Quarantine Love Stories For All

 I just finished the most ADORABLE collection of YA romance short stories!

TO BE RELEASED: OCTOBER 20TH 2020

Together, Apart is a collection of short stories by several authors (Erin A. Craig, Bill Konigsberg, Sajni Patel, Auriane Desombre, Natasha Preston, Jennifer Yen, Brittney Morris, Rachel Lippincott, & Erin Hahn) surrounding the topic of finding love and connection during a pandemic. Yes, each individual short story takes place during the present time of the COVID-19 pandemic and I was all for it. 

At first, it freaked me out to be reading stories where COVID-19 was a main factor. I mean, I know it's a real thing and will go down in history as one of the worst pandemics the world has ever seen, but when you use reading as an escape from the scary times, it's almost taunting to dive into a story with what you're trying to escape from. It ended up making me enjoy this collection more because I could easily relate to all of the struggles that our characters were facing during the pandemic, one of the biggest challenges being finding and maintaining social connections. It's hard being forced to stay at home and halt your daily life/routine, and being separated from your friends. I mean, there's precautions in place of course but it's still a risk and it's still scary. 

There was so much variety in these short stories as well. I especially enjoyed the one where it followed two female roommates at college. I can't even imagine being a college student, living on campus, during a situation like this. I think of my own college experience and how different it would have been. I mean, all we did was hop from dorm room to dorm room to socialize and drink. What's college with not being able to do that?

There were several stories of male-to-male romance, female-to-female romance, and heterosexual romance. This gave the book some flair and made it interesting. It would have been boring to read just heterosexual romances during quarantine 9 different times. I honestly enjoyed EVERY single story and character. There wasn't a single story or character that I did not like, and let me tell you that is a rare occurrence! 

Do I have a favorite one? Ugh. They're all my favorite! BUT I guess if I HAD to pick one that would be The New Boy Next Door by Natasha Preston, with MASKED by Erin Hahn being a close contender. I was a little nervous about reading Preston's story as she is known for her creepy & twisted thrillers but she delivered an adorable and fun romance. That woman is seriously so talented. 

Overall, I highly recommend picking this one up! It's a quick read and a great pick me up if you are in a reading slump or need some light-hearted, cheesy, comedic romances to brighten up your day! Plus, you can laugh at the realistic dialogue involving COVID-19 and connect with the characters who are feeling just as anxious about the pandemic, feeling like it may never end, as you are!