Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: The Christmas Throwaway 
AUTHOR: RJ Scott
NARRATOR: Sean Crisden
PUBLISHER: Love Lane Books
RELEASE DATE: October 17, 2014
LENGTH: 3 hours, 2 minutes
BLURB:
Christmas is a time for giving – what do you do when no one gives a damn?
For Zachary Weston Christmas means sleeping on a churchyard bench in the freezing snow with nothing better in his future. Thrown out of his home for being gay, he is left without money or, it seems, anywhere to go.
Until a stranger shows him that some people do give a lot more than a damn.
Ben Hamilton is a rookie cop in his small home town. He finds a young throwaway, fresh from the city, sleeping on a bench in the churchyard on a snowy Christmas Eve. Can he be the one to give Zachary his own Christmas miracle?
REVIEW:
Weeks before Zach’s 18th birthday he was thrown out in the cold with only the clothes on his back and some loose change to his name. Now, just days before Christmas he’s seeking solace on a bench in a graveyard. Ben Hamilton, a rookie cop finds a cold shaking young man sleeping on a bench. Instead of bringing him in and reporting him, Ben brings Zach home to his family. A family filled with Christmas spirit and warmth in every sense of the word. And Just what lonely and abused Zach needed.
This might just be me, but I found Ben annoying. He was just too perfect and perky for my tastes and thought he could and would change everything that was wrong in the world. But when Zach didn’t do or immediately follow everything he said he turned kind of mean and judgmental. It also felt like Ben forced the Christmas spirit on Zach – enjoy it or else. I understand why he forced family and celebration on him, but it was just too much and too soon and it rubbed me wrong. I’m not a fan of manipulations.
Then there was the relationship between Zach and Ben. It just felt off. There wasn’t any connection, it was shallow. There was no attraction, no build-up, no UST – nothing. Yet Scott still tried to make us believe in a relationship between the guys. Sure it wasn’t insta-love by any standard, but should in theory be a slow-burn romance – but for me the romance was never present.
I truly believe that the book would have been better it had been solely focused on Zach’s struggles for a new beginning, a new life and leave the relationship part out of it. That would have been a great story, starting over, new friends and family. But sadly that’s not what we got, but I’m still going to pretend.
So for the last week or so I’ve picked up three Christmas stories, and each and every one of them has been narrated by Sean Crisden. Maybe it’s coincidence or maybe Crisden really likes narrating Christmas stories, either way I feel like I’m running out of ways to describe his great performances in a new way. I love the feelings he brings, make you feel, and while this might not have been the greatest of stories, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the narration.
Story: 2,5 hearts
Narration: 4,5 stars
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
I read this story years ago and it came along at the right time for me. I needed a little Christmas hope at that time and that is exactly what I got in this book. It may seem trite seems oversimplified but I loved it then and now.