Name: Stella's review of Together, Apart by Erin A. Craig
Item: Together, Apart
Rating: 5
Author: Stella

Erin A. Craig

Rachael Lippincott

Bill Konigsberg

Natasha Preston

Sajni Patel

Brittney Morris

Erin Hahn

Jennifer Yen

Auriane Desombre

A collection of teenage love stories set during life in lockdown during the COVID-19 epidemic. There's flirting and romance through window signs and over Skype and Zoom. There's a determined girl with a mask-making business, and two boys who meet through socially distant dog-walks. It's about finding love in unexpected place during an unprecedented time. In other words, it's like real life

Together, Apart

Cody

So cute amazing and all the characters where amazing and they where so cute and idk it was a really good collection of short stories by some really good authors 

Stella

Hannah DCamp

Overall it was a decent collection of stories. They were engaging and the characters were fun. Some of them didn't vibe with me, but I suspect that has more to do with me being old and bitter, and less to do with the quality of the storytelling (which was just fine). Also, I don't think a book that dredges up all the politics of the pandemic is something I'll ever enjoy reading - that wasn't it's goal, but every time someone mentioned social distancing or masking up or sanitizing their groceries it added tension in my shoulders (which were probably already very tense tbf). There was a bit I really liked, where one character got upset about the front desk lady's comment about covid, calling it "callous and cruel." I was all salty at the character, because this was exactly the kind of instant judgement I'm tired of in our current society; then on the very next page the other character got to narrate, and he mentioned how the front desk lady (who he knew personally) was intensely anxious about the virus, and how she had been anxious about germs before this happened and everything had amped up for her. That was a nice little reminder to the reader to be more gracious with strangers instead of making assumptions about them, but it was the only moment of that nature that I liked. Also the moment didn't endear me to the first character, who I was already struggling to connect with.

Anywho, enough rambling. What's more irritating than reading a book rife with covid commentary? Reading a review rife with commentary on the covid commentary 😁 I did mini reviews for each story, because I don't know about you, but one of my least favorite things about anthologies is getting jump scared by a story.

Love, Delivered: Kinda cute. Makes moving sound appealing, which is definitely a me problem, the mc didn't think it sounded appealing at all. Just mmmmm unpacking a kitchen mmmm. Never will I ever call a pizza place to try to get with the pizza guy (although I did consider flirting with my mail man during the lockdown soooo).

The Socially Distant Dog-Walking Brigade: At first I thought he was annoying, but the MC's voice really grew on me as the story went on. I love the concept of a random group of people becoming dog-walking friends.

One Day: I am far too old for this nonsense. I had trouble engaging with the MC's turn of phrase, and also the ever present TikTok was off-putting as always. It was cute overall I suppose.

The Rules of Comedy: Aaaaand this one starts off with some anti-millenial antagonism 😅 I'll have you know that I get my TikToks off of Instagram like all good millennials should. All that aside, I wasn't convinced by the MC (very immature, she was more annoying than relatable), and there was (again) too much emphasis on the TikTok.

The New Boy Next Door: Easily my favorite so far. The setting was fun, the characters were fun, the romance was instalove-y, but knew that and owned it. Also books (and Twilight) and a neighborhood with strong community vibes.

Love With a Side of Fortune: Cute. I want fried rice now.

The Green Thumb War: I thought she owned a dog, and I nearly died when it jumped from ONE BUILDING TO ANOTHER 😵 Bastion's old man frog has my whole heart tho. Also the verb "to huck" is one I've only ever heard a very dear friend use, so it made me smile. The story itself was cute and made me want lasagna.

Stuck With Her: Not for me. Hard pass on all counts. Roommate who eats your food? Not endearing. Roommate who plays loud music at 3am because they're lonely and decide to be selfish about it? Not endearing. Incredibly reminiscent of a really stupid house I lived in during grad school. No, I did not end up falling in love for any of my roommates, I was too busy trying to get away from them as soon as possible. Also the evil fundamentalist Christian parents made an appearance, but oh, this time they're Catholic too? So we're just hitting all the stereotypes because it's easiest that way. Might be cute if you like toxic roommates.

Masked: THIS WAS THE FAVE. I'd give this one four stars all by itself. Maybe it was the White Christmas references (because 100% yes, Rosemary Clooney's dress in that scene is to die for), but also there's something about people essentially being penpals to lovers - it's a favorite rare trope of mine. Also celebrities finding real friendships/true love brings me joy; I always worry that they're in such a lonely profession. I actually gasped at the confession (silly, I know 🤭)

*I could really go for being locked up in my house for several months right about now (obviously without all the other nonsense). I wish I could do that for a living, but unfortunately one has to make money somehow. Darn money.

Vivi

no lo pude terminar. no es malo, pero no soy su target and that's okay

Courtney 

june

3.5 stars 
1. Together, Apart tells short rom-com stories that take place during quarantine. 
Love, Delivered 4/5 - this was my 3rd favorite story to read. Millie spent her time alone in the house while her parents are working in the hospital. She meets a friend and they spent time together. It was soo cute, I like the part where she ordered 2 chocolate cakes for a date with him who turned out to be the delivery guy. 

2. The socially distant dog-walking brigade 3/5 

3. One day 5/5 - THEY'RE SO PERFECT, like when she threw her shoe across to ask him to keep his music down and won't return it until she agrees to give him her number. 

4. The rules of comedy 2.5/5 - My 2nd least favorite, the main character is asking for her sibling's help to ask her crush out, but I felt like TikTok wasn't the right method to do it. 

5. the new boy next door 4/5 - I was originally gonna give this three stars but I felt like their whole interaction made me smile a lot

6. Love with a side of fortune 3.5 - My second favorite !! Her aunt talked about her niece finding love then BOOM! classmates reunion at the restaurant where she works at. Her mum was there and she asks her daughter to stop seeing him because of the fear of heartbreak so she asks her friend to cover for her so they could go on an aquarium date (me n who)

7. the green thumb war 2/5 - meh

8. stuck with her 3.5/5 - funny interactions between two girls who stays in one dorm together 

9. masked 2/5 - meh

Tamara Turner

I love the concept of this book and the stories were beautifully written, with some golden moments in between.
The book contains 9 short stories taking place during quarantine that (pretty much always) finish with the 2 MCs in love.(Was that a spoiler...?I mean, kinda, but not really).
The main problem with these short stories is that they're short, leaving you hanging.
We have the new girl in town and the pizza guy; the two dog owners; the 'enemies', even the ~roommates~.

Lauren Sullivan

Content warnings: (view spoiler)[mention of past self-harm, social anxiety, homophobia (by another character, off-page), misgendering (by another character, off-page), accidental injury (broken wrist and glass in foot), kid getting kicked out of home due to homophobia, panic attack (on-page)  (hide spoiler)]

That cover is super cute and, honestly, who could say no to a bunch of pandemic meet-cutes? I hadn’t read most of these authors before, so I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked this anthology – and now I have a whole bunch of new authors’ backlists to check out!

“Love, Delivered” – Erin A. Craig – ★★★★

Millie and her parents have just moved to a new house in Michigan, one that’s so out in the boonies that it has no cell reception or any food delivery options beyond pizza. With her parents gone all day working at the local hospital, no way to get into town for groceries and nothing to do but unpack, Millie strikes up a friendship – and a mild flirtation – with the pizza delivery kid over basketball and books. It’s cute and I thought it showed Millie’s frustrations – moving during a pandemic, missing her friends, being home alone without her parents in a new place – well.

“The Socially Distant Dog-Walking Brigade” – Bill Konigsberg – ★★★★

Kaz already has a hard time talking to people, so when his dog Griffin pees all over another another dog walker he just met… well, apparently he can just never go to that dog park again. But he keeps running into Daxton and his dog Squirrel on their daily walks, and suddenly they’re walking together every day. This was cute and absolutely hilarious at points, but also a lot heavier between Kaz’s social anxiety and their discussions of their parents’ casual homophobia/transphobia.

“One Day” – Sajni Patel – ★★★★★

All Bobby’s trying to do when she goes out on the balcony is escape her family and their claustrophobic apartment so her headache will go away. That’s her only explanation for why, when the boy in the building next to her won’t stop playing his guitar, she throws her sneaker at him. Now the boy’s serenading her sneaker and refusing to give it back… unless she gives him her number. This was just over-the-top rom-com hijinks adorable and uplifting.

“The Rules of Comedy” – Auriane Desombre – ★★★

Finding out her chem partner, who she’s been crushing over all year, is gay is the best thing that happened to Harper since the pandemic started. But how can her boring old self ever attract bubbly, hilarious Alyssa’s attention? Obviously the only solution is to convince her comedy major older sister to help her make a viral TikTok. This was cute, but for whatever reason (maybe because I’m old?) the whole viral TikTok/”I’m not funny enough!” thing didn’t work for me.

“The New Boy Next Door” – Natasha Preston – ★★★

Two weeks into the lockdown, and Quinn is officially obsessed with the new boy next door, Archer. Problem is, she can’t seem to actually get him to talk to her – all he seems capable of doing is scowling. While I enjoy a good grumpy hero, something about this story just didn’t work for me. The neighborhood’s a little too perfect and I couldn’t buy how quickly Quinn and Archer connected.

“Love with a Side of Fortune” – Jennifer Yen – ★★★★

Michelle’s pandemic “break” has been spent working at her family’s restaurant. Between that and her mom’s fortune teller’s prediction that her next year will be not great, the last thing she expects is to see her crush, high school swim team star, Evan, picking up some broccoli beef. Before she knows it, Evan’s picking up food every night and they’re chatting like friends. But will the fortune teller’s prediction mean that any relationship between them is doomed before it starts? This one was so funny, and I loved how awkward Michelle was with Evan initially.

“The Green Thumb War” – Brittney Morris – ★★★★★

Billie’s therapist has suggested she start growing plants on their balcony to help her deal with the stress of living in an apartment during the pandemic. What doesn’t help her stress is when her cat leaps across the balcony to the next apartment over and injures the cute boy who lives there. While the meet-cute was the absolute most ridiculous of all of the stories, I loved how this one had both Billie and Sebastian’s POVs. Billie is so ice-cold while Sebastian is just absolutely adorable while trying to get her number, and I couldn’t even.

“Stuck with Her” – Rachael Lippincott – ★★★

Allie is regretting not getting on-campus housing for her sophomore year even more now that she’s stuck with her roommate Mia. She’s messy and loud, but at least now she can’t have her equally annoying friends over for parties every Saturday. Though she seems to be doing her best to make up for that by playing music at 3am every morning. I wanted to like this one – especially since it was the only one involving college students – but Mia was just too annoying for me.

“Masked” – Erin Hahn – ★★★★

Gray has developed quite the crush on Jude while chatting online with him about making masks for his uncle’s employees. After she finally meets him, the crush gets even worse, especially since he looks like her favorite contestant on a reality show. Maybe… too much like that contestant? OK, this one seriously strained my suspension of disbelief, but it was so adorable and well-written (and dual POV again!) that I honestly couldn’t care. I’ve read the author before and absolutely loved her writing style, so honestly, liking this one was no surprise for me. I loved the focus on music.

Overall, for the most part, the stories in this anthology really worked for me. I’m certainly far (far!) outside of the target age range, but the characters’ pandemic frustrations and hopes still spoke to me. Even better, I’ve found several new authors to look up!

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Renee Delcourt

This was a very quick and heartwarming anthology about the pandemic and people still finding ways to fall in love while living in a time of social distancing. So many things were cute about this and while not all stories were interesting to me I think all the different authors bring something new and unique to the table. Highly recommend if your looking for a way to find new authors you haven't read before and get a feel for their writing and story telling.

Lisa Beasley

Story 1 - Love Delivered by Erin A Craig: I thought this was a really cute story, I would have loved to read a longer one actually as I really wanted to follow the characters more. 4.5 stars

Story 2 - The Socially Distant Dog-Walking Brigade by Bil Konigsberg: This was really sweet, I mean who doesnt adore a gay love story with dogs! It's like the best thing ever, I really liked how they got to know each other. 4 stars

Story 3 - One Day by Sajni Patel: This was very cute but I didn't connect to the characters quite as much as the previous two stories. Still enjoyable though 3.5 stars

Story 4 - The Rules of Comedy by Auriance Desombre: I loved the siblings but I think, not being enamoured with the whole tiktok thing, it just wasnt for me. 3 stars

Story 5 - The New Boy Next Door by Natasha Preston: I didn't expect to like this one as much as I did but it was lovely and made me want to live in that neighbourhood. It's how I wish all people had reacted to the pandemic. Maybe could have done with less Twilight references though. 4 stars

Story 6 - Love with a Side of Fortune by Jennifer Yen: Aww so cute! The only thing that let this down was the lack of social distancing by the main characters, it made me wince a bit and the mother was the most annoying ever. 3 stars

Story 7 - The Green Thumb War by Brittney Morris: This was adorable, I love the idea of two people each with their own issues becoming unlikely friends. 4.5 stars

Story 8 - Stuck with Her by Rachael Lippincott: Cute idea but I think would definitely have worked better as a longer story as this felt really rushed. 3 stars

Story 9 - Masked by Erin Hahn: You perhaps need to suspend your disbelief a bit but its fun and sweet and made me smile. Both characters are adorable. 4 stars

Overall I enjoyed all of these stories and its so lovely to see such positivity coming from such a difficult time. Perfect quarantine romcom. I recommend it for some light cute reading.

Cody &
Together, Apart by Erin A. Craig

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