“Joy and sorrow side by side; even the love-shy finish these pages wanting to fall in love.” —School librarian

“Every story feels like ours; somewhere in this book you’ll meet yourself.” —Book critic

“Love stories breathe when space is left for imagination. Mio Kanda’s 140-character fictions are spare yet piercing, and readers can’t get enough. One Step Short of Love peeks into diaries of strangers—different genders, ages, lives—each page a standalone vignette that smiles at you or summons a memory. The bite-size format fits between train stops, yet the echo lasts long after the screen goes dark.” —Zhan Qiqi, Instagram reviewer with 400 k followers

★Rights sold: Complex Chinese.
★TikTok micro-novel clips surpassed 30 million views and climbing.
★The Highly Anticipated Collection of Romantic Micro-Stories is Finally Published! Each 140-character tale tugs at your heartstrings—making you yearn for love or revisit a past romance.
★Bittersweet crushes, heart-skipping break-ups, family estrangements and attachments—140 characters, 159 stories; some coax a smile, others fill your eyes.

Since 2017, author Mio Kanda has been publishing micro-stories (under 140 characters) online. Instead of using Word, she writes directly on X (formerly Twitter), where the platform’s 140-character limit—with a real-time word count reminder—sparks profound emotions through constraint. Her TikTok videos, which pair these micro-stories with popular music, have garnered over 30 million total views.

"I want to write for people who don’t enjoy reading—something they’ll actually want to dive into."

The bittersweetness of love, the flutters and heartbreaks, the bonds and separations of family...140 characters, 159 stories—some bring a warm smile, others fill your eyes with tears. We invite you to share your own love story in 140 characters too.