This is a shared universe story with His Last Christmas in London and I’m so happy that we got Seb and Patrick’s story! They were so adorably mismatched and perfect for each other in that first novel that I really hoped they would get their own.
Seb and Pat were Ian’s roommates from His Last Christmas in London. Seb is smaller and feisty and has a whole history we learn about in this novel, and Pat is a big teddy bear trying to get his personal training/fitness business off the ground.
They’ve always been touchy feely, and I remember thinking no way either of them is 100% straight in the first novel. I’m pretty sure Seb was out but Patrick just didn’t talk about who he wanted to date/sleep with, but Ian definitely fed into their simmering romance:
Flip to December on the twin of this calendar in my bedroom and you’ll see Pat on a surfboard, his abs glistening with drops of seawater, sparkling like Edward fucking Cullen caught in sunlight. Or Emmett, who could be Pat’s body double. (62)
Legit LOLed that. I’m vague on the details, but they made out during the last novel and then agreed that they didn’t want to mess up their relationship so agreed they’d share another kiss the following Christmas. This of course leads to the tension of this entire novel where both want to kiss each other (and much more), but Seb is too afraid of screwing up their relationship and Patrick is taking Seb’s lead because he cares more about making sure Seb is mentally and emotionally okay with everything.
He lifts one. It rests heavily on my shoulder, but I can take its weight while watching him rachet up to coming. Everything tightens again, each of his muscles delineated, but they still aren’t my focus. He is. All of him, and he must see it as I screw into him with the deep thrusts that make him seize up, and this is where I do have endurance. I’ll do this for as long as it takes. In fact, I go even slower, and time stretches again. Forget the birth of stars and them dying. Forget Regent Street or even the Romans laying claim to the Thames and building the foundations of this whole city. There’s only him and me, and Pat urging me on, and I so want to live up to his expectations. (179)
The sex scenes were beautifully written. All of Riley’s novels have this in common, they sometimes run on the edge of over the top (see the last few sentences of the above), but Riley’s slow paced and luxurious writing make them seem less out of place than if it were a wham bam hookup, they’re always sensual and slow which works for her style.
The main drama of the novel is when Ian recommends that his successor at his horrible past job reach out to Seb and Pat to rent the extra room. Seb wanted the entire month with Pat alone so they could be together, but he realizes quickly that Jack (pretty sure the protagonist of His Until Christmas, the next in the series) needs the room and the support that Seb and Pat’s weird co-dependent not-quite relationship provides those around them.
He only focuses on family, and maybe this is where Guy is wrong about his Jack Russell characteristics. Seb’s a Border Collie, constantly rounding up his herd of special people, which means he verbally circles our flatmate while growling, and again I guess what’s coming. (210)
There was a bit of self-angst from Seb as he came to terms with being loved by someone unconditionally, having been abandoned as a child and raised in an orphanage he brought a lot of baggage to everything. And on the other side you have Pat just obliviously living his life and seemingly letting people (including his family) walk all over him. But, Riley counters that with one of the most adorable scenes of having all of Pat’s family spend the day with Seb slowly over the day so he can meet them and see that they are overwhelming, but they love Pat and they’re going to love whoever loves Pat just as much.
Recommendation: Read it! Riley is a slow burn MM Romance author, and she plays with language and pacing in a way that is infuriatingly tantalizing but so rewarding. I am so glad that Pat and Seb got their book and I hope they continue to cameo in the next novel because their story is just so beautifully done and the perfect cozy holiday romance I was looking for when I read this.
Opening Line: “I play a game at Christmas involving Mariah Carey and my auntie.”
Closing Line: “His smile in Ian’s final photo is as good as Christmas coming early.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)