VIP

by Carrie Duffy

[Leah]

E-book-exclusive short stories are currently the "in" thing, with authors releasing them just weeks before their actual, proper books are due out, in a bid to... well, I don't really know. I presume it's to a) whet the appetite for their new book and b) make them a bit extra money? Whatever the reason, though, these short stories can be excellent. Some can perhaps be too short (taking a mere few minutes to complete and leaving you dissatisfied you've spent 49p on it), but most are worth it.

VIP is on the right side of a short story. It's long enough to be worthy of its 49p price tag, taking me a good half-hour to forty-five minutes to complete and it makes a really, really great prequel to Diva. It introduces us to Diva's three main characters - Dionne, Cece, and Alyson and it left me wanting so much more that I immediately purchased Diva. That's what a short story should do. Leave you wanting to read the full book.

It's definitely worth your time and money and I'm really looking forward to diving into the full-length book as VIP has very much set it up nicely, and that's what it's there to do. Duffy has written an engaging short story that's hard to put down, and she has set up her second novel wonderfully.