{"id":12507,"date":"2020-02-14T15:18:09","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T20:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=12507"},"modified":"2025-05-05T21:05:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T01:05:56","slug":"candy-hearts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12507","title":{"rendered":"Candy Hearts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Candy Hearts<\/a><\/em> (2020) Erin McLellan (So Over the Holidays)<\/p>\n

\"Candy<\/a>Benji Holiday is over Valentine’s day, and so has accepted his sister’s invitation to join her friends for a Valentine’s weekend, but when he shows up, he discovers that the party was delayed due to a power outage.<\/p>\n

William O\u2019Dare is hosting the annual Valentine’s day party with his friends and is hoping to make things up to then, for having been completely involved with his job for the past several years, to the detriment of everything else in his life. He doesn’t know what to expect when Sasha’s mechanic brother shows up at his door. But Benji is cute, and disconcertingly honest, and the two are alone in the dark for the evening, so why not pretend to be Valentines?<\/p>\n

First, Benji is adorable.<\/p>\n

Nice pajamas. I like you in pajamas. You\u2019re not so\u2014\u201d He bit his lip shyly. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo what?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIntimidating, I guess. You\u2019re a bit of a frowny guy. The pajamas make you look comfy frowny. Like an angry dog in a cozy sweater.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He also is learning to be honest about and to himself–about his wants and needs and who he should be rather than what his various boyfriends have wanted him to be.<\/p>\n

William dropped the duffle bag, and it thumped loudly when it hit the ground, making them both jump. \u201cWhat\u2019s in that thing?\u201d <\/p>\n

Benji swallowed hard. \u201cSex toys and lingerie, mostly.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He is not kidding.<\/p>\n

This is another cute little romp, and has way more sex than I care for, but I really liked seeing Benji deciding to own who he was and what he enjoyed–and if a guy couldn’t accept him for liking sily lingerie then he didn’t need that guy in his life.<\/p>\n

There are small misunderstandings here and there in the story, and there is the problem that Benji doesn’t think he’s the kind of guy William would want to date (and not without reason he thinks this) but they do talk about what they are thinking and feeling, and use words to clear up their misunderstandings, which I always appreciate.<\/p>\n

This wasn’t particularly my jam, but it was a cute change-up and I really love watching Benji come to accept himself.<\/p>\n

Publisher: Erin McLellan
\nRating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Candy Hearts (2020) Erin McLellan (So Over the Holidays) Benji Holiday is over Valentine’s day, and so has accepted his sister’s invitation to join her friends for a Valentine’s weekend, but when he shows up, he discovers that the party was delayed due to a power outage. William O\u2019Dare is hosting the annual Valentine’s day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[193,148,26,56],"tags":[50,857,738,544],"class_list":["post-12507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-10","category-queer","category-romance","category-sexual-content","tag-boinking","tag-erin-mclellan","tag-holiday","tag-mm"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-3fJ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21859,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21859","url_meta":{"origin":12507,"position":0},"title":"Candy Hearts","author":"Michelle","date":"April 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Candy Hearts (2020) Erin McLellan (So Over the Holidays) Because I wanted all the positivity and self-acceptance of this story. Benji was over it. Over the dating scene. Over unsatisfying sex. Over the romantic-industrial complex called Valentine\u2019s Day. Well, actually, he wasn\u2019t over it at all, but he was trying\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Candy Hearts","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Candy-Hearts.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13959,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13959","url_meta":{"origin":12507,"position":1},"title":"Candy Hearts","author":"Michelle","date":"February 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Candy Hearts (2000) Erin McLellan (So Over the Holidays) If you're read this blog for more than a handful of months, you know that casual sex doesn't work for my in stories. It's a me thing, and I'm ok with that. But I've been struggling, and needed something that was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Candy Hearts","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Candy-Hearts.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23767,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/23767","url_meta":{"origin":12507,"position":2},"title":"Where the Dead Lie, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"July 20, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Where the Dead Lie, Audiobook (2017) C.S. Harris narrated by Davina Porter (Sebastian St. Cyr # 12) Set in England in 1812 Content warnings: rape and torture of teenagers (off page) the brutalized body of a 15-year-old boy dumped into a makeshift grave on the grounds of an abandoned factory.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Where the Dead Lie","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Where-the-Dead-Lie-e1511011862423.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9151,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9151","url_meta":{"origin":12507,"position":3},"title":"Where the Dead Lie","author":"Michelle","date":"July 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Where the Dead Lie (2017) C.S. Harris Set in London in September 1813. In case you've lost track, this is book 12 in the Sebastian St Cry series. Sebastian is becoming used to fatherhood, and although his sister still hates him, Sebastian's father has been reaching out to Sebastian, to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Where-the-Dead-Lie.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19833,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/19833","url_meta":{"origin":12507,"position":4},"title":"Hearts and Flowers: A Tale of Hay Fever and Bad Decor","author":"Michelle","date":"February 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Hearts and Flowers: A Tale of Hay Fever and Bad Decor (2013) Angel Martinez This is a very silly story. The ballroom looked like a Hallmark store had wandered by and thrown up its innards in a fit of disgust over the excesses of the season. 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