The Night Sky Festival

I always enjoy this author’s writing. Her characters are unique and vibrant and her style pulls me right into the story, whether its’s a novel or short story like The Night Sky Festival. This holiday tale had a different sort of setting- a small Californian desert town that embraces the strange. I liked the idea of a holiday-hating character finding himself in a place that celebrates life. I also enjoyed watching Zach interact with multiple different people and personalities, and in the midst realign his own outlook on love and life. The writing and pacing was brisk but steady, and I was more than happy to get lost in Baker for an afternoon. And yet, I can’t deny I was a little disappointed. While there were plenty of brushes with romance in The Night Sky Festival, those relationships never substantially took off or developed beyond a glimmer of possibility. I wanted a little more to go with the charming town, something showing that Zach was getting a second shot at finding his happy ending. So, while this was a nice story that focused on embracing the holiday spirit and the beauty of life, it didn’t give me the warm fuzzies I want from my holiday romances.

*Reviewed for Alpha Book Club*

Extraterrestials and UFOs are not usually what I think about when contemplating the holiday season but I can certainly respect an entire town’s wish to not celebrate Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa and instead have their Night Sky Festival which the whole town is fully behind. Zach ending up there turns out to be fortuitous for him and several members of the town while also helping Zach to lay to rest his negative feelings about the holiday season and his ex-husband who caused them.

Zach would like to be ANYWHERE but the middle of nowhere in a small town on the edge of the Mojave Desert. Why couldn’t the magazine have sent him to New York, Hawaii, or the Bahamas? Anywhere but here where the residents are a UFO loving group and the average temperature should be in the sixties but instead they’re having a heat wave and Zach’s sweating in the desert sun. Throw in the fact that he despises the holidays because his ex-husband filed for divorce a few days before Christmas and then told him about it on Christmas Eve two years ago and, well… you get the picture.

Zach is shocked to discover the young, cute cashier at the local store is flirting with him, and then a certifiable bear on a trip with his daughter definitely makes it plain he’s interested in Zach, and then there’s the police officer with the body of a gym rat and the brain of an old-fashioned nerd. What is happening to Zach? He blames Ethan, the cashier, for starting him even noticing men when he has been in a bubble these past two years. Much to Zach’s surprise however, the Night Sky Festival is really just a chance for the town to come together with friends and loved ones, celebrate those relationships, eat good food, and listen to good music.

I truly wish this addition to the Advent Calendar had been longer. I was just starting to really enjoy Zach and his growing love for this crazy small town. Regardless, this is definitely adorable and fun!

NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews

If you look for the start of a forever relationship I'm not sure this story delivers. If you are looking for a fun and silly non-Christmas story this story will easily meet your needs.

Zach is a photographer sent to Baker a few days before Christmas to take pictures for a magazine.
He meets Ethan, a sexy cashier, Broden a hot single dad and Kross a super mega sexy cop. All of them seem to have interest in Zach, but only one of them will end their Christmas night with him.

The Night Sky Festival by S.A Stovall is a very short adorable story.

Zach is the Grinch; he doesn’t celebrate Christmas after his ex-husband asked for a divorce on Christmas Eve two years before. He doesn’t like the heat while he’s in the Mojave Desert, and mostly he doesn’t like people. Of course, it was without counting the 3 hot gay men.
It was a sweet story that I enjoyed as much as a piece of chocolate. You read it, find it tasty, good and want more. That’s what this sweet story did to me.

Go read your piece of chocolate before Christmas; it’s less caloric but just as enjoyable!