e-Audio, 07:56:33
Narrated by: Jason June & Shawn K. Jain
Release Date: November 12, 2024
Published by: Recorded Books, Inc.
Read from: November 12-13, 2024
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby
Content Warning: Cheating
For Readers Interested In: 2sLGBTQ+, Contemporary, Romance, Family Diversity (Mother Left), Holidaze, Sparkly Cover, Realistic Fiction, YAAll Aaron wants for Christmas is for his brother Casey to get over his ex, Raquel. He’d prefer not to be at Winter Wonderland, the island north of Alaska that’s home to a year-round Christmas theme park. But Casey loves Christmas, and so, here they are.
All Kris wants for Christmas is for his uncle to move back to Winter Wonderland to be the first gay Santa. And so, he needs to win the Race, his grade’s annual competition to see who can get a guest to fall in love with them first. Winning means a trip to New York, where Kris would be able to plead his case for his uncle to the founder of Winter Wonderland himself.
Then Aaron and Kris flop into each other during a flash mob and Kris agrees to help Aaron with his plan to keep Casey single. Soon, both can’t stop thinking about kissing the other, and it’s not just because of the mistletoe around every corner. Too bad true love isn’t on either of their Christmas lists…
This adorable rom-com from bestselling author Jason June unwraps the healing power of love and the magic of the Christmas season.
*MY THOUGHTS*
OK so I didn’t need to know much about this to grab it up. All I knew was that it was written by Jason June and it was a holiday book. And Lordt,it was all that I needed.
The main characters were my favorite part. I LOVED Aaron. He at some point felt like the only one that had some sense. Because his brother?! Lordt. But I can’t lie, I did relate to him in some way. Like the Christmas thing? Yeah that’s basically what I did after the election. I ran to holiday stories and haven’t really looked back since. So I understand that feeling of trying to chase the happiness this season gives you. Aaron was headstrong, but sometimes TOO headstrong. He didn’t see the gray in anything. As for Kris, I was mad at him for most of the book. Because why would you even make a game like that? That’s asking for someone (Including YOU) to get hurt. But as it went on, he annoyed me more but he finally got it together at the end. I let him slide tho because he had a whole other set of issues happening as he was going through all of this fake dating.
The romance itself was cute. Idk if it counts as fake dating? It was basically them saying they were flirting for the benefit of the brother and then it was fake for the benefit of the Christmas Island people. But for the most part, they were flirting by basically trying to sabotage Kris, Racquel, and the other person. It was a bit much. And that’s just bad all on it’s own. But I was happy that they got it together at the end.
The thing that I liked about this the most tho was the fact that it was hilarious. I laughed so much out loud unexpectedly. That reindeer scene? My gawd, I woke my child up from laughing so loud. I also laughed at the brother a fair amount of times because he was dumb. I don’t understand how the scene at the restaurant happens and your mind immediately goes THERE?! I knew he needed help before he knew he needed help .
The plot was fine. A little slow if I’m being honest. But it was like your basic Hallmark movie. This is what made me worried tho. Because it was about teens. I was expecting them to get back to things when they left. But that ending rocked me. I was not ready. It was a lot. But in the end, it did wrap up all nicely. I was satisfied with it.
This book had A LOT going on. So much so that I don’t think I even covered it all. But I can say I liked it and I hope June does another holiday book. This was so much fun. I hope more of you read and enjoy this like I did.
Overall, I give this
