Everyday Kindness — LJ Ross et al
--
In: Book Reviews
Uplifting, endearing, emotive. Everyday Kindness is a charming anthology of wonderful tales that makes you believe in mankind again — and with the proceeds going to a charity, you, we all, are making a difference and positive impact.
About the Book
Everyday Kindness is a charity anthology of short, fictional stories of kindness, edited by LJ Ross who has also written one of the stories. These uplifting tales of hope and of small, everyday kindnesses are intended to support wider, positive mental health goals and foster wellbeing through the act of reading tales of goodwill inspired by others. Featuring authors across the spectrum of literature, some international bestsellers and award-winning writers amongst them, this is a unique collection of words.
All proceeds from the book will be donated to Shelter, a charity that helps millions of people a year struggling with bad housing or homelessness.
My Thoughts
Everyday Kindness is like an oyster, open the book and read the wonderful stories. You’ll discover it is filled with pearls. Pearls of the highest quality by established authors who clearly enjoyed writing their stories of kindness for LJ Ross’s anthology.
Malcolm Hollingdrake’s intriguing mystery (once a crime thriller author…) ‘The Piece of Paper that Changed a Life’ stood out as it had an edge to it and a problem to be solved. That piece of paper turns out to be a life-changer indeed but you’ll have to read it to find out why. Let me just say that appearances can be deceiving… The story is set in Harrogate, as is the author’s Harrogate Crime Series.
I loved Nicky Black’s ‘To Infinity and Beyond’ — a lifetime in a short story, remarkable and touching. It just goes to show that we ALL matter, and ALL contribute to, have a place in our society. Too often people mix up ‘contributing’ with ‘making money’ and forget that society is not just about economics — it’s about people and degrees of humanity. About compassion, acceptance, and all-inclusiveness. And about not giving up.
Alison Stockham’s ‘An Unexpected Visitor’ made me chuckle; C.L. Taylor’s ‘Imagination Avenue’ again brought on a train of thoughts about society and how we try to put people into boxes; show behaviour that is not regarded as suitable and ‘appropriate’ and people have no idea how to respond to it. For fear perhaps? For being afraid of letting go from time to time? Is it more important to be oneself or to keep up appearances?
Little acts of kindness are like stars that light up the night sky. They seem too tiny to matter but they have the power to transform darkness, and by them we can navigate our way.
Brian’s deceased wife Hatte, in ‘A Wave of Love’ by Barbara Copperthwaite
There are so many lovely stories that it’s impossible to mention them all. Barbara Copperthwaite’s ‘A Wave of Love’ is touching, as is ‘Kindness is Magic’ by Chris McDonald. I smiled and felt warm inside reading ‘The Perfect Match’ by Caroline Mitchell (“sometimes, a little bit of Millie is all you need after a long day”).
It’s impossible to mention all of the stories in this fabulous anthology but there’s one more I have to tell you about: ‘Do the Research’ by C.K. McDonnell. It’s emotive and touching and a bit supernatural, I adore it. The gentleness with which the pen has touched the paper, the author has woven his story of grief and being stuck, of imagination and moving on, and a little help from an unexpected corner. Brian and Tina (I love Tina!) come alive and you know what is remarkable?
Just when I had finished C.K. McDonnell’s story, I received an email, Amazon’s daily Kindle deals. One book spoke to me and I downloaded it. Would you believe that it was a book by C.K. (Caimh) McDonnell? I didn’t even realise until I had downloaded A Man with One of Those Faces and picked up Everyday Kindness again…
Everyday Kindness is inspirational, evoking, touching, and heart-warming. Plus, you will actively contribute to helping millions of people struggling with homelessness through Shelter, the charity campaigning to end homelessness and bad housing in Great Britain.
The Authors
LJ Ross, Adam Hamdy, Alex Smith, Alexander Gordon Smith, Alison Stockham, Anne O’Leary, Barbara Copperthwaite, J.D. Kirk, C.L. Taylor, Caroline Mitchell, Chris McDonald, C.K. McDonnell, Claire Sheehy, Clare Flynn, Darren O’Sullivan, David Leadbeater, Debbie Young, Deborah Carr, Emma Robinson, Graham Brack, Hannah Lynn, Heather Martin, Holly Martin, Ian Sainsbury, Imogen Clark, James Gilbert, Jane Corry, Jean Gill, J.J. Marsh, Judith O’Reilly, Kelly Clayton, Kim Nash, Leah Mercer, Liz Fenwick, Louise Beech, Louise Jensen, Louise Mumford, Malcolm Hollingdrake, Marcia Woolf, Mark Stay, Marcie Steele, Natasha Bache, Nick Jackson, Nick Quantrill, Nicky Black, Patricia Gibney, Rachel Sargeant, Rob Parker, Rob Scragg, S.E. Lynes, Shelley Day, Casey Kelleher, Sophie Hannah, Victoria Connelly, Victoria Cooke, Will Dean.
