Christmas Eve at The Powers That Be Cafe by Xavier AxelsonMy rating: 4½ of 5 stars
Christmas Eve at The Powers That Be Cafe is a delightful little story! This is Xavier Axelson's first romance and I for one am eagerly awaiting the next one.
In 40 pages this author took me right into the world of The Powers That Be Café; it was a step back to a time I've never been, but after having read of Nat and his place I feel as though I've seen it all through his eyes.
There the efforts of the servicemen and those they're leaving behind to pretend a cheerfulness that cannot totally over-ride the reason that they are all there in the first place. It hangs in the atmosphere; right in the very air they all breathe. Tears, desperation, moments in which to make memories, all of it in an effort to try to forget—for awhile—that these young men are headed off to war with no guarantees that they will be returning.
Mr. Axelson captured this all beautifully.
Then there's Nat; a man who's lived here, if not his whole life, then a majority of it. He's always seeing people arriving and people leaving, but there's no one that stays. Living in a place where there is always someone going or coming and yet, for Nat, there is nowhere else. This is what he knows, this is what he lives. And he's starting to feel the aloneness of his life.
His meeting with Kent is a life-affirming experience, even for those of us that are taken, for a brief moment in time, someplace most of us have never experienced.
Painting with words such vivid pictures is something I usually equate with an author with many books under their belt. But with Christmas Eve at The Powers That Be Café, Xavier Axelson has shown that what it really takes is talent and a facility to be aware of those who with whom we share a world. Nicely done.
Originally posted at Dark Divas Reviews January 22, 2011
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