Hello everyone!
And it probably is!
I mean, thus far, we've been surprised and excited by a Christmas-themed book every year for several consecutive years in a row when it comes to Keira Andrews.
Is it any surprise whatsoever that there would be ANOTHER one this year?
AND the promise of what's hopefully going to be a new one in 2023, too!
But I'm starting to just meander without purpose.
Keira Andrews was probably the first gay romance author I ever stumbled upon when I was trying to find books that I'd thoroughly enjoy in that particular genre.
I've since read quite a few, potentially all of them from her, but I'd have to double check.
The Christmas Leap is a sequel to another one of her works, and I'll be telling you all about it down below.
Links to previous related posts, Christmas and Ms Andrews', I mean, can be found at the bottom of the page.
Onwards!
The Christmas Leap continues in the same universe as The Christmas Deal, and we meet Michael, who's preparing for the holidays with his boyfriend, Jared, but things go sideways when he overhears that the other man should have honestly broken things off with him months ago.
He flees into the coming night, gets stranded in the middle of nowhere, and calls the one person he knows will probably answer his call and come help even though he'd ghosted him for two years: his best friend, Will.
Now, the reason Michael ghosted Will is because he's been in love with the man for ages, but Will is purportedly straight so, the distance that was artificially created between them was meant to help Michael get over him.
Newsflash: didn't happen.
Especially not as Will does in fact come to save the day, takes Michael with him to the weekend glamping resort he's attending with his co-workers and boss, and the pair of them end up masquerading as boyfriends in front of most of the lot, to enhance Will's chances of a promotion, but also just because people always assume things, anyway.
It's here we get the first inklings that Will might be more than he lets on, but it's only for the weekend, right?
Ha ha, wrong, because Angela - the CEO - drops a two-week all-expenses quasi-business trip to Australia on Will at the last minute, inviting him to take Michael along as well.
So after picking up Michael's things from the townhouse he used to live in with Jared, the men do in fact take off for Australia for the holidays (until after New Year's, actually), and spend a lot of time with Angela and her family, especially her two daughters.
Among these time-spending activities is also getting caught in a flash rip on the beach as it's called, and being saved by a pair of lifeguards we've met before in an earlier Keira Andrews work, also called Flash Rip.
In any event, the important thing here is that Will can't keep pretending when all he wants is to just DO things with Michael, so the couple become more and more intertwined. Until the point where Michael's parents get all up in his head, and the conversation finally happens where Michael confesses his love, and Will recognizes he's been in love with the other man for a while now, too.
They ring in the New Year down under, and the epilogue wraps a few years later where they've bought a condo together, Michael secretly invited Will's parents over from Scotland, and the kid from The Christmas Deal is apparently hiding a secret from his two dads.
All in all, however, the leap of faith on both the guys' parts DEFINITELY pays off, as they look ahead to their happily ever after.
The end!
It pains me to say this because most of the time I LOVE Ms Andrews' books. I loved the first one in the series, and her holiday ones are usually extra special.
This one though was ... I don't want to say it felt like checking off boxes, but it did. And I know I may get blasted for this but the amount of times sexuality and types of sexuality is brought up is just over-the-top. Don't get me wrong: discussion is important. But here it genuinely just feels like words being tossed around for the sake of saying it's mentioned rather than for a specific purpose.
This one though was ... I don't want to say it felt like checking off boxes, but it did. And I know I may get blasted for this but the amount of times sexuality and types of sexuality is brought up is just over-the-top. Don't get me wrong: discussion is important. But here it genuinely just feels like words being tossed around for the sake of saying it's mentioned rather than for a specific purpose.
In reality, people just don't talk like that from my experience. It's nobody else's business what "label" you attach to yourself, and it felt like these guys were shouting it all over the place, which came across as unnatural to me.
Which might be the other reason this one feels flat-er than usual. Will and Michael are quite bland, we don't really know anything about them beyond generic information, and everything focuses on how many times one can have bi-sexual, gay, demisexual and any other-sexual typed up on screen.
The love story COULD have been believable, but a lot of it was scratching at the surface with no depth. We don't know if Michael has a better relationship with his family now. He conforms so much his identity isn't really there even at the end. Will's questions and introspection and revelation does work but feels like it's a forced footnote among all the labels.
I know I'm being annoying with the labels. But I swear I got it the first time. I didn't need twenty more repetitions, especially in such an accepting environment! It really just feels like cheapening what Will was going through for the sake of more words.
I enjoyed the cameos, learning more about the boss Angela, and am actually looking forward to Connor's story next year. But this one was more a miss than anything else sadly.
Like another reviewer says: Michael is insecure and Will is Scottish, but that's all we really know from start to finish. They also both come across as in their twenties rather than thirties, at the end of the day, which I don't think was the plan.
And it's not the strongest recommendation ever.
The love story COULD have been believable, but a lot of it was scratching at the surface with no depth. We don't know if Michael has a better relationship with his family now. He conforms so much his identity isn't really there even at the end. Will's questions and introspection and revelation does work but feels like it's a forced footnote among all the labels.
I know I'm being annoying with the labels. But I swear I got it the first time. I didn't need twenty more repetitions, especially in such an accepting environment! It really just feels like cheapening what Will was going through for the sake of more words.
I enjoyed the cameos, learning more about the boss Angela, and am actually looking forward to Connor's story next year. But this one was more a miss than anything else sadly.
Like another reviewer says: Michael is insecure and Will is Scottish, but that's all we really know from start to finish. They also both come across as in their twenties rather than thirties, at the end of the day, which I don't think was the plan.
And it's not the strongest recommendation ever.
xx
*image not mine
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