Review: Mixing Humor and Heartbreak for the First Bad Holiday
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 23, 2011
Holidays have never been Zelda Bowen's thing.  As the only single daughter in the family, it's a chance to be reminded that her sisters are married with children.But Easter this year is especially bad.  Her father has always been the Easter Bunny for the kids in the family.  That won't be the case this year since he's vanished with a woman from his office.  And somehow Zelda gets talked into donning the costume for her nephew and twin nieces.What follows is a glimpse of a family in the middle of upheaval.  This is a short story, and it didn't take me long to read at all.  It is surprisingly funny and heartbreaking all in one.  I was laughing one moment and feeling for Zelda the next.  I was left wanting to know what happens next, which makes sense since this is the first in a series of short stories.What amazed me was how well the characters came to life.  There are only 20 or so pages, and in that time I felt we got to know Zelda and her mother and sisters and their families fairly well.  Okay, so it's just the big brush strokes, but they still felt very real.Those looking for a murder won't find it here.  This is outside of Sue Ann's normal mystery genre, but it is just as good as anything else she has written.I am looking forward to seeing how the Bowen family continues to grow as they try to navigate upcoming bad holidays.I was sent a copy of this story in exchange for my honest review.