About the Book
Title: Mama, Me, and the Holiday Tree (Appalachian Elementals #1.5)
Author: Jeanne G’Fellers
Publisher: Mountain Gap Books
Publication Date: November 5, 2018
Word Count: 74 pages
Tags: LGBT, holiday, elemental magic
Genre: Contemporary Fantasy
Series: Appalachian Elementals
Purchase Links
Publisher | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | iBooks
Synopsis
A dozen handmade holiday ornaments, that’s all, but it might be an impossible task.
Centenary Rhodes and her mother are at constant odds. It’s one of the many reasons Cent left home when she was eighteen. Mama’s difficult for anyone to manage, but now that Cent’s back home, she has to try. Mama, however, won’t acknowledge who Cent’s become, even though she’s repeatedly been shown the truth.
It’ll take more than popcorn strings and paper snowflakes to heal the rift that’s formed between Cent and Mama. It’s going to take bushels of patience, heaps of magic, and assistance from everyone on both sides of Embreeville Mountain to reset the Balance between them.
But with Yule and Christmas just around the corner, it might already be too late.
Join Cent and her Mother for a heart-warming, magic-filled holiday tale of acceptance, family of choice, family of blood, love, magic, and patience all served with a queer Appalachian twist.
Review
This is a perfect tide-me-over while awaiting the next full novel in the series. I love holiday books of all kinds, and I’m also a sucker for family stories. This sweet, short read delivers both in a bite-size package perfect for a cozy afternoon.
Cent is one of my favorite characters. She’s complicated, as anyone might be after living through multiple successive lives. This time around, her mother is one of those complications. Even the best of parent-child relationships have moments of struggle, but Cent and her mother’s is made complicated by Mama’s mental illnesses.
This story does, of course, contain all the fantasy magic of the first novel, and there’s a healthy dose of the family’s spiritual practices as well. But what gives this heart is the way the relationship between Cent and Mama unfolds. Living with mental illness can be challenging on all sides. There’s no judgement found in this book. We understand that Mama has her own troubles, and we understand Cent’s mixture of love and frustration. Ultimately, they are able to come to peace with each other and find a way forward.
What makes this book such a gem is that it shows how important it is to be surrounded by love and support for everyone involved. No one person is responsible for all the needs of any other person. All of the optimism, hope, and joy of the holiday season come together to make this heartwarming story.
There are valuable lessons in this tale as well as affirmation for readers that we don’t have to do it all alone. But it’s also just plain fun, with humor and surprise sprinkled all through. The best way to describe it is that reading this story is like enjoying grandma’s fresh-baked holiday cookies…and having grandma pass along the recipe to you with a dash of her old-fashioned wisdom.
For the pleasure of revisiting favorite friends, a respectful portrayal of family issues, and all the sweetness of the holidays, this gets 10/10 fountain pens.
About the Author
Born and raised in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, Science Fiction and Fantasy author Jeanne G’Fellers’ early memories include watching the original Star Trek series with her father and reading the books her librarian mother brought home. Jeanne’s influences include author Anne McCaffrey, Ursula K. LeGuin, Octavia Butler, Isaac Asimov, and Frank Herbert.
Jeanne’s first series, The Taelach Sisters Series, won two Golden Crown Literary Awards for excellence in Speculative Fiction and was short-listed for a Lambda Literary Award.
Social Media
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