My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Toby returns to his hometown of Winterbury for Christmas for the first time in nearly a decade, weighed down by guilt and determined to avoid the town’s infamous mistletoe tradition — the same one that once turned his best friend Archer into his sworn enemy. He plans to keep his head down, help out at his family’s animal clinic, and steer clear of both mistletoe and Archer’s Christmas tree farm. But Winterbury has other plans. Archer storms back into Toby’s life — boots, flannel, scowl and all — and the old sparks between them flare instantly. Forced proximity, meddling families, small‑town holiday chaos, and a very charming dog slowly chip away at Toby’s resolve. What begins as long‑standing friction starts to feel suspiciously like chemistry. As the season unfolds, Toby discovers that maybe the mistletoe legend wasn’t a curse after all… and that his frenemy might just be the person he’s been avoiding — and wanting — all along.
I loved this story where their friction is really unresolved affection, miscommunication, and the sting of a friendship that fell apart. I also enjoyed that the story made the suggestion that traditions can carry trauma — but they can also offer a path to healing when revisited with new understanding. This was a story full of emotions and feelings as they worked through everything between themselves to conclude that love sometimes hides behind the loudest emotions — anger, frustration, longing — until the truth finally breaks through. Easy to read and understand. This was an MM story with mature content.
Buy from Amazon
No comments:
Post a Comment