Genre:
Christmas/Romance
Description:
“Stella’s
personal life has deteriorated beyond her ability to cope. She
divorced her husband. Her friends, all married, want nothing to do
with a single woman. Her mother isn’t speaking to her. Her new
neighbors have never spoken to her. Her furniture attacks her. She
can’t even get the date right for the Christmas festival she
attended in the hopes of gaining some holiday spirit.
Then
the car in front of her on a dark, snowy highway stops at the side of
the road and dumps out a dog, speeding away. Stella doesn’t realize
how special this dog is until everything in her life changes for the
better.”
Author:
Grace
Jelsnik earned her M.A. in English with an emphasis on creative
writing at the University of South Dakota. She lives in North Dakota
with her husband, their children, two dogs, and three cats.
Appraisal:
Just
before I hit the end of Christmas
Bessie
I was floored. I felt like I'd been blindsided by a twist that made
absolutely no sense to me. I talked it over with a fellow reader and
… well, we'll get to that later. First let's talk about the rest of
the book.
I
loved the rest of the book. It's full of humor, that made me laugh.
It has a romance with the vet that follows the traditional romance
story line. There is plenty of feel-good Christmasy kinds of things
going on. And there is even a little bit of a mystery for our heroine
Stella and her handsome veterinarian to investigate.
Now
back to that twist. I can't say what happened. I can say that the
story wouldn't have felt incomplete without it and that it made no
sense to me. When I discussed it with the friend she said that it was
making a statement on “the supernatural essence of love and
devotion.” She mentioned a couple books by the same author she has
read that had this same kind of element. I realized that another book
of hers I had read did as well. Someone more spiritual than I am is
going to react differently. (In fact, from further discussion my
friend's reaction to this would have been much different than mine.
She also suggested, correctly, that there were subtle hints this was
coming along the way.)
So
where does that leave us? If the book description appeals, grab it.
If you're into spiritual or supernatural, expect a little bonus. If
you're not that spiritual, maybe knowing something a bit off-the-wall
is coming will lighten the blow.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No
significant issues
Rating:
**** Four Stars
Reviewed
by:
BigAl
Approximate
word count:
30-35,000 words
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