If the Fates Allow: A Short Story by Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: Self-Published, Amazon Original Stories
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by DicentraSocial distancing came easily to Reagan. Maybe a little too easily. She’s always liked people better from afar. But Reagan doesn’t want her grandpa to be alone for Christmas this year—he’s already spent too much time on his own in 2020. So she heads back to her hometown with a dish of holiday Jell-O salad, hoping they can have a little normalcy. Hoping it will be safe…
She isn’t expecting to run into the boy next door. Mason is all grown up now. He’s considerate. He’s funny. He doesn’t mind how prickly Reagan is—he maybe even likes it. And it makes Reagan feel like her defenses are falling. She needs her defenses, doesn’t she? In a time when six feet is close enough, how long can they keep their distance?
With a title that’s a spin on Judy Garland’s “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, Rainbow Rowell’s If the Fates Allow is a sweet short story of a holiday romance read. Set in the same world as her young adult novel Fangirl (though not directly connected), it tells the story of two people who meet in the time of social distancing and find a unique connection.
While COVID has upended all of our lives since 2020, I wasn’t expecting it to be the setting of a romance. I think the author did a good job acknowledging the realities of COVID (i.e., the isolation, people who don’t believe in measures like masks or vaccines) while also including some lighthearted moments in an attempt to balance out the dark cloud that is COVID. Reagan does worry a lot about the pandemic, but I actually found myself empathizing with her given I experienced those concerns myself. While this book is marketed as a romance, I was admittedly more invested in Reagan’s relationship with her grandfather and the rest of her family rather than with Mason (the boy-next-door love interest). Fear not, however – the romance was still cute and well-written.
Audiobook narrators are usually a plus for me, but I actually found it preferable to read in print rather than listen because narrator Rebecca Lowman’s performance was a bit dry. She didn’t really change tone over the course of the read, and there weren’t different voices for the various characters either. I was hoping for a bit more animation, but that didn’t happen, so it did negatively impact my enjoyment of the read a bit.
Overall, this was an entertaining read. I would have hoped for something a bit longer (more of a novella length than short story), but it was satisfying as is. I would recommend it to Hallmark Christmas movie fans who are looking for something short to read. Bonus points if you have Kindle Unlimited, as it’s free to read on that service.
TRIGGER WARNINGS: COVID, Grief, Death of a Grandparent (in the past), Messy Family Relationships
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