Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: The Snuggle is Real
SERIES: Christmas Falls: Season 2
AUTHOR: DJ Jamison
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 262 pages
RELEASE DATE: November 12, 2024
BLURB:
I never saw this Christmas gift coming…
When my ex-wife lands in rehab, I get a surprise for the holidays. A 7-year-old girl who’s got no place to go. I love my former stepdaughter like she’s my own, but I have no idea how to give her everything she needs.
In a holiday-crazed town like Christmas Falls, it seems inevitable I’ll let her down.
Unless I finally let go of my pride an accept help from the new director of the Holiday Hope Foundation. Mason West is eager to lend support however he can. And when I let him, he goes above and beyond.
For Charlie’s sake. Not mine. Even if I maybe, kind of, wish that it was for me.
I’ve never been into men before, but Mason is so sweet, so giving, so…perfectly sized to snuggle in against my holiday sweater. Maybe if I can figure out what all this means, I can gain more than a daughter for the holidays.
Maybe I can keep the gift I’ve always wanted most—a family of my own.
Christmas Falls: Season 2 revisits a small town that thrives on enough holiday charm to rival any Hallmark movie. It’s a multi-author M/M romance series.
REVIEW:
Yea for Christmas Falls: Season 2! I had so much fun with this series last year and I was thrilled when I learned here would be a whole new slew of books in this delightful little town and doubly delighted that book 1 is once again from DJ Jamison 🙂 This time, we have a single dad who is struggling and the lovely guy who is trying to help him without pushing him too much and decline the help.
Mason is new to Christmas Falls, having moved from Swallow Cove, MO to take over the local non-profit Holiday Hope Foundation. He sort of “meets” Ford at the town tree-lighting ceremony where he’s sharing a book and trying to get the word about about the foundation and what it does. Ford insists he isn’t someone who needs help. Well, ok then.
Ford is struggling to help his elderly neighbor, Dottie, with Thanksgiving groceries when he gets a call from a lawyer. That lawyer informs him that his ex-wife has been sent to rehab and that she had put something in place for Ford to take temporary custody of her daughter Charlotte, aka Charlie. Ford hasn’t seen Charlie for a while – he’s not Charlie’s biological dad, but Lu’s daughter from a relationship before she married Ford. Their marriage fell apart after Ford suffered a loss and Lu left with Charlie. And moved farther and farther away so that Ford didn’t get to see her. But now it’s Thanksgiving and this little girl has no one. Except Ford.
When Ford returns to Christmas Falls with Charlie, well things get even tighter. Ford is a proud man, but when Mason shows up with the groceries at Dottie’s for Thanksgiving dinner, he knows he can’t disappoint either Dottie or Charlie. And so it goes. Mason keeps making things better for them as the run up to Christmas. Mason decides to start a new program – Adopt a Family and pilot it with Ford and Charlie. Oh and he also is fostering a dog, Peppermint Bark 😉
Charlie and Ford are having a great time getting ready for Christmas at this point. Ford picks up some work with the town and Charlie is enjoying her time with Dottie and with the other activities in town. Mason is enjoying his time with Ford and Charlie – perhaps a bit too much. When they attend a Holiday Cocktail party and Mason and Ford get closer, well neither of them know what to do or think. And they don’t know how to handle it. Mason thinks Ford is 100% straight and that’s why he’s uncomfortable. Ford thinks Mason couldn’t ever want a guy like him – even though he’s not been interested in a guy before. And then there is a looming potential disruption to the Christmas that Ford and Mason have planned for Charlie. Well really two potential disruptions.
While Mason is looking forward to Christmas company, he can’t help wanting someone of his own. His brother and his boyfriend and his friends back home plus many of his new friends in Christmas Falls have all found their one. Why can’t he find someone too? Maybe he really has. He just doesn’t know it yet 😉
OMG. This whole story was so cute! I loved Ford and Charlie and Mason and Pepper 😀 Ford is a proud guy and he doesn’t want to think he needs any help. He’s been struggling though for a long time. He’s let grief and other things hold him back. When Charlie comes back into his life he has motivation to start doing things and trying to get his life back on track. Mason is such a sweetheart! He is always looking for ways to help and he’s so good at it. He is ready for a relationship and he definitely would like to put down roots 🙂 Seems they both might get what they want in the end after all. Ford accepting his new reality and putting some things behind him goes a long way to them making things work. Charlie is adorable and I was happy to see these two overcome their issues and see what was right in front of them 🙂 Happy Holidays and Happy Reading. Definitely recommended.
RATING: 
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