3 out of 5 stars
Ebook. 64 pages. Published December 1st 2012 by Dreamspinner Press
Blurb:
A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2012 Advent Calendar collection Evergreen.
All is not sparkly snowflakes and sweet candy canes in North Pole City. Office workers Tim and Noel do nothing all day but antagonize each other—petty fighting that might be based on hatred… or a heated mutual attraction. It’s up to Jack Frost and his elf-friend Rudy to broach the hostilities and introduce some Christmas kisses, but is the Frost Prince up to the challenge of launching a new romance when someone’s trying to break his holiday spirit?
Likes:
- The Christmas references are just the right amount of cheesy.
- I want to know more about the world.
- The characters were interesting.
- Low angst.
Dislikes:
- The conflict between Tim and Noel was over too fast.
- It the world could have been explained better.
- There was too much going on for the page space.
- Some things could have been explained better for more impact.
I was avoiding this series despite liking Charlie Cochet’s books and novellas. I was worried that the Christmas/North Pole theme would be too cheesy. And, yeah, it was cheesy, with all the clichéd parts you’d expect. But they were different than I expected. Not childish, but almost cool.
I felt bad for Tim, what with the way Noel picked on him. I was expecting Noel to go through lot of change in order for him to admit that he liked Tim. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Tim forgave Noel for all the times he was an asshole, and it happened super fast. Almost unbelievably fast. Sure, this is a novella, but it took almost no time for Tim and Noel to go from clashing coworkers to lovers.
It’s not because there wasn’t enough page time, but rather there was a lot going on. Between Jack and Rudy’s coming out and the plot with the Rat King, there simply wasn’t enough space for Tim and Noel to grow and change.
There also wasn’t enough page space dedicated to the world of the North Pole. So many interesting things seemed to be going on, and were hinted at. But I felt like I didn’t fully understand their importance. It just wasn’t well explained. I’m hoping to learn more from the other novellas.
But I have to say this, the idea of setting a gay romance series in the North Pole sure is unique. I’ve never read anything like it before and I’m looking forward to the next books.
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