:

♥ A Woman Like Jo: The titular story starts the collection off with a bang. I instantly related to the main character and her frustrations with her ex-husband’s midlife crisis flaunting money and his new, younger, Asian wife. I hate passport bros with a fiery passion, and the ex-husband particularly gnawed on my nerves. I loved the main character until she started getting into some anti-Asian commentary, the bitterness was extremely specific and I felt like I was catching strays, but the ugliness the main character experiences I found realistic. Besides that, it was a great story and I loved the conclusion.

♥ Tell Greg: A heist goes wrong as a lone burglar finds herself trapped in a house during a hurricane. The choice of a natural disaster turned the danger of an already dangerous situation up a notch and I enjoyed the mystery and creepiness of the house.

♥ Habits: The morning after a night out is a great time to reflect on terrible decisions. A short sucker punch of a story that, despite being predictable, presented a nightmare scenario that made me squirm.

♥ The Academic Hearing Committee’s Final Decision: I had no idea what to expect when I saw the title of this story, and I certainly did not expect to cackle like a fiend! A vicious little satire and slasher thriller that I found relatable as a fellow higher education professional, and the perfect comic relief between the other grizzly stories.

♥ Always the Bear: This is the one, this is the best story of the entire collection. A lone woman camping on the beach encounters a couple and is faced with the question – a man, or a bear? I enjoyed how conscious this story was of current conversations about women. I reveled in this blood-soaked story with joyous glee!

♥ The Toxins: MLM girl bosses and the corporate health industry are the scourges of my generation. The dark humor in this story was a delight and took aim at the cult of wellness.

♥ The One You’re With: A woman finds herself grappling with uncertainty and jealousy over her suspicions of her wife’s affair. Jealousy is indeed a relationship killer.

♥ Same Booth, Once a Year: This was a charming little zombie story that served as a decent palette cleanser. I didn’t find it all that notable or memorable.

♥ About Her Given Name: A deadly femme fatale in the old west travels by stagecoach with assassins nipping at her heels. I was enjoying the story and setting up until I reached an abrupt ending. It was only after that I found out that this story is a prequel to another novel, Red Station. I have had my eye on the Splatter Western series for a while and have been interested in checking it out, so this story shot that specific book up on my list. While I found the story jarring on its own without any prior context, I’m sure that readers already familiar with Red Station would find a great deal of enjoyment out of this little origin story.

♥ Perks: A plane flight from hell with some sweet revenge. It was terrifying and trippy and a strong contender for my favorite story in this collection. This story has made me realize that I need more stories about uncomfortable plane flights.

♥ The Third Woman: A gut punch of a story about a woman haunted by a mysterious and ghostly woman each time she finds herself close to death. The ending cleaved my heart in two.

♥ It’s Never Been About Beauty: The only non-fiction piece, told in an unconventional style that closed the collection perfectly. The glimpses of Kenzie’s life weaved into this story were deeply personal, but it was clear to see how her experiences influenced her work.

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