Christmas is here, and Sabrina is not going to let her lying, cheating, alcoholic husband ruin it for her. When Victor tries to make a mess of the plans, Sabrina makes a mess of him. Join me for a deep dive into this Christmas extreme horror novella, Decorate The Tree by Bethany Roses.
What Is Decorate The Tree About?
The holidays are hard for everyone, but most of us don’t slaughter our husbands and use his innards to deck our halls. But here at Read By Daylight, we support a woman’s right to choose.
Sabrina and Victor have been married for almost a year. And while this should be an amazing first Christmas for them (Sabrina’s pregnant, after all), it’s turning out to be quite a blue Christmas. Victor is cheating. He’s gotten another woman pregnant. And if that wasn’t bad enough, his alcoholism and anger have gotten out of control. With few options left, Sabrina decides to do the only thing a woman in her position can do. She’s going to kill him. And use his teeth to fill her Christmas baubles.
Decorate The Tree is a Christmas extreme horror novella that is heavy on gore and holiday spirit. This book is available on KU (as of December 2025), and it was an easy 4.5 star read for me.
What I liked…
Also, the first thing you’ll read when you pick up this book on Kindle Unlimited is a note from the author discouraging you from slaughtering any husbands (cheating or otherwise). As someone who is just starting to ramp up her holiday horror reading, I want to point out that this is, one, the first woman-written book I’ve read this season. And two, this is the first horror I’ve read in a long time that bothered to give a (silly) warning on the book. And I know this was probably jsut a nervous note from the author, but it really stuck with me for a long time. Out of the dozens of Christmas horror I’ve read that feature a man killing his bitch of an ex-wife, I think this is the first one that featured a note from the author at the beginning. In a genre that features so much violence against women, it’s really interesting to see a female author not only write a book where the husband dies, but include a note. Maybe it’s preference, but it just stuck out to me and I wanted to include it in the review.
To start with, I am going to say that Decorate The Tree is an incredibly fun read. As we follow Sabrina on her tree-decorating massacre, she tries to set the mood with a playlist. While she is sawing through her husband’s femur, she’s listening to Deck The Halls. While she’s pulling out his teeth, she’s listening to Carol of the Bells. Okay, while those aren’t the actual songs featured in the novella, you get the point. A *very* interesting choice by the author is to include Sabrina’s playlist inside the book. If you’re reading the Kindle edition, you’ll be able to click the link and be taken to Sabrina’s Spotify playlist. I didn’t use this playlist, and instead, the entirety of the book was listened to with Christmas jazz playing in the background. But I will say, the mix of the music in the air and the music featured in the book creates such a unique and immersive experience for the reader! I had so much fun, and I thought this was such a lovely twist.
… And What I Didn’t
Something that I don’t necessarily believe is a criticism of the book but is something you might want to know is that this is not a life changing book. This isn’t one of those literary horrors that are meant to challenge your perspective or make you reflect on yourself (unless you too think of sawing your husband into little itty bitty bits). This is a fun, gory Christmas read. The chapters are short, it can be read in one sitting, and it’s bloody. If you’re looking for something spooky this Christmas, this is not it. There is no happy ending here (not especially, at least), there is no lesson learned, and there’s no ghost to show you the meaning of Christmas. Once again, not really a critique, but worth noting that if that’s what you’re looking for, this isn’t it. This is very firmly planted in the extreme horror genre.
My only real complaint about Decorate The Tree is that I found myself having to flip back to a previous chapter a number of times. I wasn’t sure if Sabrina was teleporting or if maybe the sequence of events wasn’t stated firm enough for me, but it happened enough times for me to notice. It’s stated a few times that Sabrine needs to make a tea or needs to have her first tea of the night. And while I too am a tea conneseur, it left me feeling like I’d somehow read the chapters out of order. It doesn’t overall impact the story much (especially being such a short book), but I still felt as though it was worth mentioning.
Final Thoughts
If you need a quick and violent book to get you in the holiday spirit, Decorate The Tree is going to be a must-read this year. The addition of a Christmas soundtrack makes an otherwise typical extreme horror novella elevated to the next level, and it’s perfect for a quick read before decorating your own tree (hopefully with baubles instead of teeth, but to each their own). This one is available on KU, so be sure to pick it up there if you have a subscription!
Looking for more holiday horror? Check out my review of another Christmas horror by Matt Shaw here.