Twyla Rose   Author

5.0 out of 5 starsI loved it!

By Alda Mørkøre Nielsdóttir on May 10, 2015

Format: Paperback

I loved this book. Not just because I am one of the authors but because I think the concept is simply awesome. Most anthologies focus on a common theme or genre but this anthology contains all genres and all sorts of themes. What these stories all have in common is the setting. All the stories take place in the same apartment building. The thing that makes this anthology so great and really makes it stand out is that these stories all focus on the tenants of the building and as such naturally their paths cross on a daily basis. One will find that all the stories are connected through the characters.This anthology contains everything from horror to young adult romance and the stories are all extremely well written.
For a better understanding of what one can expect from this book I have included an individual review for each story (except my own of course).

The Tenant of Room 100 - By Anna Bridges
A very short story without a plot. This is obviously written as an introduction to the whole anthology and as such it serves its purpose very well. It could never stand on its own without some serious revision though as we get very little information about this old, dying woman and hence we can’t really sympathize with her. It is like I said a very good introduction to this anthology as this old lady reflects on her experiences as a tenant in this apartment building that is the setting in this book. This story is telling us, “I had a wonderful time in this apartment building, I hope you will enjoy your experience with this place as well.”

Apartment 104 - By Mary Martinez
I like the plot. Very mysterious and creepy. But the characters, especially at the beginning could use a better introduction because we learn nothing about them and hence we don’t care about them or sympathize with them. It’s not so much a problem with the characters introduced after that because they are only in the story for a few paragraphs but if we have to read about the same group of people for two to three pages then we have to know a little more about them. Who are they? Where do they come from? Why are they roommates? Etc. But the story is very interesting nonetheless and it is neither too short or too long but just the perfect length and I absolutely love the ending, which is very mysterious and raises a lot of questions. Very creepy with just enough mystery!

Out of Mind - 109 - By Kitty Limon
A very well written piece of work. This author knows her way with words. When read on its own it’s a little difficult to understand what is happening, because the strange things happening at the end seem so random but fortunately I have never gone more than twenty-four hours without sleep so I wouldn’t know what extreme cases of sleep-deprivation looks like. I found myself extremely interested in the novel the main character, Ember, was writing though. I’m really interested in knowing everything about her sister and the circumstances of her death. I am left with an aching void and a sad feeling because I know I am never likely to find out more about this. It was very well done.

Bob Oglmire - Apt 112 - By Andrea M. Mouser
This short story centers around one of if not possibly the most disgusting literary character I have ever encountered in my many years of reading. Bob Oglmire is meant to be despised I’m sure and I think the author succeeded a little too well in making a gross, unlikeable character that people will have nightmares about. He is a pig living in a pig stye that he dares to call an apartment. I most definitely do not sympathize with him but I love the way he seems to be the center of this set of characters that make up the cast of The Tenants of Building 38. Bob is a character I love to hate.

The Vampire of Apartment 113 - By Airiel Hawkins
I know I’m not the only one whose experience with vampires in literature has been completely ruined by The Twilight Saga. Hence the idea of a vampire story doesn’t excite me. But I’m excited to find out how a vampire fits into this apartment building. And this story is very well written. I love that this vampire has a purpose that links to another story, namely apartment 112. This story takes place right after that and I like the way this vampire character obviously loathes Bob. The feeding part of the story reminds me too much of Twilight however and I don’t like the female character that seems to have some kind of supernatural powers for no reason, because they add nothing to the story and the way the two of them drink each other’s blood is sickening to me. But for a vampire story this is pretty good.

Apartment 116 - By Ashley DeToledo
There is not much of a plot in this story but I fell in love with the characters, Kayden and especially Callie. The interaction between these two is beautiful and I too find myself inspired by Callie’s philosophy of life. The characters are interesting and I would love to know more about them. The story itself was also well written.

Apt. 130- The Livingstons - By Andrea M. Mouser
This story does not have much of a plot and it is very short. There is not enough room to be introduced to and learn a lot about all seven characters and hence when two of the children go missing I haven’t learned enough about them to really care but it does create some excitement because I am wondering what became of them and I am hoping to be given the answer in one of the other stories. I feel for the parents though and I like their characters and am dying to know more. They live in a tiny apartment with a lot of kids and discover that there is a new one on the way on the same day that the father loses his job. I want to know what became of them and how they managed after that.

Apartment 143 - An Anniversary Tale - By Jeffrey Kenworthy
Not much happening. While the interaction between the husband and the wife is cute and very beautiful there is little else to this story. It is a description of a romantic evening that gave me such a craving for lasagna, which happens to be my favorite dish. The story is well written but I felt that the sudden change of narrator was unnecessary and confusing. It disturbed the flow, so to speak. At least it did for me.

Apartment 150 - Earth Fairy - By Twyla Rose
I like the way the beginning of this story is linked to apartment 112. It was a great way to display how the different characters interact with each other. I like Cattie as a character too but I thought the plot was a bit too random but then again with the ending it makes a bit more sense. I loved the elements from Greek mythology that were tied into the ending and above all I loved the title, which is perfect for a story about a woman with a passion for gardening.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind - 209 - By Kitty Limon
This story answers a lot of questions I didn’t know I had about apartment 109 and at the same time it raises more questions. The story starts exactly the same way as apartment 109 and the first paragraph is even identical word for word and the endings of both stories are completely the same, just from different points of view, in a way. This story was creepy and well written.

The Gray Lady in Apartment 210 - By Airiel Hawkins
Beautiful little piece of writing with a slightly corny title. Simply beautiful. I can picture the ghost in my head, “walking” around the apartment, as I read. I loved it.

Will It Be Pink? Will It Be Blue? Who’s Moving Into 2-1-2 - By Laney Smith
When I finished reading this story all I could say to myself was, “wow,” because that’s how good it was. This is definitely in my top three of all the stories in this anthology. It was very long but it was so good and easy to read that I hardly noticed. Though it had some clichés like the two main characters falling in love and I thought the woman was a bit of a drama queen sometimes and in the beginning of the story I sympathized more with the guy than with her because I felt she was being a little selfish a lot of the time and I couldn’t understand how the guy could be so good about it. It was a cute and absolutely adorable love story.

Hell In Room 222 - By Sophia Olson
Raven is an interesting character and I would love to know more about her and her powers and what happened to her after the incident in this story. As I read it I could picture everything happening inside my head and I found the ending to be very dramatic and simply awesome! Though I think that more showing and less telling would have added to the mystery and made this story even better and would simply have been more fitting for a plot like this. Otherwise it was very well written.

As Loved As Can Be In 223 - By Kelly Prososki
A story about the beautiful, loving relationship of a newly wedded couple. My heart aches for Lucy and I love the way Blake supports his wife and the way the two of them interact. This is a beautiful continuation of a novel by the same author and I am now dying to read it. The beginning was a little too slow-paced for my liking but the ending was a surprise, an exciting surprise. It was overall very well done.

Apartment 250 - The Beasts - By Twyla Rose
A strange story that I can’t really make sense of. A monster hunter that fights monsters but you never find out what exactly the monster is. But it can apparently mate with humans or transform humans into monsters? I don’t really know which one. You don’t find out much and you aren’t even rooting for the main character to win against the monsters. You don’t get excited until the very end when the story took an unexpected and terrifying turn. This is the first story that I have read that is written in second person and the author did a good job at that.

The Tenant Of Room 302 - By Anna Bridges
I read it once and will probably never ever read it again. Because I’m a chicken and this story was scary as hell. It was well written, sickeningly detailed and with a perfect ending. The only thing that could possibly have made this better was if it was tied to any of the other stories, which it isn’t.

Apartment 309 - Unseen - By Kitty Limon
This story was extremely well written. It centers around a young man who is trying to protect his home from something called “the shadow people” on halloween. We never truly figure out what those things are but my guess is that they’re some kind of ghosts. I liked the ending, it was a bittersweet, mysterious ending. It was overall well done.

Apartment 314: Edgar Heignstone Homebound - By Jeffrey Kenworthy
This story was just random. The character was cute and likable and the story was a generally happy one. But the only thing truly memorable about this story is the text on Edgar’s shirt, which was quite funny. This wasn’t badly written and I liked the mentioning of other tenants in the building but that’s it.

Apartment 318 and 319 - By Gabriela Tinglund
This story is probably the best written piece in this anthology. I loved it. It was cute, exciting and very interesting. It made me want to order a book by this author right away. I do wish that the development in the relationship between the two main characters was described better though because first we see the first meeting between them where the female character decides not to get involved with him and then the story just skips a few months ahead and we see her avoiding the guy even though they’re obviously both in love with each other. I think how they really fell in love is an important detail that the author failed to include. If this story was written as a full-length novel I’m sure everything would have been included and I really wish that it was a novel because this story is just so good and I would love to know more about the whole spying business they have going on and to read more about these characters in general because I absolutely love them.

Avalon - Room 321 - By Meece Averis
It’s very vague without much of a plot or any real details about what is going on but you can’t expect more of a narrator who suffers from amnesia. It is well written but it would have been so much better if the story included a resolved ending that revealed the details of how the main character had ended up in this situation and what the significance of the word “Avalon” is because while being the title of the story it is only mentioned once and even that one time is too much because it adds nothing to the story at all.

The Haunting of Apartment 330 - By Jeffrey Kenworthy
This story was well written but way too long, the story could easily have been shortened down without taking any important stuff out. I figured out the place was haunted right away but not in a scary way, which was a little disappointing. This story didn’t catch me before it was revealed that Bob was one of the ghosts and when I figured that out I had to stop reading for a moment because that was just genius! But I would have liked to know what the murderer’s motive was for killing all those people, if he had any motive at all because it just seemed random. Why would a guy want to kill people just because they lived in the same apartment, I couldn’t make sense of that. I also thought that the change of narrator was unnecessary and confusing at first and I honestly thought the last part of the story was unnecessary. Regardless this is still my favorite story that this author has written for the anthology.

A Grandmother’s Love - Apt. 333 - By Keisha Biddle
This poem was just beautiful. It was filled with so much love and so many details and it even rhymed without being corny. Keisha, I applaud you.

New Beginnings for Mary Rubenstein in 336 - By MaKayla Decker
I loved it. It was well written and just a really sweet story about showing kindness to others and inspiring others. I love the characters and their names too. I would love to get to know these characters better.

Love Blooms For Annie Carmichael In 337 - By MaKayla Decker
I loved this story. It was nice to hear from Annie and Mary Rubenstein again. It was a sweet love story that I was able to picture in my head as I read it. It was funny because I have never read a story about a fangirl and a fanboy before. My only complaint is that Annie mentioned Eric’s sexiness a few times too many. Repetition was unnecessary.

Apt. 342 - The Watch And Its Friend - By Andrea M. Mouser
Well written but not much of a plot. It was short but the constant repetition made it seem much longer than it really was, I don’t know if that was a good or a bad thing. I love the title though, it was very creative.

Apartment 350 - The delightful Night - By Twyla Rose
This story gives me a better understanding of “Earth Fairy” but it also confused me even more. The writing was choppy but I liked Celesteal Rose as a character. The constant jumping between events is confusing and because of that this story doesn’t flow nearly as well as the other stories by this author. But again I liked the elements from Greek mythology that were put into this story and I liked the way Celesteal Rose made sure to provide for both the Livingstons and Edgar’s family.

Apartment 403 - She Caught The Light - By Andrea Mujunen
A beautifully written, heartfelt story about the grief of having lost a child. I could picture it all in my head while I was reading it and it was just beautiful.

Apt. 404 - Only She Could - By Andrea Mujunen
This story was well written. The writing was simply beautiful but to be honest I really didn’t get the plot at all, it really confused me so there’s not much else to say.

The Disturbing Truth Of Apartment 418 - By Laney Smith
The main character in this story ranks second place on my list of most hated tenants of this building, the first place going to Bob, of course. This woman is just crazy and extremely disturbing. I swear I could feel my IQ dropping as I read her diary entries, the author did a good job at portraying her. The plot was interesting and disturbing and I loved how it synced so well with this author’s other story.

Apartment 419 - Mirror, Mirror - By Alda Mørkøre Nielsdóttir
I can’t possibly be expected to review my own story, I will leave that to others.

Apartment 450 - Be Mine, For Always - By Twyla Rose
A very random story about two exes getting back together. It was well written and sweet but the plot wasn’t that interesting. I loved the part where the woman described the perfumes though.

Apartment 500 - Meowdom - By Kitty Limon
A cute little story about a cat and its “human.” I think the idea could have been explored more with more details of what Sir Snuffles sees outside the apartment but perhaps the thing is that there wasn’t that much to see in the first place. Anyway it was a funny little piece and it was well written. I enjoyed it.

Where’s My Baby? - Apartment 502 - By Andrea M. Mouser
A very short, very random piece of writing. A woman’s baby gets abducted by aliens and of course no one believes her. I found it quite funny and enjoyable.

Apartment 505 - By Kitty Limon
This was extremely random. I have so many questions that I would have liked the author to have answered in the story, that I feel the author should have answered in the story. How did he know and how long had he known, had he perhaps always known? Why did these two siblings not grow up together as siblings? It wasn’t badly written but it was too random for me really to say anything about it.

Today Is Not My Day - Apt. 511 - By Sophia Olson
The main character in this story is hilariously unfortunate. It was a well written little piece of work with a surprising twist in the end, which leaves me wondering what happened after that, if I am to judge by the craziness of this apartment building I’ll say the character was murdered that same day but only the author knows.

Apt. 520: Body Of Evidence - By Laurie Stacey
Interesting plot and I love the character of Daniel to bits but the comparison to James Bond seems a little corny in my opinion. Lu is a funny character but her mother annoys me. I love the chemistry and the interaction between Daniel and Lu and I think Daniel is simply hilarious in the way he flirts. I thought Mrs. Babic was funny and I liked that this story had a happy ending too.

In The Night I feel Free - Apt. 523 - By Emmie Engqvist
A nicely done little poem about a night owl. It’s not too short but not too long either and it rhymes without being corny. It is very well written.

Apartment 550 - Scottish Destiny - By Twyla Rose
This story was a fine ending to the anthology. It included all the other tenants and the author tied it to her other stories which made all of them make more sense but the amount of knowledge this guy has about his neighbors is unconvincing.

I think my favorite authors were MaKayla Decker, Laney Smith and Gabriela Tinglund. Their stories were those that really captured me and left me hungry for more but they were all talented, the whole bunch of them. I can honestly say this anthology is worth a read.