{"id":21428,"date":"2023-01-01T19:44:18","date_gmt":"2023-01-02T00:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=21428"},"modified":"2024-01-22T19:37:20","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T00:37:20","slug":"the-holiday-trap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21428","title":{"rendered":"The Holiday Trap"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Holiday Trap<\/em> (2022) Roan Parrish <\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>Greta has had it with her family. She may love them, but that doesn’t change things.<\/p>\n

“I know it\u2019s Chanukah and I know your family, but I must introduce you to my friend Boundaries, and her best friend, Also Boundaries.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Truman needs to get away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI left. Excuse me for panicking when I realized my boyfriend of almost a year has a secret family.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Luckily, they have a friend in common who suggests they swap houses for a month, to give them space and distance to sort themselves out.<\/p>\n

The selling point for Truman is that Gerta is from Maine–where the author of his favorite book series lived.<\/p>\n

He had read the series so many times over the years that he could open to any page in any of the seven books and know exactly what was going on. Often, he read his favorite bits to cheer himself up.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Both quickly make friends in their new, temporary homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo\u2026 you\u2019re getting a PhD to\u2026 what?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cTo get to do math for seven years!\u201d Carys said, grin so bright there wasn\u2019t the slightest doubt in Greta\u2019s mind that she truly did love math that much.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The bell above the door in Muskee\u2019s General Store tinkled his arrival, and he stamped off the snow. <\/p>\n

\u201cBack again!\u201d crowed the woman at the counter. <\/p>\n

\u201cEr. Yes. Thought I\u2019d try a food group other than heartbreak,\u201d he quipped, laugh-cringing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I liked this better than the last two Garnett books. It’s not that they were bad books, but something felt off or missing, and I think it was because I expect Roan Parrish books to have an underlying level of angst and trauma that form the characters into who they are. <\/p>\n

This story is nowhere near as dark as the Riven or Small Change series, but the past traumas felt central to who the characters–all the characters not just Greta and Truman–are in the present.<\/p>\n

That is not to say the story doesn’t have joy and happiness–it does in droves–but something about Roan Parrish’s stories feels off when there isn’t a significant struggle for the characters to deal with.<\/p>\n

Or perhaps I have just come to expect her books to be emotionally wrecking at times, and not having that struggle confuses my expectations.<\/p>\n

Regardless, I liked the story, the main characters, and all the secondary characters.<\/p>\n

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca<\/p>\n

Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Holiday Trap (2022) Roan Parrish Greta has had it with her family. She may love them, but that doesn’t change things. “I know it\u2019s Chanukah and I know your family, but I must introduce you to my friend Boundaries, and her best friend, Also Boundaries.\u201d Truman needs to get away. \u201cI left. Excuse me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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":[12,292,204,148,26,56],"tags":[50,545,738,544,224],"class_list":["post-21428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-ebook","category-good","category-queer","category-romance","category-sexual-content","tag-boinking","tag-ff","tag-holiday","tag-mm","tag-roan-parrish"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-5zC","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21114,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21114","url_meta":{"origin":21428,"position":0},"title":"The Rivals of Casper Road","author":"Michelle","date":"November 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Rivals of Casper Road (2022) Roan Parrish (Garnet Run) This is the fourth book in the Garnet Run series (actually the fifth, because there is a novella in there as well) and the characters from those stories all make appearances here. 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But reviews said this was NOT full of angst,\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\/2020\/09\/Better-Than-People.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24861,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24861","url_meta":{"origin":21428,"position":2},"title":"Better Than People","author":"Michelle","date":"August 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Better Than People (2020) Roan Parrish (Garnet Run #1) I do adore the cover for this book. \u201cI worked at a c-company before.\u201d He shuddered. \u201cIt was awful. Cubicles and p-people and no one would leave me alone.\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019d they do?\u201d Jack asked, preemptively furious on Simon\u2019s behalf. Simon turned\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Better Than People","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Better-Than-People-199x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22184,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/22184","url_meta":{"origin":21428,"position":3},"title":"The Pride of Garnet Run","author":"Michelle","date":"August 30, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The Pride of Garnet Run (2022) Roan Parrish (Garnet Run) (H)is brain was very loud, and he needed to put thoughts into music to quiet them down. \"This place was built in 1927. This all used to be bigger, but they turned it from one screen to three in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Pride of Garnet Run","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/The_Pride_of_Garnet_Run.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18310,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/18310","url_meta":{"origin":21428,"position":4},"title":"The Lights on Knockbridge Lane","author":"Michelle","date":"September 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Lights on Knockbridge Lane (2021) Roan Parrish (Garnet Run) Adam had always wanted to be a father. What he didn't expect was to end up a single parent, back in the hometown he ran away from as soon as he graduated, relying on his sibling to help him with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Lights on Knockbridge Lane","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/The-Lights-on-Knockbridge-Lane-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/The-Lights-on-Knockbridge-Lane-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/The-Lights-on-Knockbridge-Lane-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/The-Lights-on-Knockbridge-Lane-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/The-Lights-on-Knockbridge-Lane-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/The-Lights-on-Knockbridge-Lane-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13674,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13674","url_meta":{"origin":21428,"position":5},"title":"The Remaking of Corbin Wale","author":"Michelle","date":"December 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Remaking of Corbin Wale (2017) Roan Parrish Alex Barrow broke up with his boyfriend and lost his job so he has headed back to Ann Arbor and taken over his parent's coffee shop--turning it into his dream bakery. The best bakeries had a cohesive vision. You didn\u2019t want a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Remaking of Corbin Wale","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/The-Remaking-of-Corbin-Wale.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21428\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}