Books

Mr. Right Now by Annabeth Albert

Big, brawny, nice guy ex-marine Russ gets dumped the day before Thanksgiving. The problem – his now ex-boyfriend was going to prepare the holiday meal for his family.

Enter handsome nice guy former actor Esteban, who decides to do the charitable thing and give his clueless neighbor a hand. They prepare the meal together and when Russ’ family arrives early, a simple misunderstanding leads them to believe that Russ and Esteban are a happy couple.

The sting of getting dumped is still (understandably) fresh for Russ, so they play along. The meal goes incredibly well, and Esteban discovers that he really enjoys playing Russ’ pretend boyfriend. In fact, everyone there thinks they make the perfect couple.

Including Russ’ boss Connie. He wants a promotion, to become a designer in her kitchen remodeling firm. Esteban’s kitchen re-design will serve as a test of his abilities and whether he can handle a job with real world challenges.It also behooves Esteban to impress Connie who, as a local business owner, might be willing to donate to the Literacy non-profit he works for.

So fake relationship it is! Pretending to like each other doesn’t prove particularly difficult for our heroes.

Next, we enter the part of the book that is all about nice guys, being nice, doing nice things. I know ‘nice’ doesn’t sound particularly engaging or exciting, but trust me, these two are sooo damn cute together!

They make dinner together one evening (fish tacos), Russ helps make Esteban’s gala fundraiser a success, Esteban is the perfect supportive boyfriend at Russ’ holiday work party. It’s all cute and romantic and it completely satisfies my kink for nice guy/cinnamon roll heroes.

When Russ is finally ready to show Esteban some of his kitchen concept designs, they celebrate with a kiss… and mutual blow jobs. They definitely have chemistry together, in the bedroom and out. As they continue to spend more time together, they continually keep putting off the plan to ‘break-up’ their fake relationship.

After Xmas eve with their respective families, they spend their first night together, Esteban ‘unwrapping’ Russ, the only gift he really wants. It’s amazing and perfect and afterwards the pillow talk turns serious, Russ knows what he wants and is ready to say it. Esteban is the one who becomes gun shy. They’ve only known each other a few weeks, they can’t be in love! If he can’t acknowledge how he really feels, then Russ is secure enough to walk away.

This is a romance, so Esteban quickly comes to his senses so that they can live their HEA together. A wonderful epilogue showing our happy couple one year later on New Year’s Eve wraps the story up in a sweetly romantic bow.

Mr. Right Now by Annabeth Albert is a perfect holiday romance that executes it’s fake relationship trope flawlessly. It’s no secret that this is one of my all-time favorite tropes and the way the author naturally builds the emotional connection and romantic attraction between the heroes is swoon worthy.

Annabeth Albert has a way of creating characters who are nice, thoughtful, and lead with kindness. Heroes you can immediately empathize with and fall for.

This review originally appeared as part of the BigGayFictionPodcast.

Making the Naughty List by Daryl Banner

Nice guy Daniel is making his way home to spend time with his family over the holidays, a prospect he’s not looking forward to. When his car gets a flat tire, he is effectively stranded in the middle of nowhere because he has no idea how to change said flat.

A sinfully sexy biker named Cass comes to his rescue and, as he puts on Daniel’s spare, they chat about a lot of things including what would Daniel do if he had three Christmas wishes.

The tire now fixed, Daniel continues his journey. With hopes that things might go better this year, Daniel arrives and finds that his family is as loud and overbearing as ever, steaming rolling over anything he says or does, his thoughts and feelings irrelevant.

After a particularly awful family dinner, Cass magically appears on his family’s doorstep. The stranger is cocky, flirtatious, sexy as hell, and he’s going to make Daniel’s first wish come true, he’ll be the perfect hot holiday boyfriend.

Daniel is reticent at first, but after an amazing blow-job from Cass, he decides that the whole fake boyfriend thing might not be so bad after all. Cass is a hit with everyone, and Daniel’s Christmas is shaping up to be pretty spectacular, especially when they must share the tight quarters of Daniel’s childhood bedroom. Let’s just say that blow-jobs aren’t the only thing Cass knows how to do really well.

When asked who he really is, Cass admits to being a wintertime spirit sent from the North Pole to make all of Daniel’s holiday dreams come true. Daniel thinks Cass is being funny… he is joking right?

When the sun rises on the day of Christmas eve, the Texas landscape outside Daniel’s window is covered with freshly fallen snow. A white Christmas, Daniel’s second wish.

After a day in the snow, the Christmas magic seems to have affected everyone, the usual family squabbles at a blissful lull. Later that night, Daniel and Cass sneak out to go to a neighborhood playground that used to be decorated for the holidays. They arrive to find it bare, but in Cass’ presence, the playground is soon aglow with holiday magic. They go home and bake cookies for Santa before Daniel decides on his final wish – Cass, not just for a weekend, but for always.

When Daniel awakens on Christmas morning, Cass is gone, and Daniel’s family don’t remember any of the events of the past few days. It seems that holiday magic has a sell-by date, though the spirit of the season does allow Daniel to honestly mend fences with his family members.

On his drive home Daniel gets another flat tire or, since the events of the last couple of days have ceased to exist, he gets a flat tire for the first time. Stranded, Daniel is delighted to hear the familiar roar of a motorcycle engine.

It’s Cass. He’s gotten his final Christmas wish.

The man of his dreams has come to his rescue for the second (or first) time. They introduce themselves and Daniel suggests they leave his old beater on the side of the road and grab dinner together.

They roar off into the sunset together.

Now, I’ve given you an awful lot of detail about this story and you might think I’ve spoiled everything about the ending, but ah-ha, I haven’t!

There is an AMAZING epilog that shows our heroes several years in the future, detailing the love and life that they now share. I just have to say that it is pure romance crack. It’s sweet and sappy and made me sooo fucking happy that I know that when you read it, you’ll go “aww” just like I did.

If you can’t already tell, I really enjoyed Making the Naughty List. This is my first Daryl Banner book and it won’t be my last. I totally fell in love with the heroes and sympathized a lot with Daniel and his dilemma in dealing with his difficult family, who to the authors credit, weren’t cardboard villains, but real characters with complicated family dynamics. It made Daniel’s resolution with his sister, brother, and mom that much more powerful because they were fully fleshed out people.

With a sexy dash of magical realism, Making the Naughty List is a must read for fans of holiday romance. Yes, I know that sounds like a cheesy promo blurb, but I’ don’t care because it’s 100% true.

This review originally appeared on the Big Gay Fiction Podcast.

He’s Behind You! by Clare London

Frank, an actor of moderate success, has returned to his small Devon village only be cajoled by his mother to help out with this year’s Christmas panto. As the auditions later prove, there’s literally nothing more eccentric than the inhabitants of a charming English village. Frank is flabbergasted by the oddly eclectic range of ‘talent’ on display from the local townsfolk and he certainly wasn’t expecting to see dreamboat Duncan, the one that got away, or in this instance, the one Frank pushed away.

A year earlier, Frank landed a gig on a soap and Duncan got a job on an oil rig, so Frank ended things before they could even really begin. Faced with Duncan again, Frank can’t help but feel that old spark and wonder if he made the right decision.

Rehearsals for the Cinderella themed show force the two to spend more time together, leading them to talk through their past and the situations that lead them back home. At the final dress rehearsal, it looks like Frank just might get his Christmas wish, but Duncan makes it clear that he’s not interested in a no-strings fling. Unless Frank is willing to make a serious attempt at a relationship, Duncan won’t risk getting hurt again, watching him walk away like before.

On performance night, a pair of kitschy Christmas gloves bring the two of them together (not unlike Cinderella and her glass slipper) and they decide that they just can’t fight that feeling anymore.

Everyone in town loves the show and at the after-party Frank and Duncan celebrate with more than just a kiss under the mistletoe, they take a quick tumble in a supply closet. Frank’s mom is quite pleased that her matchmaking has created a satisfyingly happy holiday for all involved.

I’ve always enjoyed Clare London’s uniquely British take on romance, especially when it comes to quirky side characters who populate the story of two nice guys finding their way back to love. He’s Behind You! is relatively short, but still manages to pack a sweet, romantic holiday punch that I really loved.

This review originally appeared on the Big Gay Fiction Porcast.

The Harvest Moon by Joshua Ian

The Harvest Moon by Joshua Ian is a historical romance with an intriguing touch of magic. The beginning of this novella opens with our hero Malcolm, who has stopped to rest in a small village. That night, outside the tavern, he meets a handsome and intruging young man, a weaver named Daniel. They make polite small talk, the conversation eventually going deeper.

Malcolm is drawn to him, convinced that his new acquittance shares his same “interests”.  Daniel invites him to his cottage in the forest. It might be 1834, but Malcolm recognizes a booty-call when the opportunity presents itself.

They make their way through the woods which are alive with a special kind of magic, the bright harvest moon showing the way. At the cottage, Daniel is a perfect host, they chat, share a drink… and a bed.

Malcolm has never experienced anything like what he feels when he’s with Daniel. He wakes in the middle of the night, but the bed is empty. There’s a menacing knife on the table, and Daniel is on the floor in front of the fire, seemingly in pain. He tells Malcolm to leave before his grandfather returns home.

Daniel seems angry, but remorseful, in need of care, but coldly antagonistic. Malcolm wants to help, but eventually agrees to leave.

The next morning, at the inn, Malcolm hears several locals talking of the elderly weaver in the woods. He mentions that he knows Daniel but is warned away with long told tales of evil and witchcraft.

Malcolm is worried and decides, before continuing on his journey, to go see Daniel and offer any help he can. When he arrives at the cottage, he finds the old man, who tells him that Daniel isn’t there and won’t ever be coming back. Malcolm pressed him further and realizes that the old man is Daniel.

He tells Malcolm the sad tale of how he, long ago, met and fell in love with a man named Thomas, a weaver and practitioner of magic. They were inseparable until villagers, whipped into a witch-hunting frenzy, killed Thomas – cursing Daniel to a life of endlessly searching for his long-ago love.

The night before, Malcolm was to be sacrificed to the harvest moon for another year of Daniel’s life. But, sharing the same strong feelings as Malcolm, Daniel couldn’t go through with it. Malcolm kisses Daniel, their love finally freeing him from the curse.

Malcolm takes Daniel back home to his ancestral estate where they can love and live happily ever after.

I really enjoyed this story from a new to me author. While the narrative is firmly rooted in the historical aspects of the story, the magical elements give it an intriguing fairy tale vibe – not in a cutesy Disney way, more of a sinister and sexy Grimms fairy tale way.

Something else that I found interesting was the use of language, which is very rich and evocative, but not dense and confusing like the literature of the time in which the story is set. The dialog especially has a certain ring of authenticity. It comes across as period appropriate without being burdened with “thee’s” and “thou arts”.

If you’re looking for something a little bit different, but still very romantic and satisfying from a genre perspective, I’d definitely say give Joshua Ian’s The Harvest Moon a try.