Tessa Smith McGovern

I'm not always keen on reading short stories. Usually if they are good they end too soon for my liking. In all the other cases I don't get them, find them weird or just not interesting enough. Reading this collection of linked stories was a whole new experience. Although the book is quite short it offers a lot to the reader. Each story focuses on one particular character but since all stories take place on the same day and the characters are somehow connected with each other the reader gets a three-dimensional picture of the boarding house and its occupants. Of course that also means that for my liking it does end too soon. I would love to learn more about Janice, Sandy and Aiden. I would definitely read a whole novel about just them or even the boarding house. Since Tessa Smith McGovern seems to have specialized on short stories I assume that won't happen anytime soon. But maybe she'll publish more stories about the boarding house.
Another aspect that I liked about the book was the part in the end in which the author explained how and where she got the inspiration for the boarding house and the characters. That was a very interesting and personal insight into her life. Since I often wonder about how much the authors' experiences reflect in their stories that part was truly appreciated.… (mer)

The book is collection of short stories which tell the stories of six people with very different past but they all end up in the same house. I rarely read short stories so I’m not that familiar with them. I guess this is good because it’s was easy to surprise me with the fact how good you met someone based on the story with less than 2000 words. The characters are likeable although most of us wouldn’t want to interact with them. Except Nora, she is great! This book is great if you have problems with the empathy because it’s easy to correlate with characters and their thoughts.… (mer)