"The First Honeymoon: New and Selected Stories" by Lyn Coffin *****

• Early Review edition for LibraryThing.com
• Short Stories
• Originally published 2015
• US author
• "A Gift Horse": love, loss, mother's thoughts on dying
• p.  She wanted to tell Leah that 'Mommy', was a plate of chocolate chip cookies, warm from the oven, and 'alone' was a glass of fresh, cold milk, and nothing could be better than to have them together."
• The gift of a lie...I wept
• "Rodin's Girlfriend": reflecting on the relationship with the man of stone
• p.28..."Thinking abut the two men I learned too late to stop loving has exhausted and betrayed me."
• "Fable": witty, sarcastic, multi-moraled tale of the tortoise and the hare
• "The First Honeymoon": perfect story of turning around a tense situation with patience and soul, and an artichoke
• "Dear Ron": author's letter, funny, and expresses her definition of great short story
• "The Psychiatrist's Second Wife": story of a divorce
• p.54..."her first reaction was one of anger, an anger built on fear like a skyscraper on sand."
• "The Butterfly":  Love
• p.64..."Even now, he might be calling, the one she felt drawn to in spirit and truth.  Not like a moth is drawn to a flame.  More like a white butterfly, responding to the invitation of a perfectly open hand."
• "Failing May Broxholm": Life on one's own
• p.71..."She had plenty of time, and emotions to burn.  Normal or not, it was true."
• "Among Friends":  short, sweet, and determined
• "Dante's Three-Part Structure": triangulated relationship.....
• "Her Political Body":  a brief glimpse into an imagination
• "The Dexter Mill": sudden parenthood
• "Point of View Problems": The complexity of getting to know someone and getting past assumptions
• "A Fable for John":  Trust, via correspondence
• "A Lesson in Black and White": madness
• "Falling Off The Scaffold": easily stayed from original plans...can be great
• :Loved Ones in Lucite"
• "On The topmost Branch of a Beckett Tree":  the eagle falls off the tree and goes right back to the top risking all....dating life
• Review: Lyn Coffin's short story collection is immediate and emotionally evocative.   I  laughed out loud, I  cried, I was shocked, and I was intellectually stimulated.  Coffin's writing is crisp and clear.  To use the author's words, "Reading you, I had the impression of moving many ways at once, as if I were dispersing.  It was pleasurable , yet terrifying, like a ride on the roller coaster.  When I wanted to get out of it, I couldn't. Mostly, I wanted in." I think this is the most well balanced short story collection that I have ever read.