An absolute delight! I read somewhere that short stories are very tricky and hard to get right. Katherine Heiny hit the short story genre out of the park. I was immediately invested in Chicken Flavored and Lemon Scented. I could have easily taken a whole book on this DMV crew. What she covered in just a few short pages was wonderful and left an impression on me. Another notable one I keep thinking about is CoBra, I found this one relatable in many different aspects. She captures human nature and shared it in a way that is beautiful yet simple. If you like character driven stories that are a bit lighthearted I definitely recommend this collection.

I really enjoyed Games and Rituals, I think that the stories were very well paced and I was engaged right from the start. It was great to see such a range of characters and emotions throughout the novel, I would definitely pick up more of Heiny’s work!

Katherine Heiny remains one of my favorite authors, and for good reason - she captures small moments of humanity in such a beautiful, simple way. I could re-read these stories a hundred times over and get something new out of each one every time.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-copy.

This is a really good collection of short stories. Pithy, serene, shimmering in sadness. Observations of human behavior is so spot on here. I really enjoyed it. I’m not a huge fan of short stories but these are were refreshing!

Early Morning Riser was one of my favorite books I read in 2021 so I was so excited to read this new short story collection by Katherine Heiny, and it did not disappoint.

Games and Rituals is a short story collection with eleven stories, all with very endearing and unique characters in interesting situations. I was so impressed with Katherine Heiny's ability and skill to create fully formed characters and get me invested in them in the course of a short stories. Each one felt like a full and complete story, and although I would have spent longer with any of the characters, I felt like I got a good conclusion to their situation. Each story had the magic that I found in Early Morning Riser.

I felt like I could see myself in so many of these characters, especially Rachel in CobRa with her excessive purging of possessions.

One of my favorite stories is Turn back, Turn back - captured Lindy so well, and the feeling of having young children and a faltering relationship.

The story Pandemic Behavior brought me right back to the start of the pandemic and all the feelings of uncertainty.

Another thing I loved about all these stories were the clothing descriptions - so vivid and so easy to picture.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

Hello, you need this in your life. Katherine Heiny is so smart, creative, practical, empathetic, and funny. These stories are heartfelt and wonderfully done. They get to the core of the human experience while also maintaining hopefulness and hilarity in the face of some mundane and even sad moments in life. I will read anything Heiny writes!

A great collection of well-written and interesting short stories, many of which you are sorry to see end and wish they would keep going to see what happens next! Although all of the stories are different and very unique, each seems to focus on relationships — or connections. This is an easy-to-read collection that in a fun and smart way looks at commonplace people navigating life. There is not one story that I disliked, and as a whole the stories provided for a very engaging read.

Katherine Heiny does it again. I was initially bummed to see this was a collection of short stories rather than a novel but all was quickly forgiven.

Heiny has a distinctive style that I love and I could easily pick her work out of a lineup. Much like "Standard Deviation" and "Early Morning Riser," these stories focus on flawed individuals (usually women) with big personalities and all have incredible charm and wistfulness. I don't care if it's corny to say so, but Heiny's writing embraces readers like a warm hug. I often tell my patrons at the library that her work reminds me so much of the television show "Northern Exposure" - full of lovable, flawed characters bumbling through amusing circumstances.

"Games and Rituals" had me laughing out loud and eager for more. The only downside to this collection is that almost every story left me wanting more. Any one of the chapters could easily be spun out into a full-length novel that I'd read. But kudos to Heiny for keeping her work tight, tidy, and impactful.

Nothing but love for "Games and Rituals"! I will be recommending this title and likely re-reading it once it's released in April.

I really enjoyed it! Every now and then I am keen to pick up a short story anthology and this did the trick.

Stories focused on the core human experiences of living, loving, and interacting with everyone around us. Relationships are complex and messy, and this feeling was poignantly captured across each of the stories. Some anthologies can read as disjointed, but this collection does a wonderful job of articulating these universal themes across different settings and viewpoints.

Some of my favourite stories were "Turn Back, Turn Back", "Bridesmaids Revisted", and "CoBra", each exploring jealously and regret across romantic and platonic relationships.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This, unfortunately, was a DNF for me. The writing was done well, but it helped me realize that I’m not a short story fan. I wanted more from the stories that I read, I wanted to know what happened to the characters and their lives. Anyone who likes short stories should check it out though, as the writing is strong and the stories were interesting. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

This was a good collection of short stories-slice of life type stories. I wasn't overly enamored with the writing BUT the stories were interesting and had some great characters. I would recommend this collection, my brain has just been ruined by reading Elizabeth Strout's short stories which are so perfect they have ruined me for anything else ever again.

Thank you so much to the publisher and netgalley for the arc.

This one is different than my usual reads, but still kept me entertained! It provides an interesting take on some of the author's experiences.

This book made me LMAO, for libraries with a strong short story readership a must purchase, a second round purchase for all other types.

Games and Rituals is a series of short stories uncovering the nuances of different yet familiar versions of love in relationships–between parent and child, ex-partners, platonic friends, and more. The stories really get into the imperfections and wounds of being human and the complexities of choice and coincidence (or fate?).

I'm a big fan of short story collections and contemporary fiction so this was right up my alley. Some stories were more impactful than others but I found the characters to be well developed, to the point I was sympathizing with the not-so-great characters. The author's writing style is amusing, sentimental and gets just below the surface–enough where you want to just sit with the stories a bit before moving on. The stories are honest but still feel light-hearted for some interesting, somewhat controversial and heavy topics.

A few short stories that stood out to me were CoBra–a newly-converted devotee of the KonMari method becomes the latest fixation as a ritual of distraction; Turn Back, Turn Back–a family with rituals and traditions in place but fate (?) has its own plan; and Bridesmaid, Revisited–memories of deep-rooted emotions and games played between unlikely and mismatched friends. Honourable mention also goes to Pandemic Behavior for the strong imagery and anecdotes for someone who suffers from chronic migraines. The stories that didn't resonate with me felt almost like a filler episode of your favourite tv shows, where it was not as plot-driven and I find this doesn't engage me in a short story.

Thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced digital copy.

Though the short stories did not appeal to me, I still recommend this collection of short stories for readers who love literary fiction.

This collection of short stories is well written and I learned something new.

Highly recommended for fans of Eat, Pray, Love type of stories.

I wish some books that I've read that I had written them; this book is no different. A book filled with so much humour, at times sadness, but those are the elements that made the book real, human, and its characters all the more relatable.

All stories had their highlights, but albeit some of them interested me more. "Damascus" obviously was amazing. It talked about Mia's relationship with her son Gordey, and how she was an overbearing mother, not trusting her son, given that she had made a lot of bad decisions when she was a teenager, and how learned to overcome them and also her insecurity as a mother.

Another story that striked through me was "Twist and Shout". I always imagine how will my parents be when they grow old, and how I never want to be irritated by them or annoyed just because they're stubborn, and not being caring to them. But, Ms. Heiny depicted it so well and she calmed my doubts a lot, so thank you.

"Turn Back, Turn Back" Lindy finds out that her husband has hurt her, and I liked how the author wrote her sheer disbelief, and how she couldn't accept that something in particular was happening. And I felt inexpicably sorry that this happened to her.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. The book comes out on April 18th, don't even think of missing it!

4! Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

As a huge fan of Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny I was excited to read this short story collection and boy did it not disappoint! Witty, and unique with threads of darkness woven seamlessly.

I did feel that the stories started off strong but towards the latter half they fell slightly flat for me.

Games and Rituals is the first book I've read by Katherine Heiny and I really enjoyed her writing style I found it very unique and even blunt in a way. I'm usually not a big fan of short stories as I feel there's not enough time to truly connect and learn about the characters but Heiny makes it work and you truly get to learn about the personality and inner working of the characters. As expected I did enjoy some stories more than others and I found the first to be the best, I also thought some fell a bit flat and were a bit boring, they just didn't work however I do think there is an audience for me it's just a matter of preference. Overall I think this is a good set of short stories and I would recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc!

Games and Rituals is the first book I've read by Katherine Heiny, and I found that I really like her writing style. Though these were short stories, Katherine did an excellent job getting the reader immersed in each story, like they were longer form. Described as "Eleven glittering stories of love" is where this fell short for me. Most of the stories were... bad vibes. Really well-written bad vibes. It would be more accurate to say that these are "Eleven complicated stories of love", in my opinion.

My favourite story was CoBra, likely because of the ending. The story Pandemic Behaviour was definitely met with mixed emotions, mainly character driven. Dr. Ventura gives me the ick and Professor Rossignol gives me Tuesdays with Morrie vibes. There were some good quotable lines throughout the book, but you'll have to wait and see!

Overall, I would recommend this book but would caveat that this isn't necessarily a feel-good read.

While I am not generally a short story fan, I truly enjoyed this collection. It was easy to get into these since the first story drew me in so completely (an office tale about driving instructors which goes a very different way than expected). Each story kept me coming back until the end; they were like little snacks that I could dip into every night before bed. The exploration of difference facets of humanity was wonderful – a snapshot of the human condition in creative ways.

Truly an enjoyable treat I recommend to everyone.

Thank You to NetGalley, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, Knopf for the advanced copy to review