It's Christmas in the dessert...

The Night Sky Festival - S.A. Stovall

At only 24 pages ‘The Night Sky Festival’ is probably one of the shortest stories in this anthology but for me it was definitely one of the most adorably delightful. Zach has packed up his gear and headed to the Mojave Desert for the holidays. Ever since his husband file for a divorce the day before Christmas it’s become his least favorite time of year. So going on a photo assignment seems as good a way to spend the holiday as any.

 

What Zach begins to discover is that Baker isn’t just any small town it’s one that celebrates ‘The Night Sky Festival’ instead Christmas and it also seems to be a place where the locals are more than happy to take Zach in and make him a part of their celebration.

 

Seeing Zach’s encounter with each of the three men who touch his life during his visit to Baker and bring a fresh perspective to his life…from the cute, vivacious cashier to the burly, sexy single father and finally the sexy, fun-loving cop who loves his board games…is charming, amusing and just generally delightful.

 

The story moved at a really good pace and given the author made good use of every word used. With only 24 pages there wasn’t enough time for long drawn out descriptions or unnecessary window dressing and there wasn’t any.

 

While this one only got 3 stars from me, I have to admit I think it’s more a statement of how much I liked this story and how strongly I felt that the author could have…maybe should have given us more. I smiled and laughed with amusement from start to finish on this one but at the same time I also felt like I needed and just kept wanting more and I think what I especially needed was an epilogue one that wrapped things up a bit more for me than what was there.

 

There also wasn’t any sex but come on we’ve got our MC meeting 3 new guys and attending a local festival all in 24 pages…honestly having the Zach hook up with any of these men would have been stretching things for me…maybe, a follow-up story…one day soon could happen.

 

However, if you’re looking for a short, quick holiday story that’s fun and funny and will leave you smiling ‘The Night Sky Festival’ easily fills those requirements.

 

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A copy of ‘The Night Sky Festival’ was graciously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.