DANCING UP A STORM STORY COLLECTION

This is a collection of 9 short romance stories from the finalists of a writing contest themed on dance, hosted by The Woodlands (Texas) chapter of ACFW. Since I know a few ACFW Texas authors, I was eager to try it.  I like reading short story collections because I get to meet a wide variety of authors without having to read too much from any of them.

This one was pretty good. However, it IS a romance collection. Although the description might imply other genres, I felt the bent was definitely romance. I'm not sure why there was a distinction between the contemporary and romance categories because they were essentially identical. A Vietnam era story was even listed in "contemporary," when it is certainly not. There were 4 contemporary stories, 2 historical stories, and 3 speculative stories. Some that stuck out to me were:

“When I’m Gone,” the opening story, was really well-written and touching. Even though the vintage era is not my favorite setting, I could see why this one got first place.

My least favorite story was “The Confession.” I liked that the author was not afraid to show persecution of Christians by Muslims, but the area where the heroine is forced to reveal everything about her life because of a truthtelling machine was painful, especially since she was not very likable and had done some embarrassing things.

“Teething Troubles” was probably the one I found most enjoyable, it was about the (very realistic) little struggles and conflicts of a young couple dealing with their first baby. They reminded me of my parents!

“The Last Waltz” was an unusual story that really stuck out—it blended historical Vietnam era with romance and felt more speculative than some of the actual speculative entries because of the hero’s ability to have visions and the slightly hysterical, symbolic nature of the many of the scenes.

“Night Dance” was a good, sweet fantasy romance. A girl who feels awkward because she looks like a gnome befriends a young pixie who has been adopted by wealthy elves. It felt paranormal—the hero is a magical young man who can fly, etc—but had a gentle tone whereas most paranormal-type stories are very dark.