Reviewed by Sarina
TITLE: Christmas Collection 
AUTHOR: RJ Scott
PUBLISHER: Love Lane Books
LENGTH: 270 pages
BLURB:
Angel in a bookshop, Jesse’s Christmas and Deefur & The Great Mistletoe incident. All in one volume for Christmas 2015.
Angel in a bookshop
What happens when a broken man has to trust in the impossible?
Jesse’s Christmas
For Jesse Connor, Christmas is nothing but a series of bad memories. It takes a man imbued with the spirit of Christmas to help him realize that the Christmas spirit lies in everyone. If they only know where to look.
Deefur and the great mistletoe incident
The story of how Deefur, after the great mistletoe incident, ends up with the best bed in the house.
REVIEW:
Angel in a bookshop
What happens when a broken man has to trust in the impossible?
Chapter One is an antique book shop and is the last tangible thing Joshua Blakeman and his mom have left of his father. Nestled in a quiet square a few steps from London’s St Paul’s Cathedral, it is boarded up with whitewashed windows and no new stock. The place is a sad reminder of loss and it has to go, but destroying a business that has been in his family for generations is not a role Josh is looking forward to.
Michael is the owner of Arts Desire, the shop next door. With his rainbow pride mugs and his sunny outlook, he is the complete opposite of what Josh thinks he needs in his life.
But, when Josh and Michael become friends, Josh learns that finding true love starts with making big decisions—and that everyone deserves their own Christmas miracle sometimes.
I loved this story! Josh has had some tough breaks lately and it was easy to see how the stress and grief was just eating him up inside. Regardless of how beat up he currently felt, however, he was still determined to do right by his mother and it was hard not to admire that. Michael’s character was interesting to me more for the little sections of his inner thoughts scattered throughout the story than for the times he was the focus of it. I thought he complimented Josh nicely and liked how he wanted to build something between them even though he was afraid of what might happen when he confided his secrets in Josh. I thought the story was really well done and the epilogue made for a great ending.
Jesse’s Christmas
For photographer Jesse Connor, Christmas lost it’s shine when last Christmas, Jesse’s lover, the man he thought had been the one, absconded with millions of dollars from the company he traded for. The FBI landed on Jesse’s doorstep on Christmas Eve, and that was the nail in the proverbial Christmas coffin.
Now, alone in the city, facing another Christmas with nothing more than apathy, he’s offered a chance to see Christmas in a different light.
Can the residents of Eden Vale, and in particular a man called Gabriel, show him that he can start again and that Christmas and love can live inside everyone, despite hurtful pasts?
Poor Jesse! He used to love Christmas until two years ago when he lost everything and decided he didn’t want anything to do with the holiday ever again. What I loved most about this story was watching as Jesse slowly come back to himself and how he was rediscovering the spirit of Christmas through the pictures he was taking. Spending time with Gabriel certainly didn’t hurt anything, either. The slow build between the two just fit so well with the story and served as a good reminder to Jesse that he was worth more than just a quick roll around the sheets. My only complaint was that the ending seemed a little abrupt to me but the story until then was paced really well.
Deefur and the Great Mistletoe Incident
Christmas Eve is here and with it comes ice and snow. Cameron Jackson has no control over the grief that consumes him at this time of year, but this time he wants things to be different. With a ring in his pocket and love in his heart he wants to make new memories that will replace the last pieces of ice he has inside him.
Cameron loves Jason, wants forever with Jason, but it takes Deefur and some mistletoe to have Cameron finally saying the right things to Jason at the right time.
The story of how Deefur, after the great mistletoe incident, ends up with the best bed in the house.
This is the sequel to Deefur Dog but I haven’t read that story yet and had no problems connecting with this one. Even without the first book, it was easy to get a feel for the characters and to understand the gist of what had gone on up to this point. Jason was really understanding of Cameron’s quirks but seemed to keep putting himself behind Cameron’s first husband in everything. I thought it was kind of sweet the way Cameron kept trying to find the perfect moment with Jason only to have it pass by; having it happen on the couch at the end worked so much better and seemed more genuine than what would’ve taken place elsewhere. This was the shortest story of the book but it didn’t feel rushed; there was also no sex in this one but that really wasn’t needed here.
This was a great collection of Christmas stories that I’m sure I’ll read again next year.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS: