"Baptisms and Dogs: Stories" by B.L. Tucker

Babptisms & Dogs: Stories by B.L. Tucker was an enjoyable read. I won this collection of short stories in a goodreads.com giveaway and it did enjoy this collection. It is a collection of 12 stories that are all based in the town of Seton Kentucky. That is the one commonality that ties the 12 stories together. The stories are all very different. The first one starts with a baptism and a tragic accident, there is a serial murder in the middle, and a bar fight at the end. The stories were not difficult to read at all. Very easy and fast paced.

The only thing that I did not like is that not many of the 12 stories gave me an ending feeling. I believe that short stories should leave you with a certain emotion, or make you think about what you had just read. Many of these did not do that for me. They were pretty straight forward and did not leave me with a certain emotion or have some ironic ending that left me speechless. A few of them I felt were even unfinished. Some of them were really good starts and had great potential, but then they just end, leaving me with a 'that's is'? mentality. I think some of them could have been amazing if they were just a little bit longer and had some kind of ironic ending or something like that. That was my only disappointment from this collection.

I did like that they were all based in the same town. I am not sure if they are all based around the same time or not, but I liked the commonality spread through the stories, tying the stories together. I think it makes a collection of short stories that much stronger when there is a commonality spread through out them.And the characters where all very strongly written. I really enjoyed that. They were very realistic and came to life in their short time in the collection. They were all different in unique, but very believable, which I enjoy. This author has a great way with creating characters and having them feel like they could be real people.

I am rating this collection of stories 4/5 on goodreads.com only because of the "incomplete" feeling some of the stories gave me. But I would recommend this collection to anyone who enjoys short stories and is looking for something new. And  I would also like to thank B.L.Tucker for sending me the book and having the giveaway.

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The next book I am going to be reading is another collection of short stories. It is much longer though so it will probably take me awhile to get through it, but it looks great. I also won this collection in a goodreads.com giveaway. I am going to be reading Family Furnishings Selected Stories, 1995-2014 by Alice Munro.