REVIEWED By Cindy

TITLE: Grumble Monkey and the Department Store Elf

AUTHOR: B.G. Thomas

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 95  Pages

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2013 Advent Calendar package “Heartwarming”.

Blurb:

Kit Jefferies, a part-time department store Christmas elf, is an artist who loves life and his family. Unfortunately, his car dies at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere as he is heading home for Christmas. Enter Nick St. George.

Nick is a very unhappy man—he’s achieved his professional goals only to find the rest of his life bleak and empty. Deciding there was only one way to make everything right, he is on his way to San Francisco on a dark mission, and even the horrible sleet storm that blocked his path won’t deter him. That’s when he found Kit.

At first, Nick is pretty sure rescuing Kit was a big mistake. Kit’s personality is just too, well, effervescent. But as the miles go by, Kit begins to bring light to his dark heart. It might even be bright enough to illuminate a Christmas miracle.

Review:

When Nick meets Kit, he decides that Kit is the very example of everything he hates about gay men. As a gay man himself, Nick doesn’t understand why it’s necessary to be so “out there” and obvious.

Nick is lonely and sure that life has nothing good to offer him. He’s made a decision he clings to with stubborn pride. He comes across as rude and offensive at times but you get the sense that he has a reason for his behavior.

Kit is the exact opposite. He wears his heart on his sleeve and can’t see any reason to pretend he’s anything but what he is. Open-hearted and kind to a fault, he finds himself drawn to Nick.

The interactions between these two men start out funny and antagonistic, but it doesn’t take long for Kit’s good nature to get to Nick. The chemistry between them is immediate and while Nick fight’s it, it soon becomes too much to resist.

Another crimp in Kit’s holiday plans has Nick postponing his own plans and I love how they are drawn together and then Nick futilely pushes them apart until he finally gives himself and Kit what they need.

The author does a wonderful job of creating two characters that you can’t help but fall in love with and even when Nick is at his worst, you can’t help but sympathize with his view on life. The holidays aren’t always the most wonderful time of the year and Nick reminds us of that.

The ending will have you going “nononono” until it finally comes around to what it should be.

The characters are flawed and real and it’s what makes this story so perfect. And while I could have read more about them, it’s rare that a short story has everything required to make it complete.

RATING:

BUY LINK : Dreamspinner

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!