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A review by obsidian_blue
Scattered Showers: Stories by Rainbow Rowell
2.0
Uneven collection, two stars.
Honestly I am starting to wonder if Rainbow Rowell writes the same characters again and again. The teen girl and or later women is actually really nasty to men, friends, family, etc. but somehow it's endearing. I started thinking most of these girls were emotional terrorists after a while. Don't get me started on how none of them liked to dance. It was very bizarre after a while. I just read "Slow Dance" so maybe that is why I am seeing way too many similarities in her work right now.
Here's my breakdown for the short stories, FYI, I just ended up skipping the last few because I was beyond bored at that point.
"Midnights"(3.5 stars)-Honestly this wasn't a strong showing, a girl named Mags becomes best friends with a boy named Noel. Mags watches him kiss other girls for a number of years on New Year's Eve until she decides she is finally over watching it. FYI, Mags does not like to dance. I think because I just finished "Slow Dance" this had me going eh well maybe this is just a coincidence.
"Kindred Spirits" (4 stars)-Honestly this was the best of the collection. I loved the idea of a young girl Elena being a Star Wars fan and deciding to camp out in line to see 'The Force Awakens' and ends up spending a few days with two people, one who is named Gabe who she doesn't realize she goes to school with. Biggest issue I had was once again we have a teen girl character who through either her friends or just herself who sounds like a jerk in school. Also, considering the backlash the newest Star Wars has dealt with had me feeling sad throughout the story. Star Wars girl here, it's great and if you don't like the new stuff, no one is forcing you.
"Winter Songs for Summer" (3 stars)-A girl in college named Summer reels after breaking up with her boyfriend. Look, Summer was on my damn nerves a good 5 percent into the story. Her playing the same song over and over again causes a guy who lives beneath her named Benji to beg her to play anything else. When she balks, he creates CDs for her to listen to.
"The Snow Ball" (1 star)-This whole story ticked me off. It follows two long time friends Owen and Libby. Libby is being the worst because Owen is going to their school's "Snow Ball" and just wants to enjoy himself and Libby is being difficult and honestly I go back to, who would be friends with some of the female characters that Rowell spins. They suck.
"If the Fates Allow" (2 stars)-Taking place during and after COVID-19, this follows Reagan and Mason. Reagan sounds like a typical mean girl grown up. But she decides to go and spend Christmas with her grandfather on Christmas. When she goes outside she ends up talking to his next door neighbor's son, Mason. I don't know. This story had too much going on with it. Apparently there's a longer novel out there somewhere with these two characters and I have zero interest in it.
"The Prince and the Troll" (1 star)-I got no idea what this story was going for. I read it in one of Amazon's Original series before. It just went all over the place and it didn't work.
"Mixed Messages" (2 stars)-It was way too hard to read this story. Rowell decides to have two best friends, Beth and Jennifer text each other. Beth's colors are in a cool blue and Jennifer's are in a cool pink. And the texts are small as hell. I could barely read and got tired of this gimmick really quick. And then it shifts over to full text (no text messages) later and I was just confused about the whole thing.
"Snow for Christmas" (1 star)-I couldn't finish the first Simon Snow book and I was uninterested in this short story starring him.
"In Waiting" (2 stars)-Story about characters not being brought quite to life via an author. They are in essence in waiting. It follows two characters named James and Anna. I get what Rowell was trying to do, but it just felt pretty empty and the story went on so long, I just got bored.
Honestly I am starting to wonder if Rainbow Rowell writes the same characters again and again. The teen girl and or later women is actually really nasty to men, friends, family, etc. but somehow it's endearing. I started thinking most of these girls were emotional terrorists after a while. Don't get me started on how none of them liked to dance. It was very bizarre after a while. I just read "Slow Dance" so maybe that is why I am seeing way too many similarities in her work right now.
Here's my breakdown for the short stories, FYI, I just ended up skipping the last few because I was beyond bored at that point.
"Midnights"(3.5 stars)-Honestly this wasn't a strong showing, a girl named Mags becomes best friends with a boy named Noel. Mags watches him kiss other girls for a number of years on New Year's Eve until she decides she is finally over watching it. FYI, Mags does not like to dance. I think because I just finished "Slow Dance" this had me going eh well maybe this is just a coincidence.
"Kindred Spirits" (4 stars)-Honestly this was the best of the collection. I loved the idea of a young girl Elena being a Star Wars fan and deciding to camp out in line to see 'The Force Awakens' and ends up spending a few days with two people, one who is named Gabe who she doesn't realize she goes to school with. Biggest issue I had was once again we have a teen girl character who through either her friends or just herself who sounds like a jerk in school. Also, considering the backlash the newest Star Wars has dealt with had me feeling sad throughout the story. Star Wars girl here, it's great and if you don't like the new stuff, no one is forcing you.
"Winter Songs for Summer" (3 stars)-A girl in college named Summer reels after breaking up with her boyfriend. Look, Summer was on my damn nerves a good 5 percent into the story. Her playing the same song over and over again causes a guy who lives beneath her named Benji to beg her to play anything else. When she balks, he creates CDs for her to listen to.
"The Snow Ball" (1 star)-This whole story ticked me off. It follows two long time friends Owen and Libby. Libby is being the worst because Owen is going to their school's "Snow Ball" and just wants to enjoy himself and Libby is being difficult and honestly I go back to, who would be friends with some of the female characters that Rowell spins. They suck.
"If the Fates Allow" (2 stars)-Taking place during and after COVID-19, this follows Reagan and Mason. Reagan sounds like a typical mean girl grown up. But she decides to go and spend Christmas with her grandfather on Christmas. When she goes outside she ends up talking to his next door neighbor's son, Mason. I don't know. This story had too much going on with it. Apparently there's a longer novel out there somewhere with these two characters and I have zero interest in it.
"The Prince and the Troll" (1 star)-I got no idea what this story was going for. I read it in one of Amazon's Original series before. It just went all over the place and it didn't work.
"Mixed Messages" (2 stars)-It was way too hard to read this story. Rowell decides to have two best friends, Beth and Jennifer text each other. Beth's colors are in a cool blue and Jennifer's are in a cool pink. And the texts are small as hell. I could barely read and got tired of this gimmick really quick. And then it shifts over to full text (no text messages) later and I was just confused about the whole thing.
"Snow for Christmas" (1 star)-I couldn't finish the first Simon Snow book and I was uninterested in this short story starring him.
"In Waiting" (2 stars)-Story about characters not being brought quite to life via an author. They are in essence in waiting. It follows two characters named James and Anna. I get what Rowell was trying to do, but it just felt pretty empty and the story went on so long, I just got bored.