Welcome to the Short N’ Sweet Book Review! For the nine years that I’ve been reviewing books on this blog, I’ve written long, wordy reviews that, let’s be honest, not a lot of people are probably reading. This year I decided to shorten those reviews and get straight to the point – what is this book about, who wrote it, where you can find and a short review on what I loved, liked and maybe thought could be better.
Today’s review is for a fun, lighthearted and romantic compilation of stories by an amazing group of authors, Serendipity by Marissa Meyer, Elise Bryant, Elizabeth Eulberg , Leah Johnson, Anna-Marie McLemore, Sandhya Menon, Julie Murphy, Caleb Roehrig, Sarah Winifred Searle, and Abigail Hing Wen.
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ABOUT THE BOOK
Love is in the air in this is a collection of stories inspired by romantic tropes and edited by #1 New York Times-bestselling author Marissa Meyer.
The secret admirer.
The fake relationship.
The matchmaker.
From stories of first love, unrequited love, love that surprises, love that’s been there all along, ten of the brightest and award-winning authors writing YA have taken on some of your favorite romantic tropes, embracing them and turning them on their heads. Readers will swoon for this collection of stories that celebrate love at its most humorous, inclusive, heart-expanding, and serendipitous.
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Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Anthology
Pages: 320
Part of a Series?: Standalone Anthology
Release Date: January 4th, 2022
Publisher: Feiwel Friends
Source: Owned Ebook
Find the Author: Marissa Meyer / Elise Bryant / Elizabeth Eulberg / Leah Johnson / Anna-Marie McLemore / Sandhya Menon / Julie Murphy / Caleb Roehrig / Sarah Winifred Searle / Abigail Hing Wen.
FIND THE BOOK:
GoodReads / BookShop (support your local indie!) / IndieBound / Barnes and Noble / Amazon / Audible / Book Depository / Apple Books / Kobo / Google Play
SHORT N’SWEET REVIEW
I was absolutely excited the moment that I heard this was coming out. I’m not one for anthologies. Nothing against them personally; I just have a hard time getting through an entire book of short stories – there’s nothing to keep me turning the pages to see how things end. I can read short stories separately but I struggle when they’re put together in one big book. But I was really excited for this one – it has some seriously awesome authors contributing AND it centers around pretty much my favorite thing ever – romance and romantic tropes. I was fully ready for a ton of happily ever afters.
And that’s exactly what I was given and I was so satisfied at the end. The anthology tackles all of my favorite tropes – one bed, big romantic grand gesture, fake relationship, friends to lovers and does it in a way that’s so fun, lighthearted and fills me with joy and happiness. I love romance for all the predictability of it, for the never ending tropes (there are so many!) and for the happy, gooey feeling that you’re left with at the end. This book delivered all of that and it made me SO happy at the end. There is such diversity in the authors that contributed and there’s such a fun diversity in the stories; not just in the different tropes they focused their stories but also in the way they wrote their characters and stories and it was SO fun. I loved getting ten quick romance stories with ten happily ever afters.
I definitely had my favorites in the stories though. I feel like its unfair because she’s one of my FAVORITE authors, but I absolutely adored Marissa Meyer’s Shooting Stars (One Bed trope). It was so fun and it had a fun trope mixed with camping and hiking and I just loved every bit of it. It was so Marissa. I also super loved Sandhya Menon’s The Surprise Match. Her trope was “the matchmaker” but it also was VERY best friends to lovers and it was so sweet and fun and included a singing scene, which I always appreciate, so I fully enjoyed that one. I also incredibly enjoyed The Idiom Algorithm by Abigail Hing Wen, whose trope was class warfare. I wouldn’t have thought of that as a romance trope right off the bat but its a fun and realistic story that really caught my attention and was still on my mind at the end of the entire book, which was cool considering it was near the beginning. I will say though – most of the stories had my favorite trope, friends to lovers, so I was left feeling squishy and happy once I finished the entire thing.
RATING:
4 out of 5 Stars
