Gifts of the Season by Jenna Hilary Sinclair

[reviews_and_ramblings]

This is really an original short story since it's not actually a romance, but more a coming of age from two point of view, mother and son.

In 1990 Elaine is a young mother with a four kids, one of them a teen. Elaine is divorced and remarried with a nice man, but her previous husband was abusive both with her than with their kids. As a consequence, Elaine is very worried for her older son's behavior, so close and brooding. It's not the usual behavior of a teen, Elaine knows that her son wants desperately tell her something but he has no courage. Having moved in a small town probably didn't help since Danny, her son, has real few chance to mix with a variety of people to open him to the world. So when Elaine hears the gossip town about Mike and Harry, two openly gay men who live in a nearby ranch, Elaine listens carefully, eager to maybe learn something that can help her son.

Christmas is near and Elaine and Danny are driving home when they have a car accident; marooned in the snow they are rescued by Mike and bring home with him. Suddenly the point of view switch from Elaine to Danny, who is now the one eager to learn, to finally see how two gay men live together. For sure in his teen mind, they have sex each moment, they have an exciting life, they are... they are perfectly normal, to middle age men who share a quite and lovely life, trying to not listen to the gossip town.

It's a very nice tale, in both its part, when we follow Elaine's musing and worries for her son's care and when we discover along with Danny that being gay is not a so big drama, and that he probably can have the courage to talk with his mother, and his mother probably will not throw him away for not being the perfect son he thought she wants.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/advent.htm

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Comments

[jenna-hilary.livejournal.com]

Elisa, I just wanted to stop by and say thank you for the review of my story, "Gifts of the Season," as published by Dreamspinner Press. I'm glad you think it's original, not quite a romance, not quite erotic-centered, but as you say, more of a coming out story with subtext.

Take care, and Happy New Year to you.
Sincerely,
Jenna Sinclair

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

You are welcome. It was probably the more unexpected and original of all the Christmas series. Elisa