Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Deck the Palms
SERIES: An Annabeth Albert Christmas
AUTHOR: Annabeth Albert
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 246 pages
RELEASE DATE: December 4, 2024
BLURB:
Nolan Bell has a very Merry problem this holiday season…
As a native New Yorker, I’ve always dreamed of my name in lights on Broadway. But when my Army officer brother calls in a favor, I wind up in Hawaii to help his family while he’s deployed.
A winter in paradise doesn’t sound too bad until I become the substitute choir teacher at a middle school near the base. Wrangling a bunch of tweens while planning the annual school holiday lights festival is a far cry from playing Peter Pan.
Enter Merrick “Merry” Winters, the school’s grumpy but hot shop teacher. I can win over any audience, but Merry’s a tough sell. And I need his help to make the festival successful.
The more time I spend with Merry, the less grumpy he seems, and the more I like the guy. He’s the third generation of a legendary North Shore surfing family. He’s committed to raising his twin boys on the island as a single dad. And like me, he doesn’t have time for an inconvenient but undeniable attraction.
As disasters pile up, the only holiday magic Merry and I seem to be making is with each other. What starts as a harmless fling becomes the only present I want under my tree.
If I want this romance to last past New Year’s, I have to decide which dreams are truly worth chasing.
Can Merry and I catch a wave for a future together before the sun sets on this holiday season?
A brand-new holiday romance from the author of the beloved The Geek Who Saved Christmas starring two middle school teachers in over their heads in an opposites-attract, fish-out-of-water romance. Deck the Palms features a slightly grumpy single dad and a sunny city slicker navigating family dynamics amid holiday small-town romance vibes with a side of Hawaiian sunshine. Guaranteed low-angst, feel-good, happy ending with a heaping helping of holiday spice!
REVIEW:
This is a sweet low-angst holiday romance from Annabeth Albert that gives a glimpse of the holidays in Hawaii 🙂 Speaking from experience, I can say it’s a really love place to be in December.
Nolan arrives on Oahu to help his SIL with a new baby while his brother is deployed. While there he takes on a temp job of substitute teacher while another teacher is out on medical leave. He’s a Broadway actor who love musical theater and he’s happy to take on co-chairing the holiday festival. The other co-chair is the shop teacher, Merrick Winters. It turns out Mr. Winters is the father of the two lead pranksters in one of Nolan’s classes.
Nolan is a can-do kind of guy. Merry is definitely a glass half full kind of guy. Nolan’s plans are elaborate and he knows they can’t possible accomplish all this, so he helps to make the plans more doable. Funny thing though. When others poo-poo the plans, all of the sudden, Merry decides he’s going to support Nolan in whatever it is he wants to do to make this production a roaring success!
As they work together on the planning, the spend quite a bit of time outside of school together. Their simmering attraction being to boil over 😉 The twins are still pranksters, but the really like Nolan and like him being around. Nolan gets to see the rest of Merry’s family and also experience some Hawaiian culture and activities.
When the festival goes off as a roaring success, all seems well. But Nolan’s parents arrive and it turns out they are pretty critical of Nolan, his professional life, his lack of success in their eyes, etc. Merry is determined that Nolan have a good holiday – especially as their time is short and he will be returning to New York after the first of the year 🙁 Neither is thrilled with that and Merry has some baggage from his past relationship to get through before they can really look at the future.
I enjoyed this story! I kinda wanted to knock Merry in the head a few times, but eventually things got on track 😉 Nolan is a total sweetheart and I loved his enthusiasm and how he hand the kids. That was the only niggle for me. Those boys were old enough to know/do better and I got a little tired of their pranks. The secondary characters – especially both families and the principal were great. If you’re looking for a low angst read set in a beautiful location with an HEA and lots of holiday feels, you will enjoy this one!
RATING: 
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