Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Tangled in Tinsel

AUTHOR:  Ellen Mint

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  331 pages

RELEASE DATE:  November 30, 2021

BLURB:

Dear Santa, please leave a red-headed lumberjack under the tree. I’ve been a very good boy.

Dean Hancock does not have time for the gorgeous, red-haired, cowboy lumberjack that nearly shattered his windshield with a Christmas tree. He’s on the hunt for a long-lost cradle carved by the artistic genius Gustav Gilt. After being lost for a hundred years, the antique appears five days before Christmas in the tiny town of Tinsel.

God has a wicked sense of humor.

On the verge of an academic and financial breakthrough, he doesn’t have time to ‘get friendly’ with the local cowboy Levi Bruce. If he hasn’t authenticated the manger in the middle of the town square before Christmas Eve, he’ll lose his antique shop and any dreams he had to find a real Gilt. But it won’t stop Dean fantasizing about his lumberjack riding in on a white horse and lassoing him just right.

Levi Bruce spends his days waking before dawn, tending his tree farm, going to bed after dark, and starting the cycle all over again. It’s a long, lonely life, but with his dog Harry at his side, he thought it was enough. Then that handsome, charming man from the city had to stroll in and upend everything. The wolves are at the door, a big company threatening to take his family farm out from under him. The last thing Levi needs is distracting dreams of kissing the delectable man under the mistletoe.

Will these two fools open their hearts by the fire of the farmhouse’s hearth? Or will the promise of millions, a family secret, and an eccentric artist’s masterpiece rip them apart forever?

Tangled in Tinsel was created in part thanks to my wonderful readers who voted on what they wanted to see in a Christmas romance. This gay, Hallmark-influenced romance is a heart-warming, hilarious, steamy mug of Christmas cocoa.

REVIEW:

Dean Hancock needs to authenticate an antique.  It could have his career, his business and his sanity.  Unfortunately it’s in the tiny hamlet of Tinsel.  The town is populated with a lot of quirky characters and a gorgeous cowboy that Dean remembers from one of his many youthful camp adventures.  When there is no room in the inn, he ends up going home with said cowboy, one Levi Bruce, purveyor of the local Christmas Tree farm.

Levi Bruce is barely keeping his head above water.  The vultures are circling to buy up his farm – his family legacy.  He remembers Dean from the camp days but he’s grown into a really good looking man 🙂  He’s keeping mum about his attraction though. And then there is the antique.  Turns out that it’s not just some town relic, but in fact is connected to Levi.

Dean was run out of his PhD program for proposing that indeed the artist creator of said antique was gay.  He’s tried for 15 years to prove his case and this is his opportunity to set the record straight once and for all.  But at what cost?  He’ll have to make a very difficult decision that could affect him, the town and most importantly, the man that he’s coming to care about more than anything.

Oh my!  What a wonderfully inventive story this is 🙂  I was pulled in from the first scene and it just got better from there.  Dean and Levi had a brief summer acquaintance when Dean was a kid and Levi was a counselor.  Neither knew about the other having the same “inclinations” and maybe they hadn’t even figured it out then.  But this chance reconnecting in Tinsel and then the further connection of the antique that Dean is trying to authenticate being tied to Levi is completely unexpected.  I loved watching them dance around each other – being thwarted at every turn when they start to get close 🙂  Thank goodness for snow storms that leave them stranded with just each other for company.  A fortuitous decorating party that illuminates much is just another fun scenario in this book.  I loved both of the MCs – each fierce and strong in their own ways, yet gentle with each other.  The quirky town of Tinsel has more than it’s share of excitement in this story of family history, town pride, greed, oneupsmanship, pomposity and above all tradition.  Absolutely adored this story!  This is the first story I’ve read by this author and I will be rectifying that in future.  Highly recommended for a lovely, fun, holiday story with real heart.

RATING: 

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