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What did you think of the story? How did the novella length benefit the story? What temperature rating would this get? What was the most memorable scene?

Currently reading this now, so I'll come back when I've finished. I'd love to know if this is your first KPB and, if not, what else have you read by him? I've read Sour Candy which you probably know that I loved, The Turtle Boy which I enjoyed, and Kin didn't work for me. I'm only 33% done this one but I definitely need to read more by him!

This was another reread for me. Burke does a great job of really capturing the trauma and pain of losing a loved one and all the emotions that go with it. It’s a very good short story and Burke is great at giving a lot of plot with few pages.

This is the first Kealan Patrick Burke story I have read and I was really impressed with his writing. He definitely could write atmosphere and I felt the grief the character was experiencing. I think the length was good for the content because it really was just a small story and if there was more, I feel like it wouldn't have worked as well. I really enjoyed reading through the story and seeing where things would end and I felt like the ending wasn't what I was hoping for. I don't know what I wanted the ending to be, but I felt like the two parts of the ending just fell a bit flat. Overall, I really did enjoy the story though and thought it was really well written. I will definitely be reading more by the author soon, I'm eyeing up Sour Candy at the moment.

Ok, now I'm done. I think KPB did a great job capturing grief. As a new mom, this story probably hit me harder than it would have if I read it last year when I was still childless. I think the writing was great, creating a very haunting macabre tone.
Like Rebecca, I had the same feeling about the ending. I didn't think it was bad per say, but it definitely wasn't the ending I was hoping for. I don't know if we try to keep this spoiler free, but basically he did a horror ending that I've seen too many times and personally find a bit cliche/obvious. Regardless, I still really liked it and will be giving it 4 stars. (it probably would have been a 5 star read if the ending had been different).

This is my first time reading a story by Kealan Patrick Burke and I really enjoyed it! I thought the writing was excellent, and this was a great example of a story with an unreliable narrator. I will say that for a short story, I found the beginning to be a bit slow. For that, I gave it a 4 out of 5 star rating. I want to check out Sour Candy and Kin by Burke next!

Did anyone not love it? I thought he did a great job portraying grief. It was a really interesting story concept. I think the author did a good job coming up with a unique killing mechanism for blanky. But overall I found the story a little slow and the ending cookie cutter. I would have liked to see an ending as unique as the rest of the story.

I agree about the cookie xutter ending, but I liked the portrayal of grief a lot so it got 4 stars from me. I find it interesting that Alex called him an unreliable narrator because it never really occurred to me to describe the man that way.

I agree I thought the unreliable narrator thing came out left field at the ending. I think it could have made for a more interesting read if we were questioning the narrator throughout the novela.

I'm excited for this one. I just bought my copy...I'll be back to chat about it with yinz soon!

Ok finished! I agree that the depictions of grief were really well done, and I thought the story was overall creative and original. I wasn't super into the writing style, however. It felt a bit much, but that's just my personal preference. It was definitely well written. I was actually really turned off by the ending and the unreliable narrator trope. I usually love that, but in this case it felt like a cop-out. I also wish it was ended in a more creative way, or maybe just a straight up "he killed them" reveal.

i really enjoyed this one, I read two of his books which were a collection of short stories and Burke didn't dissapoint. The only thing I wish was different was the ending. Overall still a great read, for me one of the memorable scene was when Steve got that facetime call from his wife. Blanky didn't really scare me but I'm giving a room temperature rating.

I gave Blanky 5 stars. This is the first Kealan Patrick Burke book I have read and I was really impressed. I can't wait to read some more. I did not think it was possible to make a baby blanket creepy, but I was proved wrong. Like everyone else I think he portrayed grief really well. Grief tends to be one of my favorite themes in books. I would give this a room temperature rating. Creepy, sad, but not scary. And that is ok, it is still a 5 star book.

Like a few others this was my first Kealan Patrick Burke read.
It was utterly gripping, and being a father of three (the youngest is only 2yrs old) it was also difficult to read in a lot of places. I like how we got hints throughout the novella that we were dealing with an unreliable narrator. Of course he was an unreliable narrator, Stephen was grief-stricken and relying on memory, which is never truly reliable.
The story flowed very well, until that very end section. Others have said that a more clear-cut or creative ending would have been better. Personally, I think a more ambiguous ending would have worked better. Trim off that final bit, and end it with Stephen sure of how things will go for him (sorry, trying to avoid spoilers), rather than the very last section which felt kind of tagged on, as a way of giving the story a concrete ending.