This is the third book . . . Who am I kidding? This is the eighth book in my MM romance book binge starting toward the end of March. If we go back to January 1st, it’s the tenth (excluding young adult and manga). So yeah, it’s been an interesting year so far. [And the understatement of the century goes to . . .]
I grabbed this because time has no meaning any more: 1) It snowed here in Boston this week; 2) When we were driving back from a Costco south of the city there was a Christmas billboard up; 3) earlier on Saturday neither Tim nor I could figure out the date, we were off by 5-ish days; and 4) Tim’s schedule is all sorts of wonky working nights and weekends and I’m working from home for the foreseeable future. So . . . yeah, time has no meaning any more. Why not read a holiday romance in the middle of April?
Psuedo-hipster city-boy Mikah flees to his dad’s home in Jackson, Wyoming, after losing his job and being unceremoniously dumped by his boyfriend and encounters sexy farmer country-by Matt when he’s sent to pick up a Christmas tree by his step mother. There’s an adorable meet-cute featuring Matt’s dog knocking Mikah into a puddle, thus needing to borrow clothes—and the story goes from there.
This passage was in the blurb, but it was soooooo good, I of course highlighted it.
“Mikah dropped the plant [mistletoe] as if two of its tiny leaves had closed around his finger and bitten him. I didn’t miss the small intake of breath or slight pink flush of his cheeks. The space between us felt like way too much and way too little at the same time. Never in my life had I experienced such an immediate, visceral attraction to someone. But it felt like more than physical pull. It felt like connection. I wanted so much: wanted to pull him close, wanted to feel his soft curls as they slid between my fingers, wanted to trace the fine lines of his jaw. What I didn’t want was to freak him out.” (23)
I think what I liked most about this book was the shout out for Boston/Cambridge where Mikah was living and teaching. Fisher clearly knows the area well, talking about Jamaica Plain and Mass Ave and putting Mikah as a Harvard graduate. It just worked, unlike some books, looking at you Quietus.
Add in Mikah was a creative writing/literature teacher and the conversation about favorite books at one point,
“The image of Matt’s big body curled up on the couch as he reread a cherished book warmed me from the inside out . . .” (69)
Swoon. It made me laugh and think about mine and Tim’s first date where we were both nervous and he made the mistake of asking me about books (of course they were mentioned on my profile) and I had verbal diarrhea for 20 non-stop minutes. I met a friend right after and was like, “well I think I scared him off.”
I also liked the inclusion of a gender neutral character at the very end.
“‘This is my partner, Jo. Just a quick pronoun thing. Jo uses they or them. Cool?’ She nodded definitively at Mikah, who was looking between his sister and Jo with a fond, soft expression. Jo glanced at me, their expression a little wary. I inclined my head and smiled, hoping I seemed welcoming and not at all intimidating.” (211)
It did feel a little wedged in, but not as bad as in some novels given that they are dating a character who has previously been identified as queer. I think it was more the timing of the introduction and the emphasis on Matt’s being a country-bumpkin that rubbed me the wrong way. Why would the introduction happen like that, before everyone was together? This was right before this group of people walked over to Matt’s brother and sister-in-law’s house for Christmas dinner, why not do it there? Just felt wedged in at the wrong time.’
Other than that one sort of awkward moment, this was a fun great read!
Recommendation: Definitely worth reading if these are your thing. Like the other books in the Dreamspun Desires I loved the slow simmer and tension build up throughout the book. This book had more of a conflict/climax than the others so far in the series, but still not as melodramatic as others I’ve read. And it was an almost immediate regret on that characters part and resolved pretty quickly with an OMG . . . squee . . . kiss and make up adorable moment. So yeah, worth it from my point of view.
Opening Line: “I dragged a breath in through my nose and tried to catalogue the scents of my father’s house: woodsmoke, furniture polish, espresso, citrus.”
Closing Line: “I was home. And I could stay there forever.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)
I went in to work for a few hours today to do some administrative stuff, and almost couldn’t remember the process for getting a deposit ready for the bank. I had to sit there and think about it. 😳
There are things it’ll take me weeks to remember when we get in.