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netslummer's review against another edition
5.0
The second collection of short stories in the Something Like... series is phenomenal. It is a collection of shorts where each is tied to a month. From Thanksgiving in November, all around back to Halloween in October. After the hilarious Halloween story "Something Like Braaaains" there is a lovely short that made me sob my eyes out: "Something Like Samson" in which we are shown all of the events of Samson's little cat life. Boy does that cat love Jace. <3
ryanpfw's review against another edition
5.0
One of the greatest strengths of this series of the diverse set of ancillary characters that always leave you wanting more. In the first volume, Eric, Michelle, and Allison got their chance at the spotlight, we saw a deepening of the main storyline, got a wonderful post-life story from departed characters, an in-character encyclopedia, and my favorite - a useful timeline before I lost my mind trying to track everything! Nothing missed the mark.
Volume 2 more ambitiously widened the net and sought to include more characters, and mostly succeeds. Something Like Champagne gives us what we always want - more Marcello. Ornaments and Bunnies were touching ways to reconnect to Jace, although nothing can touch Something Like Fall from the last round. I’ll freely admit I didn’t care much for Shamrocks, Cake or Sparks. Layne and Caesar can be fun characters, but Layne is better as an ancillary character and I wasn’t invested in his story. Adult Caesar has always been less interesting to me, and Harold never really grew on me either. While I was a bit done centrally focusing on Kelly and Nathaniel in Hearts, they work wonderfully as ancillary characters coming up in Forever contributing to the main storyline. I may have just had overload.
True standouts? Something Like Flowers, Braaaains and Samson. Infinity, Turkey, Memories, and Sun were fine, but these three absolutely nailed it. Wonderful additions to the storyline! Samson kept me up reading late, Braaaains had me struggling not to laugh out loud, and the end of Flowers killed me a bit.
Volume 2 more ambitiously widened the net and sought to include more characters, and mostly succeeds. Something Like Champagne gives us what we always want - more Marcello. Ornaments and Bunnies were touching ways to reconnect to Jace, although nothing can touch Something Like Fall from the last round. I’ll freely admit I didn’t care much for Shamrocks, Cake or Sparks. Layne and Caesar can be fun characters, but Layne is better as an ancillary character and I wasn’t invested in his story. Adult Caesar has always been less interesting to me, and Harold never really grew on me either. While I was a bit done centrally focusing on Kelly and Nathaniel in Hearts, they work wonderfully as ancillary characters coming up in Forever contributing to the main storyline. I may have just had overload.
True standouts? Something Like Flowers, Braaaains and Samson. Infinity, Turkey, Memories, and Sun were fine, but these three absolutely nailed it. Wonderful additions to the storyline! Samson kept me up reading late, Braaaains had me struggling not to laugh out loud, and the end of Flowers killed me a bit.
rbdeschamp's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The Something Like Stories are quickly becoming my favorites of the series. Getting individual glimpses of life from the different characters Bell has created only deepens the richness and beauty of the small world these characters exist within. There are several wonderful short stories that highlight moments from our favorite couples, but three stories really spoke to me.
The opening story, "Something Like Infinity," was a super cute and fun story focusing on peripheral characters. Ross, a substitute Spanish teacher, and Richard, an ambitious officer, team up to find the student responsible for the string of many small fires in the community. This unlikely duo has great chemistry, and Ross really shines here as someone concerned about the well-being of his students, even if it means losing the opportunity to pursue a meaningful relationship. The timeline for this story in the Something Like... universe is also just very illuminating when you understand how it connects to the bigger picture.
The next story, "Something Like Cake," provided a fascinating encounter between Caesar and Marcello. Caesar has always been a mysterious sort of character for me, as he is significant in many of the mainline stories. I'm honestly shocked we never got a book focused on him and his experiences. Nonetheless, I found myself smiling through most of this story and the conversation had by Caesar and Marcello. Two kindred spirits, both at wildly different points in their life, but able to enjoy each others company and come away with something. Marcello is a top tier character, and easily one of my favorites I've ever read. This one was just a lot of fun, and you get some insights on Caesar that we otherwise probably would never have experienced.
Finally, the heartbreaker, "Something Like Samson." I was not ready for this. I did not expect to be so emotional reliving events through the perspective of a cat. This story was beautiful, painting the perfect picture of how happy and hard life can be and how it does not just effect one being at time. Samson has a delightfully funny voice and understanding of the world. It was perfect. Everything from his littermates to Chinchilla, I did not want it to end. Having been such an ever-present part of the Ben/Jace chronicles, I never really thought of how this point of view would come across, yet, it was the most honest and loving depiction of all these characters. A truly touching story and a sublime way of telling it.
The opening story, "Something Like Infinity," was a super cute and fun story focusing on peripheral characters. Ross, a substitute Spanish teacher, and Richard, an ambitious officer, team up to find the student responsible for the string of many small fires in the community. This unlikely duo has great chemistry, and Ross really shines here as someone concerned about the well-being of his students, even if it means losing the opportunity to pursue a meaningful relationship. The timeline for this story in the Something Like... universe is also just very illuminating when you understand how it connects to the bigger picture.
The next story, "Something Like Cake," provided a fascinating encounter between Caesar and Marcello. Caesar has always been a mysterious sort of character for me, as he is significant in many of the mainline stories. I'm honestly shocked we never got a book focused on him and his experiences. Nonetheless, I found myself smiling through most of this story and the conversation had by Caesar and Marcello. Two kindred spirits, both at wildly different points in their life, but able to enjoy each others company and come away with something. Marcello is a top tier character, and easily one of my favorites I've ever read. This one was just a lot of fun, and you get some insights on Caesar that we otherwise probably would never have experienced.
Finally, the heartbreaker, "Something Like Samson." I was not ready for this. I did not expect to be so emotional reliving events through the perspective of a cat. This story was beautiful, painting the perfect picture of how happy and hard life can be and how it does not just effect one being at time. Samson has a delightfully funny voice and understanding of the world. It was perfect. Everything from his littermates to Chinchilla, I did not want it to end. Having been such an ever-present part of the Ben/Jace chronicles, I never really thought of how this point of view would come across, yet, it was the most honest and loving depiction of all these characters. A truly touching story and a sublime way of telling it.
daftfader's review
4.0
Some of the stories are excellent like Something Like bunnies, something like samson, and something like flowers. Also the story from Laine. Some other stories slightly more middling
sam_rosia's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
wrapmeupinplastic's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
opusfra's review against another edition
4.0
Some nice cameos and side-stories. Some work, some don't but they are all worth reading for fans of the series. Not sure about Jay's recent interest in toilet matters - is this something that emerged during his Patreon experiments? Not something that he needs to go into in more detail - and Jay, if you’re reading this - ‚te quiro‘? Really? Careless!
sparksofspirit's review against another edition
4.0
The further I get with this series, the more I’ve come to seriously appreciate Jay’s incredible imagination. I mean honestly where does he come up with half of the clever twists and connections that we see in these books. I just adore these characters and I really enjoyed reading further. I’m not normally a fan of short stories but I did really enjoy this, especially the one from Samson’s point of view (ingenious!). Definitely don’t skip this if you’re unsure whether to read the short story collections, it would be such a mistake.
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