All Comments on 'Christmas Vacation'

Really enjoyed this, I particularly appreciated the move from tragic to humorous.

Five stars only because it isn't possible to award more.

You lost me with the constant abuse. Predictable and much too dark for my reading pleasure.

Love the wisecracking kids, but the dialogue did get a little confusing towards the end. Not sure who was talking when!

Overall a good read, despite the graphic abuse.

Well done. A cracking story with a bit of everything - gritty reality of abuse; effect on the victims; the cleverness of abusers; and the wonderful hope that exists in humans. The two teenagers are a delight - Hailey in particular - and their repartee had me laughing out loud.

A great read - thank you

That was a superb and beautifully crafted story. I struggled with the violence but it’s the reality for so many people; as was the victim protecting the abuser. I cheered when Emily sought refuge with Jamie and the girls. John’s future is bleak compared to the prospect for the survivors. Thank you and a great big five. G

We’ll done. Apparently, some anonymous reviewers either don’t believe this crap happens, or don’t want to read about it. You NEED to know about it. This wife abuse stuff really happens. I used to work weekends in hospital outpatient clinics in the rural part of my state several times every year, I’d have a clinic nurse join me in the exam room to help me talk to a patient, always a woman, who was afraid to go home knowing she was likely to be beaten by her live-in boyfriend or husband. We’d assure them that our emergency room was a safe place and they could come there anytime, and the staff, especially the nurses, would protect and help them. The police were there for them. They did not have to put up with abuse and assault. This is a very accurate depiction of how these people live in fear and really, imprisonment. Thank you, moleman2787 for bringing this issue to the fore. And the kids were great. 5 stars.

Abuse is no joke,. I’m fortunate to not have first- or second-hand knowledge, but what you wrote sounds plausible. Maybe not severe enough? It seemed after the divorce, Jamie bounced back very well. Even after the fire and injuries she had a good sense of humor. Jamie’s and the girls’ jokes mad the last half of the story much more pleasant.

There were a series of well written scenes in the overall story, but the emotional logic to connect them alluded me. The abusive husband scene when put into context of the overall storyline was over the top. It was well written and had me wanting to beat the bastard to within an inch of his life, but was more depth than needed. The repartee of the daughters was annoying at times while the romance of Matt and Jamie was well done, except the sudden proposal. It gave closure, but with no depth to support it, came up short. 3.7*

Wonderful story with great characters!

5

Good story. Glad Jamie managed to get out and get the kids safe.

You do need to work on your scene transitions, and identifying who's speaking, however. It's very confusing in several places.

Excellent dialogue from the two girls. Rang true.

Felt quite emotional reading this. Wasn't keen on the violence, but I expect it happens in real life.

The second part of the story was an OK romance. I absolutely hated that MC's disgusting so-called "mother" (I prefer surrogate) didn't get ANY PUNISHMENT WHATSOEVER for her awfulness, neither for cheating on the father, NOR for the awful way she treated her daughter. They just forgave the fucking asswipe bitch LIKE THAT in 1 second.

/

The first part of the story was disgusting, because we all know that if she married a decent nice guy, she'd treat him like crap, but an abusive shithead, yeah, she just lets him mistreat her AND when divorcing, doesn't even go for the throat. I know it was necessary for the plot, but I don't need to get even more illustration of how women treat men.

/

3 stars, mostly because it was good quality writing even i I hated lack of justice in the story for either of two villains.

Would like to see a follow up when Hailey turns 18…..

Excellent Story

The story was great…following the dialog was impossible. Half the time I didn’t know who was talking…please add things like <name> said/joked/asked/etc.

The abuse on the ski trip was pretty hard to get through but her recovery made up for it. I would have liked to see some legal consequences for the prescription tampering and the abortion pill could almost be considered murder seeing as it was given on the sly.

I’ll readily admit that I had to skim some of the abuse stuff…which tells me that it was very well written. John is the vilest villain I’ve encountered in my reading on this site, but it’s scary that there might really be people like him out IRL. Parts didn’t make sense to me, as Jamie/Jaime seemed to have an immediate transformation from her submissive state and John just caved to his changed wife. I also didn’t understand how Emily could marry John, given that she had an inkling of what had happened with Jamie/Jaime. Overall, though, it was a good story, but not the best that mole has written.