Reviewed by Carissa
TITLE: Keeping the Cookies
AUTHOR: Briana Lawrence
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 54 pages
BLURB:
Ty prepares for the holiday season by kicking out his cheating boyfriend and consoling himself with chocolate and cold Chinese food. Unfortunately, rent and bills force him to grab a pair of red-and-white tights and pretend to be in the holiday spirit as a mall elf. Thankfully, there’s a janitor who’s too handsome for the part of a mop pusher to help distract him.
Nikolas the Janitor sweeps Ty off his feet with his smile and generous spirit. Ty wishes he could fall in love as easily as a romantic comedy, but his ex still holds a piece of his heart. Ty wants to accept Nikolas as his new secret Santa, but he might be doomed to pine after his ex all Christmas long.
REVIEW:
I do believe I may have just lost the last shred of childish innocence, thanks to this book. Let’s just check:
And here I sit, yelling at Santa, begging him to get on with the dick sucking already.
Yep, that about does it. Nothing like a little Santa-bj to kill that last remaining slip of innocence.
Not that this book wasn’t a lot of fun. Ty was cute in a bouncy sort of way. Even with his whole funk over his loser-ex. And while I can never claim to have been forced into close and personal contact with the screaming masses (er, children) as a mall elf, I can definitely feel for Ty (and for the mall santa, for that matter).
This book has a lot going for it. Santa (the real Santa…or a real Santa) is not an old straight white dude, so that is a plus. And I found Ty’s melodramatic moping rather endearing instead of annoying. Nothing like reading about a good ol’ break-up funk to make you feel better about your own (semi-permanent) single status (and it’s not like I really need a reason to listen to bad music and consume unhealthy quantities of mint ice cream).
So even though I think I may have been permanently scarred by the image of Santa sexing up his new lover, I think this was a good addition to my crazy list of Christmas stories I recommend this holiday season.
RATING: 
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