Review: Make the Yuletide Gay ~ A Holiday Anthology

Title: Make the Yuletide Gay

Authors: Nicky Spencer, Stephen Hoppa, Addison Albright, Nell Iris, Amy Tasukada

Publisher: Self-Published

Length: 126 Pages

Category: Holiday Romance

At a Glance: In spite of one near miss in this collection, I really enjoyed reading it. I not only got a heaping dose of holiday cheer and romance, but I also got the opportunity to discover some authors I might not have otherwise read.

Reviewed By: Lisa

Blurb: Sleigh bells ring—are you listening?

It’s that time of year again, and we have the perfect way to get you in the mood: A free anthology! Five holiday stories that are guaranteed to warm your heart, heat up your cold nights, and most importantly: Make your yuletide gay.

A Christmas Party to Remember by Nicky Spencer
Last Christmas, Cory and Wes made a connection that left them both thanking Santa. But when Cory doesn’t show up for their first date, Wes swears he won’t make that mistake again. This year, can Santa’s magic find a way to bring them back together?

Let’s Not Go Crazy by Stephen Hoppa
The holidays are stressful enough without Ethan’s boyfriend Nate trying to kill him with Christmas cheer. But Nate’s found a whole new way to torture Ethan when he reveals that he wants kids. Will their conflicting desires tear their relationship apart, or will they find a way to ring in the new year stronger than ever?

Captain Jack and the Snack Attack by Addison Albright
Two men determined to win the same treasure at a charity silent auction, a wayward kitten, grumbling tummies, and a dilemma: what’s the correct gift-giving etiquette for a first date that’s mere days before Christmas, and what could possibly go awry with this merry combination?

The Christmas Day Date by Nell Iris
One rainbow Christmas tree in harm’s way and an afternoon spent eating far too many cookies, equals two men with changed holiday plans. But how does that translate into a date?

The Year of the Monkey by Amy Tasukada
The last thing Aoi wants to do for New Year’s is spend it with his boyfriend’s parents. They were far from thrilled when their son came out. Can Aoi warm their hearts making traditional mochi or will they end up in an even stickier situation?

Review: It’s very rare that I love every story in an anthology, and, unfortunately, that holds true here, but I do like to sample them on occasion, if for no other reason than it’s a great way to get a quick taste of new-to-me authors. And, let’s face it, the holidays? I’m a sucker for a holiday short. I’ll be completely transparent, though, and confess I picked this one up because of Stephen Hoppa’s contribution—I needed another shot of Nate and Ethan in my life—but I ended up adoring Nell Iris’s The Christmas Day Date, making this collection a mixed bag of sweet, a little angsty, and a good bit of charming too.

Author Nicky Spencer kicks things off with her lovely and touching A Christmas Party to Remember, combining a love-at-first-dance romance with a couple of my favorite tropes—the meet-cute and second chances.

Cory and Wes run into each other, literally, at a Christmas party, and their connection is immediate. There’s something there that just clicks between them, and in the space of a short time, Spencer captures that intangible thing we call chemistry well enough that I believed they were destined for each other every bit as quickly as they felt it themselves.

The author doesn’t make it easy, though, so it isn’t all cocoa with marshmallows in front of a cozy fire, but she doesn’t drag out the dramatic arc either, the way it might have been in a longer novella/novel.

The promise of happily-ever-after was the cherry on the sundae of this sweet holiday story about compassion, forgiveness and do-overs. – 3.5 stars

I’m going to be honest: if you haven’t read Stephen Hoppa’s Everything Between Us, this next contribution to the collection, Let’s Not Go Crazy, won’t hit the right notes for those unfamiliar with Nate and Ethan. They’re two of my favorite dysfunctional characters, ever, and ::spoiler alert:: their novel is going on my Best of 2017 list this year. Not to mention the title of this short story—taking all things into consideration—is some ironic perfection because going crazy is sort of what these guys do.

In order for this story to work, readers have to know everything this couple has gone through since Nate saved Ethan from a gay bashing outside a dive bar and brought him home to stay. Every bit of what might seem atypical behavior in this short story is, surprisingly, their special brand of functional, and the way the conflict unfolds and then resolves itself is healthy enough—for them. In fact, this vignette shows how far they’ve come since their early days together, so if you read this story and think, ‘…how are they even a functioning couple?’, know that you’ve missed out on a ton of history.

I loved seeing these two still together (trust me, if there were any two people I wouldn’t have put money down on to make it for the long-haul, it’s Nate and Ethan). Their style of love and commitment might not encompass the definition of conventional, generic romance, but if there are any two frayed-at-the-seams characters who are more perfect for each other, I haven’t read them yet. Nate and Ethan might not work in the real world, but they work on paper, and Hoppa’s contribution is about as sweet as these two will probably ever be. – 4 stars

Next up is author Addison Albright and Captain Jack and the Snack Attack, which is every bit as delightful a story as that title would suggest, and it thoroughly warmed my heart.

It’s funny how I don’t need a whole lot of backstory on a man once I find out he’s an animal lover (my dad always said he didn’t trust a man who didn’t like animals, so it’s kind of an ingrained stamp of approval here). Gordie being a vet tech and Kenton having a brand new kitten was a slam dunk in the affection department, and Albright’s sense of humor also shines in this story, which upped the enjoyment factor as well.

Gordie and Kenton getting together was not only a meet-cute, their story is a flat out cute-cute, and while the sexy times almost felt a little incongruous in the story, the case of the disappearing kitten and Kenton’s commitment to finding the little fur muffin, even if it meant possibly breaking his first date with Gordie, was endearing. – 3.5 stars

Nell Iris’s The Christmas Day Date came in guns hot and hijacked my heart for the holidays. I absolutely adored this sweet and surprising little story. And I say surprising not because I’m surprised I loved it but only because Lenny and Julius aren’t your everyday romantic leading men, and darn it, I adore a love story with characters who are real and relatable and approachable, and don’t all have perfect bone structure and eight-pack abs.

Lenny and JJ have been neighbors for years, but it’s not until Lenny hears JJ having a bit of an emotional meltdown with his Christmas tree in the hallway of their building that things begin to change for these two unassuming and gentle and kind men.

I loved the quiet nature of this story—nothing over-the-top but all of it a real pluck at the heartstrings as we discover some things about Lenny that made me want to wrap him up and be the mom he never had. While we’re at it, let’s just add JJ in there too, because his parents weren’t about to win any awards for their skills either. When Lenny comes clean about his past, it made me want to hug him all the more, and JJ showering Lenny with cookies and hot chocolate, and them each finding a place, a home and hope, in each other’s arms was the perfect bow to top off this wonderful gift of a story. – 4.5 stars

Finally, wrapping up the collection is Amy Tasukada’s The Year of the Monkey, and while I hate to end on a down note, I’m sad to say this story didn’t quite achieve the same outcome for me as the others in the bunch. I also own that some things may have been lost in translation for me due to my own cultural ignorance, making it a ‘me’ thing. But, I also didn’t warm up to the story in spite of feeling I really could have if I’d got just a bit more time with Sato and Aoi.

There was a weighty overtone to Aoi and Sato’s story, involving Sato’s mother and her obvious animosity and disapproval of her son’s relationship with Aoi—which she seemed determined to hold Aoi entirely accountable for while absolving her son of any responsibility in the relationship. This villainized Mrs. Emi, to a degree, especially when contrasted with a husband and daughter who both accepted Aoi in Sato’s life. This conflict dictated the entire feel and atmosphere of the story, and then to have things wrapped up so simplistically after creating this tension, made it all the more difficult to embrace. I simply needed more exposition and redemption that the short story length didn’t allow for.

Like two adjoining pieces of a puzzle, I could see the shape of this story, and I could see that Sato and Aoi fit together, but there were too many pieces missing, altogether, for me to see the whole picture. If only the focus had been on them and their relationship just a bit more. – 2.5 stars

In spite of this one near miss, I really enjoyed reading this collection. I not only got a heaping dose of holiday cheer and romance, but I also got the opportunity to discover some authors I might not have otherwise read, so I’m marking this one up to an overall win.

You can buy Make the Yuletide Gay here (.99 on Amazon, FREE on other platforms at time of posting):
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