Review: Short story: "Three of Hearts" by Katie Cotugno

Three of Hearts by Katie Cotugno
Published June 2026 via Amazon Original Stories

Ellery's ready to pack it in and transfer to a college closer to home—until she meets Camp and Danny. She was one, but now they're three, and suddenly New England seems a bit more manageable. Except...maybe things aren't that easy.

This is a quick one—at something like forty pages, I read pretty much the whole thing over dinner. And between this and "Julia at the Drive-In", it's been nice to see some short stories aimed at a YA audience; I don't read a ton of short stories (I read quickly, so short stories feel over almost before they've begun), but I like the chance to dip into a new-to-me author and see what kind of story only needs a few dozen pages.

This one covers a fair amount of time, so there's also a fair amount of the story skimming over time. These are characters I wouldn't mind following throughout a full-length book; we learn more about Ellery and Camp than we do about Danny (or, for that matter, about Ellery's roommate), but they all feel pretty solid.

This is a romance, but only after a fashion. It became clear not too far in that it wasn't going to be a romance in the conventional sense, and there were a couple of ways it could go. And that turned out to be...well, no spoilers, but it was one of the outcomes I thought most likely, but not in the way I expected. A fun quick read.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.