Reviewed by Cindy
TITLE: Chrismyths
AUTHOR:Amy Lane
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 158 Pages
RELEASE DATE: December 6, 2022
BLURB:
After courtship, cohabitation, and learning about love and each other, Andy and Eli face the ultimate test: being separated at Christmas.
Eli’s seen the propaganda—the country boy goes home from the city and realizes his heart is back among the snow, trees, and chickens. A big happy family is something Eli, with his demanding job running a shelter for LGBTQ youth, can’t provide. He’s been readying himself for the other shoe to drop anyway—Andy’s mother is a force of nature, and she wants her little boy home.
Andy may be in Vermont, but his heart is back in Brooklyn with the man who’s battling basement floods and crumbling buildings to bring Christmas to sixty kids who’ve had their hearts broken too many times already. Holiday myths may say that Christmas means going back home to a happy family, but Andy knows happy endings don’t come without a little faith and a lot of hard work. He’s got an army ready to put in the elbow grease. If he can get Eli to believe in him, they might just save Christmas after all.
REVIEW:
Andy loves Eli more than anyone or anything. It’s taken him a long time to get Eli to believe it. And Eli does believe it…mostly. So when he sends Andy off to visit his family at Christmas, Andy does his best to reassure Eli that he will be back.
As usual, Amy Lane gives us everything we didn’t know we wanted. As someone who really despises “Hallmark” movies, especially Christmas ones, this story is a breath of very refreshing air.
One of my favorite things is that this author doesn’t once make us question Andy’s love and devotion to his “angel” Eli. He’s the kind of man most of us can only dream of.
Not that Eli is any slouch. The only thing that steals any of his attention from Andy is his job working with queer youth.
I found myself in tears several times throughout this story as we slowly learn more about Eli and the life he had before meeting Andy.
I owe an apology to Amy Lane for not getting this review out sooner. Christmas kicked my butt and my kid coming home for the holidays sort of overtook everything.
This is a fairly short story and it really doesn’t take you anywhere new, but it does give you relatable characters that you can’t help but cheer for. It also gives us a “bad guy” who really isn’t so bad as they are misguided. It also gives Eli the worst Christmas luck I have ever seen…except for his hero who is doing his best to help make things right in Eli’s world.
For all the craziness that goes on, this is a low-angst story and for once, I’m loving it. The fact that we know everything will work out in the end is a wonderful little gift from an author who knows how to make us smile…and cry…sometimes at the same time. Take it from an “anti-Christmas romance” girl, this one is worth setting your judgement aside!
RATING: 
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