Reviewed by Becca
TITLE: Happy Merry Christmas
AUTHOR: Amy Tasukada
PUBLISHER: JMS Books LLC
LENGTH: 90 pages
RELEASE DATE: December 17, 2016
BLURB:
Aoi can’t wait for his first Christmas Eve with Sato. The erotic voice actor wants nothing more than to share the Japanese tradition of having a KFC chicken dinner with his boyfriend.
When Aoi is offered an incredible gig that would finally earn him enough money to move in with Sato, he takes it without thinking. He fails to realize that the job could cause him to miss spending Christmas Eve with Sato altogether.
Sato is counting down the seconds to his Christmas Eve with Aoi. He’s even planning a big surprise with a present from Santa Claus. There’s only one problem: he can’t find the perfect gift, and Christmas is fast approaching.
Just when everything seems to fall into place for Aoi and Sato, they must overcome their greatest challenge yet. Can they learn to be there for each other, even when countless obstacles keep them apart?
REVIEW:
This is kind of a hard review to write. Not because the book was a short one but because it just needed more of something. The writing was good but it just needed more to the story I think.
My favorite part of this story was the ending. I loved seeing these men finally get together despite all their roadblocks. However, those road blocks were overly simplistic almost boring. Maybe if the author had given me more about their lives together or how much they really loved each other, I would have invested myself more. The characters time together was so short that you didn’t really get to see how they felt about each other or how they interacted very much. Instead the focus was on the “action” which felt flat to me. There was just not enough to make me ‘ride the roller coaster’ of emotion that I feel the author was trying for.
The characters were sweet though. Aoi really wanted to be home in time for Christmas Eve to spend a traditional Christmas dinner with his boyfriend, Sato. Sato desperately wanted to find a gift for Aoi for Christmas. They cared so much for each other that it was important to them to make this first Christmas meaningful. It was adorable to watch them trying so hard to get to each other in time before midnight so they could be together for their first Christmas. It was romantic.
For a light read, this story wasn’t bad. It wouldn’t be at the top of my list of reads, but was a sweet little Christmas story.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
I received this through the Goodreads Giveaway program. This is the first book I’ve read by Amy Tasukada.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novella by a new-to-me author. The characters are struggling with the realities of life as they attempt to celebrate their first Christmas Eve together. It was interesting to read about the necessity of having chicken and the lengths the Japanese will go to through to obtain the coveted KFC! So many interesting details about the Japanese culture and the setting were included.
The characters were interesting…even Atsushi who started out very much as a minor character had a huge impact on the story.
A sweet story!