So This is Christmas

So This is Christmas (2016) Josh Lanyon

Adrien and Jake have returned early from Christmas in London with Adrien’s mother and her husband. Adrien goes to work, only to discover the store not open, and his (step) sister in bed with his Angus, his employee.

“Anyway, you think Angus is going to sue me for sexual harassment? You think he’s going to sue you?”

Nope. I thought he was going to fall in love with her, and she was going to dump him, and he’d mope around for a week and then quit, and we’d be back to Natalie and me trying to run the place on our own.

And if that weren’t enough to ruin his day, an acquaintance from several years ago shows up on his doorstep wanting help in finding his boyfriend, who went home from Christmas and then disappeared.

Adrien is also still recovering from his recent heart surgery. I really appreciate that the upheaval of that is something that is taking him a very long time to deal with.

I didn’t want my gratitude for having a chance at a normal life to make me afraid to live that normal life?

Big things take time to process and move past. And Adrien’s move from thinking he wouldn’t make forty to a surgery that promises him a normal life is a big thing.

And of course Adrien and Jake are still getting used to living with each other.

“I’m telling you that I’m going to do better, Jake. I’m going to be a better boyfriend. I’ll take the dog to obedience class, and I’ll try to manage some weekends off. And I won’t get involved in any more myster— What the hell is so funny about that?”

This is a much lighter and happier story than the previous in this series. It’s also a novella, so it’s shorter as well. But I liked seeing Adrien and Jake continuing to adjust to their new lives, and I quite enjoyed the happy surprises at the end.

Publisher: JustJoshin Publishing, Inc.
Rating: 7/10

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