For once I can highly recommend all the short stories I found in February!

I watched Clare London reading her own mm stories on YouTube. The stories were very short and sweet – perfect for a brief retreat from real life. It was really good to have the author reading them and to see her face – I don’t often listen to audiobooks but these were delightful, mostly because of the feeling of closeness to the author. So five stars to the whole set!

Clare London on YouTube*****

BAH HUMBUG!  https://youtu.be/EFHdU6MY7iU ONE OF THOSE DAYS  https://youtu.be/U7Co-6Fysfg A NUMBERS GAME  https://youtu.be/h_J-YM7q3SU COOKIES  https://youtu.be/Z3O5qNj8fGQ SALSA  https://youtu.be/bfK9PwQkkOk I also very much enjoyed: My Lonely Valentine by Jackie Keswick ***** The story centres round a misunderstanding about a ring on Valentine’s Day and was lovely.

I abandoned three books in February. As usual, I must stress that since I only read a chapter (if that), this in no way reflects on the writing ability of the author, just on my personal taste. I hope this gives you both some idea of my preferences and also some flavour of the stories for those who might enjoy them – they were all perfectly well written.

Purrfect Murder (The Mysteries of Max bk 1) by Nic Saint

This seemed to be a cat as detective and I was disbelieving and irritated as soon as I realised the cat was going to talk to their detective partner. I enjoy animal stories (e.g. Watership down) and I like shifter stories. I quite like magical animals. Talking but otherwise non-magical animals, not so much. I believe the series is one of cosy mysteries and it might appeal to some of you.

Impossibly Fond by Tanya Chris

I have very little idea of where the plot was going. I just know there were far too many magical elements all introduced at the beginning and I felt overwhelmed. It appears to be a humorous story about a fledgling wizard. I suspect that for me, magic and humour don’t often mix well.

Don’t ever forget by MatthewFarrell

This crime story managed to confuse me almost straight away with far too many different points of view. It also annoyed me when the author described someone of 65 as old. I know 65 isn’t exactly young, but the general idea seemed to be that someone that age would inevitably be senile and in need of constant care. Rather than continue to lose my temper, I gave up.