Book 773: The Christmas Deal (Festive Fakes #1) – Keira Andrews

I’ve said it before and I will continue to say it, if you give me a fake boyfriend/fiancé story and I will read the hell out of it. And that’s exactly what the 13th book in my 12 Books of MM Holiday Romance binge ended up being.

I hadn’t planned on revisiting Keira Andrews after enjoying Merry Cherry Christmas and Eight Nights in December, but I saw the description mentioning fake fiancés and an ex-marine, so you know I was going to read it. And then when you add in that apparently Andrews REALLY likes holiday romances, she has like dozens of them, it was inevitable honestly!

This one was a little harder to get into than the other two by Andrews. I’m not sure if it was how down on himself Logan was, or if it was the actual writing, but it took a couple of chapters to really get going. Logan, a down on his luck ex-marine, recently widowed single father to stepson Connor, is thrust upon his sister’s coworker by his sister, Seth, an uptight ex-religious southerner whose family disowned him, as a fake fiancé with family in tow in order to help Seth get a promotion.

They of course both get something out of the deal, Seth gets his pretend family to impressive the larger-than-life Texas matriarch of the company who is 100% pro-families of all types, especially diverse families (and one of my favorite characters by the end), and Logan gets somewhere to stay for him and Connor having just been evicted from their apartment because he can’t find work.

He and Logan had a deal, and Seth would hold up his end. He still couldn’t believe Logan had sex with men even though he said he was straight. It certainly wasn’t Seth’s place to label anyone else’s sexuality, but he wondered what it would be like if they didn’t live in a society teeming with toxic masculinity. Growing up, any boys who didn’t fit the traditional mold were deemed lesser and called the F-word. (107)

What Seth (and Logan) didn’t bargain for was Logan’s “bisexual awakening.” I love that term more than “gay for you,” which so many other books use. It’s known pretty early on that Logan’s definitely had sex with other men. Most of it was situational and he’s compartmentalized it as sex and not love, but after living with Seth and getting to know him the lines start to blur and after he agrees to help Seth get over his hang-ups around casual sex, the obvious happens and they start falling for each other.

The big crises of the book, after them falling for each other and both pretending like they’re not, so they don’t break the agreement, is at the big family retreat when Connor freaks out that Logan is taking advantage of Seth because he’s such a nice guy. He compares it to how Logan and his mom’s relationship ends and runs off and falls in the frozen lake and Seth, being southern follows him out and also falls in, and Logan at that moment realizes he loves both of them and the world wouldn’t be the same without them. Seriously, my heart was racing. I knew neither would die, but still! Seth has done so much to help Connor and Logan in the few weeks they’ve lived with him, but because none of the three of them can share their feelings, this crazy shit is happening.

There are a couple of truly aww moments after that when Seth and Logan man up and share that they don’t know what’s happening, but that they want to try with each other, not only with each other, but with Connor and everyone seems to be on the same page, and they take it in stride with one of the best scenes following shortly after when Andrews walks the walk on equal opportunity sex positions

‘You guys are kinda noisy.’
Oh, merciful lord. ‘I—I’m so sorry, we—it’s—oh my.’
Connor laughed. ‘Don’t, like, pass out or anything. It’s gross, but whatever.’ He quickly added, ‘Not because you’re guys! Because you’re so . . . old and stuff.’ (228)

To seriously go from an emotionally fraught scene of two of them nearly dying and then all three agreeing to try and be a family to the super-hot and steamy sex scene to Connor then calling them out for said sex scene was just so many emotions and so perfectly balanced and timed, Andrews couldn’t have done it better.

The other thing I’ve noticed across the holiday romances I’ve read is that readers can expect to see more and more references to Schitt’s Creek in the near future. This is the third reference in the third book that I’ve read published post 2019.

‘Like the kid on Schitt’s Creek,’ Pop said, rooting around in the snack bowl and coming up with an orange peanut M&M.

‘What?’ Logan could barely get the word out.

‘You know, with Eugene Levy. Rich people get stuck in a small town. Funny show. It’s like shit’s, but it’s spelled different.’

Logan tried to breathe. ‘Right. Yeah, I get it. I don’t—what about it?’

Pop looked at him now. ‘The kid on the show. He’s whaddya call it—bipan-curious or whatever.’ He shrugged. ‘I guess it’s the popular thing these days, huh? Seems like it’s everywhere now. I don’t really get it, but no one asks what I think anymore.’ (218)

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this, but I hope authors don’t just use it as a crutch for the hard conversations that many people will still need to have with their parents or loved ones when they come out. I’m sure Schitt’s Creek is doing for many people now what Will and Grace did for others in the late-90s and early-00s in that it has given a lot of America the first view of happy and healthy queer people living their lives without the negativity or drama that often overwhelms LGBTQ+ stories in media.

Recommendation: Writing my response, I could seriously read this one again and maybe I will next Christmas. Not only did it have two of my favorite MM romance tropes (fake boyfriends and military), but it was well written, had hot sex scenes (but not too many), and the ending/epilogue was perfectly sweet and swoon worthy that of course I teared up. I’m definitely going to have to check out a few more of Andrews non-holiday works to see how they hold up.

Opening Line: “When the phone rang again, Logan allowed himself a flicker of hope before snuffing it out.”

Closing Line: “Logan and Seth shared a smile before they went to greet him. They were all home.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)

Additional Quotes from The Christmas Deal
“That’s how he knew he was straight. He only wanted that other stuff with women. Men were for getting off and nothing more.” (4)

“I mean, it’s not okay, but it is what it is. I couldn’t stay in the closet. I like to believe in a God who made people the way they’re supposed to be.” (49)

“‘That gay people are going to hell?’ Connor asked, eyebrows shooting up. ‘That’s bullshit. Good people shouldn’t think that. And good people shouldn’t choose to never see their own kid again because of the way they were born.'” (49)

“You just want to shake them and stop them from making mistakes you can see coming a mile away. I remind myself that it’s my job to love them through all their mistakes. Hug them when they need it, and especially when they think they don’t. Because they sure need all the hugs and patience we can give them. Even when they’re bein’ assholes. Especially then.” (140)