For Jesse Connor, Christmas is nothing but a series of bad memories. It takes a man imbued with the spirit of Christmas to help him realize that the Christmas spirit lies in everyone--if they only know where to look.
oOo
Reviews
Rainbow Book Reviews: This is a wonderful story which made me smile and re-appreciate the meaning of Christmas. I loved reading about Jesse, who is totally disillusioned. Christmas is ruined for him, and while it isn’t clear, at first, exactly what happened, the gradual revealing of his reasons added a nice extra layer to the story. Equally, the gradual thawing of his heart as he meets and gets to know Gabriel is the perfect setup for a heartwarming story. It is an interesting variation on the Christmas grinch storyline. More>>
Brief Encounters Short Story Reviews: It’s a romantic sweet Christmas story about a man finding the joy in Christmas and love again. The setting is idealized, the people in town are pretty close to perfect, and Jesse gets his photography and Christmas mojo back. So despite my reservations about a few things, it’s well written, and a quick easy read that won’t take you long, but gives you a nice little glow at the end as you finish. More>>
Blackravens Reviews: It’s impossible not to smile while reading this tale of lost and found love, as Jesse and Gabriel struggle (all too briefly) to develop a relationship in a situation that could ultimately be temporary. After all, Jesse is on an assignment for Christmas.
Rainbow Book Reviews: This is a wonderful story which made me smile and re-appreciate the meaning of Christmas. I loved reading about Jesse, who is totally disillusioned. Christmas is ruined for him, and while it isn’t clear, at first, exactly what happened, the gradual revealing of his reasons added a nice extra layer to the story. Equally, the gradual thawing of his heart as he meets and gets to know Gabriel is the perfect setup for a heartwarming story. It is an interesting variation on the Christmas grinch storyline. More>>
Brief Encounters Short Story Reviews: It’s a romantic sweet Christmas story about a man finding the joy in Christmas and love again. The setting is idealized, the people in town are pretty close to perfect, and Jesse gets his photography and Christmas mojo back. So despite my reservations about a few things, it’s well written, and a quick easy read that won’t take you long, but gives you a nice little glow at the end as you finish. More>>
Blackravens Reviews: It’s impossible not to smile while reading this tale of lost and found love, as Jesse and Gabriel struggle (all too briefly) to develop a relationship in a situation that could ultimately be temporary. After all, Jesse is on an assignment for Christmas.
oOo
Excerpt
"Your apathy is getting serious, and you have deadlines, Jesse."
The words were on some kind of video loop in his head. Emma had meant well. As his agent she had a responsibility to keep him in line. God knows he hadn't been the best client over the last year. "You agreed to this contract. The series of Christmas photos for their website is important to them and is central to their whole Christmas marketing campaign."
"I know Emma--"
"They're paying good money for Jesse Connor's work and Eden Vale may be the only thing that gets you inspired."
He argued so hard. He used to love Christmas. The expectation and the uplifting joy that people carried around with them was so intrinsic to the memories he had of the season before last year. Now though? Well now, in his opinion, Christmas was something he wanted to forget, winter was cold and in fact every damn thing connected to the season sucked. She had been so patient; listened to everything he said and then passed him the leaflet that signed his death warrant. That is what it was. A damned document to screw him over in life's shitty path. So sue him if he was being melodramatic but his response was a well thought out curse word that made Emma narrow her eyes in a flash of temper.
"Is there a problem, Jesse? You know you are only getting away with this artistic bullshit because the clients are desperate for the work of the Jesse Connor."
Her words had created a curious mix of gratitude and fear in him. Something as simple as the client still wanting him actually seemed more like a noose around his neck.
"Yes, there's a God damn problem with all of it. This is simple. I can't do it, Emma. I don't have the passion I need for creating art about Christmas. That isn't some random statement. I really can't give you what you want."
"Jesse--"
"No Em, I know you are trying to help but I don't feel Christmas. Not in a single cell of my body." He pushed every raw emotion he had into the simple words. She ignored him and instead changed the subject back to the visit to Christmas-ville.
"The first event in Eden Vale is three days away, Jesse. I booked you a room from tomorrow, right through December, up until the third of January."
"What the hell? I thought you were joking." Jesse sat forward. "I said no, and I meant it. I'm not going to freaking Vermont."
"You are. Because the paper wants to bring Christmas to their website viewers and they want it to be a Jesse Connor Christmas."
"Shit Emma--"
"The deal is done, and it's your only option. Consider this an intervention, Jesse. Pack a bag and get the hell away from the City. Leave your memories here and take my car."
"Your car?"
She had dangled the keys to her cherry red, and eminently sensible, Prius, which he was sat in now. He hated this damn car, too small, too stifling and too much like hard work. In fact, he hated driving. There was a reason he had always loved the city where you get from A to B without wedging yourself in a tin can.
"I'm not just your agent, okay? I'm your friend, Jesse." She had crossed to where he sat and wrapped her arms around him from behind. "The Prius will get you to Eden Vale, and I paid for a room in a small hotel there as an early Christmas present. The paper wants a photo a day from the first of December to the twenty-fifth for their website with short copy for each. Now go."
Jesse was left with no arguments to counter the near military precision with which his agent forced him to leave New York. Damn it but she was good at her job. It was go to freaking Christmas-ville or fight with Emma to get a reference from her so he could apply to stock shelves at Wal-Mart. He pulled over to let a van pass on the narrow road, and the moment's respite was filled with the hurt that flooded him that Emma, his friend, had him by the balls. His best friend, his only friend, yet she consigned him to the middle of freaking nowhere in her damn tin can of a car. His life really couldn't get any worse. He'd had his heart broken by a thieving scheming fucker of a boyfriend, lost all his money, mislaid his muse on a permanent basis and now it seemed like he was going deep into the Green Mountains of Vermont. To a small town in the Mount Snow Valley, population proudly displayed as 1,007, called Eden Vale. Where, allegedly, he was going to find Christmas.
The town was at the end of a winding valley road, which seemed too narrow at some points for two vehicles to pass at the same time. The rural mountainous countryside would have appeared pretty, even stunning, to anyone other than Jesse. He desperately needed a coffee but he doubted the inhabitants of this place had ever visited a Starbucks, let alone had one on the small Main Street. That town itself, as he passed through it, was nothing more than a cliché--a couple of chain grocery stores, a gas station, and a beauty parlor advertising discount for the under-twelves. For a moment Jesse pitied any kids being stuck here so far from civilization.
"...predicted for at least five inches... skiing center which has opened a new..."
The radio was intermittently spitting out sections of news interspersed with lame attempts at Christmas music, a mix of carols and pop songs from the seventies. Emma hadn't told him her CD player was on the blink, and despite searching, he hadn't found a jack for his iPod. The farther into the mountain he climbed the worse the reception became, but turning off the damn radio was impossible as the damn thing was broken. Taking his eyes off the road, let alone hoping to stop somewhere, was inadvisable. If he stopped, he would be blocking the damn road. His satellite navigation, courtesy of his cell, had also decided to fritz out on him, and he hoped the damn hotel was easy to find.
"...stay safe folks and here is "All I Want for Christmas is You" by the wonderful Mariah Carey..."
Great. Just great. Torture me with that!
Excerpt
"Your apathy is getting serious, and you have deadlines, Jesse."
The words were on some kind of video loop in his head. Emma had meant well. As his agent she had a responsibility to keep him in line. God knows he hadn't been the best client over the last year. "You agreed to this contract. The series of Christmas photos for their website is important to them and is central to their whole Christmas marketing campaign."
"I know Emma--"
"They're paying good money for Jesse Connor's work and Eden Vale may be the only thing that gets you inspired."
He argued so hard. He used to love Christmas. The expectation and the uplifting joy that people carried around with them was so intrinsic to the memories he had of the season before last year. Now though? Well now, in his opinion, Christmas was something he wanted to forget, winter was cold and in fact every damn thing connected to the season sucked. She had been so patient; listened to everything he said and then passed him the leaflet that signed his death warrant. That is what it was. A damned document to screw him over in life's shitty path. So sue him if he was being melodramatic but his response was a well thought out curse word that made Emma narrow her eyes in a flash of temper.
"Is there a problem, Jesse? You know you are only getting away with this artistic bullshit because the clients are desperate for the work of the Jesse Connor."
Her words had created a curious mix of gratitude and fear in him. Something as simple as the client still wanting him actually seemed more like a noose around his neck.
"Yes, there's a God damn problem with all of it. This is simple. I can't do it, Emma. I don't have the passion I need for creating art about Christmas. That isn't some random statement. I really can't give you what you want."
"Jesse--"
"No Em, I know you are trying to help but I don't feel Christmas. Not in a single cell of my body." He pushed every raw emotion he had into the simple words. She ignored him and instead changed the subject back to the visit to Christmas-ville.
"The first event in Eden Vale is three days away, Jesse. I booked you a room from tomorrow, right through December, up until the third of January."
"What the hell? I thought you were joking." Jesse sat forward. "I said no, and I meant it. I'm not going to freaking Vermont."
"You are. Because the paper wants to bring Christmas to their website viewers and they want it to be a Jesse Connor Christmas."
"Shit Emma--"
"The deal is done, and it's your only option. Consider this an intervention, Jesse. Pack a bag and get the hell away from the City. Leave your memories here and take my car."
"Your car?"
She had dangled the keys to her cherry red, and eminently sensible, Prius, which he was sat in now. He hated this damn car, too small, too stifling and too much like hard work. In fact, he hated driving. There was a reason he had always loved the city where you get from A to B without wedging yourself in a tin can.
"I'm not just your agent, okay? I'm your friend, Jesse." She had crossed to where he sat and wrapped her arms around him from behind. "The Prius will get you to Eden Vale, and I paid for a room in a small hotel there as an early Christmas present. The paper wants a photo a day from the first of December to the twenty-fifth for their website with short copy for each. Now go."
Jesse was left with no arguments to counter the near military precision with which his agent forced him to leave New York. Damn it but she was good at her job. It was go to freaking Christmas-ville or fight with Emma to get a reference from her so he could apply to stock shelves at Wal-Mart. He pulled over to let a van pass on the narrow road, and the moment's respite was filled with the hurt that flooded him that Emma, his friend, had him by the balls. His best friend, his only friend, yet she consigned him to the middle of freaking nowhere in her damn tin can of a car. His life really couldn't get any worse. He'd had his heart broken by a thieving scheming fucker of a boyfriend, lost all his money, mislaid his muse on a permanent basis and now it seemed like he was going deep into the Green Mountains of Vermont. To a small town in the Mount Snow Valley, population proudly displayed as 1,007, called Eden Vale. Where, allegedly, he was going to find Christmas.
The town was at the end of a winding valley road, which seemed too narrow at some points for two vehicles to pass at the same time. The rural mountainous countryside would have appeared pretty, even stunning, to anyone other than Jesse. He desperately needed a coffee but he doubted the inhabitants of this place had ever visited a Starbucks, let alone had one on the small Main Street. That town itself, as he passed through it, was nothing more than a cliché--a couple of chain grocery stores, a gas station, and a beauty parlor advertising discount for the under-twelves. For a moment Jesse pitied any kids being stuck here so far from civilization.
"...predicted for at least five inches... skiing center which has opened a new..."
The radio was intermittently spitting out sections of news interspersed with lame attempts at Christmas music, a mix of carols and pop songs from the seventies. Emma hadn't told him her CD player was on the blink, and despite searching, he hadn't found a jack for his iPod. The farther into the mountain he climbed the worse the reception became, but turning off the damn radio was impossible as the damn thing was broken. Taking his eyes off the road, let alone hoping to stop somewhere, was inadvisable. If he stopped, he would be blocking the damn road. His satellite navigation, courtesy of his cell, had also decided to fritz out on him, and he hoped the damn hotel was easy to find.
"...stay safe folks and here is "All I Want for Christmas is You" by the wonderful Mariah Carey..."
Great. Just great. Torture me with that!
0 comments:
Post a Comment