Hello everyone!
Okay. OKAY.
I know, the holidays are over, Christmas books need to take a step back and everything else should step forward into place.
I couldn't help myself with this one, however.
It sort of caught me unawares and smacked me upside the head once I actually got to it.
I was feeling a little blue and unwilling to dig into Drums of Autumn again yesterday and then just sort of popped this one open, ending up gobbling it like it was some sort of tasty Christmas leftover or whatever.
And why did I like it so much?
Well, there were a lot of points in its favour and I'll try and catch as many as I can in this review.
But first, let's get right into Better Not Pout, shall we?
I'd never read any book by Annabeth Albert prior to this one, but I certainly want to now.
And, to answer something a friend of mine asked once: where DO I find these books?
Well, huh, that's a good question.
I kind of started with Keira Andrews and then through that there are personalised recommendations and you just sort of explore what sounds good to you.
This one sounded very good to me and so I was hopeful after a rather disastrous try with a different Christmas-themed romance.
So, Better Not Pout!
Sergeant Major Nicholas Nowicki hasn't had much to do with the Christmas holidays over his years spent in military service, but somehow he gets roped into playing none other than good old Santa when the person who normally fills the role suffers from a heart attack.
Given that Nick is about to retire from the military he has ample time on his hands, so he ends up taking the gig. It can't be that hard, right?
Then he meets the guy playing the elf, one Teddy MacNally.
First off, the MacNally clan is literally all over the tiny hamlet Nick is playing Santa for, so there's that. Second, Teddy sees pretty much EVERYTHING as half-full and with so many different optimistic options it's making Nick's head spin.
He's more of a grouch honestly, and he has no business thinking anything about Teddy to begin with since Teddy's only around twenty-eight. MUCH too young.
Not that Teddy thinks the same, but as you do.
Nick and Teddy don't seem to see eye to eye through the initial part of this campaign with Santa, but when a snow torm blows in and Nick not only gets lost on his way back to the army base but lands in a ditch that he can't actually get his car out of easily, he has the luck to run straight into Teddy, on his way back from work.
Teddy offers Nick a place to stay, something warm to ear, a board game to play ... and himself.
Well, it's a bit of a hard sell since Nick is only here for a month and then afterwards he's off to Florida to partner with an old army buddy in chartering boats there, but still ... a month is a month, right?
Right.
And the more Nick fights it, the more Teddy puts his foot down and explains he won't be offering this for much longer, until Nick just gives in and into this relationship that's not supposed to be a relationship but just sex.
Only, it's never 'just sex', honestly.
Nick sort of gets sucked into the whirlwind of the MacNally clan and their Thanksgiving, for one thing, and then of course there's Teddy himself.
Always a giver, he now runs the local charity that helps anyone that's fallen on hard times, among other things, and he also just loves putting himself out there and helping others, no matter how big or how small. And slowly he starts chipping away at Nick's defenses as well, learning that Nick had a younger brother who unfortunately drowned in a pool and his family fell apart afterwards, that his mother is supposedly a cured alcoholic (which Nick doesn't quite believe) and that he'll be meeting her at his sister's place on the way to Florida.
For his part, Nick learns how giving Teddy is, how loving, and how good at hockey (yes, that too).
And what would a romance story be without an alternative for our main hero?
One time as they're trying to grab something to eat, a young man, high on drugs, pulls a gun in the store and Nick defuses the situation because he's a military cop and knows what he's doing.
This sparks something new between himself and Teddy, however, breaking down several other barriers and opening the possibility that Nick COULD, potentially, become a cop in Teddy's home town since there's going to be an opening - and the one other Army Ranger who's a cop there doesn't hide the fact he'd love to have another military guy around.
But Nick made a promise to his buddy, and so, breaking Teddy's heart and his, he heads off to Florida, on the way learning that his sister is pregnant again at forty-four ... and then once he gets to the beach, he misses Teddy too much.
Because his buddy is a good kind of guy, he's like, brother, you seriously think I can't live without you? Come on, rethink that one for a second.
So while he misses Christmas with the MacNallys, he arrives just in time for New Year's to be Teddy's kiss, and then tells Teddy he's going to stay this time.
The book wraps up with a one year later epilogue where it's explained that Teddy and Nick got a house of their own, are hosting Christmas for Nick's family, and that Nick is actually a cop now.
Oh and also, they're eloping together.
Huzzah!
I liked the straight-up conversations in this one, no beating around the bush, honesty, no secrets, and just all-around common sense kind of feeling. There wasn't anything dramatic about Nick leaving for Florida, he simply had to do it because he'd promised, and it was equally sweet when he came back. They worked because of the age difference because both of them were mature, and that appeals to me.
Definitely recommend this author!
xx
*image not mine
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