Tracey Pedersen

*This is a review of Playing By Heart by Sylvie Stewart - part of the Holiday Heart-On Anthology.

Cute and sweet
5 stars

I’m a big fan of Sylvie Stewart - she’s great at filling her stories with a combination of comedy and likeable, relatable characters. While this is the first short story of hers I’ve read - she still manages to make it everything I hoped and expected. But that’s not to say it didn’t leave me wanting more - but in the best possible way.

At a Christmas in July pet pageant (I mean, why the hell not?) Kat luck turns around when her crush turns up with his adorable dog. Better yet, he’s in a bind and the only one who can help him out, is Kat! And cue the music!

I liked both our characters instantly and they have the cutest chemistry. It’s quite nice to read a story with such innocent smittenness. It’s not that the story is innocent (although there’s only kissing), it’s just that they’re so totally adorable that it feels fresh.

For such a short story, I still definitely believed in their connection. Of course I wanted more. And of course I wish it was longer. But I was sucked in immediately and was left satisfied and with a smile on my face. I couldn’t ask for much more.

—-

Playing By Heart is Sylvie Stewart’s contribution in the larger Holiday Heart-On anthology. This set of 18 festive stories has been pulled together to raise money and awareness for women’s heart health. 100% of proceeds will benefit the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women® movement. There’s a whole set of different stories (averaging around 40 pages each) with different styles, tones and steam levels.

In this anthology you’ll also get:

🎅🏻 Playing by Heart by Sylvie Stewart
🎅🏻 Better than Christmas by Brenda St John Brown and Serena Bell
🎅🏻 Hang Your Heart by Arell Rivers
🎅🏻 Hockey Hotties Heart-On by Piper Rayne
🎅🏻 Hell of a Heart-On by Marika Ray
🎅🏻 Hardware Hard-On by Tracey Pedersen
🎅🏻 Christmas Eve with KXBZ by Roxie Noir
🎅🏻 Heartly in Love by MK Meredith
🎅🏻 Love by Chance by Claire Marti
🎅🏻 Christmas Cabin by Elizabeth Lynx
🎅🏻 Mistletoe Wishes by Stina Lindenblatt
🎅🏻 Rock Hard Around the Christmas Tree by Tawdra Kandle
🎅🏻 Always Be My Babka by Melonie Johnson
🎅🏻 Hooking Her Heart by Sophia Henry
🎅🏻 Santa Claus is Coming by Hope Ellis
🎅🏻 Heart-On for Her Beaver by Dylann Crush
🎅🏻 Heart Healthy Hot Sticky Buns by Kameron Claire
🎅🏻 Ants in Santa’s Pants by Amy Award… (altro)

This starts out funny and just kept me laughing all the way through. One drunken New Year's Eve Jordan makes a resolution that she is going to be married by that time next year. After scribbling out the things she wanted in a man (on a napkin) and with her friends help with a list of dating rules, she sets out looking for her perfect man. She is determined to find "The One" and got a dating app to help her in her quest.

I loved this comical story about Jordan's dating disasters. One of the rules her friends set out for her was to promise to give each man a chance so she was dating constantly. These dates were hysterical! It's scary to think that dating is like that now. Most of them were so bad Jordan didn't get a chance to find out if they checked all the boxes (the list on the napkin).

I felt so sorry for Jordan. Why was it so hard to find a good match? The ideas that she had to find the right man, made perfect sense but just weren't working. Her friend Luke was great and I really liked him. Too bad he didn't check all the boxes.

How can this story be a romance with all the dating disasters Jordan went through? Well, it is. You just have to read it to find out how.… (altro)

The worst thing any man or woman can do is to allow their past, their previous life experiences [positive/negative] to dictate what their lives will/should be like. Another thing people do wrong is simply listening to the negativity spouted by those around them, as well as the norms dictated by society.

If we allow the above into our mindset then we’ve created a box in which we’re now imprisoned. We therefore need to create an empowering image in our minds to help us break out. And one of the best ways to do this is to follow in someone else’s footsteps, someone who’s been where we are today.

While following the author’s own, no holds bar life experiences might not resolve all the issues we’re facing in our own individual lives, it will at least set readers in the right direction from where we can tweak the remaining issues. As the issues we’ve been facing get peeled away, we should have a sense of being reborn.

This is a quick read which can be easily read as you have your morning cup of coffee.

NOTE: The author has used the British spelling in the writing of her book.… (altro)