Review:

Montgomery rarely disappoints, even when she's so darn-gone sappy.

Pre-Review Statement:

Because I had such fun and success while reading one story each from Christmas with Anne and Other Holiday Stories and My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories during the days leading up to Christmas, and because I have too many unread anthologies (many of which are by Montgomery), I've decided to do a similar idea and read one short story each day for the entirety of the year (or until I run out of anthologies) in order to further crush my backlog this year.

Will I fail? Yes. I forgot/was too tired to read many times during this holiday season, but I always put the effort the next day to read up on what I missed in addition to what I was supposed to read that day. And that's okay. Because I didn't berate myself when I just didn't have the energy to read. I just let myself enjoy the fact that I would have a little extra to soak into the next day. Because I did really, really enjoy those two anthologies mentioned at the top, and I loved spending time with them a little each day.

Anyway, that's a long convoluted way of saying I'll be reading this one periodically through the month.

2.5 stars

I know these stories were all published at different times and for various magazines, and it doesn't bother me that LMM recycled her own plots for so many tales. But putting SO MANY similar stories in the same anthology probably didn't serve them well. Most of the stories are nice enough individually, but by the fourth or fifth orphan-coincidentally-finds-long-lost-family tale I was growing bored.

There were a few stories that didn't seem so fill-in-the-blanks, and these were usually the best ones:
-Charlotte's Quest
-Marcella's Reward(another one of the formulaic plots, but fleshed out to better effect than the others)
-Freda's Adopted Grave
-Miss Sally's Company
-Charlotte's Ladies

3.5 stars, really. This isn't a bad book by any means. It's a perfect read for a time in my life when everything is too hectic for a full novel. The stories are short and sweet and lovely. I didn't adore it but it's a good book.

I wrote a review but it is lost to time and I don’t feel like writing another. It’s a nice book.

"M I think I've read all of her books that are available here. What a delight they were!"

Especially loved Charlotte's Quest, love the feeling of that grey house with the door like a cat's tongue.

I know the short stories compiled here were originally published in a number of different magazines, but reading them all at once made the stories seem recycled. Orphan has a lonely and hard life and by some amazing coincidence bumps into the only blood relative they have in the entire world (long lost, naturally). I loved the Anne of Green Gables series, but found the stories here seemed to be the same story over and over with just the names changed.

3.5

Beautiful short stories written by the exceptional good author L. M. Montgomery. The places she describes are beautiful and yet so familiar. All her characters, except for one, are kindred spirits. They are all nice, lonely fellows with honest, big hearts, who go thru hard times in their lives until they find happiness. Just like our dear Anne had. On the negative side, all these stories follow the same pattern: poor orphan who makes some mischief, until he/she has feelings of remorse, comes clean; some lady/gentleman sees her/him and goes "oh, she/he looks so much like XXXX... my dear, what was the maiden name of your mother?", our MC's reply and then "then you are my cousin/niece/daughter-son of my dear friend" etc., so our lovely character finds her/his HEA, with a family to love and cherish.

Only one story left me "huh??", which is The Softening of Miss Cynthia. I thought my copy was incomplete (since I bought an used book) but no, no pages were missing, so I assume that this story is incomplete. Other than that, I recommend this to anyone who is fan of LMM and who don't mind "recycled" patterns.

I don't think I've read this one, yet.

Short stories about orphans. Although nice, most were somewhat predictable (happy endings somehow) so there wasn't the depth that LM Montgomery's other orphan books bring. I'm sure a younger read would really love it.

Yep, still on a L.M. Montgomery kick. This is a collection of her short stories, or boilerplates. The stories, of course, all had more than happy endings and fantastic resolutions. But I enjoyed it as some light reading anyway. It was nice to read something other than her novels (which I enjoy as well).

Really enjoyed reading the stores about orphans.