Reviewed by Cheryl

TITLE: Make a Circle

SERIES:  2018 Advent Calendar – Warmest Wishes

AUTHOR: Elliot Joyce

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 33 pages

RELEASE DATE: December 1, 2018

BLURB:

Pagan punk musician Lucas is fully prepared to spend this Yule with the rest of the band and his beautiful bass guitar when Oliver, his boyfriend of almost a year, asks if he wants to join the rest of the Han family for their annual winter celebration. It comes as a shock since Ollie has gone to great lengths to keep the two apart, and Lucas always assumed he was the reason. Since they’re planning to be together long-term, Lucas can’t say no to meeting Ollie’s parents, but he better brush up on his manners and his Mandarin because this is going to be a holiday season like no other— and it has some surprises in store for both of them.

REVIEW:

I’m afraid I have to say that I was disappointed with this book. There are very few Christmas books around that are not about the Christian festival/traditions. I chose this one because it involved pagan characters and I thought it would include something about pagan beliefs, especially considering the title. As one of the characters is Chinese, I also thought I might learn something about Chinese culture and how Christmas is celebrated, if at all.

Whilst I enjoyed getting to know Lukas and Oliver, I was disappointed there was nothing at all about the pagan Yule festival. Whilst I appreciate that the meat of the story was about visiting Oliver’s family, and therefore the slant was on the Chinese celebration, I would have liked to have seen at least a passing mention of Yule rituals and customs.

I’m afraid I also have to say that I felt let down by the descriptions of Chinese Christmas customs, too. There was no mention of how the house was decorated, what Christmas means to a Chinese family, what particular customs they have etc etc. There was mention of various food items but no description as to what they are and what they mean. For me, this book was not about Christmas at all. It could have been set at any time of year with very few changes, and that was disappointing given it’s an advent story.

Having said all that, I did enjoy the story. It was Lukas’ first time meeting Oliver’s family and there were some special challenges, given half the family spoke mostly Mandarin, and Lukas spoke very little at all. There were, I believe, about thirty of Oliver’s family present and it would have been unrealistic to expect an introduction to all of them, given the length of the novel. I think the author got the balance just right by focusing on key members, whilst still enriching the background with glimpses at the others.

The fact that Oliver is trans figured large in the story. It was clearly a key issue for him, and seems to have been the reason he feels uncomfortable and doesn’t visit the family often. There doesn’t seem to be much conflict, though. Only one person challenged him, although no one seemed to be making any particular effort, with his birth name being used a lot, with cheerful excuses that no one challenged. Given that Oliver was clearly upset and uncomfortable, no one approached him with anything but a cheerful aspect and completely ignored the elephant in the room. It would appear that one member of the family actually went back to China to avoid dealing with it, but that is only very briefly touched on. I don’t feel that I ever got to grips with the dynamics of this family or where anyone was coming from. There didn’t seem to be a clear hierarchy and no structure at all. To be honest it was a bit of a mess.

Oliver spent most of the book being very unhappy and I was often in the dark as to why. The way he related to other members of his family is strange and never examined closely or explained. I do like the way Lukas reacted to everything and how he related to Oliver, in particular.

The writing itself is good. There’s a nice flow and dynamism and the pacing is fine. There were some funny moments and plenty of touching little ones, especially between Oliver and Lukas, and involving Oliver’s grandmother. As I said, I did enjoy getting to know the characters, even though I felt most of them could have been better developed.

This is a short story with a lot going on. I think perhaps the writer bit off more than they could chew in the amount they tried to fit in because nothing was fully developed, and it was all a bit of a hodge podge.

That being said, I enjoyed reading the story and I’m sure that anyone who wants something a little different than the usual Christmas fare will enjoy it. Just don’t expect to learn anything.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon