A book of confessions.

There is no other way to describe this--other than to say what it is--and it was depressing as heck to read.

Seriously.

I teetered between two- and three-stars before settling on two because, for all the soul-bearing, heart-rending, revelations, this lacked actual heart.

As I write that I am still struggling with whether or not it even makes sense because how can a book full of people's deepest secrets lack "heart", right? Seems impossible, doesn't it? Well, this managed to be just that--a collection of emotions laid bare without an iota of compassion in the relay of those emotions.

I don't know if it was the way the stories were transcribed--and I realize the author was going for authenticity not commentary--but this read like someone eavesdropped on a bunch of random conversations, then offered--without context--those stories in book form.

Don't get me wrong, I understand the author was going for non-judgmental but, some of these stories were HEA-VY, so it would've been nice to see her inject some of her personal thoughts after having the encounter;just a few lines about the experience of that brief connection would've made all the difference in my experience having read them.

As is, this feels like a bunch of random, hopeless, stories where the author was more void than listener--there is a difference--and that made this a less than ideal reading experience.

Thank you to the Edelweiss+ for the opportunity to read this collection. Opinion is my own.