I was thinking about how many short story books I read, and what’s the attraction?
I enjoy reading short stories as much as any other books. I typically read one so I can have a review ready for my Sunday book reviews, in-between longer reads. I enjoy variety, so reading shorter books is perfect for me. But don’t misconstrue, for me, a short story has to be well written with the same elements a good novel should have, only condensed – a good plot or storyline, believable characters and a well sewn up ending. If a writer can grab a reader and take their interest through story with a good beginning, middle and a satisifying end, well wrapped up in conclusion, short stories can be great reads. All books have a place.
But I will add, that no matter the genre of the book, there are certain criteria I look for in stories I prefer to read. For me, stories that involve the human condition are what typically grab me. We can find those elements in books, no matter the genre. Stories of incidence, stories which touch on human emotions and capabilities, and especially true stories and mystical spiritualistic stories, and stories which offer lessons, are what I gravitate to. My favorite stories are character driven. I enjoy getting into the character’s psyches, trying to guess their actions and reactions as relates to their character. I also enjoy short stories because they are bite-sized. You can read a story and put down the book and start a new story when picked up again. Just remember, despite them being short stories, the book should have a theme that umbrellas the stories.
I think short story books have taken off exponentially in the last few years.
Do you enjoy reading short story books? And what are your reasons for reading them?
Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Yes, it’s a bit different today since I’ve just released my own book, today I wanted to share both, the introductory post Sally Cronin has put up to promote my book – About the Real Stages of Grief, and a first review that just came in mere days after the release.
Delighted to share the news of the latest release from my friend and collaborator D.G. Kaye, Debby Gies… About the Real Stages of Grief: A Journey Through Loss
About the book
The truth about grief: it has filled countless pages in clinical studies and personal stories, but no words can prepare us for its reality. When I lost my beloved husband, I searched for solace in grief groups and forums, longing to make sense of my experience. There I discovered something rarely spoken aloud—that many of us carry the same hidden aches and side effects of loss, the ones that seldom find their way into books.
Love does not die, and so grief never truly leaves us. It lingers, reshaping itself, teaching us to live with its many faces. This book is the story of my own passage through loss—an endurance of sorrow, and a testament to the strength of those left behind.
Grief is a heart-wrenching journey each of us will one day face. I write not only for those who are grieving, but also for the ones who walk beside them—for the friends, family, and witnesses to heartbreak—so they might understand, even a little, what it means to live with loss.
Sally chose to share this extracted section:
We all look for ways to feel comfort and a sense of knowing we are not alone in what we experience in the aftermath. One of the many side effects of becoming a widow is the realization that some people disappear from our lives, which I’ll talk about later.
In this book, you will find real talk on the subject of grief. It is us, the grievers, who are living in a new role, walking a road we never envisioned ourselves walking. Feeling as though our hearts have been chopped into pieces, we carry the weight of the discovery that life has taken a 180-degree turn on us all.
I don’t profess to be a grief counselor, although I’m pretty sure I’m well qualified. I don’t need a master’s degree or fancy letters beside my name to ace the topic of death and dying and the aftermath. I’m just someone who is living it daily and trying to get through the pain like so many others. Since I’m a writer who has found herself in the new role of bereaved widow, I thought that if others were also seeking some understanding on this journey of grief and its randomness, I’d share my own discoveries. I have earned the badge of knowing what this journey is about.
Oh my goodness Martha. First, thank you for reading, but so quickly and such a beautiful and comprehensive review. I am honored. I loved where you said, “I could relate to the grieving process; it’s different for individuals, but yet the same.” It’s so true. Every grief is different, yet, those in grief unite. Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, and sharing. I’m very appreciative of your kind review:
The author writes about her journey of grieving, sharing how profoundly challenging the loss of her beloved husband was. She felt anger, confusion, guilt, and fear, and so many other things. He was her best friend, a loving partner, the love of her life. Grief is an emotional rollercoaster. You could feel her heartache and loneliness, feeling an emptiness that gave her sleepless nights, all these changes from grief.
The author’s thoughts on mental fog and the void that comes with losing a loved one are hard to grasp. Sharing her experience will heal her broken heart. She feels incomplete, disconnected, bound in her home, sobbing, and can’t be with people for the moment. I could relate to the grieving process; it’s different for individuals, but yet the same.
I know her pain and anguish, losing my own son; everything she wrote was familiar, and the sorrow of her words made me feel I wasn’t alone.
No one can truly understand until you’ve gone through this journey. The heatbreak never disappears; it’s as if your shadow becomes your darkness, the author writes in the book. I believe the memories will continue to make her strong and healthy. Life is harsh in many aspects. The experience and her words will help others, and discussing self-care is crucial; it’s a vital part of the healing process.
The wisdom of her words matters; it strengthens and transforms into thoughtfulness, kindness, and helpful support to others. I’m glad to read this extraordinary book. I wholeheartedly advise buying a copy.
I’m back and so are my Sunday Book Reviews. Today I’m sharing an exciting book I read while away. I can’t remember if I’d seen the book promoted on a blog, or if it was a monthly Amazon book I chose free, but it is a suspenseful tale of an American family living abroad in the Middle-East and a deceitful man who thought he could outsmart the Royal Saudi family, jeopardizing the life of his own family.
When Celeste Parker’s daughter Tamara goes missing in Dubai the all-out search and rescue mission she anticipates never materializes. She is put off by the police as 18-year-old Tamara is technically an adult, and no foul play is apparent. Celeste faces the gut-wrenching fear every mother dreads… the possibility of losing a child. The longer Tamara is missing the more her feelings of dread escalate. Celeste’s maternal instinct tells her something is terribly wrong. New to the city and with her husband away working in Saudi Arabia, Celeste turns to her new friend and fellow expat, Susan Morris, for help. The duo set off on a hunt, which takes them down a dark alley of deep deceit. From exotic nightclubs and high-class call girls to mysterious Saudi palaces hidden behind ominous walls, they follow each lead while uncovering the unthinkable. As they come closer to finding Tamara, the secrets Celeste and Susan uncover threaten not only her daughter’s life but everyone in their families’ as well.”Anne O’Connell has written an intimate thriller from an unusual and fascinating point of view: the families of Westerners living and working in the Gulf States. She takes the Not Without My Daughter plot and adds a new and satisfying twist.”- Tim Brookes, author of Endangered Alphabets and director of the writing program at Champlain College, Burlington, Vermont”Deep Deceit is compulsive reading from start to finish. O’Connell cleverly combines the thrill of the chase with intense psychological elements, as her characters unravel under the pressure of events beyond their control. Who is telling the truth? What secrets does domineering husband, Ryan, hide and how far will those in power go to avenge the wrongs he has done? Can anything save his wife and daughter? And where does love fit into this riveting tale? I couldn’t put it down until all had been revealed…”- Jae De Wylde, author, The Thinking Tank and Sleeping People Lie
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My 5 Star Review:
Expat Susan is living in Dubai with her pilot husband Mitch. She’s taking a break from her job as a psychological nurse. She meets Celeste, a newbie expat also living in Dubai, in a beach body combat class, and circumstances bring them together as close friends. Celeste’s husband Ryan is a construction project manager working in Saudi Arabia.
Celeste’s daughter Tamara is a spoiled eighteen year old, who obviously hadn’t learned that tactless behavior by women is frowned upon in the Middle-East – or worse. Ryan was once partners with Celeste’s first husband, Donald, who died in ‘mysterious’ circumstances, kidnapped and killed on another project they were working in Africa. Celeste, who inherited Donald’s half of the company, was wooed by Ryan, who proposed to her rather quickly after Donald’s death. Ryan shows no love or compassion for Celeste, and as the story unfolds, seems to be involved in some dirty dealings, undermining the Saudis – who are not stupid.
Excuses to arrest expats are plentiful, and suddenly, Tamara has gone missing. As Celeste is worried sick about her missing daughter, Ryan seems to be making excuses for her disappearance, but Celeste and Susan decide to do some investigating on their own in a male dominated world of the Middle-East, and set out to Saudi Arabia with the help of Susan’s husband, Mitch.
Ryan has no time or shares no worry for his missing daughter, who is actually Donald’s daughter, born after Donald’s demise. That’s because he knows exactly where his daughter is being held, being used as collateral because the Saudi’s are suspicious of Ryan with some nefarious discoveries they made about him. And add a missing Royal Saudi to the suspicion, the heat is on, in more ways than one.
Murder, kidnapping, and mystery from Dubai to Saudi Arabia keep this book a page turner. A delicate wife learns to stand her ground and discovers how blind she had been to so many things. And just desserts will finally be served.
My Sunday Book Review today is for Judith Barrow’s gripping new release – The Stranger In My House. A family torn by the loss of the mother, and the new woman moving in, in this non-stop suspenseful domestic thriller.
After the death of their mum, twins Chloe and Charlie are shocked when their dad introduces Lynne as their ‘new mummy’. Lynne, a district nurse, is trusted in the community, but the twins can see her kind smile doesn’t meet her eyes. In the months that follow they suffer the torment Lynne brings to their house as she stops at nothing in her need to be in control.
Betrayed, separated and alone, the twins struggle to build new lives as adults, but will they find happiness or repeat past mistakes? Will they discover Lynne’s secret plans for their father? Will they find each other in time?
The Stranger in My House is a gripping ‘cuckoo in the nest’ domestic thriller, exploring how coercive control can tear a family apart. Set in Yorkshire and Cardiff, from the 60s to the winter of discontent, The Stranger in My House dramatises both the cruelty and the love families hide behind closed doors.
“Judith Barrow’s greatest strength is her understanding of her characters and the times in which they live.” Terry Tyler
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My 5 Star Review:
Judith Barrow knows how to grab you into story. As the story begins, twins Charlie and Chloe are still grieving the recent loss of their mother, while their father, Graham, is already heavy in a relationship with a nurse – the one who took care of his dying wife. The twins are eight and very aware children, and they don’t like Lynne. And I can’t stand her myself -characters you love to hate. The children think they’ve witnessed something very disturbing about Lynne while taking care of their mother. And they always say, “when she smiles, her eyes don’t meet her smile”. These kids don’t like their new living condition, yet are afraid to tell their dad how they feel for fear of hurting his feelings when he has found happiness again. But has he?
Lynne pushes her way in to moving in with Graham, and right away pushing for marriage. Through story we can almost sense she has an agenda, but what is it? She manipulates sappy Graham around her finger while even a pair of eight year-olds can see what’s going on with this evil woman.
My heart went out to the twins as they feared Lynne and her diabolically evil son Saul, but were afraid to tell their dad because he was so mesmerized by her. But little by little, Graham notices Lynne’s unstable mood swings and unreasonable demands, both on him and his children. But by then, Lynne has managed to estrange Graham’s twins by manipulating him into tearing apart his own family. Why is this witch so evil?
Lynne has two children, Evie, who is sweet and kind to the twins, and Saul, a hateful satanic excuse for a human who antagonizes poor Charlie through his childhood in horrible ways. The sad part about all of this is these twins are living in a nightmare of lies by Lynne, whom their father always believes. They are petrified to tell him the truth, blackmailed with fear by Lynne. And then the evil Lynne goes beyond evil coaxing Graham to send his kids away. How daft is this man? Lynne plays him up in everything she does and takes from him. So evil!! In order to keep control of Graham she resorts to drugging him and it gets worse from there.
Meanwhile, the years are passing and the twins are young adults now making their way in the world. And once old enough to fend for themselves and realize the severity of their father’s captivity by Lynne, decide to take it upon themselves to find out exactly what’s going on and hatch a plan to try and rescue their estranged father from the clutches of psychotic Lynne.
As addictive a read this book is, it’s a disturbing story that can’t be put down. How one satanic woman can tear apart a home is diabolical. It kept me turning the pages as I wanted to slap her out throughout, but concerned for the twins, and rooting for them to find some semblance of a life after theirs had been traumatized and stolen.
Will the truth ever come out from the twins about what they know? Will the father Graham ever be rescued from Lynne’s clutches? Will evil, bad seed Lynne get the sweet avenging she deserves? You will have to read to find out!
The Sunday Book Review – I’m happy to share my review for Frank Prem’s latest free-verse poetry book – A Choir of Whispers: Bachelard Interpreted. As in some other of Prem’s books, he shares his deep observations and personal interpretations of the works of others. In this book, Prem interprets the work of French philospher, Gaston Bachelard, from his masterworks – The Poetics of Space.
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Blurb:
there is a me shaped space
right here where I stand
there was nothing before
there will be nothing when I leave
French philosopher Gaston Bachelard explored the philosophic and poetic values of space in his masterwork, The Poetics of Space.
In A Choir of Whispers Frank Prem interprets Bachelard’s explorations of the poetic quasi-element space, decanting the vivid imagery contained in the philosopher’s work into new and accessible free verse poetic storytelling forms, bringing each story to life.
do you have time
do you have enough time sir?
I do not
this machine –
the St Nemom machine –
is a storage unit
for stray moments
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My 5 Star Review:
From the works of philospher, Gaston Bachelard in his Poetic Space, Frank Prem’s a natural at taking situation and spinning it into story through his deep poetic interpretation. As Prem states in the intro – “A Choir of Whispers follows Bachelard through all the rooms of the mind and lays them out in the accessible format of free-verse story-telling poetry”.
These poems all relate to a construct, shape, thoughts, re-interpreted with the author’s emotions woven with description through the objects of conversation, as Prem gives them all a voice.
Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m reviewing a wonderful collection of short stories by Beem Weeks – Slivers of Life. Events and ordinary people.
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Blurb:
These twenty short stories are a peek into individual lives caught up in spectacular moments in time. Children, teens, mothers, and the elderly each have stories to share. Readers witness tragedy and fulfillment, love and hate, loss and renewal. Historical events become backdrops in the lives of ordinary people, those souls forgotten with the passage of time. Beem Weeks tackles diverse issues running the gamut from Alzheimer’s disease to civil rights, abandonment to abuse, from young love to the death of a child. Long-hidden secrets and notions of revenge unfold at the promptings of rich and realistic characters; plot lines often lead readers into strange and dark corners. Within Slivers of Life, Weeks proves that everybody has a story to tell-and no two are ever exactly alike.
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My 5 Star Review:
Short stories that take us in and pack a punch of human-ness with a mixed bag of stories that touch on loss, hatred, awakening, grief, abuse, and revenge with plenty of variety in these well written, easy reading, make you think, type of stories with characters that draw us right into story. Stories about people and the human condition, reaction, behaviors in some of the more complex situations people may be faced with in life. If you enjoy engaging short stories with engaging dialogue and third person narration, as well as minimal description (character driven), you will enjoy this book.
A few of my favs:
A Match Met – a story about a sinister method of killing off a husband, and an ending with a lovely twist of Karma.
The Distance – A tale about loss, and a reinacarnated child introduced to the grieving family.
Beautiful Chaos – The old name of the band Darcy and Avis were once part of. And when Darcy and friends decide years later to check up on Avis’s ill health, they get a big surprise.
And a Little Child Shall Lead Them – Young Mattie teaches her father a lesson about empathy when she shares her concern for a curious homeless woman.
Mr. Woodlick – Charlie Woodlick, an old neighbor, bought Jimmy his first legal drink, and along with that, Charlie confided in Jimmy. Charlie didn’t have long left for this earth and despite Charlie’s awful secret and rough persona, he showed the boy that underneath it all, there was a soft spot for Jimmy.
Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m reviewing a short story about a woman about to be scorned and her own self-discovery.
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Blurb:
When her boyfriend bails at the last minute, a New York woman embarks on their couples’ cruise alone to find that maybe the person she was supposed to fall in love with was herself.
After a string of bad dates and no prospects, Sophia Othonos has finally hit the jackpot: an actual nice guy. When he suggests a romantic getaway, she’s sure they’re about to take the next step toward their future. A rustic cruise to the Galápagos Islands isn’t exactly her idea of a vacation, but Sophia is ready for anything…until her boyfriend has to cancel.
Now she’s all alone on a trip that was meant for two. Sophia finds herself at a crossroads about who she is, what she wants, and whether her relationship is really everything she thought. But if she’s going to suffer an identity crisis, at least she gets to do it amid the unexpected majesty of nature.
Eight days of wild, unobstructed beauty are enough to make anyone reevaluate their life. These islands are all about adapting to your surroundings—and change just might be what Sophia needs most of all.
My 4 Star Review:
A bit of a mysterious story about Sophia a 34 year old real estate agent with hopes of getting married and having a family and her somewhat elusive 54 year old, said divorcee boyfriend, JD. The two are about to board a plane heading to the Galapagos Islands. JD is a nature photographer and Sophia thinks they are blissfully in love after their six-month romance. Just as they are about to check in for their flight, JD is called away without telling Sophia anything about why he is leaving her stranded at the airport, other than some concocted-sounding story (to me) about his unstable son, ‘apparently’ out of rehab, now in some trouble.
Sophia takes the trip by herself as JD urges her to, and she meets some interesting people on the same trip. She continues to try and contact JD as soon as she gets wifi, and unsurprisingly, he never answers her. Just when she becomes worried something terrible must have happened, she gets a phone call from a strange woman who gives Sophia an eye-opening FYI.
Four stars because the book is good writing, but the plot I found a bit lacking and predictable, and I skimmed through some of the overly descriptive prose. Also, I don’t find the title defines the story. Nonetheless, a good read.
My Sunday Book Review is for D.L. Finn’s short story paranormal thriller – I Wouldn’t Be Surprised. This short story is an engaging read with a cautionary tale – be careful what you wish for, focus on, or poke fun at, because it just may come true!
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Blurb:
Do you ever wish you could take back your words? Janice and Dale Hart sat around the dinner table laughing at silly “I wouldn’t be surprised” jokes that included UFOs, Bigfoot, hand-delivered food, and serial killers. A week later, an innocent plate of food is left on Dale’s truck in the middle of the night. That’s only the beginning, and the presents go from harmless to life-threatening. Will the Harts find help in time to survive an evil bearer of “gifts”? Find out in this paranormal thriller.
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My 4 Star Review:
It started out as fun dinner conversation as Rachel and Dale were enjoying a meal together in their fairly new home in the woods. Rachel was joking around playing a game about what they wouldn’t be surprised to find in their new surroundings. But what they found was nothing like they could even imagine, when that frightful night actually happened and they had no idea about what surprises were to come.
After receiving strange gifts, weird noises, no cell service, Dale at work late, and their dog Sadie too cowering, Janice and Sadie escape the fire and attempt to run off to the closest neighbor’s home. Enroute she finds Dale who was detained by a fallen tree on the road and a flat tire. What on earth is going on?
The couple manage to flee to their neighbor, Carol’s house. Only when Janice and Dale pull up to her house, they discover something very sinister, leaving us with a nice twist at the end.
In this nefarious little tale, Finn has angels and ghosts, red-eyed evildwels, and a serial killer to heat up the tension. A fun and eerie read.
DGKayewriter.com 
