Reviewed by Chris
TITLE: A Home for the Holidays
AUTHOR: Joe Cosentino
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 52 pages
BLURB:
Bobby McGrath’s Christmas trip to the beautiful Italian island of Capri to meet his eccentric extended family offers stunning views—none more stunning than his third cousin, Paolo Mascobello, a real stocking stuffer. As the two young men embark on a relationship, Bobby, a driven law student, learns to relax and bask under the old Italian moon, and Paolo realizes there’s more to life than a frolic on the beach. For the two to find everlasting amore, Paulo must overcome his fear of commitment and learn to follow his dreams, and Bobby must get his wish for happily ever after.
REVIEW:
Bobby’s family is not exactly all up with the love and caring. Even at Christmas. So it is with a bit of relief that Bobby will be spending this Christmas in Capri with some relatives he has never met before. Complete strangers are a vast improvement to his family’s constant barrage of criticism and derision. That Capri also is the home of his entirely too sexy cousin is something not to sneer at either. But some things about family are universal. Paolo and Bobby will have to decide what is more important, their families criticism or their belief in each other.
I struggled with this story, quite a bit. The way it was written did not lend itself to a easy narrative. It at times felt like one must feel when forced to sit down and look thru every one of the 300+ photos from a friend’s vacation. There might be interesting stories in those pictures, but by photo number 107 you are trying to come up with some fictional aunt you have to go visit in the hospital.
The best way I can think to describe this book is descriptive. Probably overly descriptive…or at least not descriptive in the right areas. I love me some food porn and I enjoy foreign locals, but I need the story to devote some time to the actual relationship. Hardly more than 24 hours goes before they are pulling out the I-love-yous, and there is almost no emotional build-up before it. It just kinda happens. Bobby sees a hot guy, Bobby fucks a hot guy, Bobby falls in love with a hot guy because…he bought him a nice meal???
There is no narrative build up in this story. Too much of it felt like a list of activities. And while things could have been happening below the surface in those scenes, we sure as hell are not shown them.
Also, just a hint, if you want me to sympathize with a character it is best not to have him show his absolute disgust at having to come into contact with someone who is plus size. I had pretty much stopped caring what this dude did after the third time this happened. I get it, we all want our MCs to be hot and buff (actually I really don’t), but this was just insulting. The author may not have meant it to be, but that didn’t stop Bobby from coming across like a shallow dickwad.
I don’t know if this book is suffering the bad luck of coming after one of my favorite books of the year, or it was just never going to be to my liking. Either way, it didn’t work for me. I wish that the author had spent more time on the people and less time on Italy, because the characters are what usually draw me to a story…the rest is just set dressing.
RATING:
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