*Throws confetti* Finished my third book for Marie's Canadian Reading Challenge. I can safely say I love Thea's writing. It's not always in my usual genre I like to read, but each story sucks me in.

Rattling Bones is a collection of short stories. On the cover it says, "Chick Lit stories with shadows." A pretty accurate description. There is no fluff or sunshine in these stories. A dark element drives them. Sometimes it left the ending with a bit of ambiguity. I wasn't sure exactly what happened in the end. Did the one character die? OMG did she really just stab that lady with a spoon? But it wasn't annoying. There was a finality to the endings despite some of my uncertainty about what exactly happened.

The characters were tormented. An old man who still loves his wife and wants to be with her sexuality, but is terrified of breaking her because of how fragile she is. It causes him to push her away and it tears at him how she is hurt by it. In another, a wife is going to the funeral of her husband who was lost at sea. My favorite was God in the Machine. A patient in a mental institution claims to be Jesus and in the end you're left thinking she may not be crazy after all.

If you are looking for a Happily Ever After, I'd stay far away from this set of stories. But if you are looking for something a little dark but at the same time focuses on love, I'd give Rattling Bones a read.