When this book was first announce I was excited that we were getting a M/M holiday romance because we all know that we are lacking in that regard. I was even more excited to get the chance to get an early copy of it so I could read it because by the time I did I was in need of some holiday feel goods.

This story hit the ground running in terms of bringing the two men together which, given that it is a category romance, makes sense. But it didn't feel really contrived ,even though it was Gus, Adam's daughter, that served as the catalyst for their introduction. They kept running into each other because Gus was fascinated with Wes's house and his science experiments and Adam didn't want to silence that voice and so the men found themselves running into each other more often and eventually falling in love.

Both these men came from difficult backgrounds and then Adam had the extra hardship of having the man he loved suddenly decide he didn't want to be a dad after so many years. While it is true that Adam admits that he forced it on his ex, I also agree that Mason should have spoken up sooner if for no other reason for Gus. Because Adam totally would have left at the beginning when Gus came in their lives. Wes also had a difficult childhood but I won't go too much into that for spoiler reasons.

They both had to learn to take chances and try again with each other so that they could allow themselves to fall in love. Reading about this journey in a holiday background was also nice for me because I enjoyed reading about the lights and how they brought them together. Yes, there is a third-act break up but I will say this is probably one of the more believable ones that I've read in a long time and it was quickly resolved so it didn't linger too much.

The only thing that was slightly annoying to me was Gus and more accurately the parenting of her. I normally don't have an issue with kids in romance novels, since I know there is a division there, but apparently in holiday stories my tolerance is very low since I couldn't stand the kids in "The Happiest Season" either. And a lot of this had to do with Adam not settling appropriate boundaries for her or, when he did, not following through with an equally appropriate punishment. I understand that kids are gonna be kids and test their boundaries and Adam grew up in such a restrictive household that he didn't want to repeat that with Gus. That being said, you can still be a firm parent without being a tyrannical one and Adam did not walk that line.

I don't want to give spoilers on this, but for it to make sense I kinda of have to. Adam gave Gus a directive about not speaking about a certain holiday figure around other kids because, while he didn't perpetuate the myth with her, he also told her she didn't get to ruin that magic for other kids. And she did; a few times the last of which caused a huge issue at school. And while I somewhat agree with how he handled the principal, I don't agree with how he handled Gus. There should have been more of a consequence for that because, as he said, what you choose to do for you and your family in any regard is exactly that; your choice. You do not have the right to tell other people what they should and should not believe or how they should run their lives which is essentially what Gus did with her classmates. And again this was after Adam had told her to not bring it up. I'm not saying he should have canceled Christmas but there should have at least been a couple of days of being grounded because she did go against a directive she was given by her Daddy.

Other than that though I really enjoyed it. And I didn't Gus because I generally try to not hate children. I loved that she was way into science because more girls need to be in the STEM fields. However, that one situation really bothered me because, again, she was given a directive by her dad that she ignored and basically got off with no repercussions for it.

I received an early eARC of this book from the publisher in return for an honest review.