Mini Reviews – Gay Christmas Stories 2016

21 December of 2016 by

Chance for Christmas: 5
Where the Lovelight Gleams: 4
Blue Christmas: 3
Our Secret Christmas: 4
4.0Overall score

All books were available on Kindle Unlimited at the time of this post.

Chance for Christmas by D. J. Jamison

Chance for Christmas By D. J. Jamison

Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM

Released: December 6, 2016

Publisher: Self-Published

Synopsis

Chance Rasmussen returns to Ashe, Kansas, eight years after his high school crush humiliated him with a sext that went viral. He’s low on holiday spirit with his personal ghost of Christmas past haunting him, but when his BFF asks him to attend a party as her fake date, he reluctantly agrees. The last person he expects to see there is Joe Stewart, the compassionate prosecutor he hero-worshipped during the lowest point of his life.

Joe Stewart is a great prosecutor, but when it comes to romance he’s out of his depth. He came close to love once, but the timing and circumstances were all wrong, so Joe ignored his feelings and threw himself into his work. But when two of his friends drag him to The Ashe Sentinel holiday party, placing him directly in the path of the man he let walk away, Joe realizes he’s been granted a second chance.

The spark of attraction is still there, but Chance isn’t planning to stay in Ashe past the holidays and the spectre of his past still looms large between them. Can they find a way to build a future together or will Joe only have Chance for Christmas?

Chance for Christmas is part of the Ashe Sentinel Connections series, but introduces the love story of two new characters and can be read as a standalone.

Review

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

A wonderful Christmas story!

This story was full of feeling and I loved reading about Chance and Joe. These two met under difficult circumstances 8 years ago when Chance was 18. Joe felt an attraction to Chance but it was totally in appropriate at the time and he pushed his feelings down deep. Now they’ve met again and he’s still attracted to the Chance that is all grown up.Chance doesn’t want to be back in Ashe. When he left 8 years ago he’d been humiliated and couldn’t bear the thought of everyone talking about him. When he gets a call that his father is ill he knows that he has to finally return.

I loved the chemistry between Chance and Joe. Both of them are fairly confident men – until it comes to personal connections. Joe wants Chance but is afraid to tell him because he doesn’t want Chance to stay in Ashe just for him.

While this book had lots of feels to it there were also some lighter moments.

All in all this was a wonderful Christmas novella with interesting and well developed characters.

♥♥♥♥♥

O Factor: Scorcher

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Where the Lovelight Gleams: Gay Christmas Romance by Keira Andrews

Where the Lovelight Gleams By Keira Andrews

Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM

Released: December 5, 2016

Publisher: KA Books

Synopsis

Actor Ryan Drake is pining. He may get to kiss gorgeous Cary Holloway on the set of their hit sci-fi TV show, but he knows it’ll never happen in real life. Charming Cary—the son of Hollywood royalty—has a starlet girlfriend, and despite their sizzling onscreen chemistry, he and Ryan are just friends. Right?

But Christmas is a time for unexpected gifts, and Cary accepts Ryan’s last-minute invite to leave the palm trees behind and spend the holiday with the Drakes at their cabin in the Great White North.

Amid the snow and mistletoe, Ryan struggles to keep his longing under wraps. Little does he know, Cary’s coming to terms with his bisexuality and deep attraction to his co-star. Will these actors have the courage to make their romance real—or will it be only in their dreams?

Review

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

A very enjoyable story.

This was a fairly predictable story but that’s not necessarily a bad thing; I enjoyed reading it a lot. It was just the right length for because I wanted something quick to read and not too deep. Cary and Ryan are actors on a TV show and their characters are getting together romantically. This presents a problem for Ryan, who is openly gay, because he’s in love with Cary but believes that Cary is straight.The chemistry between Cary and Ryan was pretty hot once they finally got together. It was a very nice short Christmas novella and I’m glad I read it.

♥♥♥♥

O Factor: Scorcher

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Blue Christmas by Avery Ford

Blue Christmas By Avery Ford

Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM

Released: November 29, 2016

Publisher: Self-Published

Synopsis

“I feel like I’m destined to be alone…so I may as well isolate myself…”

Xander Hart has always dreamed of living on the beach – and thanks to a bequest from his grandfather, a home on a private island in desperate need of repair, and some hard-earned construction skills, he’s planning to spend Christmas alone on his new property, preparing it to host his family after the New Year. The last thing he needs is the distraction of a lover.

“My past has always haunted me…how will it shape my future?”

Frederick ‘Bing’ Thurgood has it all – a stake in the family fortune, a beautiful fiancée, and a loving family all gathered in town for his upcoming Christmas wedding. So what if he has a feeling in his gut that something’s not quite right? On the surface, it’s all perfect. Then Bing walks in on his fiancée with his best friend, and his perfect future comes crumbling down.

Both are running away, but can they stop to see that what’s perfect, is in front of them?

When Bing flees the disaster his life has become, he takes shelter in his family’s secluded beach house, intending to drink the holidays away. That is, until he comes face to face with the only other man on the island – his new neighbor.

Review

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

Not bad.

This is the first book I’ve read by Avery Ford and I liked it but I didn’t love it. The writing didn’t flow all that well for me but the story was a good one so I was able to continue on and finish reading it. After a lot of build up it ended a little quickly but I was glad that it had an HEA. I’d be willing to read more from this author.

♥♥♥

O Factor: Scorcher

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Our Secret Christmas by H. J. Perry

Our Secret Christmas By H. J. Perry

Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM

Released: November 30, 2016

Publisher: Self-Published

Synopsis

A feel-good, heartwarming, sexy story unlike any other story that you’ve read with Christmas in the title. Christmas is a really big deal in Britain. The parties and preparations begin in November, at the latest.

In the construction industry, Christmas means two weeks off work for Connor and Lee. Yes, two weeks.

They’ve only been dating since September. In secret.

They just want to spend the holiday time together, like any other gay guys in love. Alone and mostly naked.

And we all know the true meaning of Christmas is explaining and justifying to friends and family how you are spending the holiday and who with.

This is another Sky High Scaffolders story, written mostly in British but with American spelling.
An M/M story of 44,000 words. A long novella, not quite long enough to be a novel when size matters.

Our Secret Christmas is a companion to Our Secret Wedding.

Review

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

It was a real treat to read more about Connor and Lee!

I loved Our Secret Wedding, the book that introduced Connor and Lee, and Our Secret Christmas is a great companion story. I think you really need to read Our Secret Wedding to fully enjoy this story. Our Secret Christmas follows the same time-line and seems to contain scenes that weren’t included in the original story, perhaps due to length and publishing restrictions.I loved reading more about these two guys. Connor is so afraid he’s going to do something to “out” Lee at work but he has trouble controlling himself when he’s around him. This book is a great sort of “behind the scenes” for what happened in Our Secret Wedding and I was so happy to learn more details about the relationship between these two men.

♥♥♥♥

O Factor: Scorcher

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