Love Is All You Need

Love Is All You Need

10tales of love from The Sophie King Prize 

With any anthology of short stories, one of the most important things is to have a good mix of stories. They shouldn’t all sound the same, and you should find yourself taken by surprise by the selection.

‘Love Is All You Need’ certainly succeeds in this. As Sophie King says of the stories in her introduction: ‘Many stood out in different ways but in the end, I picked those that surprised me and also left a lovely warm feeling.’

The common theme of the stories is love, but it is handled in many different ways.

The beginning of Alyson Hilbourne’s ‘Hot Chocolate Hero’ reads more like an action adventure story, and that promise is certainly delivered on as her unusual theme and an unexpected romance complement each other throughout the story.

In ‘High On Life’ by Yvonne Walus we literally feel the earth move, and in that story as well as Johanna Grassick’s ‘ Rum Truffle’, we experience the emotion of loss as well as that of love.

I absolutely loved Helen Yendall’s trip back in time for her story, ‘The Taste Of Love’ which cleverly recreates the world of Nell Gwyn through the eyes of a young woman working in a Chocolate House in the London of 1669.

You may remember that back in June, when the e-book of ‘Love Is All You Need’ was released, I interviewed Sherri Turner about her contribution, ‘Funny Face’. This story closes the collection and it’s another cracker. It makes a great satisfying end to the anthology and will certainly leave you with a smile on your face. 

This anthology of love stories has something for everyone and I highly recommend it.

Thanks very much to the publishers for a review copy of this book.

The anthology is now available in paperback as well as Kindle versions, and you can find out more here.