Review: Fine Storytelling About Complex Lives
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 24, 2013
These are fantastic reads from a writer who really understands the complex feelings that swirl in the human experience around the holidays. The dual longing for the comfort of "home" and the realization that it might not be possible to gain that feeling again is poignant and tender, and ultimately redemptive when explored by these compelling characters.Christmas in King's Gap gives the reader taught suspense throughout, really showing us how Jessica feels. She has come home to escape and to heal, but just reaching home doesn't offer her that. It's going to take time and her resolving lots of feelings. The house needs repairs, just like her heart, and this is a great storyline to make room for Jake to enter.Home for Christmas is a great companion piece, with parallel themes that play out differently. I liked that this story had lots of complex dynamics embedded within the family structure that felt very true to the human experience of estrangement, isolation during domestic violence or other hard times, and what's hard about reunion. There are amazing scenes, like when a verbal fight with characters makes the mother want to protect her children, knowing it must remind them of fights when they were with their father, and it's all very poignant and realistic. I really liked, too, how the budding romance with Daniel was handled.Overall, really fantastic stories celebrating new starts, healing, and the complex needs we have for a sense of "home."