Merrill leans a little heavily into sentimentality with the cute children and puppies, forgivable in a holiday piece, and her history of writing musicians with good hearts and complicated histories. Nevertheless, she builds an impressive amount of real connection between the two men in the short space of a novella, while minimizing the on-page trauma and highlighting the joys of found family. Luther and Doug’s very different experiences of life after the military creates both commonality and tension in the relationship.
Luther and Doug’s machinations to make time in the limited hours while Mila is at summer camp will be relatable to readers familiar with single-parent scheduling, while the mini-festivals run by Doug’s housemates on their farm evoke a warm, old-school lesbian aesthetic, which is a bit of a surprise in an M/M story, but which emphasizes the queer community themes. Sex scenes are realistic about disability and body fears while remaining overall positive and hot, and there’s only love in her presentation of the erotic appeal of Doug’s goth styling and hard-rocking music, even if the actual encounters are tender, vanilla, and gear-free. In the end, readers will believe that all of the characters, not just the couple, have done the emotional work to earn their happy ending, and although the climax isn’t all that Christmasy, it’s certainly satisfying.
Takeaway: Warm goth holiday M/M romance, with found-family themes.
Comparable Titles: Sara Raasch’s The Nightmare Before Kissmas, Annabeth Albert’s The Geek Who Saved Christmas.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: B+