Book 975: A Gift-Wrapped Holiday (Lighthouse Bay #4) – Amy Aislin

I requested a copy of this from Gay Romance Reviews because it’s Maine and I remembered enjoying the couple of books I read by Amy Aislin.*

This is the story of Luca who fled the west coast after his family shot down his idea to make their wrapping paper company more eco-friendly and environmentally conscious to open his own holiday wrapping store, and Mal, a single dad and graphic designer who recently moved back to his home town to be closer to family.

They meet after Otis, Mal’s kid, runs off and sneaks into Luca’s store to have his drawing wrapped for his dad. It’s an adorable moment and the scene where the picture is revisited at the end is so perfect I almost teared up.

There were a lot of superfluous storylines and unnecessary additions to the book that I really feel if removed would’ve made the story a lot smoother and stronger. The biggest one for me was the loss of their first child during pregnancy. I think the fear that Mal has over Otis getting lost or getting hurt and not growing up successfully would’ve been just as powerful without having to tie it to Hope. It just felt forced to me. Same thing with Luca’s brother Donavon’s introduction. Although maybe he’ll have his bisexual awakening in a future year.

The main storyline was well written and a little slow-paced even though Luca and Mal were moving at lightning speed falling in love with each other. I mean they’re confessing love to each other and basically moving in in less than a month, but the story felt like it took over a year. The sex scene (there may have been only one) was well written and the longing looks and make-out sessions definitely increased the heat of the novel. My favorite scene was this one because it has 100% happened to me before when it comes to colorful coats:

“The pegs on the wall of the foyer were overflowing with winter coats, as was the staircase banister. Luca waffled with his own for a second before finally flinging it over the pile on the banister, crossing his fingers that a guest wouldn’t mistake it for their own. Though, now that he took a second look, his appeared to be the only one in bright red. The rest were a sea of black, gray and blue.
‘Does no one believe in color?’ he muttered” (Chapter 10)

I was disappointed to find out that this was the fourth in a series. I didn’t realize this because there’s nothing about it on the cover or the blurb. I know they’re always loosely related, but it still irks me to read things out of order. I was super excited to see Casey from Keeping Casey make an appearance and may have squealed out loud when I made that connection.

Recommendation: Overall this was a meh book for me. It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t that great. It took longer to read than it should have due to the weird pacing and there were a few too many extra storylines/characters that distracted from the main storyline. I’ll most likely check out the other books in Lighthouse Bay, but I doubt I’ll go out of my way to do so.

*I received a copy of A Gift-Wrapped Holiday via Gay Romance Reviews in return for my honest opinion. No goods or money were exchanged.

Opening Line: “When Luca had first envisioned opening a retail store, he hadn’t expected his clientele to be so . . . tiny.”

Closing Line: “Because right here was every gift Luca hadn’t known to wish for.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)