Where There's Smoke by Jodi Picoult

Where There's Smoke
by Jodi Picoult
Free ebook

I went to my iPhone to look for something quick and easy to read while waiting for/getting a pedicure. This came up as a free download and being a Picoult fan, I downloaded it without even reading the synopsis.

It turned out to be an short story expanding the past of one of the characters in her latest novel, "Leaving Time."  As I am a real fan of Leaving Time and will tell everyone I meet to read it, I was thrilled to have found this short story. 

Where There's Smoke is a quick story about Serenity Jones' rise and fall from stardom as a psychic. It fleshes out her character a bit more and explains the beginning of her downfall.  The moral of this short story is simply, "be careful of what you wish for."

For Picoult fans and those that have read or plan to read Leaving Time, I wholeheartedly recommend this story.  

I give this short story five of five shots.

Married in Seattle

Married in Seattle
by Debbie Macomber

This book was two novellas in one book. Generally I enjoy Ms. Macomber's stories, which I why I picked this book up.  I was in Seattle for a family emergency and really wanted something light and fluffy to read, but this book ended up annoying me more than entertaining and distracting me. 

To be fair, I should say the first story in the book as I didn't even attempt to read the second story.  I found the story just a little too "Harlequin Romance."  The lead female character was overly sensitive to every comment or action by the lead male character. It wasn't long before I was screaming at her inside my head to open her eyes and see what was obvious.

I hope the reason the story was so shallow is because it was written to be a quick read in a book of novellas, and doesn't reflect on Ms. Macomber's future works.  This was simply far too contrived.

The Firefly Dance

The Firefly Dance
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.