Hello everyone!
Against practically all odds this 2020 year, we DEFINITELY made it through to the end. Some more, some less successfully, but at least it's now almost over and we can begin to look forward to 2021. I plan on watching The Lord of the Rings and just going to bed early, I think.
Hopefully you all stay safe and healthy and have a love-filled evening!
In the meantime, we are wrapping up this blog season with the last Christmas blog.
Luckily for me when it comes to these things, Keira Andrews has published a new Christmas romance practically every year for the last few years, which means there is always one to look forward to, and 2020 was no exception.
This one might have been even better because of the general situation, if you ask me.
But if you're looking for some wholesome, M/M romance with reasonable characters, cuteness overload, some steamy scenes and a happily ever after, then she's ABSOLUTELY the one to read.
Merry Cherry Christmas is just another in a long list that keeps on giving.
Links to previous books from this month can be found at the bottom of the page, and I'll also include links to other Keira Andrews Christmas books as well, because I think I've reviewed all her holiday-inspired ones (or almost all).
For now, let's be merry one last time, and go see what the Canadians are doing for the holidays!
Freshman Jeremy falls on a patch of ice and loses his glasses, which is how he meets Max, the captain of the football team (though it is noted that the people don't really follow that as much as hockey up north). Unlike his friends, who have a good laugh, Max stops to help the kid, accidentally stepping on his glasses, which then leads to him taking him back to the dorms.
They spend some time together, and Jeremy is quite obviously attracted to the other guy, but nothing really happens then though Max does appoint himself the kid's fairy godfather.
Not only will this include getting him new glasses and some new wardrobe (including but not limited to actual warm things to wear since he isn't used to winters in Toronto, but also nicer new things to cater to Jeremy's own fashion choices), but he decides to help Jeremy get more acclimated on campus, and find some guy to date and have sex with.
See, Max is very openly gay and his family has no issue with it whatsoever, whereas Jeremy's family is a whole lot of buttoned up, and apparently have some sort of problem, because they're headed to Hawaii with his younger brother over Christmas, but they're leaving him on campus.
Jeremy's explanation is that there isn't enough money, as they're spending a lot on him just being there, but I don't buy it, and neither does Max - Hawaii, and trips to Hawaii, are HELLA expensive from what I've heard.
But anyway.
Max takes Jeremy shopping and out on the town, not that it's as successful as they might have liked because Jeremy freezes up. He explains later that he literally can't speak to strangers and clams up when push comes to shove. He just can't do it.
So Max becomes his first kiss, in the snow in the middle of the night.
Max himself is fighting the building attraction towards Jeremy, despite the fact that his best friend points out (after meeting Jeremy, who tags along to a poker game and gets along really well with the rest of the team) that both of them are adults, Max is only twenty-two, and why is he being such a headcase about it again?
Anyway, things go further from there as Jeremy confesses he trusts Max - no, nothing happened to him at home, he's just skittish and needs to trust the person he's going to have sex with before he does it, which is honestly a pretty reasonable thing.
So Max decides, what the hell, let's do this, and they initially have phone sex before moving on to some of the real deal. Max would like for them to be alone and somewhere Jeremy doesn't have to hold back for their first time (and Jeremy's first, at that).
He also invites Jeremy along to spend Christmas with his family on a maple syrup farm which they own, so Jeremy meets both Max's sister, the parents, and surviving grandfather, who all make him feel very welcome and are secretly appalled at how ... civilized and cool relationships are in Jeremy's own family.
Max also kind of puts the brakes on the two of them, stating that his parents are a bit old fashioned and don't allow SOs to sleep in the same room as the two kids, so they should take a break. He also encourages Jeremy to test out an online app, which leads to a date that colours Max so green he might give the Grinch a run for his money.
Of course, the other guy clues in, so he helps Jeremy in the whole 'make Max MORE jealous scheme' and that eventually leads to Max admitting that, no, he doesn't want Jeremy to date anyone else.
HE wants him.
They spend their first time together in a cabin in the woods that Max's family owns before returning in for Christmas to deal with all the real life stuff (like, Jeremy telling his parents he's not going through a phase which seems to be what they're thinking - and his mom is a piece of work, let me tell you, shrieking at him over the phone about where he is after seeing the beautiful pictures he's been sending them in a VERY possessive way - and Max accepting that lawyer school isn't what he wants, despite it being a promise he'd made on his mother's grave after she passed, but that he'd rather be a teacher).
Touched that there's a stocking for Jeremy included over the fireplace, Max tells the adults about him and Jeremy, making the parents laugh, and the conversation turns to the whole, no sleeping in the same room rule ... which turns out not to be a rule at all, and it's probably my favourite thing.
See, at one point, they didn't like a boyfriend Max's sister brought home, so they forbade them from sleeping in the same room, and the kids took it as a general rule then.
So after THAT hysterical laugh, we flash-forward to another Christmas they're spending with Max's family, as Jeremy's is off travelling without him again, and we get to see what they've been up to. Max had deferred, and got into teacher's school while bartending in the meantime, and the guy Jeremy tried dating has become a good friend. Plus, Christmas just looks a heck of a lot better with white snow all around!
And the cherry from the title?
Jeremy's nickname, coined by his brother.
Cute, right?
While I've found that I don't really reach for student-themed books anymore now that I'm a bit older, I enjoyed Jeremy and Max's story so much. It was adorable how protective and genuine Max was towards Jeremy from the get-go, and it was quite believable that Jeremy would be so nervous his first year at university.
We've all been there, done that, probably have the T-shirts somewhere.
I liked the realism in how other characters reacted, too, like Honey who basically told Max he was being ridiculous for not pursuing something with Jeremy, and I enjoyed how both the main characters were there to support one another, Max through Jeremy's insecurities, and Jeremy through Max's own doubts.
My personal favourite has to be the house rule of not sleeping in the same room as your SO however, because LOL the parents and their reaction is A+++. You NEED to read the book just to see that!
Special shout-out to a Nick and Hunter cameo, because we always love seeing what Santa and his Elf are up to (they're from Santa Daddy).
10/10 would recommend!
We've all been there, done that, probably have the T-shirts somewhere.
I liked the realism in how other characters reacted, too, like Honey who basically told Max he was being ridiculous for not pursuing something with Jeremy, and I enjoyed how both the main characters were there to support one another, Max through Jeremy's insecurities, and Jeremy through Max's own doubts.
My personal favourite has to be the house rule of not sleeping in the same room as your SO however, because LOL the parents and their reaction is A+++. You NEED to read the book just to see that!
Special shout-out to a Nick and Hunter cameo, because we always love seeing what Santa and his Elf are up to (they're from Santa Daddy).
10/10 would recommend!
Happy New Year, everyone.
xx
*image not mine
No comments:
Post a Comment