Title: Grateful
Author: Kim Fielding
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: November 30th 2015
Genre(s): Contemporary
Page Count: 41
Reviewed by: Ele
Heat Level: 1 flames out of 5
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
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.
A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2015 Advent Calendar package “Sleigh Ride”.
I’m so surprised and sad that I didn’t like this story more. I’m such a huge fan of Kim Fielding and I devour everything she writes, but I struggled with this one.
I think the biggest reason is Nate, the main character and narrator of the story. Nate is just…all over the place. He’s clumsy, impulsive, procrastinatory and acts like child. He keeps complaining that his family sees him as a running joke, but he’s the one who brings it all to himself.
Gio, the man he meets on the way to his parents’ house, is exactly what Nate needs.
And it turns out that Nate doesn’t give enough credit to his family, which actually consists of lovely people. They only want him to be happy and are just worried about him.
The ending is a tentative HEA and I liked it a lot.
Although I expected to like this one more, Kim Fielding’s witing is so evocative and effortless, even in fluffy-sparkly stories, that it’s just not possible for me to actually hate a story of hers.
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