This was an MM class difference plus interracial holiday historical romance novella. There was so much built-in angst to all that, I was ready to love it.

But I needed way more feels. I wanted more flirty-flirty. I wanted to understand how these characters’ personalities complemented each other. The emphasis was on the spice—but the spice was too transactional.

Then, a time jump (where some feelingsy stuff presumably happened) + too much focus on a problem that was abruptly solved = the “I love you”s had me “huh?”-ing.

Also, there was a “are you clean?” STI conversation, which I don’t love.