really enjoyed going through this collection of stories, each was really well done and I enjoyed going through this.

EVERYONE WORTH KNOWING by author Jeff Richards is a collection of short stories that all have a central theme in that they are based on men who are defined by their relationships (usually with the women in their life), and often their true characteristics are defined by things that happen at formative times along the way.

Several of these stories end in such a way that a decision is made that will shape their lives and the lives of those they are in relationships with going forward, sometimes for better and other times for worse based on the motivation for the decisions that have been made.

I enjoyed this book as it was interesting, and some of the abrupt endings with unexpected results kept this one interesting with some of the stories still fresh in my memory because of their conclusion.

4 stars.

Thanks to NetGally for a chance to read what sounded like an interesting collection of stories from Jeff Richards. The thematic glue is male nastiness, or so it feels to this reader. There is enough variety of setting, age and life circumstances to suggest that the author has what it takes to flesh out any of the tales into a longer and more nuanced work. Unfortunately, none of the boys/men seem to learn from mistakes so reading the collection was pretty depressing.

Not only am I the first to rate and review this one, I even had to create a listing for it, something that really seems like it ought to be an author or a publisher’s job. But here we are, the book is now officially in existence, let’s talk about whether this book is worth getting to know…
This was an interesting and surprisingly decent quality wise collection of short stories exploring the subject of masculinity at various ages and stations in life. I’ve never heard of the author, though according to his bio his writing’s kind of all over the map from essays to cowboy poetry whatever that may be. And with these random finds, you never know what you might end up with. In this case, it was a mostly pleasant surprise. There’s a definite style here, laconic, short sentences, matter of fact approach to emotions that is very much in line with the theme. And while not all of the stories worked for me, there were some pretty good ones. From boyhood to youth to old fools, romantically and otherwise challenged, juggling obligations and responsibilities or occasionally just ditching it all for a chance at a cowboy life, these stories do their best to encompass a wide variety of men doing men things and reckoning with the very meaning of being a man, and ideally a good one. All in all, pretty good. And slim enough to not overstay its welcome. Thanks Netgalley.