I’m waiting for Rowell to send another satisfyingly awkward love story (without magic and told mostly with words and not pictures) out into the world. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of the Simon Snow books. I also enjoyed Pumpkinhead even though graphic novels really aren’t my thing. But, I yearn for books like Eleanor and Park and Fangirl and Attachments. So, I attempted to scratch that itch with this set of short stories.
I had read a couple of these in other collections that were published but since I’m not an e-reading kind of gal, anything that was published exclusively in electronic format escaped me. (I need to hold a real-life book. Paper over screen, people!) I was glad to see them all nicely encased in a hardback book for my reading pleasure.
Inside are a couple of “home for the holidays” stories, finding love in surprising ways with unexpected people stories and enough nostalgia to fill your feeling bucket with ALL of the feels. Rowell always excels at capturing that feeling of falling in love, particularly for the first time. She can be excruciatingly accurate. Even if your memory of your own first love is so far in the rear view, she manages to put you right there again. She can also infuse nostalgia into everything without a hint of corniness. Mix tapes, camping out for tickets, basement parties, and school dances abound!
Characters from her novels do make an appearance (yes, even Simon Snow) and it was nice to revisit them. One story, however, really stood out to me: In Waiting. A world where half developed but unused characters wait to get called by their author into the big league. Left me wondering what other half-baked beautiful ideas Rowell has stashed away in her waiting room.
All in all, I appreciated the scattered showers. However, I’d prefer a downpour. Give us another novel, Rainbow!
