Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  XOXO, Santa

AUTHOR:  Spencer Spears

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  285 pages

RELEASE DATE:  December 16, 2020

BLURB:

How do you ask your best friend to be your first time?

Blake: What do you do when you realize at age 20 that you might like guys?

If you’re me, you come up with a brilliant and foolproof plan:
Proposition the one gay guy you know to swipe your V-card over winter break.
In my case, that’s my childhood best friend, Henry.

Just one problem—Henry hates my guts.

That’s okay, though, because I’ve got a Plan B:
Download an app, find a guy to hook up with, and figure out once and for all if I’m as gay as my internet search history suggests.

One more little problem—before I can meet the guy I’m messaging online, I have to get through a week’s vacation with Henry and our families.

Henry, who can’t stand me, but who I can’t get out of my head.
Henry, who’s off-limits, but who I maybe kinda sorta kissed last night?
Henry, who’s spending an awful lot of time checking messages on his phone…

XOXO, Santa is a 70,000 word stand-alone gay romance novel with holiday sweetness, first-time steam, and a borderline-unhealthy level of snark. It features jock/nerd, friends-to-lovers, and online love tropes.

REVIEW:

Henry and Blake were best friends when they were kids.  Their parents are best friends, their older sisters are best friends – you get the picture.  But when they started attending school together in middle school, things changed.  Henry was the only out kid and it didn’t go so well.  Blake tried to be his friends, but he was a little oblivious to what else was going on.  So they grew apart.  They attend different colleges and really only see each other the one week that their families spend together over the holidays at Mammoth.

Henry is into theater and he’s just broken up with his boyfriend – a fact he hasn’t let his family in on yet.  Blake has been seriously questioning his attraction to guys and he’d really like to ask Henry’s help.  But Henry’s got a boyfriend now, so that probably wouldn’t be cool.  So he goes on an app to find someone to “help him” figure things out.  He’s a soccer player and it’s not that he thinks his family will have any issues, but he doesn’t want to make things awkward with his teammates unless he knows for sure.  He’s only dated girls until now, so he’s thoroughly confused.

Once Blake finds out that he can’t really ask Henry, he decides to get on a gay dating app GayBae to see if he can find someone willing to show him the ropes, so to speak 😉  Of course unbeknownst to him, Henry has broken up with his boyfriend and has also decided to try a dating app because he REALLY wants to be over Carter, the cheating ex.

Henry and Blake of course have no idea they are taking to each other via app.  And when they have to spend the week with their families away from LA and continue to message each other, things get interesting 😀

Well this story was just adorable.  Blake’s inability to shut up – either in person or online is really sort of endearing 🙂 I love this whole premise of people knowing each other IRL while also having a secret online relationship and this is one of the best examples of this trope.  Blake and Henry were both a little bit stuck in their past experiences and perspectives about what had happened when they were kids and it’s like they are getting to know each other all over again in so many different ways.  I LOVED the texting conversations – hilarious!  Also Blake’s inner monologue was a hoot.  These boys are very sweet and I was rooting for them from the state.  What a sweet and lovely holiday story about two guys who kind of fumble their way along to a happy ending in the most entertaining and enjoyable way.  I think this might be my favorite Spencer Spears story to date!  Highly recommended.

RATING: 

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