http://onlinebookclub.org/
"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned."
"Holding Fire" contains 10 short stories within the theme of the self-destructiveness of vengeance and hate. The stories were each carefully selected by a team of judges from nearly a thousand entries. The amazing stories in this book are completely exclusive to this book! You won't find them anywhere else. This book contains stories written by extremely talented up-and-coming writers. When you read this book, you are supporting these authors and helping make their well-deserved dreams come true. This book is the result of an exciting creative project. The 10 different authors featured in this powerful book are real people eager to have you read their work. The book comes with an invitation to discuss the short stories with the writers. Not only will you love the page-turning stories, but you will be helping support these talented, deserving independent writers! Stories by Maggie Stancu, Joy Meehan, Chris Chan, Isobel Sheene, Jessica Phillips, Tayah Reed, John Mallon, J.B. Rice, Kristi Hudecek-Ashwill, and Julieanne Swiatczak. 288 pages Published March 13th 2015 by OnlineBookClub.org http://forums.onlinebookclub.org/shelves/book.php?id=11070 My Review: When the Introduction started out by telling a realistic example of a woman who threw her computer out the window because it was running slow, I had assumed the following ten short stories would be a little humorous but real-life stories. The first story caught me off guard because of my though process in considering all the short stories to be real life events, so I was interested to see how they convinced someone admitting to a murder. As I continued reading I realized the introduction should have just been deleted because it took away for me from the rest of the stories. I had a four or five way tie between my favorite so overall I enjoyed the book and recommended it to others as well as gave synopsizes to my husband of some of my favorite. I ended up rating this three out of four stars. The entire book was portrayals of Self-Destruction and Anger, but I wasn’t expecting almost all to involve the same underlying plot of murder. I was interested to see what these authors could come up with as creative alternatives to showcase revenge other than murder. I enjoyed most because they held that epic beginning, detailed middle, and dramatic ending that was full of excitement and captivating. There were a few that I enjoyed less that felt like you missed half the story within the first paragraph, getting slammed with all this backstory that was mostly irrelevant, then ended like a cliffhanger. The following paragraphs are little mini reviews on each individual short story. Running with Guilt was the perfect opening short-story. It held my interest and led me to jump into the next head first. I loved how much depth it built in such a short time frame then how unexpected the ending was. Endings like this are the ones that make you think because you are not prepared for them and they happen so fast and with no build up you are left at the end with your mouth hanging open. Dog Eat Dog was a revenge story that I held pity for the character that was revenged against. I’ve dealt with rude coworkers before but it seems like you need to get to know them to possibly understand their viewpoints to see if they really are miserable in their lives or if there is a reason behind their actions. This was my least favorite story. It threw a curveball into the story at the end that just confused the story that I had built up in my head. I didn’t like the construction of this short story that made it too complicated of an ending. There was more effective, simpler ways to continue without the twist at the end. Death’s Door was entertaining. It was another murder mystery that held a good story line, but it was the construction that would keep this from becoming my favorite. The character relationships I was questioning till the end of the story which distracted me from the plot. The first person to me was a bit sloppy and undefined because it took me a while to realize who the heck was telling the story as it got into the interviews and the narrative thinking to himself and conversing didn’t flow smoothly for me. Vindictive was my perfect example of what a great short story is. It had a catchy beginning, held the readers interest and ended with a bang (not literally, no spoilers revealed). I enjoyed this read. It was the most realistic out of the few so far and in such a short story it created a relationship between the characters and the reader, which made you relate to what they were feeling and why they were reacting that way. Burden of a Soldier – The stories time frame caught be off guard after having the themes up to that point remaining similar. They were almost believable present time story lines then a medieval; fantasy based with a little more bloody description was thrown in where I wasn’t ready for it. The switch in story time lines made me uneasy, but the plot slowly gained my interest then fell flat and left me confused at the end. I was excited thinking how they could twist and maybe Romulus who always asked for help with his revenge after and was denied maybe was asking for the revenge on the revenger (basically for the guy to kill himself), I thought that would have been a fun direction but in all I was disappointed in the places of this story in the book and the plot all together. This was my least favorite. My Name is Finn seemed to have to worst positioning. You cannot end that story like they did then the next page on the eBook asks for a review. I wanted to vent out my frustration and give the entire book a bad rating because of that ending. I respected the plot but wish it was set with an older boy. I didn’t think it plausible a four-year old was being referenced to feeling empathy and consoling a neighbor and had enough mental capacity to understand that his wife had died and he was feeling lonely. I don’t like stories that in my mind stretch reality. The Unsuspecting Nature of Grief was refreshing. It all seemed to go a certain way, you followed happily along expecting a certain scenario then the story took a turn and you fell in love with the twist trying to keep up with how different the direction had gone. I would love to see some of her other stories. Ghostwriter was intense, and to me it read like a movie. I loved the pun in the title. It was hard to imagine that intense of a reaction to the situation that unfolded so that held me back from falling too far in love with this story. Also I really wanted a different ending and was a little sad the main event in the story happened in the first few paragraphs and the story was really just the reaction of the after blow. I really wanted the story to end differently with the wife seeking her own revenge since out of all the characters, if I was her I would have beat down a motel room door, an office door, and many other things to rip the husband a new one. Life is a Great Teacher I enjoyed. I actually thought it held a bit of humor to it with how assumptions can make a situation worse and everyone had heard stories about crazy mother-in-laws. I loved how it circled back around and completed itself. I enjoyed how it had two different directions at the beginning that blended together perfectly. Do Seconds Even Matter seemed like a twisted kind of inspirational plot. I didn’t like that they kept the disease a mystery for so long and I was so caught up in the illusion of what was wrong with her mom that I was distracted from the story. I was actually a little pissed how it ended because who in their right mind would still have empathy towards her after what she did. The character must have had some serious brain damage done along with all the other broken parts of him. |