Bigfoot in Love and Other Stories - Hannah Birss - ★★★.¾

AUTHOR: Hannah Birss

GENRE: Short Story Collection

PUBLICATION DATE: July 21, 2025

RATING: 3.65 stars.

In a Nutshell: A short story collection of low-fantasy and science fiction stories, connected by the themes of love and loss. Gentle storytelling, which makes the fantasy feel a bit subdued. Even when the stories get dark, they don’t feel too intense. I would have liked a bit more punch to the plots. But the book works well if you want to read fantasy stories without straining your brain too much.

This collection comprises fifteen speculative stories from low fantasy and science fiction.

The first and the last story have the same name and the same characters, bringing the book a full circle at the end. As this is the titular story, the special reprise makes sense. But on the whole, the title gives vibes of a fantasy-romance, which isn't exactly representative of the whole book.

Many of the stories herein can be called love stories but not romance stories. So if you want a romantic story collection, this isn't for you. The tales focus on varied relationships, not just of the romantic-partner kind. The love in these narratives feels somewhat calming and tender, not vehement or aggressive. It’s the kind of love that expresses itself through gestures and actions rather than words or attractions.

The fantasy element in this collection feels somewhat lightweight. The stress is more on the emotions of the characters than on the fantastical elements. This created mixed feelings in me. While I did like the cosy tone of the stories, I missed getting a greater sense of the magical and mystical in a few of them. That said, a couple of the stories really hit it out of the ball park when it came to the fantastical content.

Each story has a strong individuality to it, and you never feel like one tale repeats the same style/characters as before. (Except of course, the title story that pops up at the start and also at the end of the book.) The plots are original and quite creative.

The endings are decent. While none of the stories end abruptly, some of them stopped short of offering a few more details that would have clarified the quainter events in the plot.

There is a list of content warnings at the start, but this is a general listing of all the triggers in the stories as a whole.. While I don’t need/read trigger warnings. I feel it would have been better to have a story-specific list of triggers, as readers could then know exactly which one to skip if needed.

As always, I rated the stories individually. Of the fifteen tales, seven stories earned 4+ stars from me. Three more stories (‘The Second Obituary’, ‘A Suitable Likeness’, ‘The Bunyip's Cry’) would have earned a higher rating had they offered me just a few more details at the end.

These were my top favourites:

🌹 Bigfoot in Love: A bittersweet story of two *adults* in love. I didn’t enjoy it as a love story but I appreciated it as an unusual and quirky story of pure acceptance without judgement. The head-jumping at the start made this a little confusing to follow, but it was still a sweet story to start off the book with. I preferred it without the final reprise, though other readers might like the happier ending better. This is the only story that comes with its own cute all-colour illustration at the end. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟

🌹 Waxing, Waning: Imaginative yet realistic. Loved how the title works metaphorically as well as literally. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟✨

🌹 Sirenweed: A fascinating and melancholic dystopian story that reminded me of John Krasinski's 'A Quiet Place'. Disturbing plot, but the author still managed to thread some hope into the narrative. If only it offered more details of the titular weed. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟

🌹 Ossuary: Sometimes, you just like a story without knowing why you liked it. This is one such case. It's bittersweet yet beautiful. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟

🌹 The Bird Girl: Such a beautiful story! This came really close to getting five stars, but again, it left some crucial details unaddressed. I’d have loved for this to be a novella. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟✨

🌹 Patrick-Not-Patrick: As intriguing as the title. Would have been a five star for me had there been more clarifications about certain developments. - 🌟🌟🌟🌟

🌹 Persephone's Garden: I never thought the Greek myth story of Persephone could be reimagined this way. Very creative! - 🌟🌟🌟🌟✨

Overall, this is a satisfying indie collection, even if it might not be memorable to me in the long term. I liked many of the tales. With a greater dash of magic, I would have relished this even more.

Recommended to fans of cozy SFF stories. A couple of the stories get a bit too chilling for comfort, but on the whole, the stories are great for the time you want to feel all the emotions.

3.65 stars, based on the average of my ratings for each story.

My thanks to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for providing the DRC of “Bigfoot in Love and Other Stories” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.