Mary Vensel White's Resonant Blue is like a box of assorted chocolates. Don't expect to devour it in one sitting! This genre-hopping collection demands patience, stretching what looks like a quick read into several thoughtful days.

The magic lies in White's recurring themes: how we overcome personal histories, understand our ancestral ones, and face uncertain futures. These golden threads weave beautifully through each story, making this feel like a unified conversation rather than random tales.

In my opinion, "Par Avion" absolutely shines as the collection's standout, while the opening story's unexpected fantastical elements caught me off guard (in a slightly jarring way that had me second-guessing what was coming next).

Yes, perhaps there are a few too many absent parents (in various senses of the term) on these pages, which makes the themes feel repetitive at times. But White's flowing prose and authentic characters create a genuine mirror of modern society's complexities.

This collection rewards readers willing to slow down and truly listen. If you enjoy character-driven stories that ask you to sit a while and reflect, Resonant Blue delivers a meaningful reading experience.

Resonant Blue and Other Stories by Mary Vensel White is a beautifully written collection that captures the complexity of human emotions and relationships. Each story offers a unique glimpse into pivotal moments in the characters’ lives, blending tenderness, realism, and insight. I truly enjoyed this book and rated it five stars.

This is a book full of personal stories from people seeking love, family, truth and peace, it is well written with deep characters.

What a delightful collection of stories that felt very much like life, love and heartache bubbling up from a corner of the world and then recessing back into the matrix. I loved the experience of reading these stories without knowing anything about the author as I felt like each was an individual voice and I could imagine the author was male or female, any race or sexual orientation. All are possible. It seemed as if the characters were woken from a slumber and asked to dance on the stage for a while for my enjoyment. There was just the right amount of investment into the characters that it is evident each story could be formed into a novel. I craved more but at the same time was content to let them fade back to where they came from. I considered giving feedback earlier before I finished the last story but glad I didn't because the last one brings everything full circle and confirmed the message that I had already gleaned from the author which is that a single moment in time can loom large enough to write an entire 500 page novel however when condensed into a few pages it cuts like a knife into the heart of a fellow lonely traveler.

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for providing me a copy of an ARC. All opinions are my own.

Resonant Blue and Other Stories is a short story collection featuring the themes of family, regrets, heartbreak, loss, and finding who you are. The author's prose was strong in each of the stories, and she used language to captivate the strong emotions of the themes. Most of the short stories in this collection had strong character work and plot, however, some stories were underdeveloped or not completed. The stories that stood out to me and was my favorite were "Cadmium," "Verdant Pastures," "Par Avion," and "What You Know."

This was poetically beautiful and the writing made me continue this book the most. It is clear how much word and thought was put into this. It emotionally pulled on my heart-strings a lot and I loved that a lot. Evoking emotion from readers I think is the highest compliment for an author and shows that the author has done their work so well.

A lyrical, beautiful collection of short stories written in a heart-warming, emotional manner. Stunning.