Random Review: Hole-Hearted by Sam Burns #Review #Giveaway

Title: Hole-Hearted
Author: Sam Burns
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Publication Date: December 1, 2019
Length: 20 pages

Reviewed by Michael


Synopsis

Pediatrician Luce Wright’s bad breakup gets worse when his drunk ex drives a car through his house a week before Christmas. His whole family is coming over in just a few days, and he can’t have a hole with a tarp over it in the middle of his dining room.

Fortunately his neighbor’s son is moving back into town, and he owns a construction company. Can Luce and his homemade cookies persuade Darren to mend the hole in the house… and maybe the one in Luce’s heart too?

Purchase Link

Review

Drunk exes are the absolute worst!! Like, I get being upset about a failed relationship, but to drive through someone’s house?  Really?

And just before Christmas?  That is absolutely the worst!

To add to an already stressful situation, Luce (the owner of the new drive-through) is having his family over for a Christmas dinner.  His first ever, so of course he wants to impress his family.  But how can he with a giant hole in his house?

Well, as luck would have it, his neighbor’s son, Darren, happens to be a handyman and a cute one at that, who agrees to help Luce put his house back together.  Just in time for the dinner.

But of course, the negotiations have to be sealed with a kiss.  Like, right away. 

Lots of stuff happens in this story at the pace of a speeding car, which I guess is kind of appropriate given what’s happened to Luce’s house.  But it kind of left me wondering where the build up was, how Luce and Darren get to know each other and…well…date.  While Darren is rebuilding a section of the house.  In a week.  It left me hoping they slowed things down, by a lot.  Because sometimes the faster you go, the more likely you are to crash and burn. Especially when you consider what Luce’s mother wants to give them for Christmas the following year! 

Giveaway

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Contest ends December 30th

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Random Review: The Great Aerodynamicist by A. Nybo #Review #Giveaway

Title: The Great Aerodynamicist 
Author: A.Nybo
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Publication Date: December 1, 2019
Length: 28 pages

Reviewed by Sammy


Synopsis

Thinking he’s up to the task, droll Irishman Donnell, who is new to Australia, has almost completed assembling a model steampunk flying machine for his nephew’s Christmas present. Then an accident involving a parachute, some superglue, and his mouth lands Donnell in the emergency room with two of his fantasy men… only one of whom is real.

Purchase Link

Review

Donnell just wants time to move forward so he can redo his shop and make it into a one stop place for those needing a tasty sandwich or a hot coffee—currently it’s a disaster--but not for much longer. So he can’t blame the handsome guy who buys a sandwich and then dumps it into the trashcan right outside his shop. In fact he has good taste as far as Donnell is concerned since the current sandwiches taste awful. Of course it doesn’t hurt that the guy is also awfully nice on the eyes—who could get angry at such a gorgeous man?  In fact, Donnell is still wondering about the man later that night while working on a steampunk flying machine for his nephew’s Christmas gift. He’d like to find him and ask him out but he has no idea where the guy works.

When Donnell tips over his beer during the critical gluing process he manages to save a tiny painted figurine from being ruined by popping it in his mouth while he mops up the spill, completely forgetting he has put on the glue to cement it to the ship. Then he goes to spit it out and realizes his mouth is glued shut. A few hours and a trip to the emergency room later Donnell comes face to face with the guy from his shop and wonders if it’s kismet or insanity to try and get his phone number and maybe a date as well.

A. Nybo give us a meet/cute setup in The Great Aerodynamicist, one of the Dreamspinner 2019 Advent Calendar stories. Coming in at around thirty pages this sweet story moves swiftly and is quite a funny read—particularly since the tiny figure that Donnell accidentally glues to his lips is an action figure of a male star he quietly lusts over. But it’s the hospital scene where Charlie ends up as his doctor that really is wonderfully humorous and full of double entendre. From there it’s a swift dose of dating with a potential happy ever after.

I liked how the author didn’t make this an insta-love kind of deal but rather just left us with the impression that these guys were on the road to a serious relationship together. All in all The Great Aerodynamicist was a really nice little holidays tory that made me laugh and left me feeling happy and satisfied.

Giveaway

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Contest ends December 31st

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A Statement From Diverse Reader In Regard To Dreamspinner Press

I want to start this out by saying I hate having to write this at all. I despise this decision had to be made and I’m heartbroken by this entire situation.  As of January 2020, Diverse Reader is dissolving our relationship with Dreamspinner Press and their other publications: Harmony Ink Press and DSP Publications. We will not be reviewing, advertising, or promoting any books by this publisher. 

Through the many years I’ve run this blog I’ve made incredible friends, read outstanding books, interviewed hundreds of authors, I could go on and on. Dreamspinner Press was a publisher that was a beacon for the LGBTQA+ community and it was an honor to review and promote for them. But, 2019 was a very hard year and I watched as they spiraled. It broke my heart to see it happen, but I held on to hope they’d find their footing and make it okay. That’s the main reason it took so long to come to this decision. I wanted to believe in them.

I spent a lot of time talking with Dreamspinner authors and artists, both who were sticking it out and those who had left. I heard everyone and as I sat and beat my brain over everything, it was coming face to face with the authors and artists out thousands upon thousands of dollars that broke me.

It’s no secret I’m very vocal about things I’m passionate about. I’ve never faltered in my beliefs, and I’ve ALWAYS wanted to see people in this community thrive. I’ve never been in competition with anyone, I want us all to win, but sadly there were no winners here.

In the end it was tearing a piece of me away with every book we promoted knowing authors weren’t getting this money instead it was feeding something that, in my opinion, had become toxic. When you see an author cry because they don’t know what they’re going to do now and then you go and promote a Dreamspinner book you feel shitty. 

I’ve spoken to my reviewers as well, other blog owners, readers, you name it. This wasn’t a decision I came to lightly. I hoped beyond hope for a Christmas miracle, but this isn’t a fictional story, this is real. If things change and Dreamspinner Press makes things right for their authors, artists, and others not getting paid, I will reassess. 

We will keep our 2019 schedule and finish promoting and reviewing books we’ve already agreed to do up until December 31, 2019. 

I am sorry for those hurting. I’m sorry for those hurt by this statement. I’m sorry I even had to write it at all because this is something that never should have come to pass. 

Be kind to each other.