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Book Review: A Christmas Promise, by K. C. Wells

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I picked up a kindle copy of K.C. Wells‘ A Christmas Promise last year. I read it as part of my Christmas Reading Challenge, this year.

a christmas promise kc wells

The last thing Micah Trant expects to find in the snow by the side of the road, is a badly beaten man. But when Micah discovers his identity, it feels like more than mere coincidence is at work here. Like modern day Good Samaritans, he and his dad offer the stranger a place to recuperate. After all, it’s almost Thanksgiving, and Greg is in no state to travel home. It’s not an entirely altruistic move: Micah wants answers, and he’s not the only one.

Greg cannot believe the way things turned out. The odds of Micah being the one to find him have to be astronomical, but he accepts the kind offer. As days become weeks, Greg learns more about Micah’s family, and comes to realize that staying with them for a Wyoming Christmas might just provide him with the answers he’s been seeking.

The magic of the holidays will also conjure up something neither Micah nor Greg expected….

my review

This was super sweet. Like, take the schmaltziness of The Waltons and distill it down to it’s purest, most saccharine form and you have A Christmas Promise. I don’t mean that in a bad way; just as a description. Because if low conflict, low angst sweetness is your comfort read—and I know it is for a lot of people—then this book is for you.

I didn’t dislike it, but I also feel like low angst can run awful close to not enough conflict to carry a plot sometimes and my preference is for a bit more grit in a story. But, all in all, this is a perfectly passable Christmas read that will fill the bill more for some than others.

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Other Reviews:

My Fiction Nook: A Christmas Promise

Recent Release Review: A Christmas Promise by K.C. Wells

Come back tomorrow. I’ll be reviewing A Wolf Is Not Just For Christmas, by J.F. Holland.

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Book Review: In Case Of Emergency, by Keira Andrews

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I picked up Keira kandrews‘ In Case Of Emergency as a Christmas freebie in 2018. It got lost in my TBR for a while, but it’s perfect for my Christmas Reading Challenge this year.

in case of emergency kiera andrews
Will a boy from his past make the future bright?

Daniel Diaz likes his life neat and orderly even if it means being lonely. Maybe he’s a workaholic (definitely), but he loves his HR career. What he doesn’t care for is getting a bizarre call from the ER telling him an injured grad student with a concussion put him down as his emergency contact.

Daniel doesn’t even recognize the name at first. Cole Smith? Cole told the hospital to call him? Their parents were married for five minutes! And it was ten years ago!

But Cole has no one else to look after him. The doctor says he can’t be left alone. What’s Daniel supposed to do? He has a snowy mountain getaway booked, and he’s not skipping his first vacation in years.

Even if it means babysitting Cole.

Little does he know, Cole had a secret crush on him when they were teenagers.

And the kid has really grown up. He’s sweet and funny and sexy. He just might thaw Daniel’s grumpy heart in a romantic winter wonderland…

In Case of Emergency is a fluffy MM holiday romance from Keira Andrews featuring forced proximity, hot-tub shenanigans, Christmas feels, and of course a happy ending.

my review

I thought this was really sweet and I enjoyed it, but it was also super predictable (as holiday romances often are). I did think it beyond believably that Justin wasn’t given his walking papers sooner than he was. I saw nothing in Daniel’s personality that would suggest he’d have qualms with kicking him out (and Justin certainly would have deserved it). Taxis and Uber exist, for example, and I felt like Daniel would have called one AS SOON as the road was cleared (or found some other way to remove Justin from his presence). But I thought Cole and Daniel were very sweet together, both during their careful, awkward re-acquaintance and once they’d passed that hurtle to sex and then relationship. The writing was quite readable and the story made for a nice holiday read.

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Other Reviews:

~Review~In Case of Emergency by Keira Andrews~

Laquette: Triple Review for Keira Andrews

Come back tomorrow. I’ll be reviewing A Christmas Promise, by K.C. Wells.

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Book Review: Second Chances, by Kiska Gray

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I picked up a freebie copy of Kiska Gray‘s Second Chances in November of 2018. I imagine I intended to read it for Christmas that year, but apparently didn’t get around to it. That means I had it available to read for my Christmas reading challenge this year.
second Chances Kiska Gray

Fear took him away, but longing brought him back…

Six years ago, Nikolas Steele’s heart was broken when his best friend—the man who he thought was his forever—walked out on him without an explanation. Now, Ky Kendall is back in town, just in time for the holidays. When he shows up at Nikolas’s Santa Shop with a little girl who looks like him, Nik has questions.

In a time of need, Ky steps up to play the part of Santa’s Helper to keep the spirit of Christmas alive, but neither of them expect those old sparks to fly. Despite their renewed passion, Ky’s still running scared and Nikolas knows that at any moment, their fragile relationship could be shattered once more.

And this time, he isn’t sure if he’s strong enough to survive it.

my review

I suppose there was nothing wrong with this other than personal preferences. I’m just not into the whole God thing, be it the glories of God’s grace or the vagaries and damages godly people do in God’s name. So, the whole plot of this novella—at least the frictious aspect of it—did nothing for me. And outside of that, the rest of the plot is in the blurb. So, there wasn’t a lot left.

Well, I do actually think I need to complain about the, frankly, miraculous change of heart Ky’s fire-and-brimstone parents had and how rushed the happily ever after was, at the end. But It’s a Christmas novella, I don’t really expect much else.

Having said all of that, Nikolas was a paragon of forgiveness and I appreciated that about him. And Ky’s internal struggles were well represented. I liked both characters. So, I won’t say this wasn’t a good read. Just not for me, I think.

Second Chances photo

Come back tomorrow. I’ll be reviewing Sleigh Spells, by Bella Falls.