WonderThis holiday season, twenty talented, award-winning, and bestselling authors have crafted never before released Yuletide-themed tales about their most beloved characters.MagicFrom murder to magic, love to loss, the past and the future, this multi-genre collection of poems and stories has something for everyone.CharityIn the spirit of giving, the authors have generously opted to donate all … everyone.
Charity
In the spirit of giving, the authors have generously opted to donate all profits to The LifeAfter—Visions of Hope Project, whose passion is to shatter the stigma and spread awareness to three taboo topics that underscore society today: Suicide, Substance Abuse, and Domestic Violence.
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3.5 (average)
Book source ~ ARC. My review is voluntary and honest.
In the spirit of giving, the authors have generously opted to donate all profits to The LifeAfter—Visions of Hope Project, whose passion is to shatter the stigma and spread awareness to three taboo topics that underscore society today: Suicide, Substance Abuse, and Domestic Violence.
Mystery, fantasy, paranormal, contemporary – there’s something for everyone in this Christmas-themed collection. Some are connected to a series, others are independent. What they all have in common (besides Christmas) is that they are all pretty good. I’ve read a few of these authors and while I enjoyed visiting with them again, I think what I enjoyed most is trying out all the others who are new-to-me. Looks like I’m adding more authors to my never-ending list and that’s never a bad thing.
The Moment I Knew I Would Love Ethan Forever ~ Brenda Vicars (4 bites)
Yuletide Homicide: A Liz Boyle Short ~ Kate Birdsall (4 bites)
A Crazy Christmas (Cass Adams, #0.5) ~ Kelly Stone Gamble (5 bites) The ending to this one made me LOLOL and then LOL some more. Because I read Book 1. 😉
Rowans’ Gift (A Dragonkin story) ~ Michael Meyerhofer (3 bites)
A Merry Mugging (A Vigilante Series Short) ~ Claude Bouchard (3 bites)
A Vanderbilt Christmas ~ Nicola Evelina (3 bites)
Another Bloody Festival ~ Ciara Ballintyne (2 bites)
Holiday in Hartland ~ Gail Cleare (3 bites)
Some Carry-tail: A Gabriel & Orson Christmas ~ Victor Catano (4 bites)
A Twin Oaks Christmas ~ Reece Taylor (3 bites)
The Christmas Jacket ~ Diane Byington (4 bites)
A Muse-ing Christmas ~ Kelley Kaye (4 bites)
Building Cairns ~ Darren Leo (4 bites and a nibble)
A Katie Christmas ~ Erica Lucke Dean (4 bites)
Convergence ~ Stacey Roberts (4 bites)
Caesar’s Gift ~ LeTeisha Newton (3 bites)
A Gift for Momma ~ Debbie S. TenBrink (4 bites)
Literally Christmas ~ C. Streetlights (3 bites)
Father Christmas ~ Timothy Woodward (4 bites)
And Mercy Mild ~ Justin Bog (2 bites and a nibble)
I was recently given the opportunity to review a charity anthology for The LifeAfter Project via an ARC. The book was published November 4, so I’m slightly behind on posting my review… Some of my favorite authors participated in the anthology, supporting the organization’s mission:
The LifeAfter Project aims to reach out and provide assistance for those who struggle with thoughts of suicide, substance abuse, or domestic abuse. All these things are related to mental illness. Our goal is to educate, inspire, and spread awareness. We hope that our efforts will help eradicate the stigma associated with this insidious epidemic.
Given that support, it should not be surprising that the range of stories included everything from high fantasy to mystery to romance to humor to poetry–every “genre” of person has had some experience with the issues associated with mental illness, so it was thoughtful of the organizers to include such a range of styles in the collection.
On the other hand, the strength of the individual stories varied widely–some had significant editing issues and some were not to my taste.
However, in keeping with my standard practice, I will call out the particular stand-outs of the anthology, because any one of them would be worth the $0.99 it takes to buy the whole set, and your taste might differ from mine–or you might find a new author to investigate.
Knowing my well-documented love of the Katie stories (I reviewed To Katie With Love when it came out in 2013), I was thrilled to see a short told from Cooper’s point of view. Revisiting the well-meaning terror of Silvia and the twin foils of Dean and icy blonde reminded me all over again of how much fun that series is. For me, this one alone is worth the price of admission.
Other strong contenders were (in order of appearance in the book): “Yuletide Homicide: A Liz Boyle Short Mystery,” by Kate Birdsall, “A Merry Mugging,” by Claude Bouchard, “Holiday in Hartland,” by Gail Cleare, “Some Carry-Tail: A Gabriel & Orson Story,” by Victor Catano, “The Christmas Jacket,” by Diane Byington, “A Gift for Momma,” by Debbie S. TenBrink, “Father Christmas,” by Timothy Woodward, and “And Mercy Mild,” by Justin Bog.
Many of these tie in to other, stand-alone books, as well as being authors who are new to me, so I’m happy to have had a short introduction to their styles and themes. Reviewing the list, it seems those with particularly strong redemption arcs–like in the Liz Boyle mystery, the “Merry Mugging” story, “A Gift for Momma,” “Father Christmas,” and “And Mercy Mild”–were the ones that spoke to me the deepest. Catano’s “Carry-Tail” story was pure, fun revenge and had just the right touch of magic in it. “Holiday in Hartland” was also about redemption, but on a generational scale, so felt like a different flavor altogether–and managed to wring a few tears from me.
Overall, given the charity these authors have chosen to support and the strength of a number of stand-out stories, you really can’t get much better bang for your buck–especially if you’re already a fan of these authors’ related works. I would highly recommend the anthology for those reasons.
While I may not have loved every single story in this book I did throughly enjoy them all. Almost all are 5 star short stories. I read some authors I have never read before and look forward to more of their books and some I have read and loved them.
I’m not big on reading Christmas stories but this was very good. A very good set of shorts that will please everyone in some way. At least some stories will be loved regardless.
It was very well done and the stories selected were fun to read. I would recommend this book to others. It’s worth reading and is only 99 cents. At least right now it is.
This book is really a steal at any price for the 20 stories. 100% of the proceeds go to charity and there’s such a diverse collection of stories here, that there’s got to be something for everyone. I did write a little something and individually rate each story, which I’ll share below.
Definitely going to seek out more from some of these authors too, so even if nothing else, I’ve discovered some new-to-me authors, which is always great.
Overall, only a few of the stories seemed to be professionally edited.
Overall I’d call this around 4 stars.
Individual findings:
#1 ‘The Moment I Knew I Would Love Ethan Forever’ by Brenda Vicars
Sweet, super short, a bit of action and a great scene. Left me wanting more, ended a bit abruptly for me. 3 stars.
#2 ‘Yuletide Homicide: A Liz Boyle Short Mystery’ by Kate Birdsall
Cute, briefly and mildly suspenseful. Hints of romance and it all wrapped up neatly. A good job of fitting various dynamics and feels into so few words. Impressive. 4 stars.
#3 ‘A Crazy Christmas’ by Kelly Stone Gamble
This one had interesting characters, that I think I’d like to see more of. I own but haven’t yet read Stone’s other ‘Crazy’ books. However it could use a round of professional proofreading. 3.5 stars.
#4 ‘Rowen’s Gift’ by Michael Meyerhofer
Not my cup of tea, but that doesn’t make it bad. Just didn’t hold my attention; described as “dark”, I found it more dull. However, if I were a reader of this author’s other books, familiar with his characters, it might make more sense to me and I might’ve enjoyed it more. (Also a bit of a let down as there was no relation I could discern to Christmas.) 3 stars.
#5 ‘A Merry Mugging’ by Claude Bouchard
Really, really sweet, feel-good story. Truly liked this one. Second chances and all that. Very predictable though. 4 stars.
#6 ‘A Vanderbilt Christmas’ by Nicole Eveline
A fun trip back in time, but a bit bland at the same time. Also recommend a professional editor to help with the poor grammar that occasionally popped up (nothing distracting). 3 stars.
#7 ‘Another Bloody Festival’ by Ciara Ballintyne
This was okay; I feel it could be great with a professional editing team. Festive, which I enjoyed. There were paranormal things left unexplained so it was hard to relate to the setting. 3.5 stars.
#8 ‘Holiday in Hartland’ by Gail Cleare
So sweet! Good characters, great setting, includes mystery and complex relationships and pasts. Left me wanting more; will likely seek this author out. 4 stars.
#9 ‘Some Carry-tail’ by Victor Catano
This one needs some help; I’d strongly recommend working with professional editor and re-publishing. There’s clearly some sort of dialogue between a man and his girlfriend’s dog, but it’s super confusing. The scene leaves too many questions to get a clear picture. The man’s dialogue is in quotations, but the dog’s is not, nor are italics used. Also it’s written in first person, so with the lack of punctuation, it gets confusing at times to know who is saying what, whether something’s being spoken, thought, etc. I truly enjoyed the concept and the story itself though. So while I have to give it a low rating for lack of professionalism, I’d honestly seek out more from this author if he were to utilize a professional team and republish. As it stands, in its current condition, it’s somewhere between 2 and 3 stars for me. If it were presented professionally though, it’d be at least 4 stars, easily.
#10 ‘A Twin Oaks Christmas’ by Reece Taylor
Love this! I’m so addicted to Twin Oaks it’s not even funny. Any little peek into this small town and its residents I can get is amazing. This was a quick short, but still full of the town’s wittiness I’ve come to love, a heart-warming family reunion and a glimpse at some romance and good friendships. Taylor did a great job of cramming all that into so few words This is also professionally edited, unlike some of its predecessors so it was very refreshing. 4 stars.
#11 ‘The Christmas Jacket’ by Diane Byington
This story is excellent; super sweet and has lots of perspective, didn’t leave me hanging but definitely left me wanting to seek out more from this author. A short story very well done with sound, strong characters and loads of feels. 4.5 stars
#12 ‘A Muse-ing Christmas’ by Kelley Kaye
This was okay, a small collection of poems. 3 stars.
#13 ‘Building Cairns’ by Darren Leo
Really great, lots of emotion, adventure and good characters packed into a small space. Well done. 4 stars.
#14 ‘A Katie Christmas’ by Erica Lucke Dean
The very first line of this one made no sense and screamed “lack of professional editing” to me so while I didn’t enjoy the rest of it, I could very well have been conditioned not to by my initial findings. Story seemed to go nowhere, ending very abruptly. I did like where it seemed to be going though, and I enjoyed loathing a couple of the characters. Dean could really have something here if she’d consider getting some professional editing help. 2 stars.
#15 ‘Convergence’ by Stacey Roberts
I really like this one, it was so well done! Great characters, a slight trip back in time and some perspective. 4 stars.
#16 ‘Caesar’s Gift’ by LeTeisha Newton
This was well done; I haven’t yet read Caesar’s book but was not in the dark at all. Simple, yet complete and festive. 4.5 stars.
#17 ‘A Gift For Momma’ by Debbie S. TenBrink
Super sweet, festive, touching – a really great, quick read. 4 stars.
#18 ‘Literally Christmas’ by C. Streetlights
Absolutely loved this one; Streetlights hit the nail on the head! Truly magical, very festive, sweet, funny. If this were a film, I’d watch it every season along with Garfield and Snoopy and feature film classics. Very well written and professionally edited. 5 stars.
#19 ‘Father Christmas’ by Timothy Woodward
Really enjoyed this one, it’s modern and real, but still with the magic of Christmas. Great characters and something for probably everyone to relate to. 4.5 stars.
#20 ‘And Mercy Mild’ by Justin Bog
This was okay; really cute story but it jumped around a bit. Could use a change-up to get continuity in line. Also ended a bit abruptly. 3.5 stars.