Hello everyone!
And here we are with our final Christmas-themed book review!
Although to be fair, I'll probably be recapping and talking about some other holiday-related books, but for the time being the four-week episode of picking one author and working my way through her seasonal stories has come to an end.
Of course I have to go out with a bang, at least book-wise.
I saved this years holiday novella for last, even though I pretty much read it first.
Keira Andrews certainly has a way with words though and I highly recommend any and all of her books if you haven't read any of them yet.
Me personally, I still have a soft spot for Valor on the Move, but I feel like that's probably because it includes the Secret Service.
Anyway, let's dive right into Santa Daddy, shall we?
Yeah, it's a play on the song if you ask me, Santa Baby, but the title SHOULD tell you what this is going to be about.
Older man, younger man, sexy times, Christmas holiday.
You know what I'm saying?
For all my other December blog posts featuring Ms Andrews' work, please look at the bottom of this post where you'll find all the links.
Now, to business!
Santa Daddy features one Hunter, who can't seem to land a job after college (and a lot of people can probably relate to THAT). He's kind of at loose ends, so when his old boss asks him to play Santa's Elf one last time at his local town's dying mall, he says sure, why not.
It's easy money and even if the costume doesn't fit that well, he can make it work.
ESPECIALLY after seeing that year's Santa.
Nick is one of those grouchy people you'd normally avoid. He's not exactly the Grinch, but he also isn't quite Santa either, though he's playing one.
And Hunter is immediately attracted to him.
Okay, so it's a little bit on both sides, since Nick also isn't exactly imune, but after the death of his partner years ago he's sort of closed himself off and works on his tree farm, with his beagle Ella, and that's about it.
However, Hunter kind of needs a job, and Nick needs an assistant, so they agree to a test to see if this is going to work out.
Naturally, things have to go wrong.
Aka, Hunter hits a patch of ice and the car lands in a ditch, he has to hike the rest of the way over to Nick's because Nick doesn't want to listen to "excuses" and with the snow storm blowing in, it's pretty much a done deal that he'll have to stay at Nick's cabin until it blows over.
I know what you're thinking.
One cabin, two single guys, a snow storm that doesn't show signs of easing up.
What could POSSIBLY happen, right?
If you're thinking sex, you're thinking right.
Nick discovers that Hunter basically has an anxious ball of nerves situation going on, he can never relax, and so he needs someone to take control - and Hunter is ALL for letting Nick be the dominant one in this relationship.
Which is how one thing leads to another, Santa Daddy comes into play, and dot dot dot.
Not only that, but Nick sort of starts living again through Hunter after his self-imposed withdrawal, because Hunter suggests hosting a Christmas thing at the farm since they can't have it at the mall anymore.
Cue embarrassing conversation between Nick and Hunter's mom, but I mean, isn't ANY parent-partner conversation just embarrassing?
Anyway, after a little bit of a misunderstanding about whether or not they want to pursue things further (which they do), Santa and his Elf give the old mall the closure it needs, but since it isn't PG rated it's pure luck they do it after hours.
And all WOULD end well if not for Hunter accidentally running onto the iced-over shallow river, which nearly gives Nick a heart attack.
See, his partner died precisely because of something similar: trying to rescue a drowning child in the middle of winter, and unfortunately passing during the attempt. So naturally, Nick's terrified of something similar happening to Hunter, but for once in his life, Hunter stands his ground and they discuss it like semi-rational adults.
A year later, both of them working at the farm and quite happy with their lives and their relationship - and the annual Christmas shindig about to go down - Santa and his Elf realize that, yeah, Christmas magic DOES exist.
The end!
Really, it's a fun, sexy, easy kind of read which I recommend for a late afternoon when you're feeling lazy. Although you may need a cold shower afterwards, depending where you're interest lies, but all in all, I think we didn't do too shabbily with these book reviews this month, did we?
And my next book review will be in 2019 already! Time flies.
xx
*image not mine
No comments:
Post a Comment