1 [Report This]Date: May 06, 2021 10:18 pm Title: Chapter 3
Lol! Maybe Angela got Josh that interview with Staples. 😅😉😉
1 [Report This]Date: January 29, 2021 01:10 am Title: Chapter 2
First of all, sorry to hear that things have been difficult - as if life wasn't challenging enough right now. Here's hoping the new year will bring better times for you.
Secondly, you don't need to be so hard on yourself. I thought this was charming: great premise, I loved what you did with the characters, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with a bit of festive cheese!
1 [Report This]Date: January 20, 2021 06:53 am Title: Chapter 3
Awww, that's a perfect ending for a perfect Christmas story! I was grinning like an idiot reading it, and the reveal of the actual wishmaker made me cheer aloud. That was lovely, thank you so much for writing it!
1 [Report This]Date: January 17, 2021 08:42 pm Title: Chapter 3
JB
What
My mind is blown
This is so perfect
You are a genius
Author's Response: BT. Taylor. Friend.
1 [Report This]Date: January 17, 2021 08:38 pm Title: Chapter 2
He must have known that it wasn’t a coincidence - that with the press of his lips to hers he had unraveled the careful stitching she had done to bind her life to Roy’s. Jim had found the loose thread and tugged at it, instead of cutting it precisely like you were supposed to do, and the entire thing had fallen apart.
I’m sorry. How dare you?
She let his words and the soft tone of his voice roll over her and then there was a ladder in her pit of despair and when she glanced skyward there was light on the horizon where before there had only been swirling, thunderous clouds.
I’M SORRY. HOW DARE YOU?
And then this ENDING??? Thank god you posted both chapters cause I have to know *now*
Author's Response:
Is it really a Christmas movie if there isn’t a very uninspired B plot “mystery” in there somewhere. Who is leaving me this elaborate days of Christmas calendar? Who is the anonymous donor that got us over our fundraising goal? My new neighbor who looks exactly the same as me just found out she had a sibling who was adopted out & what a coincidence I was adopted too so I’m going to help her figure this out. Why is my neighbor so intent on shoving a Christmas tree up on his roof?
Did I... watch too many Hallmark Christmas movies... Help.
1 [Report This]Date: January 15, 2021 07:38 pm Title: Chapter 3
This fic was so warm and fuzzy and everyone was the best versions of themselves! Thank you!
Author's Response: Thanks so much for reading & reviewing! I really appreciate it!
1 [Report This]Date: January 14, 2021 11:10 pm Title: Chapter 3
Awwww, a cute ending to this one!
I loved the near kiss over the hot cocoa. And also: he chewed a mint for her!
There were a LOT of really great lines in this one - diligently washing her pot not being a euphemism, Dwight's explaining why it wasn't REALLY a kidnapping (and him doing it by tempting him with candy!), full Recyclops. You really shine with Dwight here.
Their "morning after" banter sounded very much like them, easy to visualize.
It was very Pam-like (and happy Pam-like in particular) to let Michael have the win. She's got her guy AND she's feeling like herself again. Three birds with one stone after all!
Angela as the cold-hearted grump who performs a Christmas miracle DOES seem very Hallmark movie. (Except they might have hinted she was a literal angel.) I like to think she TELLS herself it was just because she knows Pam is keeping her secret, but ACTUALLY she just didn't like seeing her unhappy.
Author's Response:
Ooooh. I’m with you on the angel thing. Although, it’s Angela. No one who’s well... Angela is really an angel. That just may be too farfetched even for Hallmark...
Thank you as always for your lovely, detailed review!
1 [Report This]Date: January 14, 2021 08:07 pm Title: Chapter 3
Really fun way to end this all. Dwight hanging up on Jim fits the bill so very right. However when Pam calls right back and asks the same question his soft spot for her, and wanting to stay in Angela's good graces, shows up.
Micheal's Michealness (including the interrupted kiss) was a ton of fun to read.
Loved envisioning Jim and Pam sneaking off through the rest of the weekend to be together. Coordinating illnesses is just the kind of thing they'd do and it was wonderful.
Investigator Pam was a lot of fun to read too. To think Angela was behind it all was a lot of fun. Deep down there is a woman who does want to be happy and wants other around her to be happy too. It just takes special circumstances and this was more than special enough.
And to end it all with Jim coming back is just the icing on the cake. Or in this case the tinsel on the tree? We'll go with that. Wonderful job. This one was a ton of fun.
Author's Response:
I’m kind of mad I didn’t use “the tinsel on the tree” somewhere. That was a real oversight.
Thanks as always for reading!
1 [Report This]Date: January 14, 2021 06:48 pm Title: Chapter 3
JB. This was prime hallmark material and I loved every second of it. I truly did not expect Angela to be the mastermind behind all of it, I was sure it was going to be Dwight. I still loveee though that Dwight helped, the Pam and Dwight friendship is one of my faves. But I loved that Angela has this secret gratitude towards Pam for keeping her secret. I also loved the references to episodes that we wouldn't have seen if this had actually happened, like "My heart soars with the Eagle's nest!" and Jim calling Pam to tell her about the merger. All so good.
Author's Response:
Thank you for making “Hallmark material” sound like a compliment! Everything Hallmark is so damn cheesy, but like I’m here for it.
1 [Report This]Date: January 14, 2021 06:18 pm Title: Chapter 3
“‘How do you think I found your half decent Christmas card design?’ Angela’s eyes gleamed with something that was within the realm of humor.”
I’m so glad that Jim and Pam finally got together! And it seems so JAM to me that their first activity together is making hot chocolate for Michael.
And it’s so *Michael* that he would take credit for everything, even when he clearly couldn’t have pulled that off! He has the heart, sure, but not the brains.
Lastly, I think it’s really cute that Angela did all of this just to help Pam and yet she won’t admit that she did something nice, and that it was just the right thing to do - even though she’s clearly trying to be friendly (see quote above). She went above and beyond because she does care about Pam. I mean, she used Dwight to get all of this done! And he never does favors!
Loved this.
BlindManCassidy
Author's Response: Thanks so much!
1 [Report This]Date: January 14, 2021 06:13 pm Title: Chapter 3
“Somewhere between him spinning them and pressing her flush against the door and her steadily unbuttoning his shirt there was a unanimous decision that he really would like to finish the tour of her apartment, starting with her bedroom. This was agreed upon to be an inspired idea.” When I tell you I laughed...
Jenna, this was absolutely delightful and I loved every second of it. I LOVE that it was Angela. I LOVE how you described the different kind of missing it was for Pam when she and Jim finally figured it out—I’ve been there and you described it perfectly! I’m going to turn around and give this another read through immediately because it had all the best parts of every hallmark movie but better. Great job! :)
Author's Response:
I think that was my favorite line in the chapter so I so appreciate that you pointed it out (& that it made you laugh!)
Thanks so much for reading & reviewing!
1 [Report This]Date: January 14, 2021 05:25 pm Title: Chapter 3
I loved that it was Angela. A Christmas miracle that it was sure but it warmed my heart. She isn’t such a grinch after all. But I do love her line these idiots couldn’t pull off a thing.
Love the whole hot chocolate thing you’ve got going there...with milk of course...even Michael doesn’t drink chocolate water.
Gotta also love the recyclops reference.
Glad to get this holiday fix from you As usual I enjoyed every bit of it.
Author's Response:
Chocolate water is the very sad little brother of milk. No one likes the very sad little brother...
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on this one!
1 [Report This]Date: January 02, 2021 10:08 am Title: Chapter 2
I love this - needs that final chapter though!
Author's Response: Thanks! Oh there was no way I was leaving it there!
1 [Report This]Date: January 01, 2021 05:56 pm Title: Chapter 2
This is so good! I started noting lines I wanted to comment on, but there were too many. This is such a great story. And now, with Michael? Three chapters doesn't seem like enough.
Author's Response:
Too many lines to comment on is such high praise. Thank you Sprinkles!
1 [Report This]Date: January 01, 2021 12:52 pm Title: Chapter 2
OK the second chapter is every bit as delightful as the first even with all the angst. The up and down roller coaster with everything with Karen really kept me on edge and you really captured Pam's emotions here and Jim's too and the conversation between them hit on all the things eating at them since fallout of the Casino night.
The way the CN dress brought up such feelings was portrayed so well and I love her thoughts on keeping Dwight out of trouble at a corporate party.
I say this with the UTMOST of love for your story and am being 100% colloquial (but I also love my city-I raised my kids there) NYC is not so unsafe. But kidding (and NYC defensiveness) aside, I could also 100% see how people who don't live there (Jim and Pam) could think so and any time a car slowly creeps behind you would be be creeped no matter where you are. But I also thought of Big pulling up to Carrie with this scene so it was Perfect - as to me Jim and Big have that same witty playfulness that just makes me melt so you got me twice as excited here. And OF COURSE Jim would never let Pam walk the streets alone EVER. And had he not picked her up we could not have this line:
“It’s you, Pam,” he shrugged. “It’s always going to be you for me.”
Just as I thought you were about to bring this wonderful Cinderella story to a close you surprised us again with that twist.
Ok so Michael's not the fairy godmother then who is? and what happened to Michael- I'm so intrigued as to what's to come with the bonus chapter and can't wait.
Loved it!
Happy New Year to you. Cheers.
Author's Response:
Haha, no shade on NYC intended! I walked around the streets there on my own as a young twenty-something & did not die once. Although, I did have a car creep along behind me in another city & I 100% did think that my murder was imminent. Ahh travel, how I miss thee...
1 [Report This]Date: January 01, 2021 05:24 am Title: Chapter 1
(Using my best Erin voice) how did you do it. How did you write a story that seems so much like an episode of The Office while also seems so much like a Hallmark movie? And create a story that is fresh and new.
I really enjoy your writing You have such a way of making it natural and so entertaining especially in the portrayal of the ensemble. But also in your painting a scene and describing emotions.
I'm sorry to hear you've been down and that's affected your creativity because I really enjoy your stories and your reviews. Reading this one you sound like the JB from other stories of gours I've read but I do hope that things get better for you in 2021 and that the turkeys stop getting you down (if there are turkeys at play here)
Meantime I'm loving this Cinderellaesque story although Michael Scott as a fairy godmother makes me a little nervous. I think of him more like Gus. Good heart, less common sense as you so point out so well.
Looking forward to where you take us with this.
Author's Response:
Thanks so much, Max. It was a rough end to the year on the work front, but I think I’ve plateaued out from the spiraling now. I appreciate your kind words!
1 [Report This]Date: December 31, 2020 11:31 pm Title: Chapter 2
It's 8:40 a.m., and I have my cup of coffee and the new chapter of your story. Pretty awesome beginning of the year!
'Hi,' 'Hey.' Oh, my! Their exchange! LOVE IT!
And exactly when I was about to grin... 'she was all elegance and class and the easy familiarity with which she grabbed at Jim had a heavy lump forming deep in Pam’s chest.'
Okay, okay, I had to know that we should test our hearts first, continue.
'The Jim shaped wound' feels so, so real. Poor Pam...
'The funny thing about rock bottom was that it went a lot deeper than she thought.' Okay, right now, I want to scream to her that it's not over yet and there's only one way up.
What are you doing to us, Jenna?
I totally can't blame Pam for wanting to leave...
'It wasn’t what it looked like.' Oh god, I hate that expression so, so much (buuut it suits too well for Jim right now, or, at least, before he could explain himself...)
Do I love when they fight over the aftermath of the CN event? Yes.
I skipped a little the part about Pam wandering and thinking of being killed (not worth it, Pam, trust me), and then...
“It’s always going to be you for me.” Okay, okay, I'm okay, but you should know, Jenna, that you'll kill me that way one day. Just saying.
“I was kidnapped.” Oh boy, I need to know everything about that!
It's 9:30 a.m., I still have icy coffee in my cup, but I couldn't care less about that now. It's a fantastic journey! Thank you so much for writing it!
And I'm looking forward to the bonus chapter ;)
Author's Response: Oh Dernhelm, I adore your reviews so much. You have such a way with words. I’m sorry that your coffee went cold as you were reading, but not sorry at all that you included that detail because it’s such a compliment!
1 [Report This]Date: December 31, 2020 11:09 pm Title: Chapter 2
I really like that Pam is still very actively trying to grow here, even after a punishing few months. That’s our Fancy New Beesly.
This moment of her accidentally encountering the Casino Night dress and not being emotionally prepared for it is a real stomach-punch. (Only moderately eased by the fact that in this universe, at least she’s not also ruining the brown dress for herself.)
I love the description of the party and their first few encounters. I will note that I have some pretty distinct limits on my sympathy for Pam here. In this scenario, she has now gone seven/eight months without attempting to reach out to Jim. After rejecting him. That allows for the possibility of other things happening in his life. I do love that ultimately the Karen kiss forces them into a situation where they can punch at each other a bit, something that they could both clearly use.
Jim following her with the car is a lovely moment. And really? “It’s you. It’s always going to be you for me.” “It’s you for me, too.” Well, Happy New Year to you, too, Jenna. And “There hasn’t been a moment since I left that I haven’t been missing you.” Really? How dare you.
The twist at the end is fascinating. I stand by my “the whole thing was fake and orchestrated” theory, which, I mean, you made it pretty explicitly clear something else is happening here, but apparently it’s not Michael. Which I guess leaves Dwight? Or possibly Michael in concert with Dwight but Dwight having neglected to fill him in on some details? Maybe Kelly – this does sound like a scheme you might see in a rom com that Kelly would want to emulate. Maybe several people in the office pursuing their own schemes without talking to each other?
Anyways, I’m eager to see how you’re going to put a button on this.
(I think you officially clinched “last fic of 2020” with this one. Congrats!)
Author's Response:
I absolutely love the idea of several people in the office with their own schemes all tripping each other up with it. That would be hilarious and perfect for the rom-com trope. I’m a little mad I didn’t think of it to be honest.
I am so with you on the Pam not being all that deserving of sympathy, but is a trashy Hallmark Christmas and the rules of time/reality/logic do not apply. I feel like as an expert in the genre I can get away with such bold claims...
1 [Report This]Date: December 31, 2020 09:25 pm Title: Chapter 2
I literally don't know where to begin. I had assumed Jim would be the one Michael invited, so I was so sad when at first it seemed like he was there with Karen. And then when Pam caught them kissing, I had to take a moment. I was ready to kill Jimothy. I totally get why Pam thought what she did and even though the line "Spare me, Jim. I know what I saw. Or do you kiss all your friends at formal work events?" literally crushed my soul into a million pieces, I get why she said that too. She's angry and upset and not thinking straight. ugh. my heart hurts.
and then I really thought he just up and left her out in the cold. But I was so happy when he was in the car and then when she got in. Ughhhhh. Then their confessions. "It's always going to be you" just throw me in a casket because I'm deceased.
And just like Pam, I did *not* expect Michael to say he was kidnapped. I love how excited he was over Jim being there with Pam, but I am SO curious on what happened. I have to assume it has something to do with Dwight, but I can't wait to find out.
Again, amazing story. I love it so much.
Author's Response: “I have to assume it has something to do with Dwight” because of course Michael getting into strife has Dwight written all over it! It’s such a given.
1 [Report This]Date: December 31, 2020 09:24 pm Title: Chapter 2
omg the angst killed me but that ending brought me back to life!
Author's Response: I’m glad the end brought you back! My bad for the killing...
Date: December 31, 2020 08:48 pm Title: Chapter 2
“ She let his words and the soft tone of his voice roll over her and then there was a ladder in her pit of despair and when she glanced skyward there was light on the horizon where before there had only been swirling, thunderous clouds”
I love the symbolism, friend. Of course there’s light on the horizon if Jim will always be there for her. Isn’t that true of all of us? If we always have someone waiting for us when we call, is there not light on the horizon?
And I swear, if Dwight set this all up for her, I’m going to cry. This is so sweet.
BlindManCassidy
Author's Response: Thank you BlindManCassidy!
1 [Report This]Date: December 31, 2020 08:39 pm Title: Chapter 2
A crazy fast update and a crazy fast roller coaster of a chapter. Pam's tossed every which way, especially with seeing Jim and then even more with Karen acting like that. Five more seconds Pam. Just give the guy five more seconds sometimes.
However Jim finding her walking the street and offering to drive her home? Wonderful. The secrets and confessions that come out on the way home? Even more so. The return of hope, laughter, and love to both of their eyes? Beautiful.
Oh Michael. What did you get yourself into this time?
Author's Response:
It’s not a cheesy Christmas movie if there isn’t a whole lot of misunderstanding that could be solved so very easily... Five seconds like you say. It all comes down to five seconds...
He’s not Michael if he’s not getting himself into some mischief...
1 [Report This]Date: December 31, 2020 08:14 pm Title: Chapter 1
All I can say is that I have a love-hate relationship with depressed Pam. I love the writing and I think it fits her well, but it hurts my stone heart to see my comfort character so upset.
Thank god this isn’t a oneshot. I thought it was until I checked the completed tab.
BlindManCassidy
Author's Response: It would be a super miserable place for it to end! There is definitely more to come. Thanks for the review!
1 [Report This]Date: December 31, 2020 03:55 pm Title: Chapter 1
Oh Pam, my heart breaks for how she's hurting here. She really feels like a ship adrift at sea. There's a few gusts here and there, but nothing to really fill her sails to let her set a steady course.
However, what's really amazing is how her co-workers are banding together around her. Even Angela is there and offering some semblance of support. One just wants to reach through the screen and tell Pam, "Look how much you're loved! Look how much they care about you!"
The dress seems lovely. This all feels like a great set-up for the party in New York. Should be a lot of fun (hopefully? please?) to see who she might run into there.
And of course, welcome back! You've been missed. Both in writing and your great reviews. I hope that with the turn of the year you can find a new beginning of your own.
Author's Response: Thanks Warrior!
1 [Report This]Date: December 31, 2020 03:02 pm Title: Chapter 1
This is so good. I completely feel the lethargy and sadness that Pam is experiencing. I love how the whole office is concerned about her. There are so many excellent bits of dialogue. I really, really hope we get part 2.
Author's Response: Thanks Sprinkles! Part 2 is very much on the way!