Neither Dani Martinez nor Maximillian von Hansburg, Baron of Laudon, have much interest in love - Dani has sworn off men after her (almost) ex-husband ran off with a student half his age; Max's father is pressuring him to marry as the heir to the dukedom and Max simply detests doing what his father wants him to do.  After meeting through mutual friends (the couple in A Princess for Christmas) the two spend a year cultivating a long-distance friendship.  Gradually they realize that friendship is the least of what the two want from each other, and when they meet up again for their friends' wedding a year later, there's no denying the sparks.  But they have jobs, and responsibilities, and obligations - can they risk it all for love?

For some reason, I didn't anticipate liking this book.  I'm not much of a holiday reader, and this seemed fairly holiday-y.  But it surprised me, initially.  The holidays are backgrounded, and they spend the better part of a year talking on the phone and through text, with occasional meetups.  It's a very slow-burn friends-to-lovers scenario.  I was enjoying this much more than I thought I would, and it was well on its way to a five-star read for me.

Two things combined in its downfall for me, one much more ridiculous than the other.  The ridiculous thing: at one point Max pulls out a sheaf of antique papers for Dani to look through, and a pair of white cotton gloves.  You do not wear gloves to review papers, particularly ones of that age.  If you cover your fingertips, you can't feel when you're about to rip the pages!  Clean hands suffice.  Any librarian who's ever been in the same building as an archives class could tell you that.

The more serious thing:

Max's brother Sebastian is gay.  He reveals this to Max, who then basically promptly tells Dani.  We do not out people.  Max is very cool with his brother being gay, Dani is very cool with it and tells Max she'll keep it to herself, and Max is like "oh neat thank you, yeah, I was trying to protect his confidence."  Uh, maybe... don't tell her, then?  Later, Sebastian reveals his sexuality to their awful, horrific, abusive alcoholic father as he tries to disown Max as a sort of "gotcha, no heirs from me., buddy!" moment, and the father promptly passes away.  If it had just been Max outing his brother to Dani, a person he trusts and a person he processes complex emotions with it, I might have let it slide with a strong side eye and four stars.  But the one-two punch of outing and heart attack was a lot to me, and I'm surprised Avon let it slide.

Overall, I liked this book a lot, and I wish I could have rated it higher.  Now please, give me Sebastian and Torkel's story, which will ideally wrap up the WWII sub-plot that I was surprisingly invested in?

Thank you Avon and NetGalley for the ARC!

CW:

ex-partner infidelity, alcoholism, abuse, homophobia, non-public outing, death of a parent