Book 768: Merry Cherry Christmas – Keira Andrews

As I cross the 3/4 mark with book nine of my 12 MM Holiday Books of 2020, I’m finding it harder to judge the books. I’m not sure if it’s because they’re starting to run together, they totally are, or if it’s because they’re dividing pretty quickly into those that I really enjoy and those that are just sort of meh (this is the first).

In Merry Cherry Christmas we have Jeremy (aka Cherry – his little brother couldn’t say his name growing up and it stuck) another virgin desperately trying to no longer be a virgin, and his knight in shining armor Max, the super fit and attractive captain of the university football team. But really, Andrews wrote it best: “a nervous nerd and protective, jealous jock.” Not going to lie, this one gave a lot of the same things that A Guy for Christmas did, but Andrews did it better, for me at least.

Their meet-cute is adorable when Jeremy busts his ass on the ice and Max helps him up and accidentally crushes his glasses forcing them to spend more time together. Max is out and proud and Jeremy is just starting to figure things out and having a rough time with his parents.

He’d liked guys before. Had dated guys before. He’d never felt so out of control. This was exactly why he’d put on the brakes. The snowball hurtling downhill needed to slow its roll. He had enough to deal with. (145)

I think the highlight for me was Max slowly losing control as Jeremy gained confidence in himself and whatever he and Max were doing. Like Max had all the confidence and was great in slowly introducing Jeremy to sex, but he was a mess emotionally and unraveled as he realized that he and Jeremy were (or could be) so much more than just friends with benefits.

When you add in that the angst is pretty low in this novel it definitely helped crank up the heat. As with so many of these novels, the conflict is self-induced and egged on by one of the characters. In this case Max encourages Jeremy to go on a date and then crashes the date and is a total dick. Jeremy calls him on it and proceeds to make him super jealous. And then of course they kiss, make up, and decide to be more than just friends with benefits . . . swoon.

Honestly, I think my favorite part of the story may have been when Max finally told his parents that he and Jeremy were more than friends. They’d been avoiding telling his parents because Max thought they were super archaic and wouldn’t let them stay in the same room after the last time his sister brought someone home, but his parents are just like “Nah, we like Jeremy, we only did that to Mad because that guy was a dick.” Seriously, Andrews should’ve fleshed out the scene a bit more, it was pure comedy.

Then there was of course the representation Andrews included:

No, that’s not what I mean. I’m just being nosy and wondering if you’ve considered if you’re asexual or on that spectrum. Ace, demi, gray. There are variations. (60)

And the nerd references, quite possibly the most explicit connection yet, but it made me laugh because it was so adorkable:

‘I’m not really a virgin anymore.’ Jeremy had the crazy thought he might look different and laughed out loud. ‘That always felt like the final frontier or something.

Max chuckled with a gust of warm breath. ‘I get it. Cherry no more.’ He reached down and grazed Jeremy’s tender hole with his fingertips. ‘Final frontier, huh? To boldly go where no man has gone before?’

Jeremy shivered at the delicate, delicious touch. ‘Does that make you Captain Kirk?’

‘Excuse you—I’m clearly Picard.’

‘Sorry, I wasn’t thinking. You fucked my brains out.'” (185)

I mean, come on could they be any more adorable?

I liked that the angst didn’t really take over the novel. Andrews could easily have written Jeremy’s story to be a so much worse than it was and had his parents disown him and forbid him from seeing his little brother, or even had Max’s parents really go after him for not wanting to be a lawyer after acing the LSATs. She smartly chose not to do that, so the biggest thing that needed to happen for Jeremy and Max to get their happily ever after was for them to get out of their own way. And, ultimately, even Jeremy’s parents started to come around even if that relationship wasn’t a HEA yet, it was definitely a “we’re growing and hopefully will be happy someday.”

Recommendation: I thoroughly enjoyed this read. This is definitely on the top half of the list. I noticed some people felt it dragged a bit in the middle, but I didn’t feel that. I probably could’ve read right through but didn’t. I mean, I do love the nerd and jock trope, so it was a given I was at least partially on board with this one and if I’m really honest, the cover was probably the biggest turn-off for me. I mean there are so many better redhead models out there; they could’ve gotten the super cute one from Two for Trust—swoon—or anyone else really other than the super fake red-head they chose.

Opening Line: “Flat on his back—and not the way he wanted—Jeremy couldn’t breathe.”

Closing Line: “Jeremy grinned, then lifted his finger to his lips. ‘Shh.'” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)