Over the years, I have realized that most genre romance Christmas stories are not a good match for me.
No, that’s not true.
Most genre romance Christmas stories at best irk me, at worst enrage me.
And yet, I have so many of them spread all over the TBR cordilleras of doom, both print and digital. (I blame poor impulse control when an author I’ve liked is involved, or if the blurb is clever.)
Anyhow, this anthology (one of several so named), was my choice for SuperWendy’s TBR Challenge for December 2022 (“festive”). I hoped that, being short stories, I could read it quickly (I did), and review it quickly (oh, sweet innocent past me).
For what it’s worth, here is the belated review. Beware: relentlessly hetero, relentlessly white; death of parents, death of spouse, death of child (all off-page, as character backstory); some sex, not terribly explicit, on page. Oh, and spoilers for a couple of the stories abound in the review.
In my original notes for this review, I had written that I got the book because SuperWendy reviewed it, but apparently I dreamed that part. What did happen is that, when I saw the kindle version was on sale in January 2018, I nabbed a copy.
Then there it sat, unread, in the humongous if nebulous digital TBR of doom, until June, when the TBR Challenge theme that year was “comfort read”.
Boy, did I need a comfort read! So I dived in and practically inhaled it, wallowing in all the sweet (and bittersweet) nostalgia it evoked.
After which I still managed to miss posting the review on time; in fact, the original draft was from January 2019, a full half a year later.
However, in the spirit of “better late than never” and “blog fodder!”, here is the finished, and hopefully more coherent, final version.
Anyway, I finally snagged a copy of “River of Teeth,” their debut novella, based on something that really almost happened. (Check out The Atavist piece that was the inspiration, or this Wired article for a summary.)
Beware: there’s violence, gore and death on the page. I wouldn’t say it’s lavishly described, but it’s graphic. Oh, and this is not a romance.
“River of Teeth” by Sarah Gailey
This is an alternative history set in the 1890s. In this timeline, H.R.23621 (aka, the Hippo Bill) actually passed, so that hippopotamuses were imported into the US to breed–for meat–in the marshy areas of the Gulf Coast. However, shit happens (doesn’t it always?) and what we have now a body of water where feral hippos roam, a blight on the country and a danger to both the environment and the populace.
“A review is at its heart the expression of the reviewer’s opinion–in this case, my opinion. Regardless of how the book in question ended up in my hands, I will not insult your intelligence by assuming that you will blindly buy any book I like, or that you’ll avoid reading any book I don’t like. Instead, I’ll give you credit for making up your own mind, and buying and/or reading whatever you think you’ll enjoy.”
Please be aware that some of the books I review, talk about, or plain mention in passing, in this blog, have been given to me by the author, or someone else on behalf of the author, with the express purpose that I review them. (Those reviews are tagged ARC or review copy.)
Update: edited on May 24 2018 to change pronouns to those preferred by the author.
Her Hands, My Hands 