Book Review: Stories I Can't Show My Mother

Stories I Can’t Show My Mother by Ann Tinkham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A few gems, a dud, and some typical anthology stories. Here’s my thoughts on each of them:

Story #1 - Direct Deposit
The end of this story is highly unlikely; but it’s kind of cute that our MC is so uncomfortable with the idea of a sperm donor.

"She was someone who wasn’t afraid to use words such as “masturbation,”“ejaculation,” and "sperm count." The words sounded a little less obscene when said with a British accent."

Story # 2 - Needle Man Sticks Bat Girl

"But it was hard to find bat cave jobs, unless one were an animated character in Gotham City. Which I’m not, unfortunately."

Damn. I wish I was an animated character in Gotham too. But my gal won’t have a bat cave; she’ll have a fun house.

Story #3 - Chairs in Air
"People expected or at least weren’t shocked when artists were nonplussed, anarchic, and chaotic."
This one is short and yet it feels like a love story I might actually like to read. Dang.

Story #4 - The Sweetness of Salt
This story is funny, yet genuine in a ‘everyone’s life is like this’ kind of way. . An erotica writer who is tired of finding alternate words for penis has had enough.

"She wondered if she would ever be able to rescue her sex life from the pages of romantica writing."

Story #5 - Static Breakdown

"What the hell is an oxymoron? An idiot on Oxycontin?"

I suppose prostitutes aren’t the most educated of society?
This is a dirty story and I can’t really figure out the point except that sex gives women power over men. Meh.

Story #6 - Fourth Step Tango

"I didn’t want to let him off the hook that easily. One simple phone call in exchange for my virginity?"

I’m so with this chick. The resolution or absolution piece of therapy when you’ve been an awful human being to someone never, ever feels fair to the victim.

Story #7 - Fly me to the Moon
All this story did for me was get Sinatra stuck in my head and wonder why I was reading an outline of what could be a good book. There’s no real substance here, even as a short story.
However, I’d love to read this novel if it was expanded out properly.

Story #8 - He Brings Me Flowers
The longest story by far. Two women, both being used by a narcissistic man, one is the wife one is girlfriend. Lots to unpack here. In the end it’s about women standing strong. And this one truth; I've been in meetings where this actually happened:

"Her take-away: never duck out of a meeting; you will always be assigned the most unpleasant tasks."

Story #9 - The Magician
I could someone injecting some magic into my work situation right now. Too bad magicians with parrots who wear pirate eye patches aren’t found everyday. 😉

Story #10 - Cabin Pressure
Whew, steamy. Great little turn you on story.

Story #11 - The Horse Whisperer
A bit of an odd story.
By having this story last, it’s clear that the idea behind this anthology is to slowly bring the reader through a sense of restraint into freedom.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

Follow me on Goodreads