Reviewed by Anna Lynn
TITLE: A Graphically Designed Holiday
SERIES: 2019 Advent Anthology
AUTHOR: Ren Holly
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 951 Kb
RELEASE DATE: December 1, 2019
BLURB:
Graphic designer Eli has harbored a secret crush on nerdy math teacher Lincoln since they were at school together, and he’s perfectly content with his unrequited feelings—until Lincoln requests a special handmade holiday gift: a dating profile with all the bells and whistles Eli can include, one that will be sure to find Lincoln a boyfriend for Christmas. Eli uses building the profile as an excuse to spend time with Lincoln, but will he be able to watch his friend find love with someone else.
REVIEW:
Sometimes when we fall for our best friend and we don’t want to destroy the friendship thus we don’t confess how we truly feel. This happens a lot nowadays. We spend so much time with our friends that we fall for them. Well, why not? Because we are together so much, we know each other very well and we already love each other as friends. So, it should be easy right? No. I think it is one of the hardest types of relationships, when you are best friends first then you start to develop deeper feelings.
Eli, an Aerospace Engineering graduate, also decided to minor in Graphic Design – which is his real passion. His father wanted him to pursue a career is space engineering, just like him, his father and grandfather, but it has never been what Eli wanted. He wants to do graphic design.
Lincoln, a lowly Geometry teacher (according to him), has been Eli’s friend all through their college years at Princeton. They have remained best friends even after college.
Lincoln wishes for a boyfriend before Christmas so he asks Eli to design his dating profile. They start spending more time together in order to work on it. Nearing the end of this special project, Eli wishes he can find the courage to tell Lincoln how he really feels. But he is still hesitant, afraid of what it’ll do to their friendship.
This tale of love is short and sweet. I love the interaction between the two friends and how hard Eli was trying in order not to reveal how he truly feels to Lincoln. It is written well but because it is a bit short, the intimate moments were a little hurried. More than half of the story was focused on their friendship. And it has been a while since I have read only one point of view in a story, so that is a good surprise as well. If you love a best friends-to-lovers trope, then you will definitely love this.
RATING: 
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Friends to lovers are soooo christmasy stories… Thank you for the review!
This sounds perfect for me!
Nice to see the math/science representation.
Love friend to lover stories. Sounds great!