I loved this so much. I love the flash fiction and short story form and I loved that it was all about one place. It reminded me of the movie 20 bucks. Very cool. Well done.

Five Minutes at Hotel Stormcove is a short story anthology featuring 61 authors. All genres are represented. Writing styles greatly differ. It's a most unusual and unique collection with a fascinating thought provoking premise, which I'm not going to tell you because it would spoil it. While I didn't connect with every story, some were excellent and resonated with me. One aspect that makes anthologies such as this one successful is the inclusive variety. No matter your taste or preference, there is a story here for you. The bigger picture of this collection spans a massive range of complexity and dynamism that is impressively framed and bursting with vivid creativity. I highly recommend if you simply want something truly different. Don't be deterred by the possible idiosyncrasies found here. They are actually quite entertaining and immersive. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

*Possible spoilers ahead*

Thank you to Netgalley and Atthis for the advanced copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

I don't usually read books of short stories, but I thought this was a fantastic one! What made it really special to me was the idea behind gathering the stories, and the criteria for the authors to follow. I was pulled in from the first short story, about robots, which I found whimsical. I just wished there had been more to it!

I enjoyed the following short stories: "You Can't Go Back," by Ellen Meny; "Dragon in the Cove," by L.S. Reinholt and Minerva Cerridwen; "Playing in the Snow," by Karen Black; "Cash, Card, Or My Unholy Offspring," by F E Norley; "Room Special," by Jakob Drud; and "How To Hide A Body," by Ruth Olson.

Extra special to me, were "Stormcove Hotel" by Karen Giery; and "The Opaque Oasis," by Marsalis, for different reasons. Marsalis's story broke my heart in many shattered pieces. Despite the 'five minutes' between the characters, I felt every bit of emotion and was left melted and weeping in the end.

I loved Karen Giery's story because, at eight-years-old, this young lady deserves recognition for a short but very moving contribution to the book.

I appreciated the differing stories, and especially the tidbits of information at the end of the stories, about the authors. I found it helpful, such as in Karen Giery's story, to know a little bit about them and how they related to their story. Without knowing that Karen was eight, for instance, I might have questioned the content. Despite another review in which the reader discredited the importance of an author's age, I found it to be relevant to the book and the stories within.

There were some stories I read that I did not enjoy, which is to be expected when there are multiple genres, content, and voices. But I appreciated the diversity of the stories as well, including the heartbreaking story by Marsalis.

The one and only reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 was because I had difficulty finding the point of some of the stories, and/or didn't appreciate how some of them ended. But that doesn't mean they were written poorly or anything, it's just my personal view.

If you enjoy books of short stories, or have never read one and might be interested, this is a good book to read. You'll love some, you'll dislike some, but overall I think you will have an appreciation for many of the authors in the book, as well as the unique idea behind the stories and, further, the variety of stories that will give you a new world each time with the same Hotel.

Side note: I hope that Karen Giery will be encouraged to continue writing. You did a wonderful job.

Thank you again, EDE Bell, Atthis Arts, and Netgalley, for the fun read. I look forward to placing the physical book in my collection.

This review will also be placed on my Goodreads and Instagram accounts

I didn’t read every story in this collection and skipped around a bit but the ones I did read were great. I love the premise of this anthology and was really impressed to see it pulled off so well.

I usually do not read many short story collections of any sort, mostly because I am more accustomed to longer sagas spanning a longer period of time. It gives me time to sink in and familiarize myself with the people. That said, I think that writing a short story must be as difficult as writing an extremely large series because, within the span of a few pages, a lot of impact worthy events and people need to be depicted effectively. 

This is a collection which sixty-one people came together in one book! If I had known the number before, I might have been put off from reading it but I did not know and did read it, which in turn turned out to be a whole new reading experience. The basis of each story is a hotel called Stormcove in the US (as of this time period but the status changes as do the years and 'worlds' surrounding the tales). The stories range from pre-historic to extreme futures, authors range from really young to much older. The author's descriptions by themselves were entertaining enough to be just read on their own. I enjoyed most of the stories, although with a collection as large as this there are bound to be a few that did not appeal to me personally. Even if I did not enjoy a story here or there, I did enjoy the intelligence required to put together such tales where the main theme is acceptance and helpfulness and peppered with a subtle sense of humour (for many stories). This entire collection is definitely worth the time invested in reading it.

It was sometimes surprising to see how people from different backgrounds and parts of the world could draw similar inspiration when provided with a framework to work within. This is a fact even with genres that do not remotely resemble each other.

I highly recommend this book (releasing on May7th 2019) to those who like anthologies of any form or like the idea of reading multiple genres (almost) simultaneously.