Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Remember When
AUTHOR: B.L. Maxwell
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 192 pages
RELEASE DATE: November 11, 2021
BLURB:
A night to remember, a confession, and a lifetime of love in this small town, friends to lovers Christmas romance.
Andrew Lawson’s life in Sacramento has turned from being everything he dreamed of growing up, to a lonely place where finding someone special to share his life with is impossible. When the first person he meets on returning home for Thanksgiving is his childhood friend Link, it’s a reminder of happier times when his whole future lay in front of him. Agreeing to a drink before heading to his parent’s place is a way to reconnect, and a great way to start the holiday.
Link Stanton never considered leaving the small farming town he grew up in, but he misses Andy more than he’ll ever admit. Secretly lusting after a friend is bad enough but being in love with him is so much worse. One drink with friends seems harmless enough, after all, catching up on old times can’t be a bad thing, until beers turn to shots, and Link reveals how he really feels.
Everything could change, and if Andrew doesn’t remember Link’s heartfelt confession, they could carry on as friends. But, if he does remember, this could be either the worst, or the best, Christmas of all.
REVIEW:
Andy Lawson and Link Stanton have been best friends since childhood. They did everything together in their small town growing up. Now they are in their early 30s and Andy is a successful hair stylist and Link has taken over his family farm and is really building something. Their visits have been sporadic over the last decade since Andy moved to Sacramento for school and setting up his business. He loves his clients and how successful he’s been, but he is also tired after long workweeks and hasn’t visited his family and friends in his hometown in favor of relaxing on his downtime. Link has been missing Andy a lot.
When Andy returns home for Thanksgiving, he runs into Link – almost literally – and stays out with his friends the night before as he’s driving into town. He has a great time, drinking, playing pool, dancing. But he overindulges and he can’t remember a thing after the last round of shots. He wakes up hungover and when Link arrives for Thanksgiving with Andy’s family (since his parents are on vacation), he gets the feeling that something important happened – but he doesn’t know what.
Link tells Andy he’s going out AGAIN on Thanksgiving night to the same bar with some of their friends. Again, he’s sure he’s missing something. But nobody will tell him. Link takes him out on the balcony to talk, but surprises him a lot with a kiss. But when Link asks Andy if he remembers anything yet from the night before, Andy tells him no – because he doesn’t. So Link agrees to tell him what happened at Christmas if Andy doesn’t remember by then.
Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Link visits Andy and they spend more time together. The go shopping, visit holiday fairs, have meals together and Link stays over. They have so much fun – reminiscing about their childhoods, talking about their lives now and what they want out of their careers and how much the love spending time together. And all during that time, Andy keeps dreaming more and more of Link and what he might have missed that night before Thanksgiving. He’s pretty sure he knows what it is by Christmas, but he wants to make sure. It’s a very merry Christmas for all 😀
I really really enjoyed this story and pretty much read it in one sitting. It’s a really adorable and sweet low angst holiday tale of friends to lovers that gave me a totally warm and happy feeling. Link and Andy are soooooo cute together. I loved how much fun they had together and how well they knew each other. They really have so much love and respect for what the other is doing with his life. Their walks down memory lane were so lovely and I chuckled at the antics they got up to. They were each really thoughtful and caring about the other – and their gift giving was spot on! I loved that the whole family and town was so supportive of Link and of Link and Andy 😀 If you love friends to lover, small town/city life and wonderful holidays, I think you will really enjoy this book. Highly recommended and one of my favorite holiday books so far this year!
RATING: 
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