I read Renee Steven's story Scars of the Soul. I chose this story because I had not yet read anything from author Renee Stevens and I wanted to read a shorter story first. Sort stories are quite difficult in my opinnion. What to tell, what to leave out and where to focus. To see how an author handles his/her short stories is always such an interesting task.
Short summary:
This was a story of a young student Alex, who had been hiding scars both in his soul and his body and finally revieled them to his compassionate roommate Brent. There are physical scars lft, but can Brent help Alex heal emotionally too?
Strengths of the story:
This shorty held me in it's grip tightly from the start to the end. Scars of the Soul has a strong message against hate crimes (obviously) but it also deals with matters like self acceptance and living with marks of a crime dealing with life's dark side in general. I think the most important thing this story had, was hope. There is always hope, no matter how dark things get.
Weaknesses of the story:
I thought the story's ending was wrapped too quickly to my taste. I would have wanted to read a bit more about love's heeling power on Alex. The boys moved from friends to lovers in a little bit of haste.
How could the story be improved:
The Scars of the Soul was really touching, I was in near tears for Alex. There was definitely a lot of psychological issues going on in this story. I really don't think there is much to be improved. This is a really good and solid story that I'm happy to have read. I'm also going to read more from Renee now on!
My favorite part?
I'm a succer for sad stories - with a happy ending. I felt raw after reading what had happened to Alex and the end Renee offered was so needed. So yes, I would have wanted a longer ending scene since I loved the developement between the boys.