Valentines is over and Christmas is a mere memory. The chocolate boxes have long been disposed of and the flowers are now starting to wilt. What is there for us now?
Dozens and dozens of short stories to read, that’s what.

Every season there seems to be a number of events where authors give away short stories or write seasonal shorts that are usually up for sale at 99cents. It’s definitely a busy time for my kindle with all the downloads.

I fell in love with short stories when I accidentally read a book that turned out to be shorter than most books I’d read up to that point. You’ll find out as you get to know me that the majority of things that happen to me are accidental, or is it incidental?

Anyway, there I was reading this story, getting to know the characters and thinking this is moving a bit swifter than normal. I still enjoyed the story and then went on to read the other books in the author’s catalogue. They all turned out to be short and I found a new addiction.

You know when you sit down to watch a movie and you know that in a couple of hours you’re going to see that happy ever after? Well, that’s what I found with short stories and I was reading them like they were going out of fashion. Some days I’d read two or three, depending on their length. I was addicted to happy ever afters. Who am I kidding? I still am addicted to happy ever afters!

Fortunately for us, short stories aren’t going out of fashion, in fact they are very much alive, kicking and giving us all the feels within a third of the pages of the standard novel.

So why am I talking to you about short stories? I know you know they’re out there, and I know you love them as much as I do. Let’s think of this post as a little tribute to short stories and the authors that have the skills to pull them off. Here are some I’ve read recently that I enjoyed.

I love how reading is like a game of Domino. You read one book, you may get a suggestion of a similar book by a new-to-you author, or you read a collaboration and then end up loving the books by the co-author, and so on.

This is how I went from reading standalone short stories to being introduced to what I call “the extras”. This is when an author has a series and then picks some minor characters and writes a short story about them. If you’re familiar with the Lucy Lennox’s books you’ll know she’s written a number of these. I love them because it’s a chance to see those secondary characters getting their chance at love without the need of a full on novel, and you still see other characters making an appearance. It’s a bit like revisiting your favourite people. Most authors that write these extras will have them available to download from their websites so it’s worth checking them out. You might even find more books for your tbr collection.

Spencer Spears always writes free chapters you can receive if you sign up for her newsletter. I love her 8 Million Hearts series and always look forward to read the extra chapters.

More recently I’ve also noticed Nora Phoenix and K.M. Neuhold’s introduction shorts. These are little moments in time from the point of view of the characters in the series before they get their happy ever after. You get to see the bad and the ugly before their work through their issues. Personally I prefer reading these after I’ve ready the novels because then I already know who they’re going to end up with, but I love seeing what they’re like before it all happens.

So how about you? Do you read short stories? What do you enjoy about them? Share those recommendations with us.

I’ll be back next month but in the mean time if you want to know what I’m up to, you can join my Facebook group Café Lima – Ana Newfolk’s Hangout or follow me on the usual social media places.