{"id":20359,"date":"2025-12-17T07:00:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T12:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=20359"},"modified":"2025-12-18T22:03:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T03:03:29","slug":"review-unworthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-unworthy\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Unworthy by  L. Marie Wood"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"20358\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-unworthy\/unworthy\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/unworthy.jpg?fit=647%2C1000&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"647,1000\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"unworthy\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/unworthy.jpg?fit=647%2C1000&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-20358\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/unworthy.jpg?resize=226%2C350&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"cover of Unworthy\" width=\"226\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/unworthy.jpg?resize=226%2C350&amp;ssl=1 226w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/unworthy.jpg?w=647&amp;ssl=1 647w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 226px) 85vw, 226px\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/p\/books\/unworthy-l-marie-wood\/edd30f2dca40048a?ean=9781962353281&amp;next=t\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><em>Unworthy<\/em> by L. Marie Wood<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Mocha Memoirs Press (September 2025)<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Reviewed by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.writerelizabethbroadbent.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Elizabeth Broadbent<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fans of psychological horror, rejoice: <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unworthy, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">L. Marie Wood\u2019s \u201cnovel in stories,\u201d has dropped. Wood is a recognized virtuoso of the subgenre, her list of awards as long as it is genre-spanning, and readers craving true literary terror will find the fix they need. <\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first and last stories in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unworthy <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bookend its events. A woman of royal blood comes of age with her mother\u2019s bloody body at her feet. She doesn\u2019t want the crown she\u2019s destined to take, and she has to prove that she\u2019s \u201cnot unworthy\u201d to take the crown. The stories show us the path there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further explanation would ruin the fun of this novel-collection. While the stories interlock and lace together, each works alone as a complete tale. Vivid characters face domestic violence and dangerous dreams, angels and zombies, serial murders and a high-stakes version of capture-the-flag. The scenarios are terrifying in themselves, but the true horror in these tales lies not without, but within. Though Wood gives us plenty of chills at the hands of the undead, the horror at the heart of these stories is madness, loneliness, and inadequacy. This volume asks what it means to be (un)worthy. We sit with characters forced to scent their own doom on the wind, driven to reckon with their own inadequacy. If you don\u2019t know why Wood is called \u201ca master of psychological horror,\u201d these tales will offer explanation as each story\u2019s tension builds to a breaking point.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can\u2019t have psychological horror without great characters, and the people in this book shine. Don\u2019t get attached. They\u2019re as varied as they are relatable, and Wood forces them to cope with the ugly results of their personal choices and pet inadequacies. Standout stories include \u201cPatty,\u201d a twisting account of heartbreak and domestic violence; \u201cDear Monique,\u201d a letter written by a woman scorned; and \u201cThe Black Hole,\u201d a viscerally terrifying novelette of racially-motivated horror.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Readers who want to step back and see the full picture of this novel should take notes. Don\u2019t let that turn you off; like the book itself, each story functions as a self-contained entity. But to truly appreciate Wood\u2019s genius, at least jot down names. Readers who devote attention to this collection of vivid, twisted prose will find that these scary stories fit into a brilliantly cohesive whole. Here, true horror lurks in each of us, and Wood forces us to see it. A terror-packed novel-collection by a master. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unworthy by L. Marie Wood Mocha Memoirs Press (September 2025) Reviewed by\u00a0Elizabeth Broadbent Fans of psychological horror, rejoice: Unworthy, L. Marie Wood\u2019s \u201cnovel in stories,\u201d has dropped. Wood is a recognized virtuoso of the subgenre, her list of awards as long as it is genre-spanning, and readers craving true literary terror will find the fix &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-unworthy\/\" class=\"more-link button bg-gold white\">Continue Reading!<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Review: Unworthy by  L. Marie Wood&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80],"tags":[3165,3562,79,3561],"class_list":["post-20359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-elizabeth-broadbent","tag-l-marie-wood","tag-reviews","tag-unworthy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: Unworthy by L. 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