Advent Calendar Review: A Holiday Homecoming (2019 Advent Anthology – Homemade For the Holidays) by Liv Rancourt

Reviewed by Taylin

TITLE: A Holiday Homecoming

SERIES: 2019 Advent Anthology – Homemade For the Holidays

AUTHOR: Liv Rancourt

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

RELEASE DATE: December 1, 2019

LENGTH: 18k words

BLURB:

Ten years ago Jon’s passion for the piano took him across the country to New York, where a demanding concert career consumed his life and left him no time to look back. His father’s stroke is the only thing that brings him home to Seattle. The sickroom makes for a dreary holiday until Jon runs into Bo, whose inner light can make anything sparkle.

Bo loves the holidays: the food, the crafts, the glitter! A fling with an old school friend—who grew up to be his celebrity crush—makes a good thing better. The season turns sour, though, when Jon is offered a gig he can’t refuse. He wants Bo to share the moment, but Bo doesn’t fly. Anywhere. Ever. Is this goodbye, or will a handmade ornament bring Jon home to Bo?

REVIEW:

Bo teaches fourth graders while sidelining in arts and crafts at the local haberdashery store. He loves the glitter and glitz of the Christmas period. He’s a homey, salt of the earth kind of man who loves to put a smile on a person’s face.

Jon Cunningham is a successful pianist and when at school, was the coolest guy in sixth grade. He’s home because his dad suffered a stroke. The event just happened to coincide with the holiday period. Jon’s mother had always been his biggest fan. His dad, not so much. While home, Jon hopes to repair the relationship he has with his father.

On an errand for his mother, Jon bumps into his childhood friend Bo and sparks fly. Unfortunately, Jon lives in New York, Bo in Seattle. Jon was only home for the holiday and Bo didn’t fly.

This story is told in the third person from Bo and Jon’s viewpoint. It is written in what I tend to class as the old-fashioned third person – i.e. the variety that doesn’t have named chapters. Thank the lord that this style still exists because it is by far my preferred form of reading.

A Holiday Homecoming is a short story, but it is packed with Christmassy heartwarming events. But it’s not all glitter, glitz and fuzzies. There are deeper elements, too like the relationship between Jon and his parents. While Bo is the Christmas spirit, Jon’s story adds most of the depth.

There are some lovely turns of phrase, and the scene-setting is excellent without going over the top. There is explicit content, but given the story length, quite rightly, it doesn’t get stuck describing every stroke, hump and spurt.

I found the story to be short and focused with a little bit of glitter, the odd broken biscuit, and most of all a whole lot of Christmas heart.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Amazon

Dreamspinner Press