Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: The Christmas Leap
SERIES: Festive Fakes Book 2
AUTHOR: Keira Andrews
NARRATOR: Greg Boudreaux
PUBLISHER: KA Books
LENGTH: 7 hours
RELEASE DATE: November 10, 2022
BLURB:
Fake romance shouldn’t feel this real…
Will: I’ve never been with a man.
Sure, I’ve thought about it. Wondered. Daydreamed. Imagined. But I wasn’t ready to take the leap.
I have a reputation as a “ladies’ man.” No one has any idea how curious I am about men—not even my openly bi best friend. Make that former best friend. Michael ghosted me, and I have no idea why.
Michael: The man I love is straight.
It hurt like hell when I had to distance myself from Will. I’ve tried desperately to grow up and get over him, but my carefully constructed life just fell apart—and Will rushes to my rescue.
Now we’re pretending to be a couple to impress his boss at a holiday retreat. We’re holding hands and hugging.
We’re sharing a bed.
And Will just kissed me.
Is my best friend falling in love with me after all?
The Christmas Leap by Keira Andrews is a Christmas romance featuring friends to lovers, bi awakening, first times, and of course a happy ending. This standalone novel takes place in the same universe as The Christmas Deal.
REVIEW:
Keira Andrews does a terrific job with holiday stories, and the holiday romance she penned this year is the very enjoyable The Christmas Leap, which follows The Christmas Deal, the first book in Andrews’ Festive Fakes series. The Christmas Leap hits all the right holiday notes with festive cheer, heartwarming feels, romance, love, and laughter. There are a few detractors, but those are easily overshadowed once the story is put into the more than capable hands of the audiobook’s narrator, Greg Boudreaux, who brings this romance to life in a way only he can.
Fake boyfriends is an appealing, oft-used trope, and it also happens to be one of my favorites. If you are like me in that regard, Will and Michael’s friends-to-lovers, fake relationship romance will have you hooked on this story from the first page. Both guys are highly likable, and you can easily understand how well they fit together, even though we don’t experience the establishment of their friendship within the pages of this book. Seth and Logan from The Christmas Deal, appear here, and while not strictly necessary, reading that book first will give you helpful context.
The relationship between Will and Michael takes center stage, which is definitely a good thing because other aspects of the story did not resonate with me as strongly. One area of overlap with the first book is in Will’s work situation. He and Seth work for the same company and for the same, highly intrusive boss, with the same way-too-involved coworkers, and the same implicit need to make sexuality and relationship decisions based on the job. In the first book, Seth and Logan pretend to be an engaged couple because Seth’s boss gives preferential treatment to employees with families. In this book, for similar reasons – job advancement, with the same boss (ugh) – we see Will pretend to be bisexual and in a relationship with Michael – or at least at the time he makes the decision to pretend, he’s pretending. He only later recognizes the reality of the situation – he is, in fact, bisexual and very much in love with Michael. I understand Andrews’ creating a framework to scaffold her stories onto, but the work scenarios really chafed.
That being said, A Christmas Leap is recommended holiday fare, especially in audiobook format because … well, Greg Boudreaux. If you’ve listened to Boudreaux before, you know his exceptional talent and invested vocal performances. He acts the heck out of anything and everything he narrates. He’s simply one of the best narrators around, and he can elevate any book with his committed, skilled narration. He’s a one-click narrator for me and one of my favorites across the board. While A Christmas Leap isn’t my favorite title from Andrews, Boudreaux always does a phenomenal job and his work on this book is no exception. He makes this an enjoyable seven hours of listening. Recommended.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS: