A while ago, Ruthie Knox, Meg Maguire, Serena Bell, Donna Cummings and Samantha Hunter were on Twitter admiring a tumblr devoted to hot men on trains and the idea for the collection came to be. Earlier today I reviewed Thank You for Riding by Meg Maguire. Now I review the other four stories. All can be purchased separately and they are not related to one another.

Big Boy by Ruthie Knox

Mandy’s life has gone into an upheaval in the past year after her sister and her family were killed by a drunk driver. The only survivor was her nine day old nephew, who Mandy now has custody over. Now that she is in somewhat of a routine and has embraced motherhood and has settled in as a professor of American Studies at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay, her good friend pushes her to try online dating. As she is browsing through the men on the website, she notices the same guy has profiles set up as different men, many from different decades. This intrigues her and she sets up a date with him. He tells her to meet him at the Train museum and to come dressed appropriate to 1957. They both come in costume (very detailed, meticulous costume) and they stay in character the entire night. This becomes a routine as they meet on the fourth Tuesday of each month, always at the train museum (they sneak onto the trains and play out a fantasy). They don’t sleep together until the fifth date. Her mystery man (his name is actually Tyler) is..well a mystery. She knows nothing about his personal life, or who he really is. But one thing she does know..is that she is falling in love with him.

Once I finished this novella, I texted a friend who had already read it, and she said “for a short story, Ruthie Knox sure wrote the hell out of it.” Ruthie Knox really did. I think this comes in at about 65 pages, and every single page has an impact. Mandy struggles with being stressed out, and tired, and I think at one point she says she feels like “a blob with feet.” Tyler is exciting and sexy and she becomes a bit obsessed with wanting to get to know the real him, no matter how much fun their role playing dates are. He is a big guy, attractive, and well..weird. He takes meticulous care with his costumes, always staying in character. He is intense and funny. Charming and romantic. But Mandy always wonders how he really acts in his real life. Told only in Mandy’s point of view, Tyler remains a mystery to the reader as well. But he shows just enough vulnerability to know that under those costumes he wants something too.

I don’t want to go into who Tyler is and what we discover about him because that is a big part of the fun in this book. But I liked what we discover. I love how it all plays out in the end. A really sexy story, with a darker overtone.

Rating: B+ l Goodreads l Kindle l Nook l Samhain

Back on Track by Donna Cummings

A cute story about Allie who is in a dating slump who gets the courage to approach a cute guy on a wine train. It turns out cute guy is a famous baseball player, Matt. She pretends to not know who he is and cute banter and romance ensue.

I was kind of under the assumption he knew she was just kidding around when she pretended to not know who he was..but apparently he didn’t get that memo so when he finds out she was playing him he gets a little angry. I wish it would have just been a cute game and end of story. That felt forced and would have played out much better had it just been silly banter on both sides. Otherwise a cute read.

Rating: B- l Goodreads l Kindle l Nook l Samhain

Ticket Home by Serena Bell

For such a short story, this author does a nice job with bringing angst in and giving us a full story. Jeff and Amy have been separated for six months due to Jeff being a workaholic and Amy moving across the country to pursue her career. Jeff wants her back though. So they both have to reevaluate their lives. Jeff is a workaholic who owns his own company and has never been known to let his phone just ring. Amy works well because although she wants to feel more important than his job, she also takes responsibility for some of their relationship failing. She could have come across as winey but she doesn’t.

Even though they are at a crossroads, the author gives us some hot romance scenes too.  And I think she weaves in the train setting so well. This is her debut book and I can’t wait for more.

Rating: B l Goodreads l Kindle l Nook l Samhain

Brenna suffered a bad car accident and since then she has had to get over a lot of fears. Wanting to be a travel reporter, this has hindered her career. In the past she was unable to get on a train, but she is feeling strong and ready to try again. She reserves a room all the way in the back, to help her feel safer with her claustrophobia. But when she gets to her room, there is already a man in it. Somehow reservations got mixed up and both Brenna and retired detective Reid have the same room. They end up deciding to share it, which stresses Brenna out even more. Reid is on the train, trying to figure out what to do next in his life. These two hit it off and a romance quickly follows.

I like these two characters, but I feel like there is too much addressed that needs to be figured out in such a short story. For the amount of issues Brenna had, we needed more page time to let it all sort out. Her romance felt rushed with Reid because I don’t think she was in a good place emotionally for it. But I really liked Reid and his patience with Brenna.

Rating: C+ l Goodreads l Kindle l Nook l Samhain

Overall this is a really strong collection. Who knew train romances could be so hot? Well done and I hope something like this comes out again.