Release Day Review: Light Up by Barbara Elsborg

Reviewed by Ro

TITLE: Light Up

AUTHOR: Barbara Elsborg

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 285 Pages

RELEASE DATE: November 17, 2025

BLURB:

Two strangers. One storm. A connection neither of them saw coming.

Corey’s day has gone from bad to worse. First, he loses his job. Then his home. Now he’s crawling through a blizzard in a beat-up car, hoping to sneak into his uncle’s empty house for a lonely Christmas in front of a big-screen TV. But the universe isn’t done with him yet. He’s lost, the snow’s getting heavier—and there’s a truck riding his bumper like it’s personal.

Tal can’t escape his office Christmas party fast enough—especially after a humiliating nickname from his school days rears its ugly head. All he wants is peace and quiet at the Airbnb he’s rented for the holidays. No friends, no fuss, no festive drama. But when he sees a truck barrelling towards him, all he can do is swerve, hang on tight and hope.

The hit and run leaves Corey and Tal stranded in the middle of a snowy nowhere. With no help in sight, their only choice is to walk. Thank goodness for the isolated hotel they finally stumble across when they just can’t go on anymore. It seems like salvation. But something isn’t quite right, and that isn’t just because when the doors open, it looks as if Christmas has exploded.

Warnings
Magical realism. Age gap. Road traffic accident. Neurodivergent representation including an autistic main character. Reference to past trauma as a young adult and mental health care. Brief mention of suicide ideation. Loss of parents. Sexual assault—not rape (off page). A hotel straight out of a Hallmark movie. And snow! An amazing amount of snow, in England, at Christmas. Unheard of.

The main characters are navigating what they need in a relationship, which at times gently explores themes related to kink. There are references to BDSM labels, but nothing explicit or intense—no hardcore content, and nothing that should feel unsafe to most readers.

REVIEW:

This one has magical realism, which is usually not my thing, but really worked here. It’s actually going to be very difficult to talk about this book without giving anything away, and readers would definitely want to unravel the surprises themselves. So we have Tal, an architect on the spectrum, who overhears two of his (jerky) colleagues making fun of him. It’s not the end of the world, as his boss appreciates him, but it’s enough that he just wants to get out of that office party. He has plans for a quiet, calm Christmas in an AirBNB by himself. He stops by his friends, Louis and Benjamin, who are both good friends of Tal’s and are a couple. Louis oversteps HUGE at one point and lost a little for me there, but Benjamin (Mojo) remained lovely throughout. I admit, I was pissed at Louis and I wanted Tal to be more pissed.

Corey is a server who is set up by another server that he turned down. His boss is conveniently seeing that other one, so Corey is dumped on and his quits. Since the job came with a bedsit, he also loses his home. Corey doesn’t have anyone except a not-so-great uncle, but he’s heading off in his beater car to his uncle’s house to spend Christmas alone. There’s a big snowstorm, so it’s not the best idea but he doesn’t have much choice.

While they are both on the road a truck comes along driving too fast for conditions and ends up hitting them both. Tal is stuck in his car and Corey barely gets him out before it starts on fire. Because either has cell service, and Corey’s car has a broken windshield so isn’t a shelter, they decide to walk to lights that Tal remembers seeing. After an excruciating walk, they end up at a hotel, Solas Suas, with a lovely room, and so many activities. I loved seeing Corey get to try new things (especially the cocktails!) and Tal step out of his comfort zone (bingo, anyone?).

Both of these men carry some big baggage with them. Tal was incredibly unsupported by his parents because of the autism. He was also in an abusive relationship in the past, and it’s made him more closed off than ever. Corey had a tragedy happen in his past, which he carries big guilt over. So these are two wounded souls.

There is a warning for the book “The main characters are navigating what they need in a relationship, which at times gently explores themes related to kink. There are references to BDSM labels, but nothing explicit or intense—no hardcore content, and nothing that should feel unsafe to most readers.” I think this understates things a bit, because while there aren’t any scenes that would make anyone feel triggered, the D/s aspect is a big part of the story. There is a lot of talk about it and occurs in some scenes. So be aware if that isn’t something you enjoy.

There’s so much more to the story but spoilers would really ruin it.

There is a bonus short story, In Between, that goes along with it and has a little more about Solas Suas, and what a lovely thing that is. Definitely can’t be read before Light Up! And the reason for the book title makes so much sense.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Amazon