🌑 **Book Review: _Night and Day in Misery_ by Catriona Ward (Kindle Edition, The Shivers Collection #4)**
_A grief-soaked, psychologically intense short horror that blends supernatural unease with raw emotional truth—Catriona Ward delivers a haunting tale that lingers like a bruise._
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### 🧠 **Overview**
Published in **April 2025** as part of Amazon’s *The Shivers Collection*, *Night and Day in Misery* is a **35-page** story about **Stella**, a woman who has been frozen in grief for eight years after the deaths of her husband and young son. Determined to confront her past, she books **Room 17** at a motel in **Misery, Missouri**—the last place they stayed together.
Her plan is simple: spend one night there, commune with their memory, and finally close the chapter. But as night falls, Stella begins to experience disturbing visions and urgent, otherworldly messages. The line between reality and nightmare blurs, forcing her to face not only the supernatural but also the devastating truths she’s buried.
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### 💔 **Key Themes & Highlights**
– 🕯️ **Grief as horror**: Ward uses supernatural elements to mirror the suffocating weight of loss
– 🧠 **Psychological unravelling**: Stella’s memories and perceptions shift as the night progresses
– 🪞 **Facing the past**: The story explores how trauma distorts memory and self-perception
– 🌌 **Dreamlike dread**: Feverish, surreal sequences heighten the sense of disorientation
– ⚠️ **Trigger warnings**: Alcoholism, domestic abuse, car accidents, and suicide—handled with emotional weight, not sensationalism
> “Eight years after their deaths, Stella books the same room, hoping to commune with their memories. But… the other side sends a terrifying message.”
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### 💬 **Reader Reception**
– ⭐ **Goodreads rating: 3.73/5** from over **4,100 ratings**
– 📖 Readers praise the **emotional depth**, **tight pacing**, and **layered character work**
– 💬 “A masterclass in short-form horror—grief and the supernatural entwined until you can’t tell them apart.”
– 🧾 Some found the ending abrupt or wished for more resolution, but many admired its emotional punch
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### ⚠️ **Considerations**
– 📄 **Short format**: At 35 pages, it’s a one-sitting read—best approached as an intense emotional snapshot
– 📚 **Standalone**: Works independently within *The Shivers Collection*
– 🧠 **Heavy subject matter**: The horror is as much emotional as it is supernatural
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### 🏁 **Final Verdict**
_**Night and Day in Misery**_ is a **poignant, unsettling blend of grief drama and ghost story**, with Catriona Ward’s signature ability to make the supernatural feel like an extension of human pain. It’s a quick but emotionally heavy read—perfect for fans of horror that cuts deep beneath the skin.
