Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Fran Cuthbert Ruins Christmas

AUTHORS:  Lisa Henry and J.A. Rock

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:   187 pages

RELEASE DATE:  November 15, 2022

BLURB:

Welcome (back) to Christmas Valley. Where it’s Christmas every. F@$#ing. Day.

It’s your typical Hallmark movie plot: my big city boyfriend dumped me, so my adorable five-year-old daughters and I moved back to my hometown just in time for Christmas. I guess the magic of the holiday is going to show me what I really wanted all along, or something.

But on Hallmark, people aren’t usually mainlining their mother’s Xanax. Or stealing the last available Peachblossom Pony Pal from their hot doctor because they have to give their kids the best Christmas ever. And when they run into their high school sweetheart, they don’t usually face the gulf of lies that exists between Cass Sullivan and me.

Oh yeah, and their hometown isn’t located directly up Christmas’s butthole.

I left Christmas Valley because I couldn’t listen to one more carol or look at one more tinsel-wrapped streetlamp. But moving to Boston meant leaving Cass, and that has always been my one regret. I mean, I also regret the box of Franzia in my closet, being publicly dumped, agreeing to take tap dancing lessons with my mom, and the fact that I can’t seem to open my mouth without a little white lie popping out. But mostly Cass.

When I need someone to play Santa for my girls’ favorite Christmas tradition, Cass steps in. Suddenly, I’m falling for him like we’re seventeen again. Can we put aside two decades’ worth of baggage and give each other a second chance? Can he help me build a life in Christmas Valley? And has he really been banging our former geometry teacher?

Only Christmastime will tell. If the holidays don’t kill me first.

Fran Cuthbert Ruins Christmas is a sweet, low-heat holiday novella featuring a second chance romance, a hot mess MC who could use a steadying hand, adorable kids and dogs, and a guaranteed HEA.

REVIEW:

Fran Cuthbert has returned from Boston to his small Ohio hometown with five-year-old his twin daughters.   He’s been through a breakup and he’s not too excited about the prospect of Christmas with his girls in a new town without Ben, his ex, who has always played Santa for them.  He also is somewhat ambivalent about having to leave his life in the big city and return home after 18 years.  He really wants his girls to have a very good Christmas after he’s uprooted them.  His mother is there to help with the girls but she’s got her own issues, what with the Christmas show she’s tap dancing in with one of her friends and her gentleman friend, Jake.  Fran may be self-medicating a bit too with his mother’s Xanax and some Franzia 😉

Things are going “ok” even though Fran hasn’t gotten the one thing his daughter most desires – a Peachblossom Pony Pal – and he doesn’t have anyone to play Santa for the girls.  Then he runs into Cassidy, his high school boyfriend and first love – the one who got away.  They had a bad breakup because of Fran.  Turns out Fran has a bad habit of lying when he doesn’t want to deal with confrontation/consequences.  This has been a pattern in Fran’s life.  He’s also been chasing the approval of an absent father – and that hasn’t worked out so well either.

Cass has returned to Christmas Valley and he’s working as a part time Santa at one of the local Christmas stores.  This store is owned by a high school classmate of Cass and Fran’s, Katya.  She is surprised to see Fran back in Christmas Valley and she’s concerned that he will break Cass’s heart.  Again.  She’s a bit of an enigma – but a highly entertaining one.  Fran asks Cass to take on the role of Santa for the traditional cookies with Santa on Christmas Eve with his girls after Ben turns him down.  He and Cass start spending time together and it seems like maybe there are still feelings there.  But of course Fran keeps screwing it up.  He has a great idea of how he can make it up to Cass – but thing definitely don’t go his way.  And he ruins Christmas 😉

OMG!  This story is HILARIOUS!!!  I was laughing out loud far too many times and was glad I was reading this at home and not somewhere in public, or people would have been wondering about me.  This is SERIOUSLY one of the funniest books I’ve read all year.  Fran Cuthbert truly is a HOT MESS!  He is his own worst enemy – by a mile.  I loved the secondary characters including Fran’s mother, her boyfriend and Katya.  Even Ben turns out to be a good guy.  Fran is the architect of his own problems and it takes him forever to learn any lessons!  He seems to have to do everything the hard way.  That Cass is willing to give him another chance is somewhat a Christmas miracle.  Then there are the girls.  They are a hoot.  I loved the trouble they got into and the way Fran dealt with it.  It’s clear that these children are Fran’s priority.  The whole Peachblossom affair made me howl with laughter at the length people go to for these “must have” gifts.  Fran really is a good dad and that endeared him to me so much even though he really did need to find a different way to deal with his issues 😀

If you need a good laugh, this low-angst, slightly OTT MC and his escapades will provide it.  Lisa Henry and J.A. Rock are a great combo and this book left me laughing and smiling! Highly recommended.

RATING:

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