This Christmas

Written by Felicity Collins

Narrated by Marie Jenkins

Theodore Golding is the CEO of The Golding Candy Company. He hates the corporate grind so much that he decides to disappear over the holidays and finds himself working a regular job at Estelle Robinson’s candy shop. Problem is, Theo doesn’t reveal his true identity and Estelle has no idea that the new guy she’s hired is technically her boss.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryant Street Shorts
• Release date: Nov 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9781094450179

Reviews for This Christmas

[Bill Hair · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

2.5 Stars for me (rounded up to 3 Stars)

I am going to be a bit tough in this story though I mostly enjoyed it. The reason I am showing 3 Stars is that the author has talent and is good at drawing in the reader.

The good.
The author seemlessly makes you care about the characters and hope for the best for them.

The could be improved (very subjective based on the reader)
1. There is too much repetition of the negative head banter.
2. The h is extremely biased against the family 'corporation' that her own store is a part of and was handed down by her grandmother. She is unwilling to take historical context into the mistreatment that her grandmother faced (note: this in no way means that it was OK nor that I condone it but it just was the way things were and at the time and it was considered normal).
3. A small shop with a few employees would not be able to support union wages or benefits. There just isn't enough revenue.
4. The H whined about his parents but was unwilling to do anything about it. Even if they are board members, they can be ousted for violating of decorum and creating a negative public image.

The frustrating
The author is obviously on the liberal side which is 100% OK with me... until biases are put on repeat... Corporations are all evil and they just want to take all of the money and give none to the employees.

Most corporations are not public and are, in fact, small businesses that every town has. Most businesses are formed under a corporation or an LLC for tax purposes, legal protection and to be able to obtain better health care options for their employees.

Public Corporations are mostly beneficial and donate billions of dollars annually for charitable causes (yes for tax sheltering as much as helping others). It is typically the oversized public corporations that the negative stereotype is developed from.

End of rant. The author is very talented but too much angst and negative head babble tends to drive me crazy. My wife loves it so I know that there is a large audience for it... ?