Absolutely perfect Christmas romance

So when this first starts you get the idea of Rudy, a shy 24 year-old and think you're going to get a romance all about him falling in love and you'd be right.

We do get to see Rudy fall in love but as this is Jay Northcote, it's never just what's on the surface, there are always beautiful layers to peel away.

The layers in this book come with Zac, the new guy at work who has caught Rudy's eye and left him tongue tied and all twisted until a night on the tequila results in an invitation to spend the festive season at the family farm in Devon.

Zac has never had a family and he's unsure of himself, hesitant to get involved but slowly, as surely as night follows day and Christmas traditions inevitably lead to too much food and cheesy games, his walls start to crumble.

Jay weaves the usual magic I've come to expect from his talented pen and, as my dearly beloved is a Devon boy who lived in a thatched former 16th century corn mill, all rambly and chilled with huge fireplaces and a cider apple orchard, this book was like so many of my own Christmases down there over the years, I kept expecting to bump into someone I knew within the pages.

Beautifully written, if Holly doesn't steal your heart because of all she symbolises, well I guess we're not likely to be friends anytime soon ;)

A cute, fluffy holiday romance, with the adorkable Rudy and the reticent Zac pretending to be boyfriends. I absolutely loved the big, messy and lovable family of Rudy who welcomed Zac with open arms.
This story had a lot of diverse queer characters, especially a trans man without being specified categorically as such...just beautiful.

I loved this. I loved Rudy, Zac and all of Rudy's family. Jay Northcote creates characters that make you want to hug them. 4.5

Cute

A sweet, fun little read. I enjoy the fake boyfriends trope and found it sweet that Zac fell in love with his boo and his boo's extended family.

Cute but lackluster

This was a cute book with a lot of cute things, but it definitely came across as more sex than fluff.

The family dynamics and interactions with coworkers are some of my favorite scenes. You can feel the love and affection that all these people have for one another. I also adored Holly, a little black kitty that Zac and Rudy find one walk. She’s precious and reminds me a lot of my own black kitty.

There were a few things I was less fond of, though. There’s a scene about halfway through the book where Rudy & Zac and Natalie & Raj kiss under the mistletoe and youngest brother calls it gross. What bothered me was second youngest brother telling him that he’d understand and be interested once puberty hit, and that felt very erasive and invalidating of a-spec experiences. I also didn’t really like how virginity was conflated with penetrative intercourse and somehow Rudy’s virginity made him more attractive(?) because Zac got to be his first.

Overall I did enjoy the story, but it had way more sex going on than I was expecting going in (I expected cute and fluff).

CW: on-page sex, amisia, several instances of drinking and (mild?) drunkenness

This was such a lovely little story about two men who struggle with connection. Rudy is super-shy, and although he loves his job at Rainbow Futures (a youth-services organization working with LGBTQ youth) and has overcome the shyness with most of his coworkers, the new guy—who is super-hot—leaves him completely locked inside himself.

It doesn't help that Zac never involves himself with any of the rest of them. He does a great job as the social media manager, but he is the least social person around. That Zac's history has taught him this is the only way to stay safe is beside the point.

A holiday party, a bit too much tequila, a kiss, and an offer made in the spur of a moment combine to push Zac and Rudy together for the holidays alongside Rudy's odd (and awesome) family. After that? It's all up to some holiday magic, and maybe a kitten.

Extra props for the queer content, too: this is a rare story where queer moves beyond "two men falling in love" and includes trans and bi characters actually, y'know, existing in the world.

I listened to this on audiobook, and while the performer was good, there was some oddness with how he paused mid-sentences that I found a bit distracting. The characterization, on the other hand, was solid, and I loved his voices for the various characters, so I tried to ignore the distracting pauses, and it didn't knock me out of the narrative.

Very nice story, but I wish Zac would share his reasons for whining sooner - it was a bit annoying.

I didn't have a lot of expectations going into this, but it was just DREADFULLY boring and because it's only a measly 168 pages, there just simply wasn't enough time to make me feel connected to the characters.

I'm most likely going to be unhauling this and I'm not sure if I'll be picking up any more of Northcote's work in the future.