Advent Calendar Review: The Mature Man's Guide to Surviving Change by Chris Scully

Like the last few years we at Love Bytes are reviewing the whole dsp advent calender

There will be a review posted each day throughout the month of December.

Let us know what you think of the reviews and the stories and have a chance to win a fabulous giveaway.

First Prize: 10 Dreamspinner Press ebooks (winner’s choice)

Second Prize: 5 Dreamspinner Press ebooks (winner’s choice)

Third Prize: 3 Dreamspinner Press ebooks (winner’s choice)

Day 27

Reviewed by Donna

TITLE: The Mature Man’s Guide to Surviving Change

SERIES: 2017 Dreamspinner Advent Calendar – Stocking Stuffers

AUTHOR: Chris Scully

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 66 Pages

RELEASE DATE: December 1, 2017

BLURB:

In the sunny playground of Palm Springs, growing up was something confirmed bachelor and bad-boy chef Joel avoided at all costs—until a close friend’s death made him reevaluate his priorities. Ever since, he’s been dedicated to helping his widowed friend Perry get back on his feet by teaching him to cook and providing a shoulder to cry on. But when Perry announces that he’s ready to start dating again and then begins receiving gifts from an anonymous secret Santa, Joel is forced to confront the feelings he’s suppressed for so long.

As Joel struggles with jealousy and guilt amid the holiday season, he must decide if he’s ready to grow up and reach for what he’s always wanted but never thought he could have.

REVIEW:

I love stories that feature main characters that are older than our usual MCs. The Mature Man’s Guide to Surviving Change gives us Perry and Joel, two fiftyish men who became friends through Perry’s deceased husband, Dale.

Dale was Joel’s best friend, so when he died Joel made it his mission to watch out for Perry and keep him company through his grief. But now Perry has decided that it’s time to start dating again, and Joel is forced to face that fact that he wants Perry for himself. That he has always wanted Perry for himself. And when Perry seems to set his sights on someone that Joel thinks is unsuitable, not to mention the secret santa that has begun sending Perry gifts, Joel realizes that if he’s ever going to be with Perry, the time to do something about it is now.

I enjoyed the interactions between Joel and Perry, you could tell from their first conversation on page that they needed to be a couple. The author made great use of the secondary characters to help our men find their way. I appreciated the fact that Dale’s memory wasn’t tarnished just so Joel could lose his sense of guilt about loving Perry. It always annoys me when the dead, much loved husband turns out to have been a cheating, drug dealing, Trump supporting alien who was only on Earth to scope out human weaknesses and impregnate the omegas. Perry had the love of a good man once, and he’s ready to get that for himself again. I really liked Perry.

Added to all of that we end with a very Christmas movie kinda day that shows us once more that Perry and Joel are all kinds of awesome together.

RATING: