la douleur exquise: the "heart-wrenching pain of wanting the affection of someone unattainable." In la douleur exquise, Angela Perea presents a darkly compelling collection of short stories about this exquisite pain, even if that unattainable someone exists only in our own minds, hearts, and souls.

In "Auctioning Salvation," a Macbethian woman invests her lonesome libido in a strawberry pie only to discover she focused all her energy on the wrong dessert. In "Dean Rossi," an aging teacher finds himself in an awkward position as he tries to ward off his age-less lust. "Foodies" shows us a mother risking her sanity by investing her need for her son's love in a pea. A lost young man tries to recreate the love of his long-lost mother through song and flesh in the story "Beauty Black." A flash-fiction story, The Rat," gives the reader a glimpse into the endless cycle involved in finding romantic love, while in "Arrogance" an innocent bystander is distracted by his own lust before a single shot rings out and makes the struggle between men and women perfectly clear. In "Sid and Leigh's Barbeauty Shop," an old married couple try to spice up desire but employ completely different tactics. The collection finishes with "The Kill," a haunting tale in which a homeless man and a young girl experience a moment of affection that makes the idea of dying livable.