December 9th
Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: Grateful 
SERIES: Dreamspinner Advent Calendar 2015 — Sleigh Ride
AUTHOR: Kim Fielding
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 41 Pages
BLURB:
Nate Roth’s latest dumb stunt has left him with a broken arm, black eye, and stitched chin—and extra trepidation about visiting his family for Hanukkah. He fears his relatives will put him through another round of criticism for his foolish choices and his nonexistent love life. Several mishaps during his short journey to his parents’ house don’t bode well. But along the way he meets impossibly gorgeous Gio DiPietro—and maybe it’s time for Nate’s risk-taking impulses to turn out well for a change.
REVIEW:
Woohoo! I am giving a five heart review to a 41 page holiday story! Yes I am….
This is just a fun little story, it made me smile, and laugh out loud. I felt a certain connection to it for several reasons. Nate is driving to his parent’s house for Hanukkah, and he goes through Stockton California. I lived in Stockton for a couple of years when I was a teenager. It sucks. Nate is Jewish, but not really a good Jew, my husband is exactly that. Nate’s family dinner was latkes and ham. We have eaten that meal! Seriously, you know you are a bad Jew when you eat PORK with a traditional Jewish food… Nate has a Jewfro. My husband had a Jewfro! So anyway, all of those things made me laugh a little, and made this story even more special.
These short stories are a challenge to review, I usually give a bit of character or plot details, but there isn’t much to this one, so I have to be careful. Basically Nate the Jewish klutz, heads to his family’s house for Hanukkah, does something stupid (again), meets a man, and… You have to read it to find out!
I really really like Kim Fielding’s books. This is a great example of her writing, clean, quick, snappy dialogue, great characters, a little romance, and what looks to be a happy ending and a long life for Nate and Gio. She tells a great story, doesn’t add unnecessary fluff, even with a sweet holiday story. There is enough details to make this interesting, but she didn’t cram a lot of story in to a small space.
I totally enjoyed this story! Just what I needed a few days before spending an evening with my husband’s family for our Hanukkah dinner. Which will not be latkes and ham…
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
Great review.
I have read and liked/loved story’s by Kim Fielding and after reading your five star review i put this one on my TBR list.
I’ve been especially impressed with Kim’s short stories in anthologies, so this would be wonderful!
It’s so good! If you haven’t read her book Rattlesnake, go get it! I read it this weekend and it was wonderful.
Thank you for the review! I’ve always found the more clumsy characters endearing =)
Me too H.B.!
[…] Grateful by Kim Fielding […]
Until now I didn’t know what is Jewfro LOL, I really want to read this story
A white boy fro! Big head of curly hair…. I loved my husbands, it’s mostly gone now, but it was so pretty when he was young.