Reviewed by Carissa
TITLE: Snow Globe
SERIES: 2013 Advent Calendar – Heartwarming
AUTHOR: L.E. Franks
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 44 pages
BLURB: Kris Hamilton escaped the rat race in LA to live his dream of owning an art studio and making snow globes in a Christmas-themed town in northern Minnesota. But life in a tiny town isn’t as peaceful as advertised, and being treated like an outsider is making Kris’s Tourette’s flare up. When he inadvertently offends Tyr Tollefson—a beautiful blond giant of a man—Kris is ready to chuck it all. But he strikes up an unlikely friendship with Tyr’s cousin Bun, who shows them the magic of Christmas and gives them both a lesson in love and acceptance.
REVIEW:
No matter how cute the idea a town named Christmas may be, Kris has seen its dark side. Or, well, its ordinariness. Despite its cute shops, funny names, and claim to Christmas cheer, the town of Christmas is pretty much like every other town in the country. Gossips, small-town politics, bigotry…and some rather surprising and unique characters. For a man like Kris, his new home is both a perfect fit and a perfect nightmare. His self-made and designed snow globes are a hit. His blatant homosexuality and embarrassing Tourette’s? Not so much.
When he meets Tyr he is at once awed and terribly embarrassed–making an ass of himself wasn’t exactly how he wanted to make an impression on the Nordic god of a man. Not that he could control his awe or his Tourette’s. But time, and a few fated meeting pass, and something seems to click between the two. But Tyr has a family that is ailing, Kris has a mind that refuses to heel, and the both are smack dab in the middle of a judgmental Minnesota town that has no bones about proclaiming that the attraction between Tyr and Kris is against everything their hypocritical asses believe.
I enjoyed this little Christmas story from L.E. Franks. The idea of a man living Tourette’s was what immediately made me choose to read this story, but I have to say it was the whole cast of characters that really caught my interest. Tyr, who is trying to be just about everything for his family, and loves being there for them, but can’t do everything. Bun, who is both sweet and insistent–and who will not let the few hurdles that life has thrown at her get her down. Eddie, who may be ailing, but is not going to let Tyr throw his life away. And Kris…who has a mind full of a runaway thesaurus, and very little control of his brain/mouth filter. All these characters made this story well worth the read. They rounded out what could have been a very clichéd story.
I do wish that we had gotten a bit more time with Tyr and Kris once they ‘got together’ but life for them was never going to easy, and seemed to want to tear them apart as much as it kept throwing them together. Tyr’s apology was very sweet though. And I loved how–after a period of being a judgmental stupid-head–he totally embraced Kris’s various quirks and ticks.
My sister used to collect snow globes–though I think it was more the fact that people just keep giving them to her, than a conscious choice–so I really wish I could have had a few of Kris’s special creations to ship to her. Even if she would not thank me for my attempt to clutter her already packed home. But they just seemed like so much fun, and so cute, that I wish I had that gift of creation. Or the money to pay others to create for me.
Sometimes the story got a tad confusing, and it felt like there should have been a short scene to explain just what the hell was going on (mainly near the end), but it was a sweet story. I loved the characters and would really like to see how the town chooses to cope with the situation handed them at the end. Small towns are something I love, but I totally understand that whole dark-side that no one likes to admit to. Small-town bigotry notwithstanding, a good story and a nice ending to my part in this Advent Calendar round-up.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS: Dreamspinner :: Amazon :: ARe
ADVENT CALENDER EVENT
Dreamspinner Press and The Blog of Sid Love bring to you an opportunity where you get to win a free set of DSP’s “Heartwarming” Advent Calender 2013. Yes! The full set with 31 stories including contributions from authors like Andrew Grey, Cardeno C., Grace R. Duncan, and many more…
If you wish to enter yourself into this contest, all you have to do is comment on every advent event post we make each day till the end of this month. Look out for titles with “Advent Calender Event” mentioned in them (such as this one) and the posts will be reviews on each and every story from this anthology.
The contest will end on 1st January, 2014 and the winners will be announced on the 2nd of January.
So, good luck to you all and Happy Holidays!
Sounds good. 🙂
I love snow globes so I think I would like this one!
Definitely one I want to read, thanks
Yep, it was the Tourette’s that hooked me too! I credit my soft spot to “Ethan, Who Loved Carter” by Ryan Loveless. That book taught me so much and ever since, I make sure I and those around me don’t make light of Tourette’s. I’m very, very excited to read this story. Thank you.
Adored “Ethan, Who Loved Carter.” I went in thinking it looked interesting, but there figuried I would probably not end up liking it as much as I did. It is also the reason I choose this story, as well. Now that I’m thinking about it, it is probably a good time to re-read Ethan. Hope you enjoy the story!
Definitely time for a re-read. 🙂 I actually went to bed replaying some of my favorite scenes!
I love the idea of snow globes. It does sound like a sweet story.
I love small towns too. And wow, another story set in Minnesota, it’s a Christmasy place, I guess 🙂 Anyway, this sounds cute. Thanks for the review Carissa, it was fun reading from the calendar, wasn’t it?
Did seem like I read an above average number of Minnesota based christmas stories this year. Must be all that snow. As a (almost) lifelong valley-girl, I’m not exactly sure what it is about snow that invites such hot man-on-man action, but I’m all for it. And the calendar was a lot of fun–with some really unexpected hits.
Thanks for the review. I’ve only seen very generic cheap snow globes so the one on the cover is rather special to me.
Sigh…I really liked this very sweet story.
It wasn’t perfect, but it was such a lovely idea and well written, I could forgive the little things that annoyed me.