“Peatsmoke & Primroses”

by Fiona Johnson

7 pages, 3 stories (“Love of My Life”, “Together”, “The Whisky Island”)

$0.99, Amazon

 First, I want to start out by saying that I normally am not into romances, beyond a while of reading my Mom’s Daniel Steel novels.

I don’t think these are what most people mean by romantic short stories. They are instead, in my humble opinion, clever flights of human emotion, all related to each other by romance.

Are they good? Yes. Easy to dive into, immediately engaging, sufficiently sharp to make you pay attention, and provoking. Kind of like romance-novel potato chips.

Are they short? Very. Short enough, in fact, that in every case I was really felt like “where is the rest of the story… it was getting really good!”

The writing is solid, the imagery succinct, the characters captivating, the emotions clear and believable and Fiona Johnson’s talent is unquestionable. Three well composed reads, no questions.

The problem I have is that while the maxim of a great performance is “always leave them wanting more”, in this case, it just left me feeling unsatisfied. Charge me $2, make the stories twice as long, and I think I would be happier for it.

I suspect I am missing the point. I encourage you to spend the buck and let me know.