Day 17
Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Wait For Me
SERIES: Celebrate! (2014 Advent Calendar)
AUTHOR: T.S. Morgan
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 21 Pages
BLURB:
To fulfill his grandfather’s final request, TJ Barclay travels to Scotland over Christmas to bury his ashes next to his lost love, so they can be together at last. While there, he meets Jamie, the orphaned grandson of the man his grandfather loved sixty years ago, before circumstances tore them apart. Concerned for Jamie, TJ can’t leave Scotland without knowing he’s all right. Neither man expected a love story from the past to ignite a new one in the present.
A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2014 Advent Calendar package “Celebrate!”.
REVIEW:
I’m going to be honest, this book drove me nuts. From the first page I was absolutely hooked. By the fourth page I was actually in tears. The letters written in 1923 between the two lovers who were ripped apart by fate? Who cares if it’s been done before, it still gets me every time. This story began with maximum emotional impact.
“I need to be buried by Justin. I bought the plot next to him when he was killed in a car accident in 1970. I need you to take my ashes to Inverness, Scotland, after I pass. I need you to bury my ashes and our letters in that plot before Christmas. I promised him we’d be together for Christmas, and I can finally keep that promise.”
Sixty six years have passed since TJ’s grandfather promised the man he loved that they would be reunited by Christmas and he’s finally able to keep his promise. Jesus! I’m getting teary again just writing this. I can’t stress enough how well the beginning of this story is written.
When TJ speaks to the local Pastor about burying the ashes, he discovers that Justin, his Grandfather’s love, died in a car accident along with his wife, son and daughter-in-law leaving behind an orphaned grandson, Jamie. TJ feels that he wouldn’t be honoring his Grandfather’s wishes if he doesn’t check on the wellbeing of the now twenty-two year old Jamie.
And from that point, the story died the death of needing to squeeze a full length novel into 21 pages.
Firstly, and I’ll admit that this may have just been an issue for me, I got confused over ages and dates. I was wondering, if Jamie was a three-year-old orphan in 1970 then how is he only twenty-two now? Then I realized that the book was actually set in 1989, but I don’t really understand why. Usually if a book is set in a year other than the current then there’s a reason or at least it’s made apparent through references to music and pop culture, etc. And I understand that the brevity of this story didn’t really allow for those types of references so why bother? There was nothing about the story, unless I missed something, that couldn’t have been set in 2014, so why randomly choose 1989?
Then there is the insta-love, double gay-for-you angle including first time sex off page. See, even that sentence is a bit of a confusing mess. How can that possibly be written in such a short story? There was no reason to take the GFY route. I think readers tend to be more forgiving with insta-love in short stories but attempting a double gay-for-you, which is rarely done well even in full length novels, just seemed like short story suicide. The off page sex is actually my preference for short stories but when it’s the first gay sex for both men and the only prelude is about a dozen words, including both men saying “I’m not gay”, some creepy staring and a touch on the arm, then I think that could have been left out too.
The epilogue was sweet and set two years later but it’s like the author tried to cram in every possible happy occurrence for TJ and Jamie. I know people often say – I wish this had been a full-length novel, but I think this needed to be. It was just way too complex for so few words.
If this story is ever expanded and re-released I’ll be first in line to read it. In the mean time I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for more books by this author because despite my final thoughts on Wait For Me, T.S. Morgan can definitely write.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
It sounds intense but touching!
This one sounds really good. Thank you for the review =)