The End of Summer Audiobook By J. Tonzelli cover art

The End of Summer

Thirteen Tales of Halloween

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The End of Summer

By: J. Tonzelli
Narrated by: Jay B. Scott
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The world's oldest celebration comes to life in The End of Summer: Thirteen Tales of Halloween, an anthology that honors the darkest and strangest night of the year. Each story is designed to be intrinsically and intimately about Halloween - its traditions, its myths, and its effects - and they run the gamut from horrifying to heartbreaking.

Halloween night is the tapestry through which a haunted house, a monstrous child, a late-night drive to a mysterious destination, and other tales are weaved. Demons are faced, death is defied, and love is tested. And not everyone makes it out alive. The End of Summer has arrived.

©2013 J. Tonzelli/AuthorMike Ink (P)2014 AuthorMike Ink Anthologies Anthologies & Short Stories Fiction Horror Scary Short Story Horror Anthology
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Would you listen to The End of Summer again? Why?

Yes! It was a wonderful, spooky read!

What did you like best about this story?

Seriously creepy. The stories stayed with me for several days...and nights.

What makes this book particularly creepy is that most of the scares are based on human nature and the problems we can create for ourselves and others. This book is very well written and the characters are real and complex.

What does Jay B. Scott bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

It makes it feel like you are being told a story around a campfire.

Who was the most memorable character of The End of Summer and why?

The Halloween Girl of Coldsprings. So, so creepy!

Any additional comments?

Again, this is an amazing read. It's Halloween for kids and adults. Not gory or violent, just very insightful and very effective at giving the reader nightmares!

Spooky Halloween Fun!

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stories are good but narration is sleepy, and lacking. I felt like he was putting me to sleep

fairly good.

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These stories are a bit offbeat. The reader has to appreciate that several come from old legends and lore rather than cheap new ChatGPT drivel. I especially love The Halloween Girl and Dumb Supper. Not a quick, zombie filled trope but each story requires a little patience to appreciate the nuance. The guy with the chainsaw isn’t that frightening—it’s the scare that you never saw coming.

Love this-perfect to start off the Spooky Season!

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Any additional comments?

ok the main thing id like to say is that the reader sounded like he'd been reading out loud all day, and this was his last book before he got to go home. he sounded careful, as to not mess up but not enthusiastic. you'll understand once you hear him. so I cant fairly rate the stories, I feel the reading takes away from them and they might be better than I think.
with that being said, his voice isn't annoying, just blah, and the stories do make you feel very Halloweenie.
so don't expect a great work of literature, but it is a fun read, like a young adults quality book.

good not great

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If it weren't for all the cursing. It adds nothing to a story and gets old.

I would have enjoyed it more

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I originally read the book and while not my favorite anthology series, I do like some of the stories. I usually go back and read the stories I enjoy yearly around Halloween. I thought this would be great to get have an audible version.

The Narrator is boring and for lack of a better word Monochrome. His reading often reminds me of TV static. but I also really hate narrator s who just read without emphasis or character voices, so there is some natural bias there. I just feel it just makes everything duller. Putting the lack of emphasis with his voice on characters along with what seems to be his own boredom of reading in general makes for a very annoying book.

the book itself while not great, has very fun stories inside of it including a tribute the the original "Halloween" movie. that one has to be my favorite. while it does not come out and state that is what the story is about it is written in a clever way so that any horror lover immediately see's what characters the story is using. But I am not a huge fan of all the stories. It was an interesting idea but nothing super solid except for a few stories that I enjoyed.

Where did they get the Narrator?

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Life is too short and there are too many good books to waste your time finishing a bad one. I love horror and this is cheap boring repetitive horror. Pick this one up because I heard it was like the movie Trick R Treat as a book. And there are moments where this assessment might be true, but over all this collection sucks. I never give this kind of review either. Not finishing it. moving on.

Thppppppppp!

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What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Generally better stories. This wasn't a terrible series and some of these stories really did stand out. In particular the story about the uncle who visits his nephews and niece every year, the young man who confesses feelings for the girl he works with, the Halloween Girl, and the one about the old farmer who allows some salesmen to make his land into a haunted ride every year. It's also not too difficult to get attached to the characters even in the subpar stories.

However, most of the 'horror' stories were very repetitive. The same theme again and again of someone being haunted by a person they'd murdered in the near or distant past. There were even a few times when I found myself just being annoyed with the direction the author took his story in. For example, with the young man who finally confesses his love (no spoilers on how the girl reacts), the author randomly throws into the story a masked psycho coming into the store and stealing a knife. But it never plays out in any way, shape, or form. So why add it?

All that aside, the horror stories were either repetitive, or just seemed to dawdle off into nothing. There could have been more variety, not relying on the theme that someone is being haunted by a person they either on purpose or accidentally killed. The majority of the stories didn't have much of a resolution either. In particular the haunting stories. They were just vignettes about something the character is experiencing, but nothing dynamic happens. The character doesn't try to change anything. They just say "this is what's happening and it's been happening for years, and that's that I suppose."

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The narrator had the same inflection most of the time. He sounded about as bored reading as I felt listening.

Any additional comments?

This isn't a TERRIBLE book. There are a few good stories in here, that made me go "awe" and even one that made me teary. And the author does do a great job of getting you emotionally invested in the characters. What can be frustrating though is when you're emotionally invested, and the character either makes no effort to change, or it results in a very lackluster climax.

Lukewarm Stories

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Too much profanity. There is no clear break between stories and with the same narrator reading all stories (well at least as far as I got) it's hard to know when one story ended and another began. Very confusing!!

profanity, no pause between stories, confusing

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