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Put This Short Story Collection on Your Radar for 2025

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Emily Martin

Contributing Editor

Emily has a PhD in English from the University of Southern Mississippi, MS, and she has an MFA in Creative Writing from GCSU in Milledgeville, GA, home of Flannery O’Connor. She spends her free time reading, watching horror movies and musicals, cuddling cats, Instagramming pictures of cats, and blogging/podcasting about books with the ladies over at #BookSquadGoals (www.booksquadgoals.com). She can be reached at emily.ecm@gmail.com.

2025? That sounds like a fantasy year, right? Wrong. It’s right around the corner, and I don’t know about you, but I’m already looking forward to what books we can get hyped about early in the year. I’m so excited to get my hands on the latest from V. Castro, and I think you will be too! So, mark your TBRs for 2025.

If you’re hankering for something to read right now, stick around, because I’ve also got a few readalikes you might enjoy if this book sounds good to you.

the pink agave motel book cover

The Pink Agave Motel by V. Castro (CLASH Books, February 11)

Welcome to the Pink Agave Motel. It’s a place where your every desire (and every nightmare) can and will come true. In this short story collection, two-time Bram Stoker Award nominee V. Castro invites readers into creepy worlds influenced by Mexican folklore and feminism. In “The Pink Agave Motel,” motel manager Valentina is horrified to discover that someone has died a violent death on the property. Hoping to avoid a big fuss and exposure, Valentina teams up with the recently deceased’s grieving friend to solve the gruesome murder. And from there, the stories just get wilder and darker.

V. Castro’s short story collection promises to be gory. It promises to be sexy. And most importantly, it promises to be a good time. And what better horror book to read in February than one with a little bit of romance and a lot of sex appeal? Sign me up.


Dying to read this book now? Here are a few other books you might enjoy that are available to read RIGHT NOW if this one sounds appealing to you!

A graphic of the cover of Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez

Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin

Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata

Get in Trouble by Kelly Link

Never Have I Ever by Isabel Yap

I hope the rest of your 2024 reading goes well. And let’s chat about this collection when we all read it in 2025!