This was a perfectly lovely, low-angst Chrismukkah fake boyfriend MM Holiday Romance.
I grabbed this because of the above. Who doesn’t love a fake boyfriend story or a holiday romance? I mean come on, it’s the perfect time of the year and weather to snuggle up by a fire and read a one-sitting romance with minimal angst and an adorable happy for now ending.
I was a little worried at first because the writing seemed pretty elementary and Evan, the POV protagonist was a little bit annoying, but he grew on me and the writing did too. I sort of wish this would’ve been a split narrative with JD having his say, but for the most part it worked as is.
I was doubly lucky to celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas. On my dad’s side, there was the endless dinner, the rounds of dreidel, and the Adam Sandler song. On my mom’s side, there was the Christmas tree, her scrumptious cookies (my favorite was thumbprint cookies with strawberry jam filling), and Christmas carols. Put the two holidays together and that was why December was my favorite month, hands down. (Loc. 184)
The crux of the story is Evan can’t get over the guy he thought was his boyfriend and has treated him horribly and can’t bring himself to tell his family the truth. When Evan overhears JD’s brother rejects him after his coming out and telling him he wants nothing to do with him, Evan invites him for the holidays with his family.
Shenanigans begin and JD becomes the ex for a little bit until they’re caught snuggling in bed and Evan realizes he’s falling for JD and breaks it to his mom. And that’s the drama of the entire book, which was refreshing. There’s a little bit about whether they deserve each other but that’s rote at this point for stupid male protagonists that don’t communicate.
Cates had a couple of humorous moments including a snowball fight between siblings and this gem:
Of course, my parents couldn’t resist telling the same old embarrassingly lame stories about early Hanukkahs in the Goodman household, concluding with the one where my mom had told us that a light was inside every person, and I had promptly replied, ‘Mine is a disco ball.’ (Loc. 547)
Because who doesn’t have an embarrassing story line that?!
Recommendation: Overall, this was a great little novella you could read in one sitting. It took me a bit to get used to the POV protagonist, but once I warmed up to him I very much enjoyed the story. It was a pretty clean low-angst romance that was the perfect read for where I slotted it in. I’m looking forward to checking out more by Cates . . . I mean I already have The Christmas Lights Battle loaded on my Kindle 😀
Opening Line: “Love. Why was it always outside my grasp?”
Closing Line: “It was a long way up from nowhere, but I’d finally arrived.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)