Reviewed by Kat

TITLE: Deck the Halls

SERIES: Stonewall Investigations (A Stonewall Investigations’ Holiday Story)

AUTHOR: Max Walker

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 266 pages

RELEASE DATE: November 26, 2018

BLURB:

Andrew Barker is ready for the holidays. His perpetually bright and cheery personality feel right at home for Christmas. He has time off from work and a husband who’s waiting for him at home, what else would he need?

Well, he had no idea he would be needing to sign divorce papers – let’s start there.

Declan Rose-Covington, part of a luxury hotel dynasty, is coming into Stonewall Investigations because he needs help with a family issue. With his mom’s huge holiday retreat around the corner, he’s hoping to solve it before Santa comes to town. The last thing he’s expecting is to enter the detective agency and fall for the strikingly handsome man sitting behind the front desk.

Of course, life has ways of delivering well-wrapped surprises.

When Declan and Andrew meet they both feel an instant connection. Soon, the connection grows powerful enough to push Declan toward a crazy proposition: invite Andrew to the family retreat as a fake boyfriend. Andrew would get a nice week-long vacation out of it and Declan would avoid the judgemental jabs from all the spoused-up family members.

The potential for disaster was there, but there was also a chance to truly make this the most wonderful time of the year. And that was something neither of them wanted to miss out on.

_______

Deck The Halls is a full-length and standalone Stonewall Investigations story.

REVIEW:

Finally, we get the scoop on the adorable and sexy Andrew, the office manager/receptionist at Stonewall Investigations!

Andrew could barely contain his Christmas joy and was busy decorating the offices of Stonewall Investigations the Monday after Thanksgiving. He and his husband, Barry, had bought new decorations and had started on their home over the holiday break. After a slight faux pas with fake snow and a new, very handsome client, Andrew headed home early to be with his husband while he was still off. What Andrew walked in on wasn’t anything he remotely was prepared for. Seems that the fairly distant Barry had been “entertaining” while he was off at work. So, instead of making new Christmas memories Andrew was searching for a divorce lawyer. Upon their next meeting at Stonewall, Andrew was all off and distance, not the upbeat and fun guy that Declan had met the previous time. And there was something else missing from Andrew besides his sparkling personality, the absence of a silver band on his ring finger. When Declan suggests that Andrew accompany him to his family’s week long Christmas retreat in Connecticut, Andrew dismisses it immediately. He has no desire to be the man’s date either real or fake. When Andrew’s bff Zoey pushes him to have some fun he finally caves and agrees to be Declan’s fake boyfriend. But the problem with fake relationships is that they don’t work…especially when there are sparks flying and sizzling chemistry!

This was a nice, fun break from all the drama of the Unicorn killer. The Stonewall crew has been through the wringer with that case, losing one of their one in the process, and needed some holiday cheer. We have been assured that the next book in the series will have Zane hard at work on the case but a bit of fun for the holidays was the present that everyone needed.

I really liked the connection between Andrew and Declan. They had both needed someone trustworthy, caring and honest in their lives. Both were good guys that got screwed over by their ex’s who never appreciated what they had. Declan’s wealth and the extravagant, over-the-top way his mother celebrated Christmas could only happen in a fairytale romcom however I really liked her outreach to the community on Christmas Day. And I could only dream of a treehouse like Declan has! But my absolute favorite supporting character was the witty and engaging Lucille, Declan’s grandmother. Some of her comments literally had me laughing out loud! I know that my kids and grandkids worry that I will become something like her and I say…I hope so!

This fun romp was a big time diversion from the typical books in the series. Instead of being on the search for a killer or the men being in danger, the only case here is theft. I loved seeing Andrew come into his own with the firm and his future seems pretty rosy and bright.

I love this series and this Christmas book was just what I needed on a cold winter’s night!

RATING: 

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