Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  The Humbug Holiday

AUTHOR:  Lane Hayes

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  135 pages

RELEASE DATE:  December 12, 2022

BLURB: 

Two grumpy bears and a holiday season neither will forget…

Joe

So this sexy silver fox rolls into my small New England town and buys a run-down old house in need of renovation. That’s where I come in. My job is to do some basic repairs, so he can write in peace. Yep, the hotshot is a bestselling author, but that’s not why I recognize Cameron Warren.

No worries, I won’t let a one-night stand make things awkward. I could use the work, but is he seriously asking me to help him buy a Christmas tree too?

No way.

Cameron

I’m a good-natured guy all year long, but I have to admit…I hate the holidays.

There. I said it.

This season, I’m hiding away on the opposite side of the country in a picturesque village. My family isn’t excited about my decision, and the only way to assure them I’m fine is to deck the darn halls. Or hire someone else to do it.

The handyman might not be the logical choice for an elf, but his grumpy act makes me smile. Which makes me think the holidays might not be so “bah-humbug” this year after all.

The Humbug Holiday is a bisexual, age-gap romance featuring two grumpy bears who find unexpected magic and learn to embrace everyone’s favorite time of year!

REVIEW: 

Joe Linton arrives at one of the Victorian homes in his hometown of Fallbrook, Vermont to see about some repairs/renovations for the new owner.  It’s a small town so of course he’s heard about the new owner who is a famous author of mysteries.  He’s surprised by the octogenarian woman who answers the door 😉  Turns out it’s the owner’s aunt and she has a way of getting what she wants – like getting all the Christmas decorations brought up from the basement.  When he finally meets the homeowner, there’s something familiar about the guy.  He’s a big bear of a guy – a silver fox for sure which checks all Joe’s boxes.  Then he figures it out!  Turns out they had a one night stand at a bar a couple of towns away a few months back :-O

Cam Warren has moved across the country from his family in a bid to spend the holidays alone.  He HATES the holidays ad things if he can be away, he’ll get some peace and quiet and time to write.  Of course he aunts have other desires and have packed up boxes and boxes of holiday decorations – which his aunt Mary cleverly gets Joe to haul up from the basement.  She and Aunt Georgia are insisting on Holiday Cheer for Cam even if he is away from his family at the holidays.  Cam gets an idea. An awful Idea. He got a wonderful, awful idea!  He’ll pay Joe to handle everything – the roofing contractor, the Christmas decorations and even the tree.  He’ll pay him handsomely to get it done and then Cam can send pictures to his aunts and throw everything away after!

Turns out Joe doesn’t like the holidays any better than Cam does.  His one acquiescence to the season is playing Santa at the town holiday Bingo with Blitzen Bazaar to appease his mother.  He’s not thrilled about it but it keeps the peace and he can avoid all the other holiday trappings 😉  It seems that these two guys DO have a lot in common – aside from their smoking hot chemistry! As they are spending time together getting the Christmas obligations done, they also spend time doing other things.  With each other.  Without clothes 😉

Cam wants to pick Joe’s brain about Fallbrook and small towns too.  Everyone they run into wherever they go in town knows Joe.  His friends are extremely welcoming to Cam too.  They are a little in awe of him because of his books, but they also seem to be genuinely interested in him.  They are also a wealth of knowledge and stories about Joe.  Joe also share some insider info with Cam and takes him sledding for the first time.  Their sexy times lead to Joe spending more and more time at Cam’s place.  And while they are sharing a bed, Joe also shares his past and why he hates the holidays and what it was like growing up in Fallbrook and his life away and after his return.  Cam understand why he’s not thrilled about the holidays.  It takes Cam quite a while to share his past though as it’s incredibly painful.  The thing is, with Joe, he actually seems to enjoying holiday things for the first time in years – and he’s pretty sure it’s not just the Vermont Currier & Ives setting.  It seems to have a lot to do with the man who is helping him with a lot more than some repairs.

OK.  This was definitely one of my top holiday reads this year.  I absolutely loved this and it even brought a little bit of a tear to my eye when I turned the page to read the epilogue.  An absolute delight!  Every character in this story was perfectly written 🙂  From Joe’s friends and mother to Cam’s aunts and even his manager, I felt like I knew who these people were.  Mature characters who finally find their person are catnip to me.  The fact that these two were both Grumpy Guses was icing on the cake for me.  What’s better than one Grinch whose heart grew three sizes that day?  TWO GRINCHES!  The small town setting was perfect.  The fact that these two are falling in love maybe for the first time and not quite getting it was sooooo good.  They might be mature but they were still a little clueless 😉  Joe finally figuring out that he was going to have to do something if he wanted things to work out – not just walk away.  Again.  So deliciously cute and funny.  And that epilogue.  I turned the page, read a Grinch quote and welled up.  Seriously.  I loved this story.  My only complaint was that it ended!  I would have loved more about Cam and Joe as they were getting to know each other more, but maybe there will be more books sometime in this setting?  We can only hope!

If you’re in the mood for seeing two Grumps get their Happily Ever After with some humor and heart and a really lovely New England Holiday setting, you absolutely cannot go wrong with this one.  Highly recommended.

RATING: 

Amazon