Padme's Library: Release Blitz & Blogger Review: The Short Stories Collection by Louise Lyons

Friday, February 2, 2018

Release Blitz & Blogger Review: The Short Stories Collection by Louise Lyons

Title: The Short Story Collection

Author: Louise Lyons

Genre: M/M Romance

Release Date: January 31, 2018

Summary:
A collection of three short stories.

In Darkest Peru
When shy and geeky Rhys White is ditched by his boyfriend of five years, and made redundant from his job in the space of one week, he decides to make some changes. Tired of being boring and hiding being his computer, he throws caution to the winds and buys a plane ticket to Peru.

The adventure in Peru starts out well, but then disaster strikes when the bus he is travelling on is held up by thieves. Rhys loses everything, including his passport, wallet, and phone.

Stranded in Cuzco, not too far from the famous Inca city of Machu Picchu, Rhys tries to find someone to help him. Just when he begins to lose hope, sexy Brazilian, Rafael, comes to his rescue, and his desperation situation takes a turn for the better.

One Snowy Night
After yet another failed date, Keith Brambles' luck turns from bad to worse, as he tries to drive home in heavy snow and crashes his car. With no phone signal, no warm clothes, and the weather worsening, he fears freezing to death overnight.

But help is at hand in the form of a knight in a white van. Mike Talbot stops to help Keith, and takes him home to warm up—in more ways than one, when the pair's mutual attraction kicks in.

Mike is everything Keith has ever dreamed of when he thinks of his ideal man. But can Mike really be Keith's dream come true, or is their night together just another bit of fun?

Lost and Found
When author Philip Johnson loses his much-loved dog, Prince, he buries himself in the fantasy world of his latest novel. But as his heartbreak gradually lessens and he focuses more on the happy times he had with Prince, he realises the hole left in his life needs to be filled with a new puppy.

After responding to an advertisement for a young dog, Philip is surprised to find the owner is none other than Edward Manby, the very good-looking vet who took care of Prince in his last hours. Philip is delighted to discover his attraction to Edward is returned and despite the twenty-year age gap between them, their love for their pets brings them together and leads to romance.

In Darkest Peru
Original Review February 2015:
When it comes right down to it, most of us aren’t what is generally thought of as real risk takers. I am pretty sure I would not have taken the kind of adventurous risk that Rhys takes in In Darkest Peru. I think I’d be too concerned with the possibility of exactly what happened to Rhys happening.

He’s faced with his life turning upside down and decides to shake things up by going to Peru. After a couple of days of smooth going, everything is turned upside down when he loses everything in a holdup. After that and what caused him to go to Peru in the first place, why should he take the kindness from a stranger, Rafael, at face value? I don’t think I could have but Rhys does.

The character development and the setting created by Louise Lyons is spectacular, not always an easy thing to accomplish in a short story or novella. But this had me hooked from the beginning. When faced with so few pages, you don’t expect to find this kind of imagery or for the characters to burrow their way into your heart and yet that’s exactly what you do have with Peru. I can’t say as I’ve ever really had any interest in the kind of trip that Rhys takes but I felt as if I was there right beside him the whole time. I already had Miss Lyons on my radar but if I hadn’t, Peru would have definitely put her there.

One Snowy Night

As someone from Wisconsin I certainly can understand finding yourself stranded having gone off the road because of snowy conditions. I can also say that when the cold and snow arrive, if I'm going farther than 10-15 miles I also store extra winter gear in the trunk so I can't imagine finding myself in the exact same position as Keith but considering his emotional state when he took off I guess we don't always use common sense in those scenarios. Being from a winter weather state I very much appreciated Louise Lyons' attention to details in regards to the weather, not something all authors do especially in a short story.

Now as for Keith and Mike. Talk about a first meeting to remember, a stranger in a white van comes to your rescue. Might not be the knight on a white horse but Mike is pretty close. I love their instant connection and camaraderie. One Snowy Night may be short but its long on passion and connection and for me that spells fun.

Lost and Found

Not all people understand the connection between a person and their pet and for those people Lost and Found may seem a little out of reach when it comes to Phil's heartache over Prince's passing. Well, it may be over 20 years since I last had a pet but I still remember the tears and emptiness that Whiskers left behind, so its perfectly understandable the way Phil shuts himself off. When things start to look up and Phil and Edward's paths cross some might find the age gap an issue, I did not because its their connection that makes this story lovable. Frankly I can't find a better word to describe Lost and Found that's more fitting than lovable.

Collection
I really don't have too much to add to what I already said in the above individual story reviews but I will just say this: I love and appreciate the attention to detail the author gives in these short stories. Authors don't always do that when it comes to the shorter tales simply because they don't have the space. Louise Lyons took the time and even though they might be small scenes or not even scenes but a line or two of inner monologue they really heighten the reading experience. So whether it was the scene setting in In Darkest Peru, the weather in One Snowy Night, or the heartache and loss in Lost and Found they all made the stories better and more real. This is a great little collection of romance, friendship, new experiences, and connection with just a little bit of fate because lets be honest every decision we make today can have a huge effect tomorrow.

RATING:

Author Bio:
Louise Lyons comes from a family of writers. Her mother has a number of poems published in poetry anthologies, her aunt wrote poems for the Church, and her grandmother sparked her inspiration with tales of fantasy. Louise first ventured into writing short stories at the grand old age of eight, mostly about little girls and ponies. She branched into romance in her teens, and MM romance a few years later, but none of her work saw the light of day until she discovered Fan Fiction in her late twenties.

Posting stories based on some of her favorite movies, provoked a surprisingly positive response from readers. This gave Louise the confidence to submit some of her work to publishers, and made her take her writing “hobby” more seriously.

Louise lives in the UK, about an hour north of London, with a mad Dobermann, and a collection of tropical fish and tarantulas. She works in the insurance industry by day, and spends every spare minute writing. She is a keen horse-rider, and loves to run long distance. Some of her best writing inspiration comes to her, when her feet are pounding the open road. She often races into the house afterward, and grabs pen and paper to make notes.

Louise has always been a bit of a tomboy, and one of her other great loves is cars and motorcycles. Her car and bike are her pride and joy, and she loves to exhibit the car at shows, and take off for long days out on the bike, with no one for company but herself.