1.5 out of 5 stars
Ebook. 1st Edition. 42 pages. Published December 1st 2018 by Dreamspinner Press
Blurb:
You
can’t correct the past.
Or can you?
Stephen’s not proud of who he was back in boarding school—spoiled and a player.
Now, at the holiday reunion ten years later, he has a chance to show his former
classmates who he really is: out and proud, devoted to helping others, and
partnered with Victor.
Stephen understands why Victor, who grew up in a poor and abusive household,
hates the rich kids at the reunion, but his attitude is ruining everything.
Luckily Stephen bumps into Aaron, a former grunge rocker who has also changed.
Stephen never forgot their one steamy night together.
With the help of three very unusual personifications of Christmas Past,
Present, and Future, can Stephen revisit his mistakes and find the happiness
that’s eluded him?
A Story from the Warmest Wishes: Dreamspinner Press 2018 Advent Calendar
Likes:
- Short.
- The plot of the romance between Stephen and Aaron was sweet.
Dislikes:
- Victor.
- Stephen’s doormat personality and inconsistency.
- The only reason Stephen wanted Victor to come to the party was to make a splashy entrance.
- The plot between Victor and Stephen.
- Basically everything that wasn’t related to Stephen and Aaron.
- So much is going on that a lot is told and not shown.
- Blocks of dialogue without anything else going on.
It’s been a while since I disliked anything as much as this story.
It started off fine. It’s obvious from the blurb that Stephen and Victor were going to break up so Stephen could get with Aaron. If only that had happened right at the start. Instead, we’re subjected to 52% of the story dealing with Victor.
The blurb was right when it said Victory’s attitude was ruining everything. He genuinely made me want to stop reading. He was that unpleasant. And it only got worse.
If Stephen had kicked Victor to the curb early, the story would have been fine. That doesn’t happen because Stephen is a doormat who is dedicated to the relationship without any real reason. He and Victor were only together for a year, yet Stephen didn’t think being cheated on was “grounds, per se, for breaking up”.
By the time the story gets to Stephen and Aaron’s romance, I didn’t care. Which was good because the story switches from showing to telling. We literally get lists of things that happen. It was probably meant to represent the urgency of them getting together but it completely threw me out of the story.
“In Stephen’s room, their shirts were off, chests pressed together, mouth on mouth, mouth on neck. So close. Arms wrapping, squeezing.”
I actually thought to myself ‘blah blah blah’ as I skimmed. At that point, I’d realized how little personality Stephen had, and wasn’t invested anymore. Sure, Stephen is presented as a good guy because of his job, but his actions with Victor made him unlikeable.
I wish I had more good things to say about the story. Aaron was nice, and he actually had a few really sweet moments with Stephen. But they came so late in the story, it didn’t change my overall opinion.
Find the Warmest Wishes anthology review here and the full list of stories here.
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