wonderful short stories... about love - being in love, being without love, obsession with love, and the lives of the people looking for it. Quirky with a hint of surreal, but beautifully and understatedly written ( )

I should have known that a book of love stories by Rob Shearman would be depressing. These are very depressing.

But that's okay. It's the kind of pain that lets you know you're still alive, and you feel joy for feeling it, and maybe you even laugh inappropriately. The stories are bizarre and macabre and imaginative and quite frequently gross, but they always work. Even when a story about a woman having the world's most awkward affair is for some reason also about running over a strange and hideous creature in the middle of the night. Or especially.

I think my favorite was the one about the people who literally gave other people their hearts when they fell in love. Or maybe the one where it turns out they can measure exactly how much you love someone. Or the one where a woman is haunted by her ghost cat her entire life.

The one where Satan tries to make it as a novelist wasn't my favorite, but it was still good.

I've been waiting for this to be released in the States since I read and loved Mr. Shearman's first collection of stories, Tiny Deaths, last December. I finally ordered it online directly from Big Finish Productions and I don't know why I waited so long. Their service was impeccable. Once again, I loved, loved, loved Mr. Shearman's stories! From the title to the cover art to the hidden story - I was absolutely enchanted. Imaginative, funny, touching and beautifully written. I hear that he is coming out with a novel next and I cannot wait! Highly recommended for everyone. ( )

I loved Shearman's Tiny Deaths and this is another great collection of quirky, slightly surreal and on occasion disturbing stories. Each story is about love, but not love as we have come to expect it. Sometimes love gets in the way, becomes boring, annoying or obsessive - but here love is about an affair intermingling with flying rabbits, a pig in the Garden of Eden, a husband gone astray when Luxemburg suddenly disappears and even an unemployed husband/father who becomes a tree-in-training.
While the stories may be unusual, the telling of them can't be faulted. Crisp, enticing, each one is a strange little gem. ( )