A collection of 3 novellas with a common theme of being stranded together. When the story needs to wrap up so fast it’s difficult to develop the characters and the story but the 3 authors did a good job.

Kris Bryant's story depicts long-term devastation as a tornado rips through and our MC are first stranded as they take shelter and then work together to help the people affected. It was quite gripping, I almost forgot there’s a romance brewing.

Amanda Radley wrote an age gap full of wit and banter. The 2 MCs are in a lift that gets stuck and go through multiple layers of emotions.

Emily Smith's story brings chemistry between the two main characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for the ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I decided to pick this up because A) it's pride month and I haven't read a damn thing even remotely queer in ages, and B) I wanted to give novellas a shot again. I have to say, I love this format! It was so refreshing to enjoy the "falling in love" or "falling back in love" stage of each romance and then leave the rest to the imagination. Each took about 45-ish minutes for me to read too a.k.a. the perfect "before bed" treat! My favorite thing about these novellas was learning about the industries of the characters; I know absolutely nothing about disaster protocols, stock trading, or air ambulances, so being dropped into those professions was fascinating!

Here are my thoughts on the individual stories:

EF5 -- Like I said, I've been privileged enough to never live through and thus know nothing about natural disasters and the protocols that follow, so I found all that just as entertaining as the romance. And both Katy and Alyssa were very endearing to me. Their their forced proximity was so. satisfying. I love a good "we're about to die, so let's try not to focus on how hot the other is" moment haha. Overall, this was definitely my favorite out of the novellas; there was something so genuine and precious about it.

Trapped Tycoon -- I don't really like age gap romances, so while I didn't jive with that part of the story, I found the characters, Clara and Francesca, to be dynamic and funny. The banter was pretty good! Please note that there is a lot of internal ageism in this story (i.e., Francesca emphasizing how OLD and past her peak she is at 53 years old...), which was kind of depressing. Thankfully (and strangely, I guess) that didn't hinder the getting together. Out of the three, this was my least favorite and the most... unrealistic? It was well-written and I'd love to pick up something else by the author though, something that I'm more likely to enjoy.

Wings Over Boston -- Out of the three, this was definitely the hottest! The chemistry between Ryland and Tess was palpable the entire story and, well, I'm a sucker for a good second chance romance. Despite the passion coming to a head, the author managed to really emphasize how both characters have matured in their time apart, so when they come together, not only is it fiery, but it's also healthy—I love that! I would definitely consider picking up something else from this author too.

So, in summary, I had fun reading this! Nothing too serious (minus the almost drowning and the prevalence of western beauty standards) and satisfactorily queer! Solid 3 out of 5 stars.

EF5: 3/5. This one was by far my least favorite of the novellas, though I wasn’t particularly into any of them. One of the mains felt almost too altruistic in my opinion - there was just something in how she seemingly was shocked at how good her pictures sold for but then immediately turning it into a beneficial thing for the entire town, while also being judgmental about a news reporter being there to report the news before thinking to herself that she…wanted to talk to the news and doing an interview? It just felt a little bit too perfect and I found myself getting irritated at the character in what’s meant to be a sweet story.

Trapped Tycoon: 3.75/5. I’m a sucker for a locked room scenario. The characters could have been developed a bit better and I think if I were the boss I’d personally turn and run the other way but the characters had a fun dynamic and back and forth.

Wings Over Boston: 3.25/5 A cute enough story, even if I don’t think the characters would actually stay together. I’d be interested in reading this author’s stuff in the future - while I wasn’t drawn in with this story, I felt like her writing style is something I could vibe with in other pieces potentially.

Overall - I’m not quite sure how to rate this but it’s in a 3 star range. The races of the characters were never stated so I guess they can be whatever we want, but the stories felt overwhelmingly white regardless. I didn’t knock the stories any points for that, it’s just something I felt while reading. It also felt a bit like I was reading fanfiction at times - which is great when you’re reading characters you know, not so much for new characters.

I don’t want to be overly negative though - they’re cute fun queer stories and I’m sure a lot of people will have fun with them! It just personally wasn’t really for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this collection of novellas with a theme of people being stranded together.

Kris Bryant's story was engaging and the immediate as well as longer-term devastation a tornado can bring had been depicted very well. In fact, it had been depicted so well the romance had taken a back seat, which was fine with me, but it did result in the romantic storyline not being as developed as it could have been, partly due to the novella length. It was more PG-rated than I had expected from this author.

The Amanda Radley story was well written but the characters were underdeveloped and too formulaic in my view and there were several elements that did not seem believable at all (spoiler: such as an experienced CEO firing somebody on the spot or pursuing a relationship with an employee half her age without giving it much thought). I could not feel the connection between the two leads and the CEO's interest in a junior employee did not feel genuine, at best, and felt slightly uncomfortable, at worst. This was my least favourite story.

Emily Smith's story was also well written and the chemistry between the characters was there.