Back of Book: 

he world is ending in five years, and humanity's solution is a mass exodus to the past. What could go wrong?

Renee's job for Serendipity is simple: she relocates families to the past so they don't die when the asteroid hits Earth in five years. On top of a paycheck, she earns her own time travel slot to escape the end of the world. Everyone wins.

But then Beckham shows up in her office, claiming she sent him from the past to find her. On top of that, he wants her help taking Serendipity down. As much as she likes the idea of sticking it to some of her bosses, she also really likes the idea of being alive after the Earth is destroyed.

But as Beckham spills more secrets about the dangers of time travel, Renee is forced to decide between securing her own happy ending and preserving thousands of others. 

Book Number: Stand Alone 

Genre: Adult | Short Story | Science Fiction 

Review: 🌟🌟🌟

A short science fiction story that explores the complexity of time travel and just how far humans are willing to go in order to save our species as we know it.

Renee's job is a simple but an important one. In a not-so-distant version of Earth, it is predicted that an asteroid will crash into the planet and kill humanity in only a few short years. Desperate to save the species, a group of elite scientists come together and form Serendipity, a program that is meant to relocate families back in time in the hopes that they can live a happy life albeit in a different time period. Unknowingly, humans are once again doing more harm than help. When a strange man by the name of Beckham returns to Renee and begs her to help him save the world, she can't exactly say no now, can she? And thus, a journey through time to save humanity begins.

I have really enjoyed all of Karyne Norton's short stories that I have consumed in the past, so I was interested in checking out what a sci-fi short story from her would look like. Much like most science fiction writers, Norton found herself unable to ignore the urge to explore the idea of time travel, despite the confusing paradoxes and all the nitpicky details that one must attempt to keep straight when doing so.

I myself am very hit or miss on time travel stories. If they are too confusing, I often lose sight of the point of the story. Unfortunately, this was a bit of the case for this one. I found the beginning concept of this story to be really intriguing, but I soon found myself lost in the overwhelming number of Renees and Ruperts and all the jumping to different time periods. I think Norton did a great job of keeping everything straight and crafted a well-oiled story, I just found myself drifting off from time to time and couldn't find the brain power to keep it all straight.

The end of the world has been explored in many ways over the years, but I don't recall ever reading a book that used time travel as a solution for humanity's survival. Okay, maybe I've seen time travel used to change the ways that humans act in the past, so we are less likely to kill the planet in the future, but I've certainly never seen it used to give refuge to those that need to escape imminent death.

The romance between Renee and Beckham sort of comes out of nowhere, but it also feels rather fated. Renee definitely deserves her own happy ending after being abandoned by the man she thought she loved, so I'm glad that Beckham was able to help her out. I can't say I overly ship them or anything, but their relationship was nice enough for it not to raise any red flags in my brain.

Overall, "The End of Time" is a short science fiction story that explores the complexity of time travel and the literal end of the world. I found it to be a tad confusing as it jumps around in time quite a lot for such a short story, but Norton's writing was still very strong. Renee and Beckham were interesting characters to follow, and it was fun seeing what they valued most tested over the course of this short story. I am super interested in reading Norton's science fiction novel, "The Things We Can Change" when I get my hands on it in the near future!

Audiobook Note: Karyne Norton narrates her own books, which I think is pretty darn cool. She also runs a fantasy podcast, so it's no shocker that she is a guru in the audio world. I personally think that she did an amazing job narrating this story. I was so sold by her performance that I didn't even feel the need to speed it up! I hope to listen to more of her narration in the future, because I truly think she did a great job of bringing all the different types of characters to life. This story featured many different personalities and I feel she nailed them all equally. Overall, I'm very impressed by her work. 

Back of Book: 

From USA Today and Amazon Charts bestselling author Meghan Quinn comes a festive short romance about old flames and mistaken identities.

After a bad breakup, Nola wants nothing to do with Christmas, especially in her quaint hometown of Bright Harbor, Maine. Infuriatingly charming and cheery, Nola’s surroundings only worsen her sour mood.

To make matters worse, Caleb, the boy who broke her heart years ago, is all grown up and still living in town. While doing her best to avoid him, Nola bumps into the local mailman, who gives her a mysterious letter. And when she finds that the writer is a fellow Scrooge, she can’t help but feel her spirit lifting.

Nola writes back to her new pen pal—who, unbeknownst to Nola, is none other than Caleb. When Caleb gets a response hand delivered by the mailman, he’s intrigued by the mystery sender. A friendly correspondence develops—and quickly turns flirtatious.

Although Nola and Caleb claim they can’t stand each other, they can’t deny the simmering attraction that brought them together in the first place.

Can these nameless pen pals write their own love story—or will they be too caught up with the ghosts of their Christmases past to find a future together? 

Book Number: Stand Alone 

Genre: Adult | Short Story | Contemporary | Romance 

Review: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

A short and sweet holiday second chance romance that is mostly told in an exchange of anonymous letters between two ex-lovers. 

Nola has been dumped one to many times in her life. Last year, she was dumped right before Christmas, and the season now feels dreary rather than merry. In the hopes of fixing up her old family home, Nola returns to Bright Harbor, Maine, the sight of her first—and biggest—heartbreak. Caleb is an older version of the boy who broke her heart all those years ago. Knowing that Nola is back in town, Caleb is doing everything in his power to avoid her. When the two start anonymously writing anti-Christmas letters to one another, the two come to realize that they might just be right for each other, all these years later. 

I actually enjoyed this one way more than I thought I would! Honestly, I feel that a big part of that was the fact that this was a clean romance, which I wasn't expecting but was certainly pleasantly surprised to encounter. Unlike the "Under the Mistletoe" Amazon original story collection that I recently finished, this one was actually a sweet holiday romance that wasn't ninety percent smut. 

I am a huge fan of most second chance romances due to the fact that the couple has an established history with one another before the story even starts. Nola and Caleb were high school sweethearts that literally planned to marry one another, but Caleb didn't want to move to New York with her for college, so their relationship ended up falling apart. I feel like a solid conversation between these two in their youth could have saved their relationship and they could have went long distance for a while, but miscommunication is the main killer of most relationships. Since their relationship fell apart for a pretty simple reason, it wasn't a huge surprise that it only took a little bit of nudging for the two of them to get back together. 

A huge part of this short story is filled with anti-Christmas themed letters between Resting Scrooge Face (Caleb) and Ho Ho No (Nola). These letters were really fun to read, and it was neat seeing Caleb and Nola fall for each other again pen pal style. There is a giant segment of this story where it is exclusively just them writing back and forth to one another, which really made it easy to fly through this one. The anti-Christmas vibe of this story was also pretty great; I'm not overly invested in Christmas, so it was fun reading a holiday romance where both of the main characters weren't super into it either. Seriously, I agree with so many of the points that they stated in their letters to one another. 

Overall, "Resting Scrooge Face" is a fun holiday short story that is one hundred percent clean. I fear that it can be hard to find sweet romances without smut in this day and age, but this story delivered wonderfully. Nola and Caleb had a fantastic second chance romance experience, and it was a cute holiday read. I've heard quite a few people complain that it wasn't overly festive, but I honestly felt that added to the charm. It doesn't take long for me to feel over Christmas every year, so following two characters who also find the season overrated was quite refreshing. The pen pal element of this story was also such a joy. I would recommend this one if you are looking for a quick, clean read with just a hint of holiday vibes. I feel this one would make a great palate cleanser on one's holiday TBR, because it isn't too heavily saturated with Christmas. 

Audiobook Notes: Carly Robbins and Aaron Shedlock are the narrators of this one. Honestly, it took me a bit to get invested in their narrative experience, but I was eventually hooked. My favorite part of having two narrators in this one was when they were reading the back-and-forth letters between Nola and Caleb. It was fun to hear two different voices read these letters to me; it truly felt like a snarky conversation happening between two people who were getting to know each other all over again. 

Back of Book: 

Roman can't help falling for the girl next door, even though she forgets who he is... every single day. He'll stop at nothing to figure out the cause of her memory loss if it means there's a chance she might fall for him. 

Book Number: Stand Alone 

Genre: Adult | Short Story | Romance | Fantasy 

Review: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Pitched to me as "The Princess Bride" meets "50 First Dates," I couldn't not read this one as soon as I had a bit of time to.

"When There's a Tomorrow" follows a young man named Roman who meets Sienne, the mysterious girl who just moved in next door. . . except he knows that's not true because he's known her for years. Every day, Sienne forgets who Roman is, but that doesn't stop Roman from falling in love with her. As eight years go by, Roman works to discover the mysterious circumstances behind Sienne's memory loss and why she doesn't remember his visits the next day.

This story is a cute tale of perseverance, love, and dedication. Roman knows that Sienne won't remember him the next day, but that doesn't stop him from returning to her side day in and day out. When he comes of age, he even goes to become a physician to learn more about ailments of the brain in order to try to help Sienne. The "50 First Dates" vibes was at the forefront of this one, and I loved the magical twist to the tale (which is why I presume it's pitched as being similar to "The Princess Bride"). I love both of these stories, and I feel that it is fair judgement to compare it to these two, though it leans more into one than the other.

Overall, I thought that "When There's a Tomorrow" is a short and sweet love story that was unique as it was familiar. I enjoyed seeing a fresh spin on a topic that has already been explored before. I also enjoyed the hints of mystery and the fantastical elements at play. It was pretty good for such a short story and once again proves to me that Norton can draw an audience in with a fairly limited number of pages.