Book reviews are subjective. I tend to rate books not according to how “perfect” they are, seem to be, or are said to be in general but rather to how perfect they are to me.
Long Road Home: A Short Story by Jessica Marie Holt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Long Road Home by Jessica Marie Holt: yet another story I practically knew nothing about before I read it.
Book blurbs can be something of a necessary evil, for publishing and book selling purposes. But I often only skim blurbs or skip them altogether, and in this case, I’m glad I didn’t read the blurb beforehand.
Some stories, especially short ones, are better when you enter them with a blank slate and discover for yourself what’s in the plot. It hits you harder that way.
Granted, what I did know in advance about this tale is who the author is. I’ve never read one of her blurbs before reading one of her stories, but she’s one of the best short story writers I’ve found in quite a while. Such a simple (but not simplistic), deft, poignant style. Such an understanding of human nature, with its strengths and its weaknesses, and the illustration of how, even with our flaws, there’s hope for us.
It’s brilliant when a story can manage to break my heart and then deeply inspire me in less than a half-hour of reading. (Well, it may’ve taken me a bit longer than that, since I had to stop and cry for a few minutes in the middle.) I ran into a few punctuation errors, but nevertheless…
Goodness. Brilliant.
Prismatic Prospects 
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