Title: Better Not Pout
Author: Annabeth Albert
Publisher: Carina Press
Length: 288 Pages
Category: Holiday Romance, Contemporary
At a Glance: Better Not Pout was a lovely start to my holiday reading season.
Reviewed By: Jules
Blurb: One hard-nosed military police officer.
One overly enthusiastic elf.
One poorly timed snowstorm.
Is it a recipe for disaster? Or a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for holiday romance?
Teddy MacNally loves Christmas and everything that goes along with it. When he plays an elf for his charity’s events, he never expects to be paired with a Scrooge masquerading as Santa Claus. His new mission: make the holiday-hating soldier believe he was born to say ho-ho-ho.
Sergeant Major Nicholas Nowicki doesn’t do Santa, but he’s army to his blood. When his CO asks an unusual favor, Nick of course obliges. The elf to his Kris Kringle? Tempting. Too tempting—Nick’s only in town for another month, and Teddy’s too young, too cheerful and too nice for a one-night stand.
The slow, sexy make-out sessions while Teddy and Nick are alone and snowbound, though, feel like anything but a quick hookup. As a stress-free holiday fling turns into Christmas all year round, Teddy can’t imagine his life without Nick. And Nick’s days on the base may be coming to a close, but he doesn’t plan on leaving anything, or anyone, behind.
Review: It’s an exciting day, guys! I’ve just finished my first Christmas book of the year!! *twirls* My anticipation of holiday reads is huge every year, and this year, one of the books I have been most looking forward to was this one, Annabeth Albert’s Better Not Pout. This book ticked so many of my holiday romance boxes: May-December, slow burn, great small-town vibe, snowy setting…I really adored pretty much everything about it. Perhaps our grumpy MP and enthusiastic elf most of all.
Nick truly is a major grump at the beginning of the book. When we meet him, he’s in a Santa suit, on his way to the small town of Mineral Springs, New York, to be a stand-in St. Nick as a favor to his commanding officer. He’s way too full of humbug to appreciate the charm of the town at first, but he doesn’t miss the glimmer of attraction between him and Teddy, the Christmas-loving director of the local resource center, who is also the helper to Nick’s Santa. In Nick’s mind, though, nothing can happen between the two of them, as Nick is weeks away from retiring and heading south to fulfill a promise to run a charter fishing company with his buddy. It took me a while to warm up to Nick. Initially, he’s the buttoned-up, stern Sergeant Major Nicholas Nowicki, but as Teddy starts to break down his defenses, we finally get to see ‘Nick.’
All the obstacles Nick keeps throwing up don’t stop Teddy from wanting to pursue something with Nick. He knows Nick is counting down the days until his retirement and heading straight for the sun and beaches of Florida, but Teddy sees something there. He sees how lonely Nick is, and how much he needs this nice holiday season that Teddy wants to help give him. When Nick’s truck goes off the road as he’s trying to get back to the base that first day playing Santa, he gets stuck in town overnight, and Teddy sees his opportunity to start working on Nick’s holiday spirit.
Their hookup that first night is intended to be a one-time thing as far as Nick is concerned. He doesn’t want to hurt Teddy and knows he can’t give Teddy the future he deserves. But Teddy has plans to try to keep the sergeant major around, at least for his last month in New York, so he invites him to the MacNally family Thanksgiving, and any other festivity he thinks he can rope him into. I LOVED these guys together. Their chemistry is so good, and Nick is soooooo sexy. His fire in that initial encounter was so unexpected, based on what we had seen of his personality so far; I’m sure Teddy never saw it coming either!
I’ve been a fan of Albert’s books for quite a while, and she did a great job with this one. The story got off to a slow start for me initially, but it ended up being a fantastic slow-burn romance. I loved the relationship build-up, and seeing Nick’s walls come down. I adored Teddy’s family, and how much the MacNallys were a part of Mineral Springs. And, I loved how Nick got unwittingly brought into the fold and found himself wanting to stay. The second half of the book had me completely wrapped up in the story and rooting for these guys so hard. Better Not Pout was a lovely start to my holiday reading season.
You can buy Better Not Pout here:
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