Review: Scattered Showers

Scattered Showers: Stories, by Rainbow Rowell (Wednesday Books 2022)

I come to you on this very rainy day to bring you a review of what appears to be a rainy day book, despite the fact that many/most of these stories are set in winter and include lots of snow. In fact, I was planning to read this in December prior to Christmas, as several are indeed Christmas stories, but alas, time got away from me. The good news is, these stories were just as delightful to read in January, and frankly, probably any other time of the year as well.

This is Rowell’s first story collection, although four of the nine (three of which I had read) have been published elsewhere previously. Longtime followers of this account will know that I am a big Rowell fangirl, so to speak (iykyk), and have many times expressed that her characters often seem to speak aloud those secret words that are in my heart. She writes me again and again, despite her characters not actually resembling my life. And there’s something magical about seeing yourself on the page of a book, something that makes me smile like crazy and get a lump in my throat simultaneously.

Okay, so maybe not every character in this collection was me, but my affection still stands.

There’s a wide variety included here, ranging from sweet, contemporary YA romance to revisits from beloved fantasy characters, to strange fairytale worlds and experimental meta-fiction. I think my favorites were the three I had previously read (“Midnights”, “Kindred Spirits”, and “If the Fates Allow”, which is spot-on covid turmoil) and one of the new ones (“Winter Songs for Summer”), but I genuinely enjoyed them all. It’s hard to say who the intended audience of this collection is, because although it’s published/marketed as Young Adult, and many of the stories are indeed about YA characters, there’s also a follow-up to her adult novel Attachments, which places her characters even older, in their 40s, and a couple other stories about adult characters and themes as well. So perhaps for those of us who have grown up with her? Whatever she intended the audience to be, I am in fact her perfect audience, so kudos on continuing to fulfill my every need, Rainbow. Cannot wait for your next novel to drop later this year!