tag: illness

Book Review: “A Fortunate Blizzard” by L.C. Chase (Rating: 4.5/5)

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A Fortunate Blizzard, by L.C. Chase
Publisher: Riptide Publishing (November 2, 2015)
Page Count: 179 pages
Genre: Gay (M/M) Romance

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

* I received an advanced copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. *

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Artist Trevor Morrison has always appreciated the little things in life, treating each day as a gift. And with good reason: he’s been on the transplant-recipient list for too long now. When he learns just how numbered his days truly are, he resolves not to take them for granted. But he won’t be unrealistic, either—which means romantic commitments are off the table.

Marcus Roberts seems to have it all. He’s handsome, financially sound, and on the fast track to partnership at a prestigious law firm. In reality, though, his drive for success has meant no time for friends or relationships. Add in the fact that his family discarded him long ago, and he’s facing yet another holiday season alone.

When the biggest snowstorm to hit Colorado in decades leaves Marc and Trevor stranded at the same hotel, a chance encounter and a night of passion leads to more than either of them expected. Finding comfort in each other is a welcome surprise, but time is not on their side. Either they find a way to beat the odds, or they lose each other forever.

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The winter holiday season has, for me, always been synonymous with family and comfort, and this book is a fantastic example of a holiday romance! A Fortunate Blizzard is a spectacular and heartfelt novel about two lonely men who meet by chance during a winter storm, and who find comfort together when they least expect to find it. L.C. Chase is the kind of writer whose vivid imagery can make you feel the cold from the blizzard outside, but keep you warm inside with the wonderful emotions and romance between her lovely characters.

“All we have is today,” she’d told him time and again. “Live it.”

Trevor and Marc aren’t so much an example of “opposites attract” as they are “opposites complement one another”; they balance each other out. Trevor knows that his time is limited, and is pragmatic almost to a fault; he accepts that he can’t change his fate, and doesn’t want anyone else to have to suffer that fate along with him. But he’s also an artist and a dreamer, and his diagnosis has taught him that you can’t keep living with regrets.

Marc starts out as cold, distant, unable to connect to the people around him for fear of disappointing them the same way he disappointed his mother. But when he meets Trevor, he sees in him the person he wants to be… an artist, loved by his family, eager to love those around him. Slowly, he realizes that this is the person he wants in his life, this is the person who’s going to show him that he’s not a disappointment, so he finds himself desperate to get Trevor to stay.

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This novel was absolutely gorgeous. It’s so full of emotion that it draws you in. This isn’t an action-packed story; it’s the interactions between the characters, their realizations about themselves and each other, which moves the story along. It’s the epitome of a holiday romance, all about dreams and realizing what’s important in life, and finding comfort and warmth and family.

I can easily see this becoming an annual winter re-read. There are definitely enough warm emotions in it to chase away the cold outside!

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Coming Soon: “Everything, Everything” by Nicola Yoon

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Last night I skipped dinner, ignored social media, and climbed into bed with an ARC that I’ve been wanting to read since I first laid eyes on it. In just over two and a half hours, I completely devoured Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon. There is literally nothing wrong with this book. It’s about love in all its forms, and about living versus being alive. If you read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and thought, “Why aren’t there more books like this in the world?”, then this book is for you.

Madeline Whittier is allergic to the outside world. So allergic, in fact, that she has never left the house in all of her seventeen years. She is content enough—until a boy with eyes the color of the Atlantic Ocean moves in next door. Their complicated romance begins over IM and grows through a wunderkammer of vignettes, illustrations, charts, and more.

(If you  had to go look up wunderkammer, don’t worry… I did too!)

“Oh, great,” you’re thinking, “another novel about a sick kid.” Let me stop you right there. This book isn’t about a sick kid; it’s about a young woman who is doing everything in her power to not get sick, when walking outside can literally be deadly. And it’s about what happens when you realize that being alive only matters if you’re actually living it.

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I love romance novels. Absolutely love them (as though the blog title isn’t enough to give it away). And I’ve always believed that YA novels do love better than adult novels do in many ways. Love for teenagers and young adults is purer, simpler, more emotional. It means more to love, and it hurts more to lose that love. Everything, Everything is about the different kinds of love we face: the love of a parent for a child, the love of a friend, and of course the love of two people who can’t stand to be apart.

I’ll be posting a full review closer to the release date, but I just needed to get out my excitement about this book! I will definitely be pre-ordering my own physical copy, because I think this is a novel that I’ll want to read over and over again.

Yoon-EverythingEverything Pre-order on: Amazon // Google Play // Barnes & Noble

Release Date: September 1, 2015

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