Title: His Holiday Crush
Author: Cari Z
Publisher: Entangled Brazen
Length: 222 Pages
Category: Holiday Romance
Rating: 4 Stars
At a Glance: His Holiday Crush is a sweet and sentimental story with everything I want from a Christmas romance, but there’s a bit of strife in the lives of its characters too, to give the story a nice emotional balance.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: Workaholic attorney Max Robertson is one meeting away from making partner at a big NYC firm when his best friend calls and guilts him into coming back home for Christmas. But there’s a reason he hasn’t been back to Edgewood for a decade—too many bad memories. The plan was to go for just one night, until a wild deer and a snowbank wrecked everything.
Former Army Sergeant Dominic “Nicky” Bell is the new guy on the Edgewood police force, so of course he drew the short straw and is stuck working the night shift. But his evening gets turned upside-down when he gets called out to a wreck in the snow—and it’s his one and only high school crush, looking even sexier than he did back then.
When they both end up stranded together at Dominic’s house, sparks start to fly and Max isn’t sure what to do. But everyone deserves a present this holiday season, right?
Review: Nursing a teenage crush on his older brother’s bestie wasn’t easy on poor Nicky Bell. Turns out it’s not much easier nursing an adult crush on him either, but Nicky gets to be up close and personal with Max Robertson this time around, and they have Nicky’s two nieces, a fortuitously placed deer, and a dark and snowy night to thank for it.
His Holiday Crush is a sweet and sentimental story with everything I want from a Christmas romance, but there’s a bit of strife in the lives of its characters too, to give the story a nice emotional balance. Hal—Max’s best friend and Nicky’s brother—is doing his best to keep his life on some semblance of an even keel after his wife left him and their two young daughters without warning. Max promised he’d go back to his hometown to visit Hal and the girls for Christmas, but he fiercely regrets that decision, not only because he’s on the cusp of a big promotion at work and needs to keep his nose to the proverbial grindstone but also due to his father’s devastating legacy in Edgewood. That in itself has been enough to keep Max away from his hometown for the past decade. Marnie and Steph have Max twisted around their little fingers, though, so he has no choice but to make the trip despite a looming meeting to net the firm he works for an important client; just a quick overnight visit to keep from disappointing the girls shouldn’t set him back too far. But as luck would have it, his best-laid plans turn into a weeklong journey of falling head over heels in love with their uncle.
It was easy to see why Max fell for Nicky. I loved him myself. Nicky’s nervous shyness just from seeing Max again, let alone being near him, is completely charming, and it leads the way after he rescues Max from the accident that had left him stranded on the side of the road. Nicky realizes immediately who Max is—the guy he’s never managed to stop thinking about, even all these years later—but Max doesn’t recognize his best friend’s little brother. Nicky introduces himself as Dominic too, which doesn’t help, and to be fair, Nicky was only fourteen the last time Max laid eyes on him, so Max does a little flirting with the hot cop without realizing who he’s talking to. Once he’s made aware it’s Nicky who has rescued him, that doesn’t put a stop to the flirting in the slightest. It only means Max has to confess to Hal that he’s incredibly attracted to his little brother.
At its heart, this is a story about priorities. Max understands, after no small amount of heartache to get there, that what he thought he’d always wanted meant nothing when compared to what he could have if only he can let go in order to grab hold. That meant having Nicky and a family in the last place Max wanted to be, never mind wanting to stay and build a life for himself there. Some forced proximity, thanks to the snowstorm that strands Max and Nicky together at Nicky’s house, offers them some opportune alone time, which they take full advantage of. But there are some underlying issues just waiting to explode too, and when they do, Cari Z capitalized on the emotion and heartache that results from it. Happily ever after guaranteed, though, and the resolution brings the story full circle.
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