Reviews

Christmas with the Lumberjack by Daniel de Lorne

endemictoearth's review

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adventurous challenging hopeful tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I read this bc when I was clearing out my Kindle home page of holiday books, I had just read Keira Andrews' book and thought “hmm, let’s compare two books with similar titles, shall we?” They are not similar, at all, and in fact, the original title for this was The Faller. It takes place in 1912 Australia, in a small camp of lumberjacks. Charlie is out of his element, just trying to earn enough for a passage to England to escape his horrible family, and Jack is the gruff top lumberjack that everyone is trying to be like. The rest of the camp goes into town for Christmas, and Charlie stays behind to try and make more progress on his wood pile, and discovers Jack has stayed as well. 

The atmosphere in this is top tier; the writing is just good. It’s already hot, but they’re doing backbreaking work on top of that. We get a little respite from things, but when the other men return from town, things become very tense and dangerous. This book goes there, and while we’re left with the characters on their way to another adventure, both we and they have no idea where it will be, just that they’re going together. Really wonderful novella.
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