L.M. Montgomery always feels nostalgic and melancholy in a sweet way to me. Love this last book of hers!

Of course these are as delightful as you expect from the writer of Anne of Green Gables.

3.5 stars

These anthologies of rediscovered L.M.M short stories can be a very mixed bag, but The Doctor's Sweetheart and Other Stories has a respectable ratio of good to "meh" stories compared to some others. Most of the stories here are romance-centered, or at least had a minor romantic element. They tend to be predictable(some more than others) but typically satisfying. A couple of them, like "The Parting of the Ways" and "Kismet", depart more from the usual formulas and are all the more interesting for it. There are a few that missed the mark for me, but most of the stories are ones I enjoyed to some extent. And if the last story, "I Know a Secret", seems eerily familiar to you, that is because it is basically the same story as Nan's switched-at-birth chapter in Anne of Ingleside. At first I assumed that this story was copied from the sixth Anne novel, but it is actually the other way around since "I Know a Secret" was published in 1935, four years BEFORE Anne of Ingleside. Either way, it's weird to be reading the exact same story but with some different names. There are even whole passages that are identical word-for-word outside of the names being changed.

But more important than that bit of weirdness is my customary list of my favorite stories in the collection:

-Kismet
-Emily's Husband
-The Girl and the Wild Race
-The Parting of the Ways
-By Grace of Julius Caesar
-Abel and his Great Adventure
-The Garden of Spices
-The Bride is Waiting

4.5

I love her short stories. Poetic little windows into the lives of Island residents that you come to look on as neighbours.

Cada cuento que ha escribo miss Montgomery me ha gustado y entretenido como una enana. La verdad que no sabía que me iba a encontrarme dentro de este libro, puesto que es el primer libro que no tiene que ver con la saga de su pelirroja Anne Shirley, y por lo visto me he encontrado con muchos cuentos, largos y cortos, en donde abundan siempre un tema en cuestión: el amor. En todas ellas demuestran las diferentes maneras de amar a una persona, aunque sea de una manera tan divertida o en un modo tan triste que te rompe el corazón.
Seguro que para los lectores de Lucy Maud Montgomery les encantará mucho leer este libro.

Por cierto, un pequeño detalle en especial: aunque dije que esta recopilación de cuentos no tiene nada que ver con los libros de Anne, hay un cuento en especial que, por lo visto, miss Montgomery había utilizado en uno de los libros de Anne con la única diferencia que los personajes son otros. Así que

L.M. Montgomery is a long time and all time favorite author of mine. She writes the perfect girls story with just the right mix of adventure, drama and happiness. I find her books a comfort to read and have re-read most of her works many times over the years. They are classics for a reason and that reason is they are great. These are true comfort books for me and books I enjoy re-reading again and again.

I hadn't read this short story collection in years, so thought it was time to pick it up again, but on this read-through, I was surprised to see how dark and almost depressing all the stories were, despite the main theme allegedly being romance. Very few - if any - were completely happy love-stories, instead there was love lost, love regained after a long estrangement, love found at the expense of others, or love misunderstood. I didn't pay attention to when these short-stories were written, but if I were to venture a guess, I'd think it was rather late in LMM's life, when her depression had become more pronounced.

Sweet stories, great light summer reading, especially for the beach.

These were love stories that ended well, but were very different in their meandering way to true love. They were written between 1899 and 1935 and only one, "The Parting of the Ways" doesn't end with the boy getting the girl. A theme running through several of the stories was that of a woman who thought she wasn't in love with her man, but came to see in different ways, that she actually did love him. Some of the stories carried a theme of random chance that happens to turn out well which I thought was interesting for LMM. I liked "The Finished Story" and "The Garden of Spices" because they were sentimental and heart-warming and "By Grace of Julius Caesar" because it was funny.

Funny little gems

The Doctor's Sweetheart and Other Stories by L.M. Montgomery is a compilation of 14 short stories written by Montgomery throughout her career.

In general, I am not a fan of short stories. I feel like I'm just getting to know the characters and the story ends. It's just not as satisfactory as a good 200 pages of experiencing the life of a character.

However, my reading is done in short spurts these days so I wasn't sure if I could handle a real novel. When Carrie at Reading to Know recommended The Doctor's Sweetheart I decided to give short stories another try.

After reading "Kismet" I began to doubt my decision. This story is just 5 short pages. The characters don't even have names. They are simply referred to as "a man" and "a woman." The story takes place during the duration of a couple of horse races. While I enjoyed the brief exchange between the couple, the story left me wanting to know more. Why had they separated? Did their reconciliation last? Would they find happiness with one another?

By the time the book was over I was glad I had given short stories another try. As you progress through the book the stories get longer. You also receive more detail about the lives of the characters. I ended the book wishing there was more.

The themes of all the stories (as best I recall) in The Doctor's Sweetheart is pride and reconciliation. Over and over the various characters make decisions that are ultimately rooted in pride. They live for years with less than fulfilling lives as a result. Most are able to put their pride aside by the end of the story and reconcile with someone they care about.

This kind of story is bittersweet to me. I'm thrilled at the reconciliation but saddened by so many years (and lives) wasted because of pride. But isn't that like real life?

How many relationships (friendships) are ruined because someone is too proud to admit they need help? Or unwilling to overlook petty differences? Or refuses to forgive deep wounds?