"Two For the Heart" by Ekta R. Garg

"The Proposal": Pooja and Ashkay have both been corralled into marriage by their families despite their lack of desire to be hitched, so they come up with a fool-proof plan. They marry in order to please their respective families and then plan to quietly divorce soon afterwards. But will their plan backfire?

"Remembrance": Helen wakes up in the hospital with no knowledge of what brought her there. What she does know is that her estranged sister won't leave her alone, despite Helen's repeated requests for her to do so. When she remembers what led to her arrival in the hospital, will she want her sister with her or will she push her away?

Ekta R. Garg has created a unique premise for a collection of short stories: stories released in pairs. Each pair will follow a common theme and will contain some sort of connection, and half of the fun is figuring that connection out.

I'll admit that I don't usually read short stories, but not for any particular reason. This collection of short stories, intended to be released in pairs throughout the year, caught my attention and encouraged me to read a format that I haven't read in a while, and I'm glad that I did! Both stories were the perfect short story- they left the reader wanting more, as any good short story should, but they also answered enough questions that I was left satisfied. I have read novellas and short stories in the past that felt like they should have been full-length but were instead compressed into a novella format, but Two For The Heart truly felt like they worked best as short stories. I enjoyed meeting the characters, albeit briefly, and I quickly came to care about them. The writing was concise and the plots interesting, and I enjoyed figuring out the connection between the two stories.

Garg plans to release more stories throughout the year in pairs, and I enjoyed these so much that I know I will be eagerly awaiting those releases. Like an amuse-bouche, these delightful short stories whet my appetite for more. My thanks to the author for providing me with a copy for review.