Various Authors
I picked this one up specifically for the Sarah Addison Allen story since I was needing a "Sarah fix." But like most compilations I was a bit disappointed. I don't know if it's that the stories are too short to get into or just not entertaining enough... or perhaps I was rushing through them trying to get to Sarah's selection. Yes, I think that's more probable now that I think about it.
Each story is about childhood and the sometimes painful path leading out of it into adulthood.
Sarah's work was several little vignettes that followed a family through 3 or 4 phases of their lives. Each could stand alone and together were interesting but almost like reading a diary of someone's "every day life." I missed her usual touch of magic.
My favorite was the selection by Phyllis Schieber that was a portion of her novel, The Manicurist. I found myself ready to read more after the three chapters included in this book and I am sure I'll do so eventually. The author grabbed me with the exchange between a manicurist and her odd customer, followed by her husband's aversion to her intuition. There is so much more I want to know about the story.
Don't you hate it when authors end one book with the "free peek" at their next? In the form of the first couple of chapters? Um, yeah, that's what happened here.
I'm giving this three and a half shots of five.
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