Review: A beautiful love story of friendship, acceptance and how the holidays brings families together
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 14, 2012
Maccabe and Josh have known each other since birth and have been best friends ever since they remember. They have shared vacations, family dinners and everything in between. Maccabe's world revolves around baseball and not much else matters, except his family and friendship with Josh. Josh keeps mostly to himself. He is shy, enjoys building with Legos and is not interested in sports. But he loves Maccabe and he will do almost anything for him - even play video games.One night, before dinner at Josh's house everything changes. Suddenly, Maccabe is noticing things about his friend that he hadn't before, he doesn't trust himself around his best friend anymore and rather than risk his friendship with Josh, he starts to keep his distance. Until a fateful night brings them together again and they start exploring this attraction between them.What follows is an interesting set of events that will determine if they will continue being together or not. Is their friendship and new-found attraction ruined or will they be able to salvage it before it's too late?I loved this story so much! The writing was excellent with the right mixture of humor, emotion and chemistry thrown in to keep my interest. Just what I have come to expect from Cardeno C. I even enjoyed the way the story was told. It jumped from event to event following the eight days of the Hanukkah celebration. Very creative of Cardeno C. The author managed to pack a great deal of story in just a few pages while keeping me entertained and well informed. Well done indeed!The characters were both adorable and very easy to relate to. I enjoyed the familiarity of their interactions it really showcased the bond these two shared. I loved Maccabe's voice,  even if he was clueless most of the time and I kept wanting to shake some sense into him. In truth, that's what really endeared him to me. He was so a strong, big baseball player, but when it came to Josh he was a goner. What's not to love?And Josh is not far behind. I loved him to pieces. He was so honest and determined to be himself that he walked away from what meant the most to him - his family and Maccabe. I had to admire him for that but I also wanted to shelter him from the disappointment and pain he was feeling.In the end, I was misty eyed when they finally came together and even found myself smiling even after I finished reading it. I also found the details included about the Hanukkah celebration very interesting to read. Every detail Cardeno C brought to the page regarding the celebration added to my enjoyment of the story. It made it seem much more real and like I was a part of it too. I ended up doing a bit of research about Hanukkah it because I wanted to learn more about it.All in all, Eight Days is a short, wonderful holiday read that left me wanting more of Maccabe and Josh's story.