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cmira2027's review
4.0
Lovely
Lloyd Meeker is pretty much an auto buy for me, so I was excited to see this holiday story. Howie is a young boy who wants his dad to find a new husband and be happy again. This really is a lovely, sweet story full of romance and family. I loved it.
Lloyd Meeker is pretty much an auto buy for me, so I was excited to see this holiday story. Howie is a young boy who wants his dad to find a new husband and be happy again. This really is a lovely, sweet story full of romance and family. I loved it.
suze_1624's review
4.0
Great characters, something unusual, engaging story teller and a resolution - all encompassed in 30pages, a great short story is a work of art.
Howie is really the main character and he reads well as an 8 year old - good balance of worldly wisdom, childish hope and cheekiness. I liked his agonising over the placements on his altar and his frustration that adults don’t work at his pace!
Both David and Mike are still a bit of a mystery as we see them through Howie’s eyes and their developing relationship is done away from the story.
But it is a lovely heartwarming story about the relationships of David and Howie, David and Mike and then David, Howie and Mike.
Howie is really the main character and he reads well as an 8 year old - good balance of worldly wisdom, childish hope and cheekiness. I liked his agonising over the placements on his altar and his frustration that adults don’t work at his pace!
Both David and Mike are still a bit of a mystery as we see them through Howie’s eyes and their developing relationship is done away from the story.
But it is a lovely heartwarming story about the relationships of David and Howie, David and Mike and then David, Howie and Mike.
pam_h's review
3.0
My Celtic little heart loved this. I have no idea how I'd rate it as a romance -- though that was part was adorable -- because the solstice altar and Aunt Shanna teaching an 8-year-old about intentions stole the show for me. Told 100% from Howie's perspective, so very kid-centric.
jamesflint's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
2.5
Rep: gay (major) side characters, Chinese-French Canadian side character
hartd's review
5.0
This is a lovely story about a happy family. It's the third holiday short I've read from NineStar Press, and I enjoyed all of them a lot. This author was new to me, and I'll definitely seek out more of his work.
The story is sweet and fluffy and completely in the little boy's perspective, with no conflict. Howie's dad, his aunt Shanna, and Mike, the boyfriend Howie finds for his dad, all love Howie, and it feels like they value him as a person. My favorite moment shows how much Howie's dad values his son's perspective, which is just so nice:
The story is sweet and fluffy and completely in the little boy's perspective, with no conflict. Howie's dad, his aunt Shanna, and Mike, the boyfriend Howie finds for his dad, all love Howie, and it feels like they value him as a person. My favorite moment shows how much Howie's dad values his son's perspective, which is just so nice:
His dad looked caught between a laugh and a frown. “Yes, Howie, we kissed.”
“Doesn’t that make it a date, then?”
It seemed a long time before Dad answered carefully. “Yeah, it probably does.”
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