Book 758: Better Not Pout – Annabeth Albert

I grabbed this a few months ago when it went on sale and saved it for the holidays. I had every intention of waiting until December, but Thanksgiving happened and Lifetime/Hallmark movies started showing and I wanted more LGBT+ characters (I know there are a few this year but I haven’t had the chance to see them) and I remembered I had this one already so here we are.

The story starts off slower than many of Albert’s other works, but the characters are just as well written and the plot works for what it is. Nick, a beefy retiring military man, is cornered into volunteering with a local charity and meets Teddy, an over the top do-gooder, and fireworks don’t fly right away, but they slowly build until the grand finale.

I liked Teddy more than Nick, probably because Nick hit a little too close to home with his everything is black and white and I’ve made a commitment I’m going to stick to no matter what feelings have come up. Like dude, I get it, but Teddy’s hot and seriously interested in you and okay he may be over the top and have A LOT of family, but just go for it! I was a little annoyed at the on-the-nose-ness of Nick playing Santa Clause and Teddy referring to him as Saint Nick throughout the novel, but it disappeared pretty quick as the story evolved.

MacNally’s laugh reminded Nick of the fresh-picked peaches he’d loved when he’d been stationed in Georgia—warm and fresh and far too tempting. (Loc. 126)

There was the perfect amount of humor and drama to make this a worthy read and of course there were swoon worthy-quotes and blush-inducing sex scenes. I liked that Albert continues to walk-the-walk when it comes to verse characters and every time it’s worth the wait to see if it is or isn’t going to happen and to find out when or how it happens 😀 The drama was, of course, all self-created because 1) Nick refused to consider alternative options and 2) neither would actually talk to each other. I’d say #2 is problematic, but knowing how little I like to communicate I get it and will probably never get tired of them not talking and it all coming to a boiling point with a big heart-to-heart. I mean what’s a RomCom without that?

You can do homemade mac-and-cheese? My mom may offer me to you along with their best cow and a stack of quilts if you show up with that. (Loc. 1,141)

And then even when she’s not writing her hella-hot military romances Albert frequently drops in an active duty or veteran soldier and I am here for it. I mean this line just had me nodding my head and putting a big ol’ check on my list of does this novel work for me:

He’d clearly come right from the base and was still in his uniform. And hello, army porn. Nick’s massive frame filled out the camo jacket and pants in ways that made Teddy’s blood heat. Patches on his upper arm designated both his rank and his service in the military police. And if there was something cuter than a big military man in uniform in the middle of the teddy bear aisle, Teddy had yet to find it. (Loc. 1,718)

It just makes me smile when there’s an over the top response to a man in uniform because I’m like boy do I get it. Haahaa.

Recommendation: Yet another quick and engaging read from Annabeth Albert with a holiday flavor! I know she has a bunch of shorts out that are holiday related from her existing series and I will probably dig them up at some point. This is probably somewhere in the middle of the pack, it’s not as great as her Out of Uniform series, but I felt it was better than her Portland Heat series so yeah somewhere in the middle. I enjoyed the characters, even if I did get a bit annoyed at Nick most of the time, and the heat was perfect so what more can you ask for in a holiday romance?

Opening Line: “The Santa suit didn’t fit.”

Closing Line: “This way—their way—really was perfect.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)

 

Additional Quotes from Better Not Pout
“Teddy, why do all the cute ones have to play for your team? Life just isn’t fair.” (Loc. 222)

“This strange, wonderful, and completely unexpected thing. He wanted more, and he was for darn sure going to get it, regardless of how many objections his cranky Santa threw his way.” (Loc. 807)

“Listen to Teddy. And trust me, our mom and sisters knit enough to blanket the county twice over. Take the scarf.” (Loc. 867)

“Your musical tastes are split between my sister in high school and my nieces now. Is there an era of pop you don’t cover?” (Loc. 1,172)

“The pageant was like a Rockwell painting gone comically wrong. Kids dressed as Christmas trees headed the wrong way and crashed into each other. Little voices sang jarringly off-key to secular holiday songs, with at least two kids singing completely different songs from the rest of their class. A little skit about snowshoeing and skiing had the audience cracking up, but Nick wasn’t sure he got the punchline. Nothing funny about snow that stuck around till Memorial Day, if you asked him.” (Loc. 1,819)

“Wait. What were they exactly? Not simply friends, that was for sure. But dating sounded too trite, fuck buddies too crass, partners far too permanent for what they both knew this was. Lovers. The word was right there, waiting for him. Fanciful and romantic and everything Nick wasn’t, so he kept his lips clamped.” (Loc. 1,956)

“‘You do too have courage,’ Nick protested. ‘You’re one of the bravest people I know, walking around with your big, beautiful heart out. I’m in awe of you.'” (Loc. 2,666)

“And in that instant, Nick shed all the plans he’d carried around for so long. He’d believe in Teddy. Believe in them. Believe in their ability to make that future. And he’d welcome the surprise of figuring out where they went from here.” (Loc. 2,723)