Dear Author » Thanksgiving

If You Like …. Holiday Stories

Jane — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:04:12 +0000

I confess to not being a big consumer of holiday stories but I think I am in the minority. Jayne is a big fan and from the sales of these types of books, Jayne is not alone.

We clearly need to do a recommend a holiday story thread. Please indicate if it is a Hanukkah, Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Kwanzaa romance story.

REVIEW: Leftovers by Treva Harte

SarahF — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:34:13 +0000

Dear Ms. Harte:

A story that looked, from the excerpt, like it was going to be a quick and cute little Thanksgiving reunion story turned out to be a lot deeper and a lot more…experimental than that. And while a deeper treatment of the issues that the characters have in the story probably wouldn’t have hurt, the skipping stones nature of the glimpses into their lives over a full year was interesting and emotional and satisfying.

The story begins with Emerson preparing his house for Thanksgiving with his friends Paul and Liz. Paul and Emerson are an on-again/off-again item where they basically get together once a year at Thanksgiving and eat and fuck and separate. Paul is a rising music star, Emerson is apparently a home-body. But Paul comes to Thanksgiving this year with a plan — a plan to convince Emerson to be with him full-time. And things seem to go well, until Emerson reveals the real reason he’d been pushing Paul away from him all these years.

It being a short story, I’m not going to reveal the reason. It’s not anything devastating to the story, although it’s pretty devastating to Emerson who has to deal with it. Emerson and Paul get their happy ending, but they have to work hard at it. They have to overcome Emerson’s issue and Paul’s own realization of his selfishness. However, in some respects, I think they don’t have to work hard enough. Emerson’s got this problem he’s had his whole life and while it takes a year for him to control it with Paul in his life, it ONLY takes a year for him to control it, and that doesn’t seem like enough time.

The narrative is constructed in snapshot pictures of their relationship through a year from Thanksgiving to Thanksgiving, with some snapshots of previous scenes. Each scene is very well done, emotionally wrenching and fun to read, but I felt the lack of the filler between the scenes, the lack of exactly how they got from scene to scene while dealing with the big issues on a day-to-day basis.

But for a short little holiday story, it was fun and while it was at times frustrating, I liked the almost experimental nature of the narrative. The story is bigger than just the holiday scenes, though, so it’s not solely a holiday feelgood story. And that’s the joy as well as the problem: it was bigger and could easily and happily have been longer than the 70-odd pages it was.

Grade: B

Regards,
-Joan/Sarah F.

This book can be purchased at Loose ID in ebook format.

This book was provided to the reviewer by either the author or publisher. The reviewer did not pay for this book but received it free. We do not earn an affiliate fee from Loose ID through the book link.

Thanksgiving Day Giveaway 2007

Jane — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:00:58 +0000

Thanksgiving is just two days away and during this time at DearAuthor, we take time to contemplate the things we are thankful for. One of the benefits of reviewing is that we receive free books. Because we receive so many free books, my book buying has dwindled. Of course, I don’t think I would be entitled to receive the free books if we didn’t have such a great community here. I’m thankful for the free books but I am also thankful for the readers, authors, industry professionals, and others who come and contribute to the community. I am also thankful for authors who put out books that make me stay up late into the night reading or that burn a whole in my bag while I am supposed to be working and concentrating.

To that end, I want to give back to the community and the authors who have entertained me this past year. Instead of ARCs, as I gave away last year, I am giving away two book bundles from a few favorite authors. I tried to gather a diverse mix of books so that there is a little something for everyone. These are like tasters and I hope that they go to readers who have never read these authors before but have always wanted to give them a try.

Historical: Jo Goodman, If His Kiss Was Wicked and One Forbidden Evening
Contemporary: Diana Holquist, Make Me a Match and Sexiest Man Alive
Paranormal: Meljean Brook, Demon Moon and Demon Angel
Suspense: Annie Solomon, Dead Shot and Blackout
Fantasy: CL Wilson, Lord of the Fading Lands and Lady of Light and Shadow
Historical: Elizabeth Hoyt, Raven Prince and The Serpent Prince

To those readers who aren’t interested in the giveaways, I’ve got two package of Thank You cards and the 27th Annual National Conference Workshop Handouts up for grabs.

To enter the giveaway, simply post a comment between now and the end of Sunday, November 25, 2007. I’ll pick a random number of commenters. If you have a preference, place it in the comment section.

Finally, I am also giving away two copies of Meljean Brook’s February release, Demon Night. The rules are a little different for the ARC. The purpose of an ARC is to generate buzz and therefore, these two ARCs will go to a random selection of two people who specifically request this book and promise to blog or post about it. You do not have to like the book. You do not have to say something positive, but you do have to say something.

Anyway, I love you guys. Thanks for being part of Dear Author.