Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: Unexpected Christmas

AUTHOR: Nell Iris

PUBLISHER: JMS Books LLC

LENGTH: 50 pages

RELEASE DATE: December 16, 2017

BLURB:
Daniel Erickson stormed out of his family celebration after choking on his turkey served with a side of bigotry. Utterly miserable, he reluctantly lets himself be charmed by the hulk of a man and gets into his car…hoping he won’t be ax murdered.
Axel Wilson—Ax for short, unfortunately—is a sweetheart. Really. He may be badass-looking but his heart melts into goo at the mere mention of his four-year-old niece. Surely, he’s not dangerous?
Thrown together by family drama, they spend the evening getting to know each other. Axel is nothing like Daniel expected. But it doesn’t matter that he loves poetry, is gentle and patient—and hot!—Daniel is absolutely not falling in love at first sight. There’s no such thing.
Right…?

REVIEW:

I know that by the time this is posted on the blog, it will be Valentine’s Day. Or past that. But I hope it won’t discourage you from reading this book. It’s such a beautiful little story. It’s a reminder to keep the adage of ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover in mind.’ It’s also a reminder that everyone deserves love. No matter what they look like.

Daniel is fed up. Beyond fed up. His is sick of listening to his uncle’s bigoted, hateful mouth and if he hears one more word, he is going to punch the man. Bad enough no else stands up to him. Christmas is ruined. He storms out of his Mom’s house in the middle of a snowstorm to get away from that man. What he doesn’t think about, until it’s too late, is he forgot his coat and it’s like 5 miles to town. When a truck comes down the road, he flags it down hoping he can get a ride, but is immediately frightened when he sees a huge man with gauges in his ears and tattoos spanning his hands, arms and neck. Ax, ironically named, finally coaxes Daniel in his truck, with the promise he isn’t a serial killer. Ax plans to take Daniel to town when he is interrupted by a phone call from his scared 4 year old niece. Making a detour, Daniel begins to see how wrong he truly was. This hulk of a man was not only beautiful, but he could sing and in Italian no less, was wrapped around the finger of a 4 year old, and was much more complex than Daniel could imagine. And Ax is working his way in Daniel’s heart and under his skin. But Daniel doesn’t believe in love at first sight. Or does he?

How many times have we all seen someone look a little different and judged too quickly and harshly? I know I have. I don’t even mean to do it but I do. And when we judge so quickly, most often we miss out on what a beautiful person someone can be. Yes, before anyone argues, there are assholes out there, but as a whole we shouldn’t judge so quickly. Daniel almost missed out on someone wonderful because he judges too quick. Ax is a beautiful man, inside and out. He’s so smart, gentle, patient, kind and the list goes on. But he gets used and often hurt because people either judge him for his size and tats or because he is so soft hearted. And I fell in love. Ax is so tired. He is juggling so many balls in his life trying to do the right thing and he’s just wore out. He needs someone to love him, to see him for who he is. Oh gah my heart broke with him. At first I wanted to smack Daniel lol. But he redeemed himself when he really started looking and seeing Ax for who he is. And then I loved Daniel because all he wanted to do was lift Ax’s load and care for him. And what started out as a shitty Christmas for both, because something beautiful and uplifting. All because one man quit judging and the other finally let go.

Just writing this brings tears to my eyes. The love and the beauty of these two just makes me breathless. I hope you find it as wondrous as I did.

RATING:   

BUY LINKS: 

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