Strange Courtships: Nine Romantic Stories

by Carla Sarett

Short stories that evoke the charm of old Hollywood romance, but tinged with the metaphysical. Nine Stories brings together some of Carla Sarett's previously published stories, and others that are brand new, including the sequel to "Skinny Girl."

Genres: Romance

ebook

First published December 13, 2012

About the author

Poet, essayist, and fiction writer. Recent poems appear in Blue Unicorn, The Naugautuck River Review, Prole, Thimble, San Pedro River Review and elsewhere. My novella, The Looking Glass, was published in 2021 from Propertius Press. A Closet Feminist, a comic novel, will be published in 2022 (February.)

Reviews

[Book Lovers Never Go to Bed Alone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carla Sarett's short story collection Nine Romantic Stories features a number of previously published works as well as new selections. If you are not familiar with her work, this is the perfect introduction! Her stories are poignant, touching, moving, and entertaining.

These are, as the title suggests, all stories of love. But Sarett does not feed readers the usual trope. Instead, she examines love through a unique lens. The stories here are fresh and well-crafted. In the opening, "A String Theory Valentine," she weaves a haunting and poignant tale of two souls intertwined through the memory of a little boy long dead. Lines such as "...she hears little Gary walking lightly in the dark woods where she used to walk... And her heart opens to the little boy, lost in the woods and then lost forever..." wrap around you like the mist on a cool evening. Sarett's prose is enchanting, alluring, and heartfelt.

Nine Romantic Stories is a glorious read. She walks a melancholy path, and although tinged in sadness, there is a poignant hope in her narratives. A must-read collection and a must-read author.

http://bookloversnevergotobedalonerev...

[Aniruddha Sastikar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not at all competent to write a review about this amazing writer – Carla Sarett, but having read her “Nine Romantic Stories” I think I should try. So here it goes...

I might have read couple of romantic stories before, but never like these. The collection is a mix of surprises, twists, romance, love, sacrifice, humor, and truly & wonderfully portrayed characters. Within this collection, I have liked each and every tale, but that special one is “Mandolinata”. A wow tale!

Having known Carla for the past two years, I realize; she has that exclusive knack of keeping her readers gripped to read till the last written word.

I recommend “Nine Romantic Stories” to anyone and everyone, who’s looking or searching to recharge his/ her romanticism.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What’s rare about this collection is its intelligence and maturity. Maintaining a sense of humor, Sarett tells sensitive, unexpected stories that reveal that romance is as complex as love. While ‘A String Theory Valentine’ uses science to explain an uncanny connection between two lovers, ‘A Strange Courtship’ tells a delightfully off-kilter tale of love, beauty and departure. While there are moments of confusion and some weak dialogue, each tale in the collection flips your perspective and changes your ideas about love, romance and identity. Worth a read.

[Judith Harkness · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carla Sarett is one of my favorite writers. Her stories -- which have appeared in several online anthologies -- are notable for their wry wit, bemusing plots, and characters who seem to creep into your subconscious, despite the fact that she offers the minimum of descriptive detail. This new collection of Nine Romantic Stories brings together some of her best older fiction with some surprising -- and delightful -- new work. A great addition to the genre of romance for the literary reader.

[E.J. Lamprey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed these stories - I'm commuting for an hour a day at the moment and I'm fussy about my train reading. It has to engage me fully without requiring too much concentration, entertain me, and if it can make me smile, all the better.

Several of these stories made me smile, and I enjoyed them all, even - maybe particularly - the bitter-sweet ones. A lovely collection that will stay in my kindle, because these I will be re-reading.

[Suzanne Rosenwasser · Rating 5 out of 5]

On a rainy night in Georgia, I sat by the fireplace with Ms. Sarrett's NINE ROMANTIC STORIES and fell in love. There's humor and truth in these tales which run much deeper than their brief course on the page. Ms. Sarrett writes the real construct of the short story, as E. A. Poe described it: to be enjoyed in one sitting.

[Jada Ryker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Literary Love Stories with a Big Bang Flavor

Carla Sarett's Strange Courtship includes nine wonderful stories. All of stories are excellent. My personal favorite is In Rittenhouse Square.

Ms. Sarett is also the author of Crazy Lovebirds, with "Five Super-Short Stories" to entertain readers. The short reads offer insights into human nature, as well as nice twists.

[Barbara Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This author reminds me of Salinger and I don't make that claim lightly.She captures the essence of the human spirit brialliantly. I want to know these characters as friends -they are that entertaining charming eccentric and fun.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't normally enjoy short stories as I feel they always leave me wanting more but these were great. I think this is a very well put together collection

[Tabitha Ormiston-Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devotees of the Barbara Cartland school of romance will not enjoy this book. There's nothing sloppy, nothing trite or hackneyed in this sparkling collection of stories. As always, Sarett's work is informed and enlivened by her acutely penetrating observation, and her immunity to pretension of every kind.

From the sweet, strange String Theory, to the achingly sad A Strange Courtship, to my personal favourite, Victor's Proposal, and at all points in between, Strange Courtships takes us on a tour of some of the less-travelled possibilities of love. It's a good illustration of what I sometimes think is the difference between a Real Writer and a mere producer of paperback fodder - that ability to see something different even in the most ordinary of situations.

I often see people in writers' groups remarking that some subject (love, zombie apocalypses, vampires, murder etc) has been 'done to death', and that there is no new thing under the sun. This book is an answer to, and a complete rebuttal of, that view. It serves as a reminder to us all that there is always something rich and strange, if we have but the talent to write it.

These stories deserve from me the ultimate accolade: that I wish I had written them myself.

[Barbara Alfaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strange Courtships: “Nine Romantic Stories” is imbued with wit and compassion. The three stories that delighted me most were “A String Theory Valentine,” “Mandolinata,” and “Stand-By.” The fragility of young love, “the paradoxes of string theory,” and loss are interwoven gently and perfectly in “A String Theory Valentine.” Both “Mandolinata” and “Stand-By” are laugh-out-loud tales of online dating and people looking for love, sometimes in exactly the right places. At the beginning of “Mandolinata” the narrator describes the suit Kim Novak wore in Vertigo – how it is well tailored and has great style. The same can be said of each story in Ms. Sarett’s beautifully crafted collection.

[D.S. Schmeckpeper · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection of short stories was a quick and easy read. I found them frustrating though because each of them seemed like an introduction. It's like I kept expecting the stories to go on to become actual romance stories. That was another problem, most of these were implied behind-the-scenes romances, or worse...failed romance, but didn't actually cover the romance themselves, so hardly count as romantic stories. All in all, very disappointing.

[Delta]

Free 07-06-14 (Romantic Shorts Anthology)

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