Reviewed by Ash

TITLE: Worth It

AUTHOR: Kris T. Bethke

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 39 pages

BLURB: Jackson Bennett and Ryan Hennigan met and fell in love while Ryan worked on Jack’s family’s Christmas tree farm. Back then, Jack broke his own heart by convincing Ryan to leave and pursue his future. Ryan went, but only after they made a pact to reunite after Ryan graduated from college. Now, five years later, it’s time, but Jack is convinced Ryan won’t show—and when he does, Jack is certain Ryan can’t possibly want to stay. Ryan, however, has no intention of being anywhere other than in Jack’s arms. But he faces a hurdle he never expected: proving to Jack they can have each other without having to sacrifice their dreams.

REVIEW:

I’m a sucker for a nice holiday story. I’m also aware that this is the author’s first release (congrats, Kris!) and so I’m going to offer a free piece of advice: Blurbs are very important, pay attention to them.

In this case the blurb both suggests drama that isn’t delivered, and gives away too much of the story… really all of the story, and that’s a shame. It’s a good story. It would have been better if I had any tension, any angst at all to lend excitement or anticipation after reading the blurb. The worst part is that the story builds those things! A slightly rewritten blurb would preserve a lot for the reader to imagine and worry and wish for. But we know everything, because the blurb gives it all away.

The story starts by introducing us to the characters in the worst possible circumstances. Jack is demanding of Ryan that he walk away. Even Jack, our viewpoint character for the story, knows what’s really going on. Jack is sending Ryan away so that Ryan can be happy. In this case, happiness is college–college on the far side of the country in an intensive engineering program.

I confess to struggling a little with Jack’s stubborn insistence that they not be in contact with each other at all while Ryan was in school. It seemed designed to make the couple fail, and yet Jack’s belief in their enforced and total separation is clear enough that in this story I can accept it. Jack isn’t being needlessly stubborn, and his own pain is evident. He knows that he has no hope of Ryan returning to him if there’s no contact. Jack insists, and Ryan reluctantly agrees. They go their separate ways, both clearly broken hearted, but with an agreement to meet with each other in five years.

Up to this point the story excelled. The language wasn’t beautiful, but it was clear and you could feel Jack’s pain, and see Ryan’s. The story picks up five years later, and thanks to the blurb, the tension that could have made this story so beautiful is really marred. We know that Ryan shows up, so we never really feel the tension the author works to build up to that point. While Jack is convinced Ryan won’t show, we already know he does. We’re relying on Jack’s being stubborn while Ryan convinces him that their future can work, the tension promised by the blurb. And so the story fails, not because it didn’t deliver tension, but because the blurb has us looking for the main tension of the story in the wrong place.

Overall a nice quick read. It was sweet and touching and I wish I could have read it without the suspense ruining blurb. My job is to review the story, not the blurb, and the story delivers.

RATING: [3.75 stars]

BUY LINK: 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!