Short Story Review: The Rabbit Died by Sue Ann Jaffarian (Holidays from Hell #1)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Characters come to life in interesting short story

Cons: I'm ready for the next one

The Bottom Line: 

A fun short story

With some serious moments

Over all too soon

Dead Rabbits Lead to Bad Holidays

Never one to turn down a free story from a favorite author, I jumped when Sue Ann Jaffarian offered me a copy of her short story “The Rabbit Died” in exchange for an honest review. This is the first in a proposed Holidays from Hell e-short story series. As is always the case with Sue Ann’s writing, it was over all too quickly and left me wanting more.

Holidays have never been Zelda Bowen’s thing. As the only single daughter in the family, it’s a chance to be reminded that her sisters are married with children.

But Easter this year is especially bad. Her father has always been the Easter Bunny for the kids in the family. That won’t be the case this year since he’s vanished with a woman from his office. And somehow Zelda gets talked into donning the costume for her nephew and twin nieces.

The story that follows offers us a glimpse of a family trying to deal with the emotional fallout from a father leaving. The kids are too young to really understand what is happening. The rest of the characters might be adults, but it is still very hard on all of them.

Naturally, that leads to some pretty serious moments. But this is also a very funny story with bits that had me laughing out loud. Overall, the story has a very bittersweet feel to it. I’m impressed that all this was conveyed in roughly 20 pages.

The characters also come to life. Zelda, as our viewpoint character, is the best developed, but her mother and sisters get enough of the broad strokes to feel real to me. That impressed me since the story is so short, but I’m not sure why since Sue Ann’s books are always full of vibrant characters.

Sue Ann normally writes mysteries, and this is a step away from that genre. There is no crime to investigate or bad guy to catch. But Sue Ann navigates these waters with ease.

These short stories will only be available through Kindle or Nook or through the various apps and PC versions of the software available.

While I don’t have a full e-reader, I’m glad I have a way to read these stories. “The Rabbit Died” left me anxious for the next bad holiday so I can see how the Bowens deal with the change their dad leaving has created for them.