Published By: BooksGoSocial
Released On: 30/09/2021
What if… anything was possible?
What really lurks beneath the humdrum and the mundane, the ubiquitous and the familiar?
And what if you came face to face with it?
Enter a world where goddesses descend to earth, magical creatures materialise out of thin air, ghosts mean well, and limbs have minds of their own. In a series of tales that explore the fantastical and the surreal, the lives of ordinary people are upturned by bizarre incidents and mysterious happenings.
Are you ready to take a walk on the wild side?
*****
Thanks to BooksGoSocial for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I’ll be honest straight away and say I have a hate/hate relationship with short stories and all my previous reviews will attest to that. No matter how many I read, I just don’t enjoy them. They’re not for me and never seem to grab me or keep me interested. But I think I’ve finally found the one collection that has shown me what a good short story can be.
They’re whimsical and magical and almost fairytale like but steeped in realism with an important life lesson at the end, but by approaching it in this way, they don’t become corny or preachy or over the top.
There were definitely some I enjoyed more than others; some felt forced, some felt they were a bit lost, but most feel like a complete story. They ranged from learning to cope with adversity, deciding what means the most to you in your life, realising what is important, learning how far a bit of kindness goes, and so on.
The penultimate story – which I will not spoil – was inspired by A Christmas Carol and it was so warming. Everyone that knows me knows how important that story is to me and it is definitely my favourite book of all time, and it was fascinating to see an outlook on it from a different culture, and therefore it is my outright favourite story in this collection.
Books By Your Bedside 