Hello everyone!
Ah well, there's bound to be some, when you read as many holiday-themed books as I do!
I'm not too fussed about it, but I'm minorly disappointed, because I tend to enjoy books by this particular author for the most part.
It just feels like something's missing in this one.
Interestingly, I've also noticed that I'm missing the very first in this little grouping of hers, so I may go back and read it again to put it on here, finally, and have the full collection that way.
That sounds like fun, doesn't it? Especially since I DO have book numero due while I'm at it.
My logic is impeccable, obviously.
Without further ado, however, let's dive right into The Christmas Veto, by Keira Andrews.
Links to previous related works can be found at the bottom of the page, as usual.
Now for any of you that don't know, or don't visit the blog often enough, Keira Andrews is my first ever gay romance author, whom I discovered on a complete whim, and I can't even properly remember how anymore, only that I did.
And I love about three quarters of her books, though I'll admit that some of her characters, purportedly in their twenties, do sound as if they're teenagers rather than adults.
No matter, for the MOST part, the books and characters both are enjoyable, but that's not to say the same about Veto tonight.
Veto is Connor's story, who we first meet as an angry and sullen teen back in The Christmas Deal (a book I really need to put on this blog, too, as said before), but now he's supposedly all grown up at the wise age of twenty-three, and still managing to sound like he's thirteen somehow.
He's in medical school in New York, and attends a Thanksgiving party his best friend's grandmother's throwing, where he gets roped into an unexpected agreement: pretend to be said best friend's older brother's boyfriend for the holidays, so that his aforementioned grandmother can back off and actually believe he's bisexual rather than the straight boy she wants.
Now, Reid is a cutie and under a lot of pressure, and I don't know if it's because he's closer to thirty that I like him better or not, but of the two characters he's definitely my favourite.
Anyway, the two enter into this fake relationship, and the only thing Connor asks out of it is 10 000 dollars, to be used at his discretion, and no, it's nothing illegal nor is he extorting Reid either. He genuinely needs the money, and I'll explain why in two seconds.
This fake thing turns into friendship first, Reid coming up with a list of quintessential New York stuff to try and do, and the pair of them hanging out a lot together, including fake kissing for the grandmother who's an annoying bat.
Of course, as these stories go, it turns into the actual, real deal right around Christmas time, at which point Reid can gently guide Connor through all the mishaps and other clumsy-ish moments of being a virgin.
The two have to separate for the actual holiday, however, as Connor heads back home to his dads (who make a surprise appearance in the city, at which point Connor in fact spits out that he's gay, something he's been struggling with all book long) and Reid is supposed to attend his family's Christmas morning charity breakfast.
That is, until he ropes his brother into pulling his weight in the family company (hotel chain, natch), while he takes off to spend Christmas with Connor instead.
Also to note, Reid isn't happy at said company or the idea of taking it over, when all he wants is to actually help people build affordable housing, and the proposal is never going to meet approval because the company is so entrenched in their own views. This is counter-acted by a side-character from these stories, Angela Barker, who totally takes the proposal and runs with it, giving Reid the courage to actually take it to his grandmother before he leaves for Christmas.
Once at Connor's place, the obligatory "this isn't fake anymore" conversation happens, and Connor also explains why he needed the money for: his biological dad called at one point, asking where he lived, so he gave him the address, thinking good thoughts, but the douchebag actually used the information to take out credit cards in his name, and Connor was thus in debt.
As the book draws to a close with a five-years-later epilogue, at which point Connor is a doctor and Reid is CEO of the company he wanted, under the larger family corporation umbrella, we learn that the debt was all sorted out and the money returned, and that our two heroes live happily ever after in New York together, with a bunch of traditions they'd built during their fake dating thing still going strong.
The End.
I get the distinct feeling that I've outgrown Ms Andrews' books at this point.
It has nothing to really do with her style of writing or stories, as both are quite enjoyable, but with the fact that I can't really identify well with twenty-somethings anymore - or the fact is that the twenty-somethings in my country are WAAAAY more mature than any twenty-something that this particular author has ever written about. I don't know.
Either way, I wasn't keen on this one, unfortunately.
Reid was a good character, and it would have been interesting to see his battle of wills against his grandmother if we had been given more with them, but for a lot of the book we spend time with Connor who agonizes over things that I felt shouldn't have been agonized over so much?
Here's the thing, before anyone comes at me: I respect the fact that he had reasons for not wanting to come out. Everyone has their reasons, and I, as a thirty-something, Caucasian female, can't REALLY identify with any of them, considering he's a young gay man and character of the story. However, precisely BECAUSE he's a character in a story, I feel like it's reasonably safe to feel that his reasoning is quite weak.
In fact, it doesn't really show much character growth, to be honest, considering that he's been with Seth and Logan for almost ten years at this point, but again, I don't think I'm fully qualified to really give much of an assessment other than, the reasons have worked before, in other books, but in this one they felt flat to me.
Overall, this is a fluffy Christmas romance that I'd had high hopes for, having really enjoyed Seth and Logan's book - and catching up with them was a blast, actually. But it's missing something I can't quite put my finger on, and unfortunately that's what drops it down in star rating.
Pity, really, as like I said, I usually enjoy Ms Andrews' books enough to at least warrant three stars.
It has nothing to really do with her style of writing or stories, as both are quite enjoyable, but with the fact that I can't really identify well with twenty-somethings anymore - or the fact is that the twenty-somethings in my country are WAAAAY more mature than any twenty-something that this particular author has ever written about. I don't know.
Either way, I wasn't keen on this one, unfortunately.
Reid was a good character, and it would have been interesting to see his battle of wills against his grandmother if we had been given more with them, but for a lot of the book we spend time with Connor who agonizes over things that I felt shouldn't have been agonized over so much?
Here's the thing, before anyone comes at me: I respect the fact that he had reasons for not wanting to come out. Everyone has their reasons, and I, as a thirty-something, Caucasian female, can't REALLY identify with any of them, considering he's a young gay man and character of the story. However, precisely BECAUSE he's a character in a story, I feel like it's reasonably safe to feel that his reasoning is quite weak.
In fact, it doesn't really show much character growth, to be honest, considering that he's been with Seth and Logan for almost ten years at this point, but again, I don't think I'm fully qualified to really give much of an assessment other than, the reasons have worked before, in other books, but in this one they felt flat to me.
Overall, this is a fluffy Christmas romance that I'd had high hopes for, having really enjoyed Seth and Logan's book - and catching up with them was a blast, actually. But it's missing something I can't quite put my finger on, and unfortunately that's what drops it down in star rating.
Pity, really, as like I said, I usually enjoy Ms Andrews' books enough to at least warrant three stars.
xx
*image not mine
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