TITLE: A Loser By Christmas
SERIES: Con Riley’s Christmas Collection #4
AUTHOR: Con Riley
PUBLISHER: Figment Ink
LENGTH: 212 pages
RELEASE DATE: November 14, 2025
BLURB:
London isn’t for losers. It’s for lovers, even if they don’t see it coming, so settle in for another emotion-packed holiday romance from Con Riley’s Christmas collection.
I didn’t ask Santa to stuff my stocking with an NHL star known for being big, bad, and brutal.
Spending December with a pro hockey player is the very last thing I have time for. I’m on a tight deadline to escape a job I never wanted, selling speedboats for my father. My only problem is that I need cash to help me sail away from London.
Calum Trelawney has the money I need.
He also has good reason to hate me.
I’m Valentin Juno, the YouTube creator who made his best friend go viral, and not in a good way. Now hockey’s MVP wants out of his contract and is prepared to pay to make that happen. All I need to do is make him look like a big enough loser that his club drops him.
Following Calum with my camera all through December should be easy. At least, it would be if I had some answers. Like, why is he in England right in the middle of hockey season? And why is he so desperate to escape a contract worth millions?
That leaves one final question: Is it too late to add hate sex with a hockey player to my Christmas wish list?
Prepare for fireworks, for snark with a French accent, and for your stocking to be stuffed with an unexpectedly sweet enemies-to-lovers story set in a central London marina.
A Loser By Christmas is the fourth standalone romance in a much-loved interlinked series. Starting with His Last Christmas in London, each romance features a new couple ready for their own unforgettable happy ending
REVIEW by Ro
When I started this book, I wasn’t sure if I was going to warm up to Valentin. He just wasn’t what I thought he would be after having set up a sweet guy, Jack, to look ridiculous. He is currently not working his real job so much, as his boat, “La Sylvie,” needs some big repairs that he doesn’t have the money for. His father owns Juno boats and can fix them, but requires some sweat equity in return. So right now, “This is why I regret taking a temp job with my father- telling mon pere that I don’t share his love for sales never seems to sink in.” When he is at a boat sale – because dad says he will fix the boat if Valentin can bring in a sale before midnight – he runs into the nastiest, smarmiest man you’ve ever seen, Lito Dixon. He is an event photographer, and he is just so disgusting and gross. It’s funny because Valentin seems like an angel once you meet Lito.
Luckily, Valentin isn’t what he appeared to be. He’s working on a hero film to win an aware (and money), and it’s a good one. Once he decides to save the duck egg that a mama duck deposited on his boat and then abandoned, I knew Valentin had a heart. Even better when Callum Trelawny, a best friend of the aforementioned embarrassed Jack, shows up because he needs help. He is a pro hockey player worth millions and needs out of his contract. And when Callum, hockey god extraordinaire, squats down in his undies to talk to the egg, I fell for him as well. Since Valentin made Jack look like a loser, Callum wants Valentin to do the same for him. “I need to look like a loser. He jabs that finger at me. You’re the dick who does that to other people. End of story.” Callum sweetens the pot – if Valentin agrees to help him be a loser and post it so that he can get out of the contract he will buy a boat before midnight, so guaranteeing Valentin’s boat will be fixed. “I can’t lose this chance. He’s as gritty as I’ve felt each day closer to my contest cutoff. It’s the last one I’ll get.” Right when Callum says that you know something is going on, but he doesn’t share.
But Valentin takes him up on it, and begins to record Callum being a loser (apparently, to get out of the contract you have to do something that will embarrass the team or make them look bad). So that’s what they do. Sort of. Since both of them turn out to be wonderful, Callum wants Valentin to focus on his contest, and Valentin wants to get Callum out of his contract, even if he doesn’t know why. They become friends, and then maybe more, but things keep getting in the way.
This book has some serious themes. Not hugely angsty but definitely serious. Valentin’s dad isn’t what he seems, and the moment they have an honest talk is sad and not. Definitely better than I thought he would be. There are different plot lines that all dovetail together. Definitely don’t want to give anything away because it’s more powerful to discover it. There are great side characters in Harry, Penny, Reece, and Dad. This isn’t a super cheery sugar coated story but it’s good.
RATING: 
REVIEW by Mal
Oh ya this story definitely put a smile on my face and got me in my feels… ah I loved it so much.
I adore Callum, big mushy heart in a hot as sin body of a professional hockey player with humour and empathy to match. Valentin was different from what I expected in the best way, single minded but his character growth in this story specially where is dad is concerned is touching. I love how passionate he is about everything and he is definitely passionate about Callum
Gosh so many mysteries in this one, I couldn’t begin to guess what was coming and these two have chemistry in spades. The found family again is a big win for me
If you want a sweet soft swoony holiday romance with depth and spice, highlyyyy recommend reading this.
Valentin needs his boat fixed but his dad is insistent about pulling him into the family business and Valentine will do anything to escape that – try and win a contest or collude with the fellow egg protector who is also a Trelawney and they may not have the best impression of each other – well Valentin has all the Jack baggage and Callum looks agressive and violent to him. But… they both discover there is a lot more under the surface than what they are seeing also Callum is hiding a whole bunch of things and something super big too and Valentin won’t rest until he finds it
That ending was the ultimate swoon, so so so perfect for them and I loved the epilogue, I love some good comeuppance
I loved the additional matchmaking too and the sweet moments with Violet and Robin and Penny and Harry (is there a story there?) and also I adored Valentin’s dad, I just want to hug that shouting man.
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