The Lover

• Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Genre: Fantasy
• Publication Date: November 1, 2023
• Publisher: Amazon Original Stories

During a brutal winter, a young woman longing for love finds more than she expected in the woods, in this wickedly sensuous short story by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic.

Judith knows her sister, Alice, is the pretty one—but that doesn’t stop her from wishing for love. When a handsome and gentlemanly hunter appears in their village, seeking lodging from the cold, she believes her lover has finally arrived. He does, indeed, choose to stay—but as Alice’s husband, not her own. When another stranger comes out of the woods, looking every bit a vagrant, he offers Judith something mysterious and enticingly strange. Against reason and decency, she welcomes both men into her life, in different ways. As forbidden longings ensnare each of them, an unrelenting winter storm and an evasive wolf on the prowl have everyone on edge…and ravenous. By spring thaw, will any of their hungers be satisfied?

I’m always amazed at Moreno-Garcia’s range whenever I read one of her stories. No matter what genre she writes in, all of her books are so different from each other, yet still top of their game. I’m a dedicated fan, and always love reading her books. I was curious to see what she would do with a short story, and was so glad to get the chance to read this one.

In it, Moreno-Garcia creates an atmospheric story through the way the characters, plot, and setting all interact to make the story what it is. Judith is the younger of two sisters that live in a small village on the edge of the woods, and she’s been told her entire life of how her older sister, Alice, is the pretty one. Consequently, Alice marries well and Judith becomes a Cinderella-esque figure in the story, doing all the tough work while her sister gets to breeze through life, even after being widowed. 

I loved Judith’s character. She’s pretty beaten down by life’s circumstances, but it never stops her capacity for dreaming of a better future, and never steals her hope. She stays open to opportunities arising in her life, and doesn’t hesitate to take advantage of them. However, that isn’t always a good thing, since she doesn’t always stop to think about the potential consequences of her actions beforehand. 

Overall, this was one of the best short stories that I’ve ever read. For the first time, I felt like this was exactly the right length—long enough to develop the characters, story, and plot, but short enough where I didn’t feel like it needed to be longer, the way I usually do. Although I saw one of the twists well in advance, I had to remember that Judith was a sheltered and innocent girl who didn’t have the knowledge that is commonplace in today’s world, and still enjoyed the story. I loved this story and how it made me feel like I was right there along with Judith, walking through the snow, and all I wanted to do was wrap myself in a blanket while reading. This is one not to miss, even if you aren’t partial to short stories (like me).