Yuletide Dreams: A Captain Wolf Tale by Marshall J. Moore features a young Quint, known as Captain Redbeard in Moore’s Son of a Sailor, as he waits for Yuletide morning. He, being a kid, is too excited to sleep thus inciting a bedtime story from his father. The tale follows Captain Wolf and his first mate Lilah as they help an injured Papa Kri deliver presents.
The story is very cozy. You can almost feel the warm blankets, fire, and hot chocolate…that is if any of that was mentioned in the story, but you can use your imagination.
It was great to see more of the relationship between Quint and his father. In Son of the Sailor, Quint’s father is dead so the descriptions of their relationship are secondhand, seen through Quint’s memories. In Yuletide Dreams, we get to see the relationship through Clarent’s eyes. The reader then gets a full picture.
There were some typos, but nothing story destroying. The story’s length was a good and bad thing. I think any longer and it might bore people or lose the plot; but at the same time, you are like, “No! I want more, Moore!” (Fortunately, the sequel to Son of a Sailor, Prisoners of a Pirate Queen, releases Dec 19, 2023.)
Moore did an excellent job of portraying an eager kid at “Christmas.” I liked the parts where Quint interrupted the story, just like a child would. You could picture him jumping on his bed, being all hyperactive, and Clarent calmly talking to him in that “father voice” parents do so well.
Probably the best part of the story is that it is free. You can get it by going to Moore’s Linktree and clicking on the link for the book. You do have to sign up for his newsletter, but you can always unsubscribe.
In all, Yuletide Dreams is an excellent Christmas themed story filled with love and care. It could make a bedtime story for your children since it has no violence or gore. It is an interesting take on pirates. Who knew there could be a cozy pirate tale?
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Until the next wormhole…Thanks for reading!
Joe Rover 
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