Kate Doyle's debut collection, "I Meant It Once," is like catching up with old friends over coffee – familiar, heartfelt, and laced with wit. Through a series of sharply observed stories, Doyle navigates the turbulent waters of early adulthood, where nostalgia for past relationships mingles with the uncertainty of the future. From romantic mishaps to sibling rivalries, each tale brims with authenticity and humor. Doyle's crystalline prose and sly humor make these stories both delightful and thought-provoking. "I Meant It Once" is a refreshing and relatable exploration of finding one's way in the world.

I dipped in and out of these stories - nicely written, a distinctive voice, focused writing. I like short stories but often they are the poor relation of the writing world, overlooked or avoided. I Meant It Once has some well crafted and vivid story and there's a confident tone throughout the book.

Firstly, I want to thank Netgalley for giving me the chance to read these short stories. I’ve always been a fan of shorts and this just proved it’s been a while since I’ve read any. Yet I should be doing so more regularly.

Kate Doyle’s debut collection is enlightening, some of these stories will make you feel seen and some will just claw out your heart. I thought it would have been a quicker read for me but alongside audiobooks and life it wasn’t but I really enjoyed each and every story. Some were so different and others the same….each addition leaving you feeling poignant and thoughtful in equal measure. As an older sibling I loved the stories based on family and how true to life that rivalry and bickering really is, even to this day in my 30s. We can easily revert back to our most childish selves when we’re together.

What struck me about these stories is how relatable they are..it will definitely have you thinking or reminiscing and in some ways understanding.

A collection full of thoughts and feelings and almost every single person will be effected by something in these tales. It’s made me realise how much I love delving into short stories and discovering new writers.

The collection of short stories delves into the intricacies of life experiences, particularly those that women can relate to. Each story paints a vivid picture of the challenges, hopes, and dreams that define the journey of a woman. While some stories stand out for their exceptional literary prowess, others may not resonate as much. Nonetheless, the overall collection is a remarkable exploration of the human experience.

Short stories written about a very relatable time in someone’s life, particularly for women, but I definitely preferred some to others.

I have been dipping in and out of this collection over the last couple of weeks and it was a delight to read. I would absolutely recommend reading it like this rather than straight through. Lovely slices of life stories about friendships, relationships, consequences and decisions. One or two fell a little short of the mark for me but overall its a really strong, entertaining and gorgeous read. Funny, poignant and brought me back in time twenty years to when I was in my early twenties, I enjoyed the visit but I would'nt return to that stage of life if I given the opportunity. Doyle captures that stage with such accuracy , honesty, humour and reality.
Recommend.

I liked these short stories, slices of life: barely a plot, some of them very short (a page and a half), some longer, describing relationships, worries, questions. Oddly my favourite one was one of the shortest where the narrator describes her love for the goldfish at the local community garden, which she keeps a secret from friends, and a longer one, There's no Telling, where the narrator feels oppressed by her boyfriend's kindness. They were all touching and well written.

This was an excellent collection of short stories, perfect for fans of Katherine Heiny and anyone who enjoys stories about relationships.

In I meant it once, Doyle provides us a peek into the inner lives of young women during their transformative twenties, with varying degrees of success. Where it’s good, it’s great. But I can’t help but feel some should have been left on the cutting floor.

Kate Doyle's I Meant It Once comprises sixteen short stories, some very short indeed, about women often looking back to their early twenties trying to find a place in the world for themselves.

These are not easy stories to sum up. Very little happens; it's more about the inner lives of women either living through or looking back on years of youthful emotional intensity in which they felt uncertain of who they were and what they should be doing, sometimes trying the patience of their kind, supportive friends and family with their self-sabotaging behaviour. There’s a pleasing vein of wry, self-knowing humour running through several stories although others have a more sombre tone. Despite being far from its target readership, I enjoyed most of Doyle’s stories very much but felt the collection would have been all the better for dropping a few of the more oblique inward-looking pieces. That said, I’d be happy to read more of Doyle’s writing.

Reviewing potential collections for Mslexia's short story column - "What's New in Short Stories"
Thank you for the early copy!

This striking collection of interwoven short stories is an amazingly honest and heartfelt exploration into the relationships, people and moments that we have throughout our lives that shape us and change our paths, whether they endure, fade away or explode. It captures that transformative “in between” that young women experience between being a girl and an adult, when everything in intense and confusing and changing so quickly, and we aren’t sure whether to be looking back or onwards.

These stories follow a whole cast of somewhat familiar and relatable women; three siblings navigating family dynamics, rivalries and rifts, someone learning to live without their best friend for the first time, a couple try to work out what they owe to each other and themselves, a young woman longing for the people who have moved away or drifted away, friends sit in a hospital face the possibility of losing someone they love forever, a college student recalling a humiliating love story — each story has something unique and highlights such universal experiences that you can’t help but find something in them.

The prose is lyrical, poetic and warm; that provides both comfort and connection through each story. Themes of belonging, desperation, confusion, and love woven carefully throughout each character and tying together beautifully with those things that bind us together. Each voice was distinct in personality but worked together in a common ground that made everything flow easily from one story to the next.

This is a staggeringly powerful and memorable debut, I cannot wait to see what the author creates for us next.

A wonderful collection of short stories, some better than others. I found myself wishing the stories were longer and not wanting this collection to end, which is rare for me as I often struggle with short story collections. Each one was emotional and had so much depth and character behind them that they felt like they could be full novels. And considering that this is a debut novel! I'm thoroughly impressed, and as someone in the target audience for this book of a young woman stuck between nostalgia and longing for the future, I feel like it spoke to me.

This story collection by Kate Doyle had not been on my radar before but it it as absolutely one of the best books I've read this year. She explores so deftly the shifting natures of friendships through the different stages of our lives, how the choices and decisions we make influence the dynamics of relationships and the anxiety of feeling self-doubt and like you're not a good person and then self-sabotaging. The characters felt so real and relatable.