3.5 overall stars
This one's a collection of 30 short stories from 30 different authors, each starting with: "TWO MORE DAYS until it happens."
There are multiple genres: YA contemporary, YA fantasy, rom-com, women's fiction, paranormal, contemporary romance, romantic suspense.
I actually read them all... don't know why but it became a project for me. 😜
My ratings/impressions:
DNF
😖 Tequila Mate | Katie Ashley (contemporary romance) - hated the writing
😖 Always Cake | Max Monroe (rom-com) - best friends to lovers, boring
😖 Second Summer | Laurelin Paige (contemporary romance) - one night stand, boring
😖 Armageddon, Again | Aileen Erin (end of the world fantasy) - couldn't get into it
1 star
😖 Stray | Jessica Hawkins (contemporary romance) - cheating, domination, smut
😖 Falling for my Stepbrother | Kelsie Stelting (contemporary YA romance) - hated the trope
😖 Of Potions and Poison | Chanda Hahn (fantasy/historical) - insta-love, poor execution
😖 Office Hours | Alessandra Torre (erotica) - taboo college student/teacher erotica, full of cliché
2 stars
😐 The Vanished | Jennifer Wilson (YA suspense paranormal) - ghost can return to life for 2 days every year for unfinished business; the setup was confusing
😐 Strike One | Meagan Brandy (sports romance) - steamy one night stand with best friend's little sister on her 18th birthday; very average
😐 Pineapple | Leia Stone (paranormal contemporary) - vampire royalty and human feeder fall in love but he must marry a vampire; they have a one night stand and then he's a jerk but redeems himself at the end; didn't like it
3 stars
🙂 Protected by Dr. Rebecca Sharp (romantic suspense) - daughter of mobster in WITSEC falls for protecting cop
🙂 Sunshine Rae | Kandi Steiner (contemporary romance) - very angsty best friends to lovers that never got together due to wrong timing; now he's supposed to get married but they share a kiss and he leaves his fiancée for her
🙂 From Friends To This | Dominique Laura (contemporary romance) - 2 best friends that lost touch reunite for their 10th year highschool reunion; writing was ok but I didn't fall in love with the couple
🙂 Stone Heart | S.J. West (paranormal) - shamans, gargoyles and other creatures; interesting concept
🙂 Breaking the Rules | Charleigh Rose (contemporary romance) - penpals friends to lovers, good writing, fun banter; they start texting by mistake, they stop due to a misunderstanding, he figures out who she is but doesn't tell her until after he sleeps with her
🙂 When Fire Strikes | Marni Mann (first responder romance) - short story following Terry (first responder) and Rose (Alix's friend from When Ashes Fall); too romantic and insta-lovey
🙂 What If... | K. Bromberg (contemporary romance) - emotional, best friend comes back to stop her from marrying the wrong guy but he doesn't justify why he left her in the first place
4 stars
😊Confessions | Lora Richardson (angsty YA) - childhood friends, her brother kills his brother
😊 Heels Over Head In Love | Willow Aster (rom-com) - a smart and funny but accident prone girl literally runs into her perfect guy; it was really cute and funny but forgettable
😊 Without Yesterday | Lexi Ryan (contemporary romance) - woman is at a crossroad with her boyfriend who she doesn't want to marry, when she spends a meaningful evening with a stranger (no cheating) who turns out to be her boyfriend's best friend and who helps her make the right decision; will read Love Unbound
😊 Good Girl Gone Bad | R.K. Lilley (sports romance) - jaded flight attendant has a one night stand with a football player; he falls in love first and pursues her (very cute)
😊 A Home for Hobgoblins | Eric R. Asher (YA paranormal) - a cute story about supernatural creatures with nice writing style
😊 Sincerely, Dane | Ilsa Madden-Mills (contemporary romance) - super cute friends to lovers featuring Dane and Piper from Dear Ava
😊 Dark Eyes by Karina Halle (contemporary paranormal) - intro to Nightwolf, dark suspenseful and atmospheric; will read Nightwolf
5 stars
😀 The Shelby | Jewel E. Ann (suspense) - famous female neurosurgeon reminisces on the past involving her current patient who is a married politician that 30 years ago tricked her into sleeping with him and when she found out he was married, he beat and left her for dead; very entertaining and interesting
😀 The Kiss | M. Robinson (rom-com) - pregnant couple going to birthing class; very funny with a lot of laugh out loud moments
😀 When It Happens | Micalea Smeltzer (small town YA romance) - big teen movir star falls for simple small town girl when he comes to shoot a movie in her town; well written and well rounded
😀 F*ck | Tijan (sports romance) - frenemies have a one night stand when her boyfriend leaves her for his sister and they reunite a year later; anti-heroes characters, angsty, intriguing, loved the writing style, impatiently waiting for their full novel
😀 The Dress | Colleen Hoover (women fiction) - a woman ashamed by her boyfriend about her weight finally breaks up with him; great story about toxic relationships and body positivity
New authors I'll start reading based on short stories from this collection:
- Willow Aster
- Dr. Rebecca Sharp
- M. Robinson
- Lexi Ryan
- R. K. Lilley
- Karina Halle
- Micalea Smeltzer