Reviewed by Marieke

TITLE: Season to Shimmer

SERIES: Warmest Wishes, Dreamspinner Press2018 Advent Calendar

AUTHOR: Kim Katil

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 52 pages

RELEASE DATE: December 1, 2018

BLURB:

One morning close to the holidays, Nolan wakes up to two surprises: a distress call from his younger brother and a beautiful man in his bed. Nolan, an art gallery owner, has always been discreet about his sexuality, but when his baby brother plans to come out at the annual family gala, Nolan wants to have his back—and that means showing up with a man of his own on his arm. Nolan knows just the man for the job.

Skylar, who owns a karate studio in St. Augustine, can’t get his one-night stand out of his mind. When he runs into Nolan at his gallery he is more than happy to volunteer his services as arm candy. Out-and-proud himself with his striking blue/green hair, Skylar is all in. Their adventure means a fancy salon, family drama, lots of sex, a ninja hippo, and palm trees lit up in a very suggestive way. By the end of it, what started as a hookup might become much more.

REVIEW:

Nolan wakes up next to a green haired, beautiful man, who he met at a party the night before. After a call from one of his younger brothers, he goes over there to figure out what to do about their (step)father and their mother. That’s when it gets a little complicated. The author throws a bunch of people in a room, all of whom are somehow related. She uses abbreviations and full names, as well as brother, stepbrother and half-brother in no apparent order. It took me out of the story multiple times, which bugged me.

When all the boys and girls agree to show their support, they hash out a plan to go to the family Christmas party at the country club, with all male dates. Nolan knows exactly who he wants to bring. The green haired karate studio owner, Skylar. When the man in question happens to walk into his art gallery that night, he immediately asks him, plus he makes his intentions clear. Nolan wants more than just the one-night stand and the date, he wants a boyfriend.

The party goes horrible wrong, but the brothers stick together, as well as the girlfriends, boyfriends and their families. Which is heartwarming, even if it’s a sad situation.

What I liked about the story is how those boys handled their family situation. They had each other’s back and loved each other unconditionally. There was a bit of humor, a bit of romance and some hot sex…which is always nice.

The thing I didn’t like is, even though the plot line was pretty sweet and great for a holiday short, it wasn’t written very well. There were a lot of chaotic parts, where people blended together, and conversations felt unrealistic and fake. Situations were resolved too easily and way too fast. Declaring their love to each other after half a date and one night of barely remembered drunken sex, is just too fast. Offering someone a job without even really meeting them, is also not very realistic. All this took me away from the lovely plot and stopped me from connecting with the characters.

So, the plot idea was great, the character basically too, but the way it was written was a bit lacking.

RATING: 

BUY LINKS: 

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon