Non-review Rant

We’re halfway through this Amazon Original Stories Holiday collection.

Book Review | Snow Place Like Home | Laura Pavlov

Book Review | Merry and Bright | Ali Rosen

I couldn’t wait to read the other two. So, here goes.

Review

This one had the strongest slice-of-life vibe in the series, the most plausible plot, and gave the main characters enough space — and time — to develop genuine feelings for each other. The emotional beats felt earned, the humour landed naturally, and the characters had real depth rather than being vehicles for tropes.

The only problem? The present tense narrative.

It threw me off so much that I almost abandoned the book three times. The story itself was good — warm, grounded, and quietly romantic — but the tense kept pulling me out of the reading experience. At one point, I even tried reframing a handful of sentences into past tense, and suddenly the rhythm improved, the humour came alive, and the emotional weight felt stronger.

What could have been, if the narration had allowed the story to breathe instead of constantly announcing itself.

📌 Excerpts – Present vs Past Tense

11%
Original:
Scott worries he’s forgetting how to be a normal person. Like his scrubs and lab coat have started wearing him, instead of the other way around.

Past tense:
Scott worried he was forgetting how to be a normal person. Like his scrubs and lab coat had started wearing him, instead of the other way around.

12%
Original:
It’s not that Scott is touch starved.

Past tense:
It wasn’t that Scott was touch starved.

19%
Original:
“What if I don’t know what I want?” The admission feels bigger than the holiday, or the end of the year.

Past tense:
“What if I didn’t know what I wanted?” The admission felt bigger than the holiday, or the end of the year.

43%
Original:
Piper’s gonna have to walk home—in the snow!—to cool her face down to something resembling baseline.

Past tense:
Piper was going to have to walk home — in the snow! — to cool her face down to something resembling baseline.

50%
Original:
“Hallmark Channel threw up in here.”

Past tense:
“It looked like the Hallmark Channel had thrown up in here.”

54%
Original:
But after years of conflict and chaos, she’d finally conceded that something had to change, and it wasn’t going to be her mom.

Past tense (already works, just smoothed):
But after years of conflict and chaos, she had finally conceded that something had to change — and it wasn’t going to be her mom.

54%
Original:
Piper doesn’t want to lie. Not to Scott generally, and not about this specifically.

Past tense:
Piper didn’t want to lie. Not to Scott generally, and not about this specifically.

Notes

11%
Scott worries he’s forgetting how to be a normal person. Like his scrubs and lab coat have started wearing him, instead of the other way around.

 

12%
It’s not that Scott is touch starved.

 

19%
“What if I don’t know what I want?” The admission feels bigger than the holiday, or the end of the year.

 

20%
tinny,
Shabana Mukhtar: Check what it means.

 

43%
Piper’s gonna have to walk home—in the snow!—to cool her face down to something resembling baseline.

 

50%
Hallmark Channel threw up in here.

 

54%
But after years of conflict and chaos, she’d finally conceded that something had to change, and it wasn’t going to be her mom.

 

54%
Piper doesn’t want to lie. Not to Scott generally, and not about this specifically.

The Final Verdict

Must read.

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