Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Thistle is a sweet elf with a kind heart. He tries his best to help all the other elves in Santa’s workshop. Unfortunately, Thistle tends to leave disaster in his wake despite his good intentions. He dreams of finding an elf who will love him in spite of his clumsiness, an elf he can make a home for. But what elf wants to live in constant peril? Thistle figures he should just stick with his anonymous treat baskets, especially where Bayberry, Santa’s production manager, is concerned.

Bayberry is a bit of a serious elf. A little distant from most of the North Pole crew, Bayberry is lonely. When another Thistle Incident occurs, pushing the production department behind schedule only a few weeks before Christmas, Bayberry gets a “suggestion” from The Big Guy to ask Thistle for help. What could an accident-prone elf do to assist him? But to Bayberry’s surprise, he might gain more than help with his monthly reports.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2015 Advent Calendar package "Sleigh Ride".

 

Book Review

Anyone who has ever had a mishap or has been the slightest bit clumsy will understand how awful it can be to want to help only to be stopped by some sort of accident or obstacle or interruption. Thistle, an elf trying to help everyone else in the run-up to Christmas is as accident-prone as is possible. But it is worse for him because he has a big heart and means well. And yet, Fate seems to intervene at every turn only to thwart Thistle’s attempts to reduce other elves’ stress.

Thistle desperately wants to find an elf to make a home with, and his secret talent of baking amazing cookies would serve him well. Except for the fact that whoever might be interested in him would have to “survive” all his disasters as well. Thistle’s talent with hearth magic is a well-kept secret and Thistle uses it to make up for his clumsiness by delivering baskets full of still-warm cookies to all the other elves. He never has a single accident doing it, and nobody ever notices him – until Bayberry figures it out.

Bayberry is, in many ways, the exact opposite of Thistle. He is in charge or production, in control, and keeps his distance. He is just as lonely as Thistle, and he doesn’t even mind his clumsiness, but he believes Thistle already has a partner. It takes a bit of prodding from “Ol’ Saint Nick” to make Bayberry consider asking Thistle for help with something very specific. The result is an entirely unexpected cooperation and a sweet romance that neither of the two elves would have dreamed up.

If you like stories about elves at the North Pole and their worries, if you want to find out how an adorable klutz finds his happy end, and if you’re looking for a read that is funny, entertaining and very sweet, then you will probably like this novella.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novella, 56 pages/17686 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	01-December-2015
Price	$3.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/hearth-and-home-by-et-malinowski-798-b