Reviewed by Ro
TITLE: Moody’s Grumpy Holiday
AUTHOR: Lane Hayes
NARRATOR: Kirt Graves
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 4 hours, 32 minutes
RELEASE DATE: December 12, 2024
BLURB:
The geek, the cowboy, and a not-so-grumpy holiday…
Moody
Living in Christmas Town doesn’t make me a fan of the holidays. Quite the opposite. In fact, eleven months out of the year, I’m perfectly happy running my bookstore in peace and quiet. Of course, that changes in December when it’s mistletoe madness and mayhem. Ugh.
But this year, there’s a new cowboy in town and it’s not as easy to grumble about…anything. I admit, Hudson is handsome and hunky, but everyone knows I’m not myself till January, so he’ll have to buzz off and charm someone else.
Bah humbug.
Hudson
Moving to California wasn’t in my plans. I could use the change of scenery, though, and the ranch is a good investment. That’s not a sneaky way of saying I’m hiding from my past…no siree. I’m following a new path to a new town, that’s all.
And so far, so good. Except…my attraction to the nerdy bookstore owner is throwing me off my game.
Look, I’m not interested in anything other than a casual hookup. But Moody is a mystery and I want to know more about the adorable geek with a sunny disposition who turns into a holiday grump every year.
For some reason, he feels like home away from home. December may be the last month of the year, but something tells me this is our beginning.
Moody’s Grumpy Holiday is an MM grumpy-sunshine, romantic comedy featuring an adorkable geek, a hunky cowboy, and a little seasonal humbug.
REVIEW:
This is a cute story of Hudson, a cowboy who was jilted by his ex-fiance, and Moody, owner of a bookstore and a joy to be around for eleven months of the year. But not December. When Hudson comes to California for a business opportunity, and to use the honeymoon suite that was never canceled, he ends up in Moody’s bookstore, Moody’s Marvelous Bah Humbug Bookshop, where he feels an instant kinship to the place. For the first time in a year, he is relaxed, and even more so when he meets the funny, fussy Moody.
Moody talks in a very precise, a little pedantic way and it made me smile. He also has some very old-fashioned sayings, such as “two shakes of a lamb’s tail. Hudson is amused and also intrigued. “The dude was an oddball with a quirky sense of humor, but he was fascinating too…I spent less than 15 minutes in his company and I was bewitched or maybe just bewildered.”
Moody is just such a great character. He has his reasons for hating December, which it takes a while to find out, but honestly, valid. The problem is he lives in a town that is all Christmas, all the time, so being the resident Scrooge all of December is difficult. I also appreciated that while Hudson had a goal of getting Moody into a better mood in December, things didn’t magically improve. It took work.
Hudson is determined they be friends, if nothing else (because he has a self-imposed moratorium on relationships, due to the fiancé issue), and he is a great friend. He nurses Moody when he gets sick, slowly introduces him to a few Christmasy activities, and generally accepts Moody as is, Scrooge moods and all. He’s a lovely character.
One thing that confused me was that Hudson had been dumped by Kylie, his fiancé, a year ago but was just now taking the honeymoon he had put down a deposit for. They were not going on a honeymoon for a year after the wedding?
I loved that the women here, especially Vicki, are funny, personable, and great characters. “I amused Vicki, she confounded me.” But she loves Moody and he loves her back, plus they share a wall between Vicki’s coffee shop and Moody’s bookstore. And she definitely made me want to try some of the soup.
This was the first time I’ve listened to Kirt Graves as a narrator, and he made Moody sound exactly like I thought he would sound! Hudson has a slight drawl sexy voice, and Moody sounds prim, proper, and adorkable.
This is a sweet, slightly cheesy, happy holiday story and I really liked it.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
[…] Reviewed by Ro […]