December 1 st

Reviewed by Sarina

TITLE: Son of Santa

SERIES: Dreamspinner Advent Calendar 2015 — Sleigh Ride

AUTHOR: Kate Sands

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

BLURB:

Noel Nicholas is on a sabbatical from the North Pole realm. Back home he’s known as the Son of Santa, but in the human world, he’s a university student and he likes living in anonymity. Only Ruby, his cupid friend from the Eros realm, knows his true identity. That is, until Fannar, the gorgeous ice-sprite from the Pole, shows up unexpectedly. This causes Noel’s suppressed and unrequited crush on Fannar to return full force. However, there are more pressing matters at hand—Noel’s father has taken an extended vacation but cannot be found, and there’s only a month until Christmas.

As Noel is finishing his semester at school and he hasn’t seen his father in months, Mrs. Claus has tasked Fannar with finding Santa. Fannar keeps in tough with Noel but comes around far more often than necessary. It’s not helping Noel’s ability to hide his feelings…but as it turns out, they may not be as one-sided as Noel originally believed.

REVIEW:

Noel has never really felt as though he fit in and being the one and only Son of Santa doesn’t help that. Needing a break he convinces his parents to allow him to go to school in the human realm in order to better deal with his duties at home. Four years after making the move, Fannar shows up on a mission to find Noel’s father, who seems to have taken an unscheduled vacation. Fannar may not have been the reason Noel left home, but he brings up thoughts and feelings in the young man that he thinks are better left forgotten. With Santa missing and Fannar hanging around, however, that doesn’t seem possible and Christmas has always been a time of miracles…

This was a great way to start of Advent and my Christmas reading season! Noel was nothing like what I expected from the Son of Santa and I loved it. He’s quite grumpy and hates all the Christmas cliché’s he’s constantly bombarded with but he enjoys his job in the Pole realm and does it well. One thing he doesn’t enjoy, however, is finding Fannar waiting for him on his way home one day. The ice-sprite loves to tease Noel and they just can’t seem to get along but underlying that is a simmering pile of want that has Noel’s friend Ruby raising her eyebrows. A lot of the interactions between Noel and Fannar reminded me of the saying ‘you only pull the pigtails of the girl you like’; it was kind of obvious that Fannar liked Noel but just couldn’t seem to say the right things. It was really sweet how Fannar took the time and effort to really get to know Noel and try and build something more than antagonistic relationship they had growing up. The ending was sweet and I totally didn’t see it coming so it made me smile. I really felt like this was a perfect little Christmas present to start the holiday season.

RATING:

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