Reviewed by Sid

TITLE: Heart of the Pines

AUTHOR: Jon Keys

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 70 pages

BLURB: Christmas is the worst time of the year to find yourself alone. Chris Moss, owner of a tree farm, knows this down to his bones as he makes his way through his first holiday season after losing his wife to cancer. When Wade Hart, an annual customer at the farm, visits, they find common ground: Wade lost his own longtime lover to a parting of ways and is lonely too. The constant, gentle companionship provides fertile soil for an attraction neither expects, but nurturing a new relationship is a tough proposition. With the encouragement of family and friends, Chris and Wade may yet find that a second love later in life can be just as fulfilling as the first.

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

REVIEW:

Two lonely hearts find their way to connect with each other and fill up that hole of emptiness in them.

Chris has lost his wife to cancer just a year ago and he has been suffering ever since. It doesn’t help that this will be the first holiday season he would be spending without her. Wade, on the other hand, has just gotten out of a bad relationship. Though he had spent the last 10 years with his now ex-boyfriend, he realizes it has been nothing but a controlling affair on his ex’s part. To keep his mind occupied and help a lonely friennd, Wade offers to decorate Chris’ farm for Christmas – an offer that Chris couldn’t refuse. While on the task, Wade feels a growing attraction toward his old friend and Chris has something similar going on inside him. Would they be willing to give their love life a second chance considering how badly their previous relationships ended?

The thing that I liked about this story the most was that both Chris and Wade were mature men. I love reading stories about mature men. They are always so beautiful and so sensible that it makes my reading experience really enjoyable. Heart of the Pines is no different!

Chris is a lovely character, I thought. He was married for several years, and happily too. From what I have read about his wife Mary, she seemed like a woman anybody could fall in love with. But her sudden death affects Chris. And it becomes hard for him to move on. That was quite understandable. In fact, if it wasn’t that way, I would have truly hated this story.

Wade is sweet – he lets Chris take his time and accepts that Mary has been a part of his life for so long before him. It is amazing how their relationship grows and you have to read it to experience it all. A story beautifully told by a skilled author. The only issue I had with this was that this story isn’t something new and unique that I was hoping for. The scenes drag at times with Chris’ conscience repeating itself again and again on same matters.

But one could ignore all that and just sit back to enjoy this story. It serves for a good Holiday treat.

Rating:

BUY LINKS: Dreamspinner Press

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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!