This moving collection of short stories covers a full range of life experiences. Short stories excel at conveying one particular emotion each, and Christopher Meeks delivers a variety of them here. Each short story feels rounded on its own as a complete vignette, and, all together, they make this collection shine with humanity and intelligence.

Many of the stories deal with couples, in all sorts of situations. There is a story about a couple going to a hypnotists’ show - the wife wants to let go and have fun, but her husband holds her back from immersing herself in the experience. Another couple with a reluctant husband attends a Halloween party together; he learns to have some fun. My favorite story, however, was that of an old man, a writer, whose house burns down. I thought it perfectly summed up how we all cope with disaster; our lives fall apart but we must put up a show for the rest of the world and pretend that we will be just fine.

As I was reading, I’d be excited for the next story when I felt the one I was currently reading begin to wrap up. I never wanted to put the book down between stories because I just wanted to read more of them. I’ve got his first collection sitting in my Amazon cart for when I make an over $25 purchase because I really, really want more of his writing. I was thrilled to see the bonus track from his next book and I can guarantee I’ll be buying that one as soon as it’s released.

I would definitely recommend this one, whether you’re like me and want to read all the stories through at once, or whether you’d like to read just one story between errands on a busy day. This collection is beautifully composed and certainly worth your time.