All Comments on 'Christmas at Sun Valley'

What a lovely ending to a super story. You have a fantastic talent for pulling in the reader, but I think I've told you that once or twice before :-)

Well done STG and thank you for the epilogue.

I agree this is a Great Ending to a Wonderful Story

I very rarely comment on a story, but this one has brought a wonderful series to a beautiful end. It is rare to read a story on an erotica site that so captures the readers imagination and gives the characters such depth.

5 well deserved stars.

Thanks for the early Christmas present. What a heart felt story. I will admit, I read this chapter first, so now I have to go back and read the story from the beginning. I enjoyed the characters and the story felt truly warm and loving. I can't wait to start from chapter one.

I'll share with you that a tear came to me (actually a few tears) when I read the endeared nick-name "LeeLee"....only those closest to me get away with calling me that. My Dad called me LeeLee. It made me miss him even more when I read that. Happily, the tears were followed by great memories and a sad, but loving smile. *; ) Thanks again for sharing your story.

Apple

p.s. As always, stars, stars, stars~! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays~! Be safe~!

Wonderful slow romance. A heartwarming end to the rest of the Sun Valley stories (which I will read soon). Even without the background info from the other series, I got the right vibe from the main characters. The secondary characters too played their parts well.

5 stars.

Thank you, STG, for another lovely installment. I just love the characters you've created. I hope this won't be the last we read of them. I'd enjoy finding out what happens with Tammy and Todd. (hint, hint) ;o)

Well done. You closed up the holes from the last chapter in a wonderful style, letting your talent shine through.

I look forward to your next story.

5 stars!!

Thank you, Annie, for making such a wonderful closing to the Sun Valley Saga. What a fitting Christmas story that should do quite well in the Winter Holiday Contest. Nothing but praise from a firm California native fan. And of course another five stars!

I thought it was supposed to be a stand alone story.

What a very nice surprise. And beautifully done. Thank you so much. Have a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

You left it open enough if you want to return you can rather it be with Joe and Leanne or with Tammy and Todd, or even as their child

Well, you've done it. You wrote a not-too-sappy epilogue, that's not rushed, fits wonderfully with the story, gives us some closure on Leanne and her father reconciling, and leaves a bit of an opening for later chapters, should you choose to continue with the story at a later time. All that while writing a standalone story to enter into the Winter Holiday contest! I applaud your efforts, and look forward to further gifted storytelling from you in the future!

All the Best to you, Annie!

It seems like a nice story, but I have not read the rest of the sun valley series and I had trouble following it as I didn't know the background. As competition stories are meant to be stand alone stories I think this is not eligible. Sorry.

A wonderful and fitting epilogue to the series. Well done.

Wow. Not only did you make the deadline for the November challenge, you wrote 6 more pages for us! Thank you! What a great chapter. Five stars. You had me crying & cheering for Leanne & Joe. Deep, old wounds are the hardest to heal, & you sent these characters on that path. Well done. Dare I hope for "Spring at Sun Valley?" Maybe a baby named Clair? No pressure, just my want, want, want for more from these two. Thank you for a great series.☺️

Creative, well written and it works as a stand alone story. Bravo!

I usually prefer short stories (stand alone) and not full length or chaptered.

I get annoyed when authors lose steam along the way or don't even bother to finish.

Therefore, I skipped the Sun Valley series, even though it scored well.

Seeing this one was a stand alone I decided to give it a go, and I am glad that I did.

While it was clear there was an untold back story, there was just enough of it to make this story stand on its own. It is true that I had to work at it a little harder than usual, but not to the point that I couldn't follow.

I enjoyed the holiday theme very much. Thankfulness, forgiveness and redemption.

I will admit I got teary in parts. Well done.

Hi ya S_T_G:

Well, you certainly did it!

I was expecting a short Epilogue to satisfy the clamor for one (even from me), but you far exceeded my expectations.

You did a masterful job of tying up several loose ends, and brought the story to a most pleasant conclusion--at least this part. (hint, hint).

I was especially impressed with your sly, low key word usage in how Joe let the family know that he had proposed, and also the way in which you led the reader to believe that Michael might have been delusional (only to have the reader learn that Claire was just outside). Your ability to work with words, and surprising the reader is a very real and most welcome talent.

I, as well as many others, am blown away by your ability to weave such real-life experiences into your stories and make the characters seem absolutely real.

And, yes, your words can bring tears to the eyes of sentimental old farts (my description of me).

I agree with other readers that hope we will be seeing more of Sun Valley Farms in the future.

May you have a Merry Christmas, and relax with some eggnog (spiked, of course) to rest up and revive your wonderful imagination and creative genius.

Can't wait to see your next creation!

Thanks for the epilogue!

You know, I hated the Princess Bride references earlier on in the story, but now I love them!

Congratulation on a great story x

Thanks Small Town Girl. Excellent writing and nice conclusion to your series! Reminds me a lot of my earlier romancing and marriage to my wife of 43 years! Most were and are very good memories. Again Thanks!

Rod

i'll admit i'm a bit overwhelmed with the response to this story. it was very much a spur-of-the-moment decision to write it, and coming on the heels of the #NaNoWriMo challenge (writing 18K words in 4 days!!! on the heels of 71K words in 30 days) it got really crazy. but hey, i'm glad i did :)

@Masterfuljim, @gldngolfer, @lovedenied, @WindySwimming, @d2all, @thalt992000, @Mysteryman196, @fixer43, @DahliaWhitch, @billybard, @floribunda and all you Anon's who have come onto this story after having read Dawn over Sun Valley - thank you for your ongoing support. it is your feedback, cheers, cusses and not-too-subtle demands that had motivated me to finish the #NaNo challenge and then to take on this story when i should have been resting my fingers... you guys are the best!

@Apple_of_Eden, @meldrewmark2, @LaRascass, and those Anons who have 'met' this story without reading the Sun Valley series first - a special thank you for leaving your comments! in making this story a stand-alone i have taken a big challenge (and responsibility) to make it 'work' for readers who have not read the previous series; i am very grateful to learn that it worked for y'all :)

another note on that topic, related to the Anon's comment about the Winter Holiday Contest: my decision to write this as a stand-alone rather than a chapter was based on the following:

1. Dawn over Sun Valley is complete as-is. it ended with a HFN with a distinct HEA trajectory (Joe and Leanne are engaged and are going to have a baby; his family know Leanne's parentage and still want Joe to bring her home) - so the conflict in the story (Leanne vs. Joe) is resolved. i wrote The End on this story because, for me, that was the right place to end it :)

2. Christmas at Sun Valley, while it chronologically starts right after the series ends, focuses on a different conflict: Leanne vs. her father

3. I felt that solving that conflict - with thanks-giving, forgiveness, redemption and the healing power of a loving family being the main themes - was a good fit for a holiday-themed story; moreover, i could make the timeline work! which was a happy coincidence :)

4. i have taken the time and made the effort to give much more background story than i would for a chapter, to make sure newcomers to the story could follow and enjoy it as a stand-alone.

5. scope - this is an 18K+ words story. as per Wikipedia, that counts as a Novella :)

from 1st-time reader comments (people who haven't read the series) i can see that i was mostly successful in my quest. there was one who said they couldn't follow the story vs. several who said they have enjoyed it very much. also, looking at the number of views there are a few thousand readers (at least) who have read this story without reading the whole series - and the votes represent these 'clean' voters, too :)

so, was i opportunistic in writing this story for the contest? yes, absolutely. i didn't plan to write a contest story, and only when i realized i had a good idea for a story - based on characters i already knew well, and with a fitting timeline/season/theme did i decide to go for it.

does being opportunistic disqualify a story from the contest? i think not.

anywhoo... thank you all again for reading and voting. i appreciate it very much!

xoxo,

Annie

(small_town_girl / Anne A. Lois)

thanks!

I agree that the first part is a stand alone story and was well written and lots of fun. Like many good stories, sometimes they beg for a more complete ending, which you provided as the second part. I hope to see more from you in the future.

Thank You

Thank you. This was a great pleasure to read.

Lots of unanswered questions, but well written to make the story a stand alone love story. My number one question is what was Williams crime? That question could take half a book.....

I very much enjoyed the various ways that the family healed and grew together.

Thanks for bringing closure to the wonderful tale of Sun Valley :)

Are you planning on bringing Tammy and Todd together in another story?

Jason

No matter how cute this story is - it should have been disqualified from the contest. The only question I have is when will you rename this as "Dawn over Sun Valley #9?' This is not a stand-alone story, without the series that it is part of, it is virtually unreadable. Multiple events are unexplained but referred to, and to get them one must go back and read the series:

Right from the beginning: "Her smile faltered, and she bit her lip. "I feel fine after last night."" Huh? What happened last night? OK, for now let's assume this is the night after - and for some reason she picked up some loser in a bar..

But wait - check with a doctor? Ok, for now let's assume she got beat up in a bar fight and hero cowboy saved her?

But wait - she's pregnant? Ok, for now lets assume she got raped a month ago, found out she was pregnant and came back to the bar seeking revenge only to get beat up...

But wait - mother died? Estranged father? None of this

This story is merely an extension of your 50,000 word in a month - Novella experiment (as you admit in Dawn... #1) and should have been disqualified as, per the rules:- "All submissions must be stand-alone stories created for this contest theme. We will not accept individual chapters of a larger work submitted separately."

I'm just assuming that you have a short penis. THUS the name maybe you should try to write something!!

hey y'all, sorry for not replying sooner - RL have kept me pretty busy w/ my new job and all... (it's awesome, btw! which means i have less time for writing... argh. why oh why can't i have it both ways?!)

@Anons 'now it's done' and 'well done' - thank you both :)

@sdsman - sounds to me like you're saying this part (which you refer to as 'part 2') does not necessarily work as a stand-alone for you, only that it wasn't 'required' for the first part (the Sun Valley series) to be complete?

@sampkyang - glad to hear you enjoyed it as a stand-alone even though some questions were left open. i would admit it was hard, especially writing this piece so close after the Sun Valley series ended, to judge just how much of the back story was needed. i probably would have made a better job at it had i done it in two months time - which is what i plan to do - i.e. put this aside for a while and then come back to it with a 'cleaner' set of eyes, and put in some edits to make it even better as a stand-alone.

@JasonRTaylor - thank you so much! as for Tammy and Todd - while they are the 'obvious' next part of this series, the one that actually intrigues me more is Michael. however, i am not going to do either one in the next few months at least, since i have already started on a completely unrelated story (which won't be posted here on Lit, but go directly to Amazon - as usual, there will be links on my profile page) - i will be sure to update here in the comments if/when the next book in the series will happen :)

@BenLong - i appreciate your opinion, and the fact you've taken the time to express it in so much detail, even if i disagree with it... see my previous batch of replies for a more detailed explanation, but the bottom line is this: i tried my best to make this a true stand-alone story, and judging by most of the comments and general votes, it seems that i have been mostly successful. could i have done a better job filling in the back story? probably, which is why i plan to get back to it at some point and do just that. does the story, as is, require a bit more effort from the reader to navigate than the usual Lit story (or even *my* usual Lit story) - yes, absolutely, and yet most readers seem to have been able to do so with ease, and still find the story enjoyable.

should it have been disqualified? well, that was for the Lit Gods to decide; obviously i'm glad they chose to include it, and while i recognize it was skating mighty close to those rules, i honestly believe it was still within them. again, respect your different POV.

@Anon 'BenLong' - while i appreciate you jumping in my defense, i promise there is no need; moreover, getting ad-huminem like that isn't very fitting to the holiday spirit of the story... right? ;-)

seriously, though, please don't go there. BenLong may have been blunt in his comment, but he was respectful and spoke on the merits of the issue and not in any way personal (at least, that's how i read his comment...) and therefore i believe deserves a respectful answer. i knew when i wrote this story and submitted it to the Winter Holiday contest that i was skirting mighty close to the rules; i took into consideration that i could be disqualified and/or torn to shreds by the angry mob for being so cheeky. honestly, i was pleasantly surprised that the few people who raised this issue did it in such a civilized manner!

anyways, thank y'all for the continued support, feedback and discussion. let me take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

xoxo,

Annie

(small_town_girl / Anne A. Lois)

As someone who has never read this author's work I disagree with your comment that it's not standalone no read it, followed along fine and was going to look at the author's other works when I saw you spouting your vitriol and decided to comment. There is no rule against submitting a story that stands alone and ties in to previous work. If you look back at past contest winners it has been done before. Are you mad that you didn't win? Are you upset at this voters? If you have a problem with the system then take it up with the arbitrators of the contest. None of the voters agreed with you and your public rant is both childish and out of place.

Sorry, I just said my piece, I didn't intend to kick up a shit storm. But where does it say that all comments must only be positive?

. No, I'm not a sore loser - I didn't submit a work to this contest. No, anon, the name doesn't refer to my dick size - it was a play on words associated with my first story ever posted (elsewhere), so yes - I have posted (40 plus at Lit and counting), I have won contests, and, like Nemo, I wasn't afraid to post my nick. But, I also believe in rules, as you'll see in at least one contest entry of mine I noted beforehand that I was not eligible to win as I had won the previous contest. That didn't stop me from posting to a location that others will see and read, just that I noted that I was not eligible to win.

Note that I did not attack the writer, the author has some excellent work. I did point out that - as did a majority of the commenters at the time I posted:

"What a lovely ending to a super story"

"I agree this is a Great ENDING"

"brought a wonderful SERIES to a beautiful end"

"I read this CHAPTER first, so now I have to go back and read the story from the beginning"

etc.

The protagonists were not introduced, the actions in the story were a continuation of the day (or rather night) before and if you think it was stand-alone - good for you, it's obvious that I, and several others, did not. "We will not accept individual chapters of a larger work submitted separately." I stand by my opinion - this should have been disqualified. Thank you for stating yours (and for the record - I also e-mailed the "arbitrators" stating that I did not believe it was a stand alone story, although since I did not read this story until after the contest decisions had been made, I did not expect that it would make any difference. However it does point out to the arbitrators that some recognize the rules - and next time it might.

Sorry STG - didn't mean to hijack your story - if anyone else has a comment to me, send it to me, I will not answer it here.

BenLong

—ANOTHER LONG COMMENT COMING THROUGH—

I wasn't a fan of this story needing an epilogue to begin with but I took it anyways because I enjoyed the characters. That being said, I'm put off by one thing (and it may be nitpicking but I feel if something bothers me this much it needs to be mentioned): Joe's always been a decent character to me. He was reasonably angry about Leanne's ulterior motives for working at the farm and overreacted in the dramatic way I...understand for lack of a better term. However, I was just completely blindsided by that moment where he mentions the doctor's "foreign" last name in shock, Leanne was offended by his shock, and his response is "lol sorry for being shocked that you have a doctor with a funny last name", and then they get into a discussion about his treating her horribly re: her time on the farm pre-Michael's visit.

It just felt so unnecessary after realizing that it didn't really matter. He literally has people on his farm named "Mrs. Rojas" and "Julio"...surely he doesn't believe those are European names? But "Dr. Shanti" is weird? Okay. I have no idea what the purpose of that moment was, and I wish it wasn't such a problem for me but my god it is and took me out of this entirely. Maybe it was a device to show he's flawed via being prejudiced? But it was worthless because of Mrs. Rojas and Julio and especially how much respect he has for them. And we already know he's flawed because of that entire rough sex ordeal; no need to bring bigotry into the game. And what does it even do for Joe, especially in this day and age? Am I to believe he's secretly narrow-minded since he's a farmer in Northern California? Like it was too much for me lmao. I don't mind these things being brought into stories—as long as the racism/prejudice is meant to shed light on the character and it gets dealt with. That wasn't dealt with and instead just existed to exist, and it's just...blah.

Excuse me for BenLong'ing it with the long comment lol but I needed to say something :\ Maybe I'm just offended on behalf of Leanne so the goal of making Joe seem like a potential asshole was completed, but I have a feeling that isn't what the deal is when he's such a cute and sweet man any other time. Don't do this to Joe ;_;

I don't usually comment on stories. I choose to vote and/or favorite the story/author if I really like it...or ignore it if I don't. But I found this story off the main Lit page as one of the winners of the Winter Holidays Contest...and I recognized your handle from previous comments you've left on my own stories.

While I enjoyed reading it and always like a happy ending, the story left me expecting more. Least of all that it took until page 5 of 6 to actually involve the contest theme: a winter holiday.

I have to agree with some of the comments from Ben and Denny. Seeing that it wasn't titled as a chapter in a continuing series (eligibility for the contest aside, as the powers-that-be seemed to ignore their own rule), I was wanting more backstory from the get-go on who these characters were and how they came to be in their current situation. I assumed it was just a suspenseful tactic and would be revealed as the story progressed, which can be quite an effective way of writing. Such was not the case here, though. Thankfully, some confusion was cleared up when it was revealed in the comments that this wasn't a stand-alone story; that the reader would have had to have read the previous chapters to get the full story. Unfortunately, I fear, there would still be some unanswered questions.

Why was there such concern of having sex again after what seemed to be an implied night of wonderful sex based on Leanne's memories? When the cause for concern was revealed, the lack of knowledge and maturity from either main character in the situation belied the later implication that both had some sensibility (i.e., old enough to get married and mature enough to overcome decades of hurt from a parent's absence, but not wise enough to know you can have sex while pregnant). Why was Joe so against the doctor having a foreign name? Why was there so much tension in his family with Joe being with Leanne? How/why did Leanne's dad kill Joe's mom? What was the issue with Tammy and Todd? Who was Dr. Lewis? And honestly, after a lifetime of estrangement from her father, I can see her agreeing to forgive him but a few weeks later she's having him walk her down the aisle? Seemed rushed. Especially since she was hesitant to even have him attend.

And then there were all of the references to "The Princess Bride." It's been almost 30 years since I saw the movie, and I'm not part of that cult following--as I could guess a good number of readers aren't. Therefore, I had to Google the quotes to find out the movie. But even then, it wasn't clear what its significance was to the story...based in this chapter alone.

If you should take on another project like this one that includes characters and storylines from a previous work, keep in mind that in order to make it stand alone, it actually has to do that. Don't assume everyone has read the preceding chapters or has watched/heard and loved a movie/song like you do and would understand the dropped quotes or lyrics or references without an accompanying title...and the significance of why it's included. Give enough background that one shouldn't be left with so many questions if this is the only story they've read.

SSW

thank you @BenLong, @DannyBrose and @SSW for your thoughtful comments.

this story was posted with barely a skim from my editor due to time constraints, and indeed isn't as 'clean' as it could be. specifically i got several comments about that scene with Dr. Shanti which i know i'll need to rewrite... and there are a few other such remarks that will be very useful once i go back, re-read, rewrite, and give my editor more than two hours to edit...

not going to go back into the whole was it or wasn't it stand-alone; agree to disagree :)

anyways, thank you for taking the time to comment at length. as y'all know, writing is a lonely job and feedback from readers and/or fellow writers is, to me, precious - even when they say i screwed up one thing or another... you live, you learn, right? :)

to everyone who have favorited, PM'ed and continued to vote - i ~heart~ y'all, too!

hope y'all have a wonderful new year 2016 :)

xoxo,

Annie

(small_town_girl / Anne A. Lois)

PS - if you got some Amazon gift cards lately and are contemplating how to spend them, please consider indulging yourselves in some of my published stories :D

(links on my Lit member profile page). thanks! xoxo

Hey Small Town Girl,

I'm sitting here in Northern CA, on the ranch of my oldest friends. I'm not with my wife or my children this year b/c they cannot come to forgive me for my past failings. Your story made me weep. Now, I have never killed anyone, but mistakes are mistakes---and everyone makes them. That's not the main reason to forgive, though, no, forgiveness is letting that other person "off the hook", so to speak, and in so doing the forgiver let's go of the offense. The offense is a poison that steals life from you. I've had to work very hard to forgive my loved ones for their unforgiveness toward me. I still hold out hope that they will walk all this misunderstanding back and do what your pregnant protagonist did: forgive. Your story captured the redemptive, generational blessing of reconciliation, while at the same time you didn't sugar-coat such a tough issue. Well done! I loved your story, even if it made me sad and I cried a few times as I read it. The sex was incidental for me, although also well-written. Good karma indeed!

Christopher

I know something you don't know.

@Christopher (Anon 'Forgiveness') - your comment touched my heart. i will keep my fingers crossed for you and your loved ones to find a way back into each others' hearts and lives.

@Anon 'about this story' - oooh! i'm intrigued!! tell me, please! :)

I have not read your work before that I remember, but as I progressed, I got the feeling I was reading something from a Christian library that was trying to be cutting edge handling "real sex." Maybe this is your taste and intent. If so, more power to you. For me, it was too idealistic-maybe smarmy.

It was hard to piece the story together at the beginning. Subjects came up that I couldn't understand. Still excellent enough to look at your list of stories which took all night to read. Rereading this story it all made sense. Overall you have a great gift of caring that comes out in your writing.

The nine chapters are a mature subject that uncaring people might not identify with. I have over 70+ years of experience to say there is nothing I suggest you change except adding a few missing words.

I was blown away wiith the first eight chapters. Such excellent writing. Then this story stood in its proper place. Please carry on with your writing. Some people are better off for having read your contributions.

For all those people who found the story confusing,well I would tell them that's because this is the continuation of the series ' Dawn at the sun valley' by the same author and I would advice everyone to read that as the story is good and explains everything.

I really liked the story, although I recognize that the beginning was very confusing for me. It was from page 3 that I realized that this had to be a sequel to another story. Now I've seen that there are several chapters prior to this sequel, which I have to read to properly understand this story.

But this is my fault, no one else's.

5 * for you.

I apologize for my English (yet), is not my native language.

It became obvious that this was a continuation of another story. Since it wasn't labeled as such, it suffers as a standalone. You might want to add a note to the beginning to read the other stories first.

That being said, this story was confusing and hard to follow for a good while. The score suffers due to its confusing intro. Had it been labeled as part of another story this wouldn't have been the case.

For your story and for hope Thank You!!

My heart yearns for my family,but is saddened by their abandon. In a way your story is true for me just in a different sort of way. I can relate to Willams pain and suffering. I carry out my sentence but have committed no crime. I have forgiven,but hear ,go someplace and die, as a reply.

I enjoyed reading your story! Actually I loved it ,painfully.

I hope to read more like this from you in the future. So refreshing, I truly enjoyed this epilogue to the original series you wrote.

The entire series was a pleasure to read, it was one I took every moment to read and finish. Thank you.

The whole series was great. Keep writing please.

Thank you! Loved it!

Great addition to the original story, but I’d still like an epilogue with grandchildren, hopefully some of Tammy & Todd’s as well. Ah well, disappointment again.

This should have a disclaimer, being an addition to an existing story. Didn't know it, but it does of course explain how it is written. Now I just wonder whether to read to longer story when I already know the end.

I agree with @Stixaluco! Please put a note at the top that this is part 9 of the Sun Valley story! I started reading this one, then realized I was starting in the middle of the book. So I stopped and went back to the original, but it was a bit disappointing since I already 'knew' the ending.

The entire series was wonderful, but PLEASE add a note at the beginning explaining that this is NOT a stand alone story. Thanks for your great writing!

Thank you so much I really enjoyed all the series very heartwarming great job hope to read more like these

Touching story, with a superb plot, and well-written. I can understand why it was a contest winner. Thanks for posting.

Thank you for the follow up, giving us the ending we all wanted!!

Loved this and the prequel stories!!