Flirts! 5 Romantic Short Stories

I’ll admit I approached *Flirts!* skeptically—short romance stories can often feel like emotional fast food, all sugar and no substance. But Scott’s writing subverts that expectation. The second story, about a woman reconnecting with her high school crush at a wedding, had me rolling my eyes at first (how many times have we heard *this* setup?), only to gut-punch me with a twist that reframed their entire history. That’s the collection’s strength: it plays with familiarity, then zigs when you expect it to zag. McDaniel’s narration sells these moments beautifully; her delivery of the protagonist’s dry humor in the third story (“*Of course* the hottest guy in the room is a disaster with a corkscrew”) had me laughing out loud. That said, the collection isn’t flawless. The fourth story, set in a bookstore, drags slightly—its conflict feels manufactured compared to the organic tension in the others. And while McDaniel’s character voices are generally strong, her attempt at a gruff male love interest occasionally slips into unintentional parody. Still, the production quality is impeccable (no awkward edits or volume spikes), and the stories’ interconnectedness—subtle callbacks to earlier couples—adds a layer of depth rare in anthologies. If you’re tired of romance that feels like a checklist of tropes, *Flirts!* offers something sharper: love stories that are messy, specific, and occasionally delightfully weird. Just don’t blame me if you start side-eyeing every cute stranger at your local café afterward.