His Holiday Crush
Grade : C+

His Holiday Crush is a cute and very readable Christmassy romance about a workaholic lawyer who reluctantly returns to the hometown he’d intended never to go back to one Christmas, and finds love where he least expected it.  It’s well written and the characters are likeable; it was a pleasant enough way to pass a few hours, but it’s nothing I haven’t read before.

Lawyer Max Robertson has had little time in his life for anything other than work for years, and is on the verge of closing the deal that will make his career.  For the first time in years he’s agreed to go back to Edgewood – just for for Christmas; normally his best friend Hal and his family visit Max in New York, but Hal’s wife walked out on him and their two young daughters a few months back, and as this will the girls’ first Christmas without their mom, Max agreed to visit them instead.   But as Christmas approaches, he starts to wish he hadn’t said he’d go, and he tries to wriggle out of it; he can't and in the end, he decides he’ll go but will stay for only one night, telling himself it’s because he has to get back to the city in order to finish the fine-tuning on the deal.

Fate has other ideas however, as a snow storm hits as he’s on the road on the outskirts of town, and when he swerves to avoid a deer in the road, he spins out of control and ends up in a ditch.  He’s not badly hurt and manages to call 911; not long afterwards a local police officer arrives to help him; Max fails to recognise the officer as Hal’s younger brother Dominic, who returned home six months earlier after his stint in the army.

Dominic had a big crush on Max when they were younger, and seeing him again - gorgeous and sexy AF – that crush comes roaring back to life.  Dominic is a bit dismayed that Max doesn’t recognise him straight away, although he supposes it’s not surprising since they’ve not see each other for years – and is even more surprised when Max appears to be… flirting with him?  When Hal arrives and introduces the hot cop who rescued Max as his little brother, Max is stunned.  Pleasantly. Who knew the kid who used to trail around after him and Hal would grow up to be so hot?

With Max’s car out of commission until repairs can be made, he’s going to have to stay in Edgewood over Christmas, which naturally gives him a chance to reconnect with Dominic as well as with Hal and the girls – and causes him to start reassessing his choices.

Although, as I’ve said, this is a story I’ve read lots of times before, it’s nicely done and well written, the leads have great chemistry and there are some engaging secondary characters, notably Hal and his two daughters, who read like actual children rather than plot-moppets.  I appreciated the absence of the ‘don’t mess with my younger sibling’ message that so often crops up with this trope; Hal is fully supportive of Max and Dominic getting together, particularly as he knows Dominic hasn’t had it easy since returning home (he has PTSD, for which he’s receiving treatment) and thinks he deserves to have something good in his life. Hal’s soon-to-be ex-wife is all but demonised for most of the book though, which I found a little uncomfortable.  All we know about her is that she just up and left and abandoned her kids, and it’s not until much later that we get a chance to see that maybe there’s more to it.  I understand that it would have been difficult to explore that further given the story is told from Max and Dominic’s points of view and not Hal’s, but things there could have been a little more nuanced.

For all its predictability, this is an easy and engaging read. The romance is a bit insta-love-y, but I liked that Max and Dominic allow themselves to be vulnerable around each other, and the care Max shows Dominic in bed (teaching him there’s more to sex than a quick pump and dump!).  On the downside, I didn’t really buy the reasons behind Max’s dislike of his home town, and Dominic’s reaction to the conflict near the end is really over the top.

That said, if you’re looking for a low-angst, Hallmark-esque, small-town romance that makes good use of its tropes, and has enough heat to keep you warm on a cold winter’s afternoon, His Holiday Crush might just fit the bill.

Buy it at: Amazon 

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Reviewed by Caz Owens
Grade : C+

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : December 26, 2020

Publication Date: 12/2020

Recent Comments …

Caz Owens

I’m a musician, teacher and mother of two gorgeous young women who are without doubt, my finest achievement :)I’ve gravitated away from my first love – historical romance – over the last few years and now read mostly m/m romances in a variety of sub-genres. I’ve found many fantastic new authors to enjoy courtesy of audiobooks - I probably listen to as many books as I read these days – mostly through glomming favourite narrators and following them into different genres.And when I find books I LOVE, I want to shout about them from the (metaphorical) rooftops to help other readers and listeners to discover them, too.
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