Bittersweet: A Short Story Anthology

by Mags Carr, Nicolas Wilson, Katie de Long

From the editor of "Cult Classics for the Modern Cult" comes a bold new collection of love stories from the wrong side of the tracks. Romance is about having your heart's desires fulfilled...but what if they go wrong? Or what if you don't know what you really want? Six authors tackle the flip side of happily-ever-after in this collection of sci fi, paranormal, and contemporary short stories and novellettes. But beware--these stories are shaded by tragedy and sorrow. Abuse, substance addiction, sex, and suicide colour these pages. But then...who said love was easy?

Genres: Anthologies

159 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 10, 2015

Reviews

[lauraღ · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay collection. 'Cardinal Sins' and 'Transitory' were quite good (I am of course biased; give me queer folk and aliens and space travel and I'll be happy any day of the week). 'Julie and Roman' was predictable and boring, but the other stories were okay.

Worth the read, overall.

[Marj Cinqualbres · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title says it all

No HEA's but really, really good stories. I truly liked Roman and Julie's story. A cross between Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet and O Henry's Gift of the Magi. Sad but happy. Wouldn't have complained of I had to pay for this book though I like the free.

[Renny Barcelos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very eclectic selection that share only the central theme of love. There's a bit of everything here; from aliens to vampires. The stories also share good editing and writing.

Not all of them resonate to me but it's mostly a style/genre preference, nothing wrong with them. The one I love the most was Bad Things That Happen to Girls, by Michelle Browne. It is pure literary bliss and deals with a hard, difficult theme in a beautiful way. Having an abusive mother myself, this story engaged me entirely. I'd love to read a sequel.

[Dawn]

I read the first two stories and had a hard time pushing myself to read the words. The writing was dry. If you want to read stories about divorce and sadness, this is the book for you.