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wendylynnm's review against another edition
5.0
He's done it again, everything Jay writes I fall in love with. I adored Rudy and Zac. Each man needed so much more than what they had in their lives but both were scared to go for what they wanted. Rudy had the perfect life growing up and now wants someone to love him for who he is, a gay man who does not have the perfect body but who does have the biggest heart to give all his love. Then you have Zac, who had the worst life growing up but has a fantastic body but thinks he will never find love because he can't open himself up enough to trust. Spending the Christmas holiday alone is not what Zac wants so when Rudy asks him to join him and his family Zac jumps at the chance.
Misunderstanding and a few family members jumping to conclusions puts these two closer together than they expected to be for the holidays. I loved this Christmas story about one shy, dorkable man and one much-needing love man come together to form a great couple.
Misunderstanding and a few family members jumping to conclusions puts these two closer together than they expected to be for the holidays. I loved this Christmas story about one shy, dorkable man and one much-needing love man come together to form a great couple.
suze_1624's review against another edition
3.0
3.5* feel good, heart warming holiday read.
Zac has history and we only find out the full details at the end - by then most can be guessed and it is suitably heart wrenching christmas fodder.
Rudy has the great family and Christmas with them comes over as a lovely thing. His crushing shyness gradually evaporates around Zac as family and circumstance give him confidence.
Zac has history and we only find out the full details at the end - by then most can be guessed and it is suitably heart wrenching christmas fodder.
Rudy has the great family and Christmas with them comes over as a lovely thing. His crushing shyness gradually evaporates around Zac as family and circumstance give him confidence.
tiggers_hate_acorns's review against another edition
4.0
A lovely Xmas tale that wasn't syrupy or over the top angst. Just two people with different backgrounds but the same insecurities slowly building a relationship. Zac doesn't trust in forever or commitment and Rudy has never had a boyfriend so together they learn in the comfort of Rudy's family over Xmas.
4 stars
4 stars
jameswho86's review against another edition
3.0
Good but not great
A Family for Christmas by Jay Northcote, published in 2016 by Jaybird Press.
I tend to shy away from holiday themed fiction. Why? Because everything written surrounding holidays, such as Christmas for example, tend to be very formulaic. Some moving thing happens to some character because of the holiday, and love blooms from there. I guess this could be said for any setting of romance fiction, but it just seems painfully obvious when it is set during a holiday. But A Family for Christmas was on my Kindle Unlimited suggestions, and the synopsis (from Goodreads.com below) seemed interesting:
Shy, inexperienced Rudy has a crush on Zac from the moment his new colleague walks through the door. On an office night out before Christmas, Rudy finds the courage to make a move, and they form a tentative bond. When he discovers Zac will be alone at Christmas, he invites Zac to come home with him.
Zac prefers to keep people at arm’s length. Yet when Rudy offers him a family Christmas it’s impossible to resist. With no parents of his own, Zac is pleasantly surprised to be welcomed by Rudy’s. The only drawback is that everyone assumes they’re a couple. Unwilling to disappoint Rudy’s mum and make Christmas awkward, they decide not to deny it.
It’s not a chore for Zac to pose as Rudy’s boyfriend, but the pretense makes him want things that scare him—things like a real relationship with Rudy. Zac’s suffered enough rejection in his life already and is afraid to risk his heart. If he can get over his past rejection and let Rudy inside his armor, he might get more for Christmas than he ever imagined.
Characters
Rudy and Zac are obviously the main characters, and Rudy is the most fleshed out of the pair. We see Rudy’s family, his interactions with them, and more of his inner monologue than we do of Zac. And that’s where part of my issue with this book resides. Zac is much more complicated than Rudy in personality, yet we get almost no exposition on why he is that way. We do get details about why he is a loner and why he shuts himself off from growing close to anyone, but we don’t get much in the way of character development within that. And for a story where one character changes the other’s life, you want to know more about what that other’s life was really like.
Aside from Rudy and Zac, there are side characters at the office and with Rudy’s family. The author seems to want to flesh out these side characters more, because he gives us random details about these characters, yet doesn’t take the time to make them fully formed characters. Yes, this is a gay romance novel. Yes, that means that the focus should really be on the two main characters. But, if you’re going to make Rudy’s family play such a big role in shaping Zac, then we need more than just random tidbits here and there about these characters.
Story
Overall, I liked the story. I felt it flowed naturally most the time, and I believed that these characters did grow to care about each other very quickly. That’s hard to do with me as I sometimes will stop reading books all together if it seems like everything is too forced. Zac and Rudy’s chemistry was radiating off my Kindle screen, and I enjoyed it very much. But as I mentioned in the Characters section, some more backstory on Zac would have contributed to me liking the story more than I did, and while Rudy only seriously interacts with his mother out of his whole family, I would have liked to see him have private conversations with other family members to get a sense of where he came from as well. His family is “good,” but we don’t really get a sense of why except that they love each other and are kind to one another besides the usual family putdowns and jokes (at least usual in my family).
Favorite Part
My favorite part of the story was when Rudy’s insecurities were touched on. I could completely relate to them, and that helped me connect with the story more. It helped balance out the lack of backstory we received about Zac, and made me like the characters more than I would have without some flaws being shown in Rudy.
Least Favorite Part
Obviously Zac’s lack of backstory should rank at the top of this list, but rather it’s the lack of development for Rudy’s family that does. We are introduced to his parents, aunt, grandfather, and siblings, along with his sister’s boyfriend. Yet we get almost no details about they like to play games with each other, and that they all care about each other. Rudy’s aunt is written in a way where you could tell the author wanted to do something more with the character, but couldn’t find a way. So instead we get bits and pieces of this character that feels larger than life, but has no life in her.
Overall
I gave this book a three star rating on Goodreads. I didn’t hate it by any means, but I didn’t love it either. If I had to pay for this book, I wouldn’t have rated it that high. Character development is big for me, and the lack of it knocked off one star immediately. The other star was more for the fact that the story seemed to drag on a bit, and while some of it was necessary for the relationship of Zac and Rudy to be believable, a lot of it felt like it could be devoted to character development instead of playing hide and seek with the family. I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good holiday read and a nice romance.
A Family for Christmas by Jay Northcote, published in 2016 by Jaybird Press.
I tend to shy away from holiday themed fiction. Why? Because everything written surrounding holidays, such as Christmas for example, tend to be very formulaic. Some moving thing happens to some character because of the holiday, and love blooms from there. I guess this could be said for any setting of romance fiction, but it just seems painfully obvious when it is set during a holiday. But A Family for Christmas was on my Kindle Unlimited suggestions, and the synopsis (from Goodreads.com below) seemed interesting:
Shy, inexperienced Rudy has a crush on Zac from the moment his new colleague walks through the door. On an office night out before Christmas, Rudy finds the courage to make a move, and they form a tentative bond. When he discovers Zac will be alone at Christmas, he invites Zac to come home with him.
Zac prefers to keep people at arm’s length. Yet when Rudy offers him a family Christmas it’s impossible to resist. With no parents of his own, Zac is pleasantly surprised to be welcomed by Rudy’s. The only drawback is that everyone assumes they’re a couple. Unwilling to disappoint Rudy’s mum and make Christmas awkward, they decide not to deny it.
It’s not a chore for Zac to pose as Rudy’s boyfriend, but the pretense makes him want things that scare him—things like a real relationship with Rudy. Zac’s suffered enough rejection in his life already and is afraid to risk his heart. If he can get over his past rejection and let Rudy inside his armor, he might get more for Christmas than he ever imagined.
Characters
Rudy and Zac are obviously the main characters, and Rudy is the most fleshed out of the pair. We see Rudy’s family, his interactions with them, and more of his inner monologue than we do of Zac. And that’s where part of my issue with this book resides. Zac is much more complicated than Rudy in personality, yet we get almost no exposition on why he is that way. We do get details about why he is a loner and why he shuts himself off from growing close to anyone, but we don’t get much in the way of character development within that. And for a story where one character changes the other’s life, you want to know more about what that other’s life was really like.
Aside from Rudy and Zac, there are side characters at the office and with Rudy’s family. The author seems to want to flesh out these side characters more, because he gives us random details about these characters, yet doesn’t take the time to make them fully formed characters. Yes, this is a gay romance novel. Yes, that means that the focus should really be on the two main characters. But, if you’re going to make Rudy’s family play such a big role in shaping Zac, then we need more than just random tidbits here and there about these characters.
Story
Overall, I liked the story. I felt it flowed naturally most the time, and I believed that these characters did grow to care about each other very quickly. That’s hard to do with me as I sometimes will stop reading books all together if it seems like everything is too forced. Zac and Rudy’s chemistry was radiating off my Kindle screen, and I enjoyed it very much. But as I mentioned in the Characters section, some more backstory on Zac would have contributed to me liking the story more than I did, and while Rudy only seriously interacts with his mother out of his whole family, I would have liked to see him have private conversations with other family members to get a sense of where he came from as well. His family is “good,” but we don’t really get a sense of why except that they love each other and are kind to one another besides the usual family putdowns and jokes (at least usual in my family).
Favorite Part
My favorite part of the story was when Rudy’s insecurities were touched on. I could completely relate to them, and that helped me connect with the story more. It helped balance out the lack of backstory we received about Zac, and made me like the characters more than I would have without some flaws being shown in Rudy.
Least Favorite Part
Obviously Zac’s lack of backstory should rank at the top of this list, but rather it’s the lack of development for Rudy’s family that does. We are introduced to his parents, aunt, grandfather, and siblings, along with his sister’s boyfriend. Yet we get almost no details about they like to play games with each other, and that they all care about each other. Rudy’s aunt is written in a way where you could tell the author wanted to do something more with the character, but couldn’t find a way. So instead we get bits and pieces of this character that feels larger than life, but has no life in her.
Overall
I gave this book a three star rating on Goodreads. I didn’t hate it by any means, but I didn’t love it either. If I had to pay for this book, I wouldn’t have rated it that high. Character development is big for me, and the lack of it knocked off one star immediately. The other star was more for the fact that the story seemed to drag on a bit, and while some of it was necessary for the relationship of Zac and Rudy to be believable, a lot of it felt like it could be devoted to character development instead of playing hide and seek with the family. I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good holiday read and a nice romance.
littlebutton's review against another edition
lighthearted
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25
Nothing super special here, but it was very cute and a fun, quick read. There’s no major conflict, which I honestly loved. Just a peaceful, chill, gay Christmas story.
thingslucyreads's review
4.0
In addition to the gay main couple, there is:
2 bisexual side characters
One transgender side character
A disabled side character
One Indian side character
There was also a good discussion, albeit brief, about the "guys don't talk about their feelings" stereotype bullshit. So yes, this was very good, definitely recommend.
2 bisexual side characters
One transgender side character
A disabled side character
One Indian side character
There was also a good discussion, albeit brief, about the "guys don't talk about their feelings" stereotype bullshit. So yes, this was very good, definitely recommend.
korey_reads's review
4.0
When I say this has all my favorite tropes, I mean it has ALL my favorite tropes! A super fast read but one that is perfect for the season. It’s always nice to see people finding love around the holidays.
rashbrook's review
5.0
This rating is entirely based on feelings. I feel so good after reading this book. There was no angst; this read was so fluffy and lovely! I love a good fake relationship trope and this was done perfectly, as in not overdone and seemed realistic.