Review: Great characters, story lacked resolution
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 6, 2014
3.5 of 5 starsSuffering from a form of agoraphobia, Harvard coed and amateur matchmaker  Dabney Kimball only leaves campus to return to her home on Nantuckett Island. She finally agrees to visit her high school sweetheart Clen Hughes at Yale for the annual Harvard/Yale football game. Though he's been bugging her since freshman year to visit, Dabney senses a reluctance. Will she have the courage to go to Yale and is her boyfriend hiding a secret?THE TAILGATE is more a prequel to Elin Hilderbrand's upcoming summer release THE MATCHMAKER. Last week Hilderbrand released the first give chapters of her novel, which raised my expectations for THE TAILGATE. I loved the character if Dabney, who showed depth even in this short story. Hilderbrand's writing was impeccable as always, but there was something missing from TAILGATE. It didn't feel like a stand alone story. At $1.99 it felt overpriced for how short and incomplete the ending.Heather Gudenkauf's LITTLE LIES, a precursor to her summer release did a much better job telling a stand alone story, introducing the protagonist.Still, I enjoyed the story and characters in THE TAILGATE enough to recommend.