Twenty-Nine Hours to Eternity

by Elizabeth Noble

A Story from the Warmest Wishes: Dreamspinner Press 2018 Advent Calendar

Being gay and pagan can make for a lonely holiday season, as Ian knows well. He’s used to celebrating alone. The last place he expects to meet a like-minded guy is at LAX during a twenty-nine-hour layover.

Ian’s never felt so comfortable or compatible with another man, even if there is an air of mystery to Race.

Race is no stranger to holiday isolation, and he decides they should seize the opportunity they’ve been given and observe the Saturnalia the way it was meant to be. A grand celebration ensues, where every moment is special and every meal a feast. The ancient traditions take on new meaning as the men find meaning in each other. But each of them has a destiny and for their paths to continue together, it’ll take a kind of magic that hasn’t been seen in centuries.

Genres: Holiday, M M Romance, Christmas, Short Stories, Fantasy, LGBT, Paranormal

30 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2018

Reviews

[* A Reader Obsessed * · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Hearts

This was odd but weirdly enjoyable but odd.

Ian has a long layover waiting to service his next flight. However will he wile away the next 29 hours? Luckily, he meets Race, a stranger who he finds compelling and charming, and what ensues over the next day is them getting to know each other fabulously and celebrating the holiday through their shared pagan beliefs.

What Ian doesn’t realize is that the future brings an interesting development, and Race has apparently been waiting for this event and Ian for a long long time…

Obviously, this has a bit of paranormal/fantasy whimsy thrown in. Mix it with a little fate and you’ve got an interesting original set up that brings a twist on Ian and Race’s HEA!

Thank you to the author/publisher for a copy in exchange for a honest review

For more reviews on this week’s Advent releases, please check out the blog!!

[Christelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, this shorty didn’t work for me.
First, too much insta-love is hard for me to enjoy and here, it felt like the MCs met and “BAM”.
Then, the reader is told that the MCs share a pagan belief. Which one ? Not explained so all the symbolisms of the story eluded me. Only after I looked up into an Encyclopedia did what happened made more sense. More effort to embark the reader would have done wonder, imo.
And finally, I didn’t appreciate the way chosen for the MCs to “free their souls into eternity”.

Nope, I found no pleasure reading this story.

ARC of “Twenty-Nine Hours to Eternity” was generously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Joyfully Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Joyfully Jay review.

2.75 stars

This story starts and ends with a bang as bombs are placed at the LAX airport. The explosion shatters the glass and leaves Ian barely hanging on to life. But the story isn’t about the bombs or the violence, it’s about the time of delightful debauchery Ian and Race enjoy together. Unfortunately, we see so little of it, and what we do see is just a fleeting glimpse, that I was unable to feel anything either for the characters or their supposed romance. There just wasn’t much there, and what there was had a great deal of telling and very little showing.

Read Jovan’s review in its entirety here.

[Lelyana's Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a bittersweet, sad but beautiful story, very well written by Elizabeth Noble.
I had no idea what this is about when I started this, then after the opening, I was like 'Oookay...this is going to be a tough read'.
Because, I'm a little coward about the concept about 'eternity' , you know.
I had a mixed feeling about this short story. Sure this was sweet, and adorable, magical even.
This was also a little fantasy and dreamy. I'm cool with where the story leads, but didn't stopped breaking my heart to know what happened to Ian.
But then Race put it back all over again, and the ending gave me a teary eyes. Sad, happy, overwhelmed.
Just because of one very short read.
One of the best of the series by far. And easily become my favorite.
Read this book, or you'll miss something beautiful.

[CrabbyPatty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bottom line - I loved this unusual unexpected holiday story from Elizabeth Noble. From the very first page, we think we know what is going to happen and the tension builds as each chapter gives us a countdown of how many hours are left to eternity. But what happens between the expected and unexpected is wonderfully done.

Flight attendant Ian has a long long layover at LAX and meets a man, Race, whom he feels he has known forever, and marvels at their easy connection. They are both pagan and celebrate the winter festival of Saturnalia. FYI, Saturnalia was a major Roman holiday celebrating the god Saturn and we still see its influence in our celebrations of Christmas, Epiphany, the Feast of the Holy Innocents and the western European custom of a "Lord of Misrule." Roman poet Catullus called Saturnalia "the best of days". (Thanks, Wikipedia!!).

And although time is short, Ian feels he and Race (short for Horace) have indeed spent the very best of time together. The ending is surprising and it lends a bittersweet feeling to the tale but I love how Elizabeth Noble turns this holiday story into something unexpected and totally beautiful. 5 stars and a Recommended Read.

Visit my blog, Sinfully Good Gay Book Reviews

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have learned over the years to expect the unexpected with this author and I wasn’t disappointed. Liam and Race are both pagan and celebrate the Saturnalia instead of Christmas, and I found the time they spent together being able to share their mutual belief very interesting. I’ll admit to being completely ignorant of this holiday and had to do a little Internet research in advance. *grins*

Liam meets Race at four in the morning on his long layover before flying out the following morning. Liam is a flight attendant and it was such a joy to meet someone else who celebrated Saturnalia and was willing to spend the next twenty-nine hours with him. Race is a mystery right up until the end and I adored the way he and Liam meshed. Even more than all of that I was fascinated to learn about this festival celebrating the god, Saturn, that was held by the Romans a very long time ago. Personally, I found much to relate with as eating good food, gift giving, gambling, and spending time with loved ones is the focus.

Please find my full review at Rainbow Book Reviews

[Ami · Rating 3 out of 5]

MAJOR SPOILERS, WARNING, WARNING!

Well, it's surely 'different' .

This short story is opened with Ian getting impaled on his chest because of a bomb blasted at LAX! I mean, yeah, what the hell, right?!? Then it backtracked with Ian meeting this man, Race, and they were both pagans... and it turned out that Race was an immortal (there were clues within the story of course, and you could've guessed it), which meant Ian and Race could be together in eternity.

BUT STILL!!!

I guess being a mortal myself, I prefer my holiday read to have happy ending in THIS side of the world, not the here-after.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was truly unique and while it didn’t have a lot of world building to be able to attach to, it was still bittersweetly intriguing. The hints of the paranormal throughout are subtle at first, but make more sense as the story evolves. The blurb makes it sound bigger than what it is, the story itself is not that dramatic, but the level of detail I got worked for the length of the story. I liked Ian and Race together very much and it was obvious from their connection they were meant to be together. There was only one way for that to be a thing, hence the bittersweet, but I still wasn’t too sad, and that says a lot for how the author set it up and the amount of detail provided. It wasn’t an expected type of holiday story, but it still had the core feels that made it memorable.



**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**

[Monika · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really interesting concept but 25 pages didn't do it justice. I felt like a lot of important things were missing, which was too bad.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely different. I don't know much about the pagan holidays so I was a little off with that. And the ending was...a shock. But it was ok.

[Bess · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have a huge stash of books and quickies like this I never got around to reading from my pre-Kindle days saved as pdfs on an old hard drive, and this kicks off my binge. Unfortunately, it wasn't the best start.
The Good
-25 pages including the cover, so you won't spend too long
-It was different, which I will never fault a book for being

The Bad
-25 pages means insta-love is a given
-It is non-linear in a a way that is a bit annoying, which is personally something I am not a fan of in books or movies
-It has one of my least favorite tropes/surprises of any book, and I am deeply glad for how short it was because I would have been furious for a surprise main character death

The Odd
-one of the characters is named Race which is short for...Horace?

[Katy Beth Mckee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am giving this story a 3-star rating because it was well written but my heart gives it a 2. I just wasn't sure how I felt about the story. The idea of death giving you an eternity together isn't really my cup of tea to begin with but it can work and is an idea that has been around in literature and movies for years in different forms. But the mass of death and destruction was a but much for me especially as a Christmas read. I think if Ian's untimely death had not been part of a mass causality event I would not have felt as disturbed by the story.

[Xan]

Content Warnings Bombing, character death. MC was kicked out by family for being queer.

This was really not for me.

[Angela Goodrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to be posted.

[Suze · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unusual concept, falling into the Warmest Wishes by being set in LA.
At little bit about Saturnalia, a little bit of sight seeing, and two guys getting it on.
From the prologue and bits from Race, we know not all is as it seems, and a brutal ending gives us their hea, literally!

[Serena Yates]

review to follow

[Lisa ~ Books Are My Drugs ~]

See my complete review at Love Bytes Reviews: http://lovebytesreviews.com/2018/12/1...