Trysh Thompson

This collection seriously whipsawed me. There were several good stories, a couple excellent ones, and some really bad ones - OK, one really bad one and two - three - that ended OK after a rough opening. But they would alternate, almost perfectly - bad, good, bad, good, bad. If I hadn't gotten it as an Early Reviewer book, I doubt I would have finished it - the first story was not one of the good ones. Oddly enough, although I enjoy a hot sex scene in my usual romance reading, the three most show more explicit stories here were the three I liked least. The only really bad one was...really bad - while every geek (and particularly every female geek) is familiar with the creepy guy who hits on all the cosplayers, a story that makes him as sexually irresistible as he thinks he is is...ewww. The other two ended all right, but there was a major power imbalance in both of them - sleeping with your boss is ewww too. Again, it ended well - very sweet, he'll make the changes necessary to make this relationship work, not push her to move - but it featured the two tropes I dislike most in all romance, overwhelming lust (boring!) and misunderstandings. And the first scene - I was seriously wondering if he'd drugged her, in that unexpected free drink. I think my favorite of the whole collection was Addie-icted - it went on longer than I expected, but I really enjoyed watching them deal with the real world as well as their feelings. Annoying that her leg started to get better as soon as she found her True Love - but at least it wasn't a magical fix, just that she found a therapy, through him, that actually worked. One point, about the collection as a whole - I usually find that short story collections blend together in my mind, I have to go back and at least check the table of contents to remember any of them distinctly. There are several here - some good, and unfortunately some of the bad ones - that are quite clear in my mind. And there are at least a couple I'd love to see more of - that world, and that couple. The good stories are excellent, and I will reread; I'll skip some of them permanently, though. show less

*This book was given to me by Netgalley for an honest and unbiased review*

I know this probably isn't the time to read horror, or maybe it is, either way, an anthology was a way to go. The reason why I love reading anthologies so much is that because they are short stories within one book, I don't feel pressured to have to continue reading or I don't feel guilty for DNFing a story in an anthology. During times that I have trouble reading or find myself short of reading time, I typically aim show more for anthologies for this reason. This anthology has a mix of genres that have one thing in common each story has a female ghost as it's center. This was an interesting concept, and I was so glad that I read this book. Each story was so vastly different from the others, I was expecting horror cliches and lots of scary moments. While some stories had this, other stories had Love and Comedy.

My absolute favorite story was Abeyance by Relynn Vaughn. Its perspective was that of Lisa who died and it skips back in forth in time during her death to show how she is handling the changes that Alan (her husband) is going through. It's very interesting because the story shows both Alan and Lisa's grieving and how a ghost could feel should the person they love moves on. There are also other dynamics in the story that I do not want to give away that also made this story my favorite. There was surprisingly not a single story in this anthology that I skipped and I enjoyed the book from start to finish. show less

I received a free copy in exchange for a fair and honest review. :)

Covalent Bonds is a collection of short stories that feature geeks of all kinds in romantic scenarios. From an FBI consultant trying to woo a world-famous hacker to comic book convention attendees sneaking away for a quick rendezvous, this anthology has something for every flavor of geek. There's a live-streamer who finds love in her own home, horror movie buffs who fall for each other after a chance encounter at a Walgreens, show more a gamer and game writer who find love as they drive for hours across the several states to save a convention release of a hot new RPG, D&D character swapping with seductive results, a divorced game tester who bonds with her boos while on a work trip, and a poet who argues over sentence diagramming. Stories range from a few pages to a few chapters. Some are gentle romances while others turn up the heat. Characters are as diverse as their geeky interests with different races, disability status and counties of origin are represented. This anthology celebrates individuals in all their geeky glory and electricity is guaranteed.

Overall, this anthology was really enjoyable. There were certain stories where I felt the writers were a little green, but that wasn't a deal breaker. In fact, one of the stories where I felt the writing fell short is actually one of my favorite stories in the anthology and I kept thinking about how much I'd love to see it developed into a movie. There were also a few stories where I was pretty upset that they ended so soon (it is a short story anthology after all). I definitely wanted to read more about the romances and see how they developed, which is a sure sign of a great story.

Also, since I'm a romance genre virgin (pun intended) and a huge nerd, short stories about geeks felt really relatable to me. A beautiful damsel I am not. I am a nerdy t-shirt wearing, comic book reading, d20 rolling, convention attending geek. These stories featured people like me, and that was really appreciated. show less

Geeky romance short stories should be right up my alley, but while I enjoyed the first few stories, after awhile they all seemed the same. Hot nerdy girl doesn't think hot nerdy boy will go for her, but of course he does. I know that's the fantasy and like I said, playing that out a few times was fun, but then it got boring and it was a struggle to finish the collection. As a smart, geeky woman, I wanted the smart, geeky women in these stories to be more empowered, to believe in themselves show more more, to know that brains does not mean no boys. Is there such a thing as romance for empowered women? I think that's what I'm looking for. show less