Review: A Strangers on a Train Short Story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 5, 2013
Ever since she spent three hours trapped inside a crushed car after a terrible accident Brenna has been struggling to cope with her phobias. It has taken a long time but she is finally getting her fears under control, now if she can just learn to deal with her claustrophobia she might have a chance to get her dream job as a travel writer. She has booked a weekend train tour believing that if she can cope with staying in a tiny cabin she can deal with anything that the job could throw at her. Unfortunately a mix up with the bookings means she finds herself sharing the cabin with Reid, a retired detective who is still recovering from the injuries he received when he was shot in the line of duty. Neither of them are happy about the situation but they can't deny the attraction that they feel and being with Reid makes Brenna feel normal for the first time in years. Can Reid help Brenna get past her fears or will her phobia stand in the way of her achieving her dreams?Tight Quarters is one of the five stories in the Strangers on a Train series published by Samhain, each of the stories has been written by a different author (the authors involved in the collaboration are Ruthie Knox, Meg Maguire, Serena Bell, Donna Cummings & Samantha Hunter) and is currently available as an ebook but I believe there will be a print bind up containing the whole series published sometime next year. These stories can be read in any order, they are linked only by the common theme that each couple start out as strangers who meet each other on a train, so there is no cross over of characters or story lines.I really enjoyed reading Tight Quarters, I immediately connected with Brenna and felt so bad for her and the way she struggles with her phobias. I have to admit I was impressed that she worked so hard to overcome them though, she dreams of being a travel writer but she knows she can't do that unless she can get over her fears of small spaces. At the moment she finds it impossible to travel but she is determined to make this train trip a success and no matter how terrified she is of getting on the train she pushes through it. You have to admire her bravery and her positive outlook. Reid was a great character too, he has his own demons to fight but I loved the way he was so understanding towards Brenna and how supportive he was of her. He could see how hard it was for her and went out of his way to make it as easy as possible. You do have to suspend belief a little while reading the story - I didn't believe that someone as scared as Brenna would agree to share her cabin with a complete stranger and I didn't think she could get over her fears as quickly as she did - but as long as you can look past that this is a really enjoyable story. I would have loved for this to be a full length novel so we could spend more time exploring the characters and what made them tick but I'd definitely recommend the story and I'll be reading more from Samantha Hunter in the future.