Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Gingerbread Spiced Daddy
SERIES: Elves After Dark
AUTHOR: Leona Windwalker
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 64 pages
RELEASE DATE: November 20, 2020
BLURB:
Bauble
I should have seen this coming. I’ve screwed up in every single department they put me to work in back at the Pole. Assigned to the general labor pool to do whatever grunt work of the day that’s needed, I was just handed the joy of going into the human world to serve as a candy cane patrol monitor at a shopping mall Santa’s grotto for the whole of this holiday season. It’s depressing as all get out, seeing all of those loved up couples and happy families enjoying the festive atmosphere while I go back to the crappy motel room I share with another failure of an elf. Is it too much to ask to have someone of my own to cuddle up with in front of a roaring fire and have sexy times with next to the Christmas tree? That’s when I see him, a breathcatchingly handsome man standing there in line, holding his kid’s hand, naturally. Still, I can dream, right? He looks just like my ideal notion of the perfect Daddy.
Cliff
I don’t know how I let myself get talked into taking my niece Laurette to go see Santa. Okay, yes, I do. I made the mistake of telling my sister that I was going out to do some personal Christmas shopping, pick up the gift baskets my boss ordered for our department heads, and to order the decorated giant cookie for the staff Christmas party. As soon as she realized I would be stopping at the mall, that was all she wrote. So, here I am, standing in line wearing the Santa hat Laurette insisted I wear, wondering just what the hell that guy in the elf costume handing out candy canes to the kids as they leave is staring at. He better not be some weirdo thinking about trying to get Laurette alone later or snatching her from the parking lot or something. No, wait, it’s me he’s looking at. I know I look ridiculous in this hat and it doesn’t go with my leather jeans and bike jacket but he looks pretty stupid too in those small shorts, striped tights, and let’s not forget his elf hat which has bells on it. Bells!
Gingerbread Spiced Daddy is a Christmas romance following one Winter Elf fresh from the North Pole as he finds his HEA in the human world over the holiday season thanks to a little magic called love.
REVIEW:
Bauble Lightstring is an elf who has not found his niche yet. So he gets assigned to the Candy cane patrol monitor detail. He’s not happy as this job is on earth and his last go at that was a complete disaster. But he doesn’t have a choice. He takes up his job at the Santa’s grotto at the mall and daydreams about having someone of his own. His daydreams come fantastically to life in the appearance of a leather clad daddy escorting a child to see Santa. He’s intrigued and maybe a bit too obvious in his attraction 😉 The guy smells amazing and that’s when Bauble knows. He’s found his mate!
Cliff Reinhardt is a recently separated veteran who has taken a job with a company in his hometown after his first post-service job ended. He’s happy to be closer to his family but he’s not exactly thrilled with the job. While taking his niece to the mall to visit Santa, he happens upon the a very strange elf and he gives the kid the meanest brush off. Then he feels guilty about it and is compelled to go back to the scene of the crime as it were to try to apologize. He ends up spending the whole afternoon with Bauble and he enjoys himself. But he has to get back to work and so does Bauble.
Then things really start to go a bit sideways when Bauble appears at Cliff’s apartment. He blurts out that he’s an elf and that they are mates and of course Cliff thinks he’s not in his right mind and isn’t sure what to do about it. He tries avoiding Bauble, the the elf proves to be pretty persistent. When Cliff is smacked with the reality of the situation, he has an interesting reaction. Seems he might be so opposed to elves after all 🙂
While there isn’t anything really wrong with this story, I just didn’t connect with the characters. I didn’t feel like I really got to know either Bauble or Cliff and I didn’t feel any connection between them except for the mate bond. Once again there are some really cute elements of the Santa/North Pole enterprise and I enjoyed all the “punny” names of the other elves and the other departments and jobs in this one. I hadn’t read a story about mate bonds with elves before unless the mate was a shifter. Bauble is kind of naive and just blurts out whatever comes into his head quite a lot. Cliff tends to jump to conclusions a bit and isn’t ready to accept what Bauble is trying to tell him. I kind of enjoyed Glitter and his relaxation techniques 😉 If you’re in the mood for a super quick read about what Santa’s elves get up to when they are sent to earth and you enjoy a little bit of daddy kink, then you might enjoy this one.
RATING:
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