Hey Readers,

I’m back! Didn’t expect to hear from me again so soon, eh?

It turns out I’m kind of killing it on this first grad school course, so I had a little spare time the other day. Desperate for an escape, I read a short story.

This time I read A Pound of Cure by Tony Urban.

I chose this read for several reasons. First, I really enjoy Urban’s style of writing after having read Within the Woods (my review here). Also, I’m a member of Urban’s mailing list and got a bunch of freebies from him recently (You can sign up for free here. Who doesn’t want some free stories?)!

Naturally, my next couple reads will be for his works.

So, did this work stand up to his other work? Keep on reading!

Blurb

How far would you go to have the perfect body?
Andi Lansing has struggled with her weight all her life. Now that she’s pushing 30 years and 300 pounds, she’s almost ready to give up. So, when she’s promised a miracle cure, she’s all too eager to sign up. What’s the worst that could happen?
A POUND OF CURE is a horrific short story about society’s pressures to be thin, beautiful, and to fit in.

GoodReads

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The Review

What a fun, horrific short story!

I recently started reading Urban’s works and quickly became a big fan. Like his other stories, this one didn’t disappoint.

In this story we follow Andi Lansing, a woman who has struggled with obesity for her entire life. When an amazing weight loss opportunity arises, she jumps for it, no questions asked. But is there more to this miracle cure than meets the eye?

I liked Andi as a character. I felt that given her past, she made sense as a person. She suffers from poor self esteem and years of self-loathing. Some parts of the story were hard to read. It’s just really sad when someone’s given up and doesn’t have the motivation to help themselves. She felt really fleshed out (pardon the pun) and generally made understandable decisions.

The concept really drew me in. I knew this was going to go south, but man, this story surprised me!

I will say the beginning of the story didn’t blow me away, but the more I read, the more I was drawn in. The horror element wasn’t ever present, but it didn’t need to be given what this story is about. And when there was horror, boy did we get a load of it! I loved the reveals along the way and the bits of mystery entwined, even though I didn’t love the ending.

Overall, this is a great cautionary tale with plenty of suspense, chills, and thrills along the way. Well worth a read!

That’s A Wrap!

Well that’s it for this short story review. I hope you enjoyed it!

Have you read this story? Are there other short stories you’ve read that you simply have to gush about? Feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to start a conversation!

Have a great day!

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