Category: Short Stories

Short Story Review – Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote

Posted December 28, 2011 by Bonnie in Adult, Book Reviews, Read in 2011, Short Stories / 1 Comment

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
Published by Vintage on May 15th 2012 (first published 1958)
Pages: 160
Genres: Classics, Literary Fiction
Format: eBook
Source: Library
Amazon
Goodreads

In this seductive, wistful masterpiece, Truman Capote created a woman whose name has entered the American idiom and whose style is a part of the literary landscape. Holly Golightly knows that nothing bad can ever happen to you at Tiffany's; her poignancy, wit, and naïveté continue to charm.

This volume also includes three of Capote's best-known stories, “House of Flowers,” “A Diamond Guitar,” and “A Christmas Memory,” which Saturday Review called “one of the most moving stories in our language.” It is a tale of two innocents—a small boy and the old woman who is his best friend—whose sweetness contains a hard, sharp kernel of truth.

Having watched the movie, ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ I never really had any desire to read the book. Finally deciding to do so, I was quite surprised that the movie created a superb rendition of the book and that the role of Holly Golightly, played by Audrey Hepburn, was an absolutely perfect portrayal.

Holly Golightly has to be one of the strangest fictional characters I have read to date. She’s eccentric and odd in a completely entrancing way and yet shows no attempts at actually trying to be this way; she just simply is.

“So,” he said, “what do you think: is she or ain’t she?”
“Ain’t she what?”
“A phony.”
“I wouldn’t have thought so.”
“You’re wrong. She is a phony. But on the other hand you’re right. She isn’t a phony because she’s a real phony. She believes all this crap she believes. You can’t talk her out of it.”

I quite enjoyed Truman Capote’s writing and look forward to his next book on my list: In Cold Blood.

Tags: 1001

Short Story Review – The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark

Posted December 24, 2011 by Bonnie in Adult, Book Reviews, Read in 2011, Short Stories / 0 Comments

The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark
Published by Penguin Classics on 1970
Pages: 128
Genres: Classics
Format: Paperback
Source: Library
Amazon
Goodreads

Lise leaves her home in northern Europe for a holiday, but it is not rest and relaxation that she is looking for...

Driven to distraction by an office job, she leaves everything and flies south on holiday—in search of passionate adventure, the obsessional experience and sex. Infinity and eternity attend Lise's last terrible day in the unnamed southern city that is her final destination.

I had a really hard time at first getting a grasp of what this story was really about. Essentially, it’s about a peculiar woman named Lise who travels to a Southern European city, presumably Naples, to meet a supposed boyfriend. Once she arrives, all the men she meets she’s mentally judging them based upon whether they are ‘her type’ or not. It’s not till later in the story you realize she’s looking for a specific ‘type’ for a completely different reason than you may originally think. By the beginning of the third chapter, you’re already made aware of a shocking fact:

’She will be found tomorrow morning dead from multiple stab-wounds, her wrists bound with a silk scarf and her ankles bound with a man’s necktie, in the ground of an empty villa, in a park of the foreign city to which she is travelling on the flight now boarding at Gate 14.’

It’s tough not to become immediately enthralled in watching the rest of the story progress to find out how this could possibly have occurred.

There’s something incredibly strange about this woman but it’s never revealed what exactly is wrong with her or why she is the way she is. (But then again, many of the characters in this story are odd. Like Bill? And his ‘I haven’t had my daily orgasm. It’s an essential part of this particular variation of the diet, didn’t I tell you?’ Excuse me?!?) You catch a glimpse early on in the story of her mental instability when she proceeds to flip out on a sales woman who attempted to sell her a dress made of stain resistant material. She took this as a personal insult as if the sales woman was attempting to say that she was a messy eater.

“Do you think I spill things on my clothes?” the customer shrieks. “Do I look as if I don’t eat properly?”

Suffice it to say that was her first but not final moment of unpredictability. She’s a habitual liar and it’s quite shocking how easily the lies flow from her mouth. And she definitely found her type in the end.

“Will you feel a presence? Is that how you’ll know?”
“Not really a presence,” Lise says. “The lack of an absence, that’s what it is. I know I’ll find it. I keep on making mistakes, though.”

Tags:

Short Story Review – Countdown (Newsflesh 0.5) by Mira Grant

Posted November 17, 2011 by Bonnie in Adult, Book Reviews, Read in 2011, Short Stories / 2 Comments

Countdown: A Newsflesh Novella by Mira Grant
Series: Newsflesh #0.5
Published by Orbit on August 1st 2011
Pages: 85
Genres: Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic, Zombies
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Amazon
Goodreads

Also by this author: Feed, Deadline, Parasite

The year is 2014, the year everything changed. We cured cancer. We cured the common cold. We died.

This is the story of how we rose.

When will you rise?

Countdown is a novella set in the world of Feed.

’There is nothing so patient, in this world or any other, as a virus searching for a host.’

Countdown is a must-read for fans of the Newsflesh novels. Countdown takes you back before the virus was spread, before the zombies came alive, when the world was still as vivid and vibrant as it is today. This is a super short story and left me wanting much much more, but it was still an extremely informative piece of writing that I felt was essential to truly understanding the Newsflesh world. You don’t get to read anything about Shaun or George or even Buffy, but you do get a glimpse into the life of Amanda Amberlee, the creator of the cure Dr. Alexander Kellis, and of the group responsible for unleashing it onto the world, ‘The Mayday Army’.

Once again I’m astonished at the ability that Mira Grant has in world building. Even with a short story, she does a phenomenal job at pulling you right in. She makes you feel as if her world truly does exist and that you need to remember to grab your shotgun before leaving the house to protect yourself from the zombies waiting outside. This short story made me love the first two Newsflesh books even more and also made me just a tad bit crazier over my desire to read Blackout. (As if that was possible).

Mira Grant? You’re amazing.

’When will you Rise?
And the world gave itself an answer:
Now.
Welcome to the aftermath.’

Tags: Zombies

Short Story Review – The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe

Posted November 11, 2011 by Bonnie in Adult, Book Reviews, Read in 2011, Short Stories / 0 Comments

The Fall of the House of Usher on September 1839
Pages: 28
Format: eBook
Amazon
Goodreads

Roderick Usher is ill, but not due to any normal causes. When the narrator of the story arrives at the House of Usher, he finds that all is not well in the old ancestral home. The house itself appears to be almost alive, and the illness of Madeline, Roderick's sister, is not all it seems.

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe is a classic short story first in 1839, and was memorably adapted for film by Roger Corman in 1960.

This unique edition includes an original essay on the ‘Curious Quirks in the Early Life of Edgar Allan Poe’ by J. S. Williams.

The Fall of the House of Usher is in the opinion of many scholars Poe's most famous work of prose.This unsettling macabre work is viewed as a masterpiece of American Gothic literature. Indeed, as in many of his tales, Poe borrows much from the Gothic tradition. Still, as G. R. Thomson writes in his Introduction to Great Short Works of Edgar Allan Poe: "the tale has long been hailed as a masterpiece of Gothic horror; it is also a masterpiece of dramatic irony and structural symbolism."

The Fall of the House of Usher has also been criticized for being too formulaic. Poe was criticized for following his own patterns established in works like Morella and Ligeia using stock characters in stock scenes and situations. Repetitive themes like an unidentifiable disease, madness, and resurrection are also criticized. However, there is speculation that Poe used a real-life incident as the basis for his story: the entombment of two lovers at Usher House in Boston, whose bodies were discovered when the house was demolished in 1800.

Scholars speculate that Poe, who was an influence on Herman Melville, inspired the character of Ahab in Melville's novel Moby-Dick. John McAleer maintained that the idea for "objectifying Ahab's flawed character" came from the "evocative force" of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. In both Ahab and the house of Usher, the appearance of fundamental soundness is visibly flawed — by Ahab's livid scar, and by the fissure in the masonry of Usher.

And the award for the longest run-on sentence that still manages to somewhat make sense goes to… yes, you, Edgar. You, my friend, know how to use those punctuation’s to their fullest potential and then some. You even manage to use dashes like it’s nobody’s business.

And now for the winning sentence…
*deep breathe*

“It was possible, I reflected, that a mere different arrangement of the particulars of the scene, of the details of the picture, would be sufficient to modify, or perhaps to annihilate its capacity for sorrowful impression; and, acting upon this idea, I reined my horse to the precipitous brink of blank and lurid tarn that lay in unruffled luster by the dwelling, and gazed down — but with a shudder even more thrilling than before — upon the remodeled and inverted images of the gray sedge, and the ghastly tree-stems, and the vacant and eye-like windows.”

*gasp*

Holy criminy.

Overall an odd story that requires much interpretation because at face value it doesn’t make a damn bit of sense. Yet… I’m oddly intrigued at his writing style and will definitely be seeking out more of his work in the future.

Tags:

Short Story Review – Run From The Reaper by Cristian YoungMiller

Posted September 19, 2011 by Bonnie in Adult, Book Reviews, Read in 2011, Short Stories / 0 Comments

I received this book free from Library Thing in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Short Story Review – Run From The Reaper by Cristian YoungMiller

Run From The Reaper on August 6th 2011
Pages: 135
Format: eARC
Amazon
Goodreads

It awakens… Summoned by the will of a powerful psychic, The Red Reaper forces its victims to live their darkest fantasies. If they resist, they die.

In a college town during a record cold winter break, Jon, a lonely professor, wonders the empty campus barely holding on to his sanity. Unable to stay awake during the daytime he sees a red hooded creature in the shadows at night; immediately after, his twisted desires come to life.

Searching for answers he finds Clay, a local psychic who is more than he seems, and Sarah, a gorgeous expert on the underworld who has depraved secrets of her own.

Chased by demons and with the Red Reaper at every turn, the three must face their fears, survive its relentless attacks, and find a way to escape from the Reaper.

‘It awakens… Summoned by the will of a powerful psychic, The Red Reaper forces its victims to live their darkest fantasies. If they resist, they die.’

My Thoughts
This was a really quick read and even though I didn’t thoroughly enjoy the story itself, the author can still write an interesting tale. I entered this giveaway initially because it obviously had to do with Grim Reapers, and I’m a sucker for stories involving them. It didn’t end up being exactly what I had anticipated but it was still a well written and interesting story.

Overall
There were black reapers and red reapers and after a point I thought it was a bit implausible. It definitely takes the typical reaper type story and transforms it, I’ll give the author credit for that. There were some gruesome parts that I was totally glad I hadn’t decided to take a lunch and read this while eating!

My understanding of my ebook copy was that this was a finished copy so I wasn’t reading a pre-published version… with that said, I found several grammatical/spelling errors that kind of made my eye twitch. I’m not perfect by no means, I make my own grammatical errors; however, I would anticipate that they be corrected by the time a finished book comes to be. There was this one line where the character was talking about ‘dear’ in the road… I assumed it was intended to say ‘deer’ as in, the furry beasties with horns, aka Bambi.

Bottom Line: Flies are gross, watch out for those dear in the road, and I wanted purple reapers too dammit.

Tags: Grim Reaper

Short Story Review – Second-Guessing Fate by Claire Robyns

Posted August 20, 2011 by Bonnie in Adult, Book Reviews, Read in 2011, Short Stories / 0 Comments

I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Short Story Review – Second-Guessing Fate by Claire Robyns

Second-Guessing Fate on September 26, 2011
Pages: 167
Format: eARC
Amazon
Goodreads

Can She Outwit Fate?

Gemma is on a collision course with heartbreak. At least, according to the fortune-teller her best friend drags her to see. Gemma doesn't believe a word of it, but when other predictions start to come true, she begins to suspect that gorgeous, gray-eyed Nick is the man foretold to break her heart before she can find her soul mate. Too bad she's never met a man she's wanted more, because now she has to get him to dump her before she falls too hard.

Nick has plans of his own. He's ready to settle down with Ms. Right, and everything points to the beautiful Gemma. He's determined to prove to her that he's the perfect boyfriend—even if she does seem to be trying her best to scare him off…

Second Guessing Fate is the story of Gemma. Gemma visits a fortune teller, Madam Hooch, and she tells Gemma “Eez a bad, bad time. Eet is – how you say – big achy heart.” At which point in time I wanted to bust out singing Billy Ray Cyrus – Achy Breaky Heart

But Madam Hooch continues spouting her magical knowledge. “Eez a big love and the man, ah, he eez dark and so handsome, but eez no good for you. He break your heart. First the big breaky heart and then you find soul mate. How you say – tears before happy, no? Time eez up. Goodbye.”

That woman is quite obviously full of brilliance and I can totally understand why Gemma took every single word she said to heart. Madam Hooch is described as being ancient with snow white hair… kinda like this!

Not saying she was giving out poison apples or anything… but then again, who knows.

So Gemma starts dating Nick after they’re both involved in a car accident. Which I guess Madam Hooch predicted… I don’t know, I think I missed that part. Nick asks Gemma out and they go to dinner. After Date #1 she starts to have a ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’ moment because he took 2 days to call her after their first date, because he asks her to dates on Monday rather than the weekend, and oh noes! He keeps making out with her but has yet to sleep with her by date 5; however, she continues accepting his requests for another date… because Madam Hooch told her to. Because the next guy she dated was supposed to break her heart and she has to let that happen in order to meet her soul mate! Gemma wants to dump him but her friend Helen convinces her not to:

“You can’t be the one to say cheers. He has to dump you—otherwise you may corrupt the fate-line. Changing the order of events could split your destiny path and even block the branch to your soul mate.”

Yes. The FATE-LINE. Dun-dun-dun.

I could’ve done without the fortune teller stuff or it could’ve at least been done differently. I actually really liked Nick; he was my favorite character because he seemed the most real and down to earth. Here’s this guy that’s trying really hard to get back into a relationship but he’s continually scared he’s going to screw it all up… again. I really felt for the guy.

And what was up with Gemma constantly wondering when he’s going to take her to bed? I don’t know it was just off for me… Gemma didn’t even seem to like him and that made me feel bad for him. It totally made me think of ‘How to Lose a Guy in 10 days.’ Here’s Gemma who’s already expecting to get dumped by this guy (because Madam Hooch told her) and she’s basically trying to speed up the process so she can get on to meeting her soul mate (because Madam Hooch told her). But she’s also trying frantically to get him to sleep with her. So Gemma was kind of an oxy-moron to me.

All in all, this story just fell flat for me. I was bummed because it sounded like this super cute romance novel that I was completely in the mood for but it ended up missing the mark for me.

Tags:

Short Story Review – For I Have Sinned (Charley Davidson #1.5) by Darynda Jones

Posted July 16, 2011 by Bonnie in Adult, Book Reviews, Read in 2011, Short Stories / 2 Comments

For I Have Sinned by Darynda Jones
Series: Charley Davidson #1.5
Published by St. Martin's Press on July 12, 2011
Pages: 77
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Format: eBook
Source: Freebie
Amazon
Goodreads

Also by this author: First Grave on the Right, Second Grave on the Left, Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet

Darynda Jones revisits the sexy, suspenseful world of supernatural shenanigans she created in her Grave series with For I Have Sinned. In this Charley Davidson story, Charley helps a woman find out how she died and gives her the closure she needs to pass through to the other side.

Charley Davidson series

First Grave on the Right (Charley Davidson #1) {Purchase}

After finishing First Grave on the Right I was still craving a bit more Charley and Reyes so I jumped right into this short story. For I Have Sinned tells the story of Jo Anne Montgomery, a recently deceased woman who is having trouble remembering how she died. Charley helps her find the answers she requires in order for her to fully be at peace and pass through.

I was a little disappointed compared to First Grave on the Right and it wasn’t just because of the short length. I didn’t much care for the story being written from Jo Anne’s point of view. I think because I had just finished First Grave on the Right I was used to it being in Charley’s POV so I missed that… I also missed her hilarious commentary. Nonetheless, I did enjoy it, and will anxiously await the next in this series.

Tags: Grim Reaper

Short Story Review – Shambling With The Stars (Living with the Dead #2.5) by Jesse Petersen

Posted July 16, 2011 by Bonnie in Adult, Book Reviews, Read in 2011, Short Stories / 1 Comment

Shambling With the Stars by Jesse Petersen
Series: Living With the Dead #2.5
Published by Orbit on June 15, 2011
Pages: 34
Genres: Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Amazon
Goodreads

Also by this author: Eat Slay Love, Married With Zombies, Club Monstrosity

Avery Andrews is her name and directing celebrity telethons after tragedies is her game. But the Northwestern Zombie Outbreak isn't your average tragedy... and once the infection spreads to the studio, Avery and her crew will have to worry about staying alive, not ratings.

Living With the Dead series

Married With Zombies (Living with the Dead, #1)
Flip This Zombie (Living with the Dead, #2)

‘Shambling with the Stars’ is a short story by Jesse Petersen; number 2.5 of her Living with the Dead series. I’m a huge fan of this series. Her zombie series kicks off with Married with Zombies, one of my favorite books of all time.

‘Shambling with the Stars’ opens to character Avery Andrews directing a celebrity telethon for the recent ‘sickness’ outbreak. Her lead host Blake is in the middle of conducting an interview with Dr. Lithstone when he attacks him and begins a chain reaction of reanimation.

This short story definitely leaves you with wanting more awesome zombie action! It’ll be interesting to see if she expands on Avery and Kyle’s characters since this short story definitely leaves you hanging! I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for future novels.

Tags: Zombies

Short Story Review – The Warlord Wants Forever (Immortals After Dark #1) by Kresley Cole

Posted July 16, 2011 by Bonnie in Adult, Book Reviews, Read in 2011, Short Stories / 0 Comments

The Warlord Wants Forever by Kresley Cole
Series: Immortals After Dark #1
Published by Pocket Books on November 22, 2011
Pages: 185
Genres: Paranormal, Romance
Format: eBook
Source: Freebie
Amazon
Goodreads

Also by this author: Poison Princess

The Warlord Wants Forever…the sensually charged novella that started it all, now with an exclusive excerpt from MacRieve!

In this scorching series opener, #1 New York Times bestseller Kresley Cole introduces the captivating Immortals After Dark series. The eBook also includes an exclusive extended excerpt from MacRieve, the highly anticipated next installment in the series.

The Warlord

Nikolai Wroth, a ruthless vampire general, will stop at nothing to find his Bride, the one woman who can “blood” him, making his heart beat and filling him with strength. Coldly interested only in the power his Bride will bring, he can hardly believe when Myst the Coveted awakens him body—and soul.

The Seductress

Famed throughout the world as the most beautiful Valkyrie, Myst has devoted her life to protecting a magical jewel and to fighting the vampires.Wroth provides her with the perfect opportunity to torment her sworn enemy—for with his new heartbeat comes a consuming sexual desire that can only be slaked by her. Denying him, she flees, struggling to forget his searing, possessive kiss.

The Hunt is on…

She eludes him for five years, but he has finally chased her to ground and stolen her enchanted jewel, giving him absolute power over her. Now that she’s his for the taking, he intends to make her experience first-hand the agonizing, unending lust she subjected him to for half a decade.Yet when Nikolai realizes he wants far more than vengeance from Myst and frees her, will she come back to him?

Good little introduction story to the series. I’ve been waiting to read this series for so long and am finally giving it a shot. The Warlord Wants Forever introduces Nikolai Wroth, a general in the rebel vampire army, and Myst, a Valkyrie. Nikolai has been searching for his Bride, the one who will make him strong again, and he’s finally found her…

I’m not usually a fan of paranormal romance in general but I’ve heard great things about this series and this short story gave me a good idea whether I would enjoy the remaining books or not. It did come off as being a bit rushed and would have benefited by being a full length novel but I’m looking forward to continuing reading the Immortals After Dark series and getting into the actual novels.

Tags:

Short Story Review – Daimon (Covenant 0.5) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Posted July 16, 2011 by Bonnie in Book Reviews, Read in 2011, Short Stories, YA / 0 Comments

Daimon by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Published by Spencer Hill Press on May 10th 2011
Pages: 62
Genres: Demons, Fantasy, Paranormal
Format: eBook
Source: Freebie
Amazon
Goodreads

"Love in my world usually ended up with someone hearing 'I smite thee ' as she was cursed to be some lame flower for the rest of her life." For three years, Alexandria has lived among mortals--pretending to be like them and trying to forget the duty she'd been trained to fulfill as a child of a mortal and a demigod. At seventeen, she's pretty much accepted that she's a freak by mortal standards... and that she'll never be prepared for that duty. According to her mother, that's a good thing.But as every descendant of the gods knows, Fate has a way of rearing her ugly head. A horrifying attack forces Alex to flee Miami and try to find her way back to the very place her mother had warned her she should never return-the Covenant. Every step that brings her closer to safety is one more step toward death... because she's being hunted by the very creatures she'd once trained to kill. The daimons have found her.

I’ve recently stumbled upon several series that offer little prequel books like this. I absolutely hate finishing a book, hating it, and feeling like I’ve wasted time in my life that I’m never going to get back so… I’ve begun reading prequels. I feel prequels give you a good sense of how the series is going to go and whether or not it’s worth pursuing. Fortunately, Daimon didn’t feel like a big time waster and I’m actually interested in continuing this series.

Daimon tells the story of Alexandria “Alex”, a child of a demi-god and a mortal, so not quite a demi-god but still has some of the powers. Alex and her mother have been hoping to escape detection of the daimon’s for the past 3 years while living among mortals after they fled in the middle of the night from the Covenant for a reason that Alex’s mother never explained. After being discovered by the daimon’s, Alex is forced to run away to escape them, but she has nowhere to go. The only place she knows to run is to the Covenant, but it’s the one place her mother always told her she could never go back to. The prequel ended with Alex still trying to reach the Covenant and outsmart the daimon’s chasing her. Very interested story, will definitely be adding the other books to my to-read list. 🙂

Tags: Mythology

Category: Short Stories

Charley Davidson series

Living With the Dead series

Follow For the Love of Words