I’ve just finished reading Joys R Us by Kim Fielding. If you’re looking for a sweet Christmas read with a focus on the joy of the holiday instead of steamy scenes then this is a story for you!

I really enjoyed it. I loved the beginning of the story when Reece’s sister orders him to help her get a special, queuing-all-night kind of toy and he is arguing for a deposit to the nephew’s college fund instead. It could’ve been me. Not that my kids don’t get toys but I do like practical things.

Reece is standing in line all night, but then things get out of hand. He trampled to the ground and misses out on the toy. Angel, the toy store manager, is there to patch him up and then sparks fly. When I say sparks fly I don’t mean that they rip each other’s clothes off and get it on in the toy store. No, this really is a sweet story with smiles, the occasional touch, and a promise of something more in the future.

I’ve read quite a few of Kim Fielding’s stories and I always like them. If you haven’t read anything by her you should check her out.

books2read.com/JoysRUs *

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Reece is a practical, orderly man, a financial analyst who considers most holiday events wasteful. But his sister coerces him into standing in line overnight for this year’s must-have toy. Supplies prove smaller than expected, and Reece gets trampled in the resulting stampede. Toy store manager Angel tends to Reece’s wounds. When Angel discovers Reece’s cynical attitude, he invites Reece to spend Christmas Eve with him. Over the course of the day, Angel shows Reece what Christmas means to him. With Angel’s guidance, maybe Reece can finally understand the joy of the holiday—and maybe even find love as well.

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* By clicking the Books2Read link you’ll be taken to an external page. Links to Smashwords, Kobo U.S and Amazon contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

For this Friday I’ve picked The Elf and Cranberry Creampuff by C.L. Etta. This really isn’t my kind of story, but it’s that time of year.

As both the title and the cover suggest, this is a lighthearted holiday romance. Edmund is an elf who has been banished from the North Pole for making inappropriate toys. Every December for the last fifty years he’s been helping out at different malls. The rest of the year he’s been trapped in a glass globe. Then, when the banishment is over, and it’s time for him to go back to the Nort Pole he meets Dexter. Sparks fly and wood is created.

This novelette is filled with holiday cheer and love. Me being me, I’d rather gone without the love declarations, but I think you romantics out the would object to that. Sometimes there was a little POV-confusion on my part, but I had a few laughs, and it did live up to my expectations so I won’t complain.

I haven’t read anything by C.L. Etta before, but after having snooped around a little I saw that she has two other books out and one to come at the very beginning of 2017. If you like pink glitter and spunk tasting of Christmas cookies, be sure to check this one out!

books2read.com/CanberryCreampuff *

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Edmund is an esthetic over industrious elf banished from the North Pole. His punishment — 50 years spent serving the suburban mall Santas. During his final earthbound Christmas season he meets one of his living and breathing creations–Cranberry Creampuff, the doll that got him banished five decades earlier.

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* By clicking the Books2Read link you’ll be taken to an external page. Links to Smashwords, Kobo U.S and Amazon contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

This isn’t a real Friday Reads post, I haven’t read anything since yesterday, but… There is this blog called Books, Coffee & Captured Moments and for the third year in a row, I think at least, they post M/M Holiday Delights. Every day several holiday stories are presented, so what better way to get gear up for the season than to go over there and check it out?

Yesterday, Shiny Things by Amy Spector, The Invasion of Tork by Claire Davis and Al Stewart, and Once in a Snowstorm by moi had their turn, all on the same day.  There are more of Beaten Track’s authors there too, and many many others. Books from 92 different writers plus 21 anthologies will each have their turn from now and up to the end of the year.

I wrote a little about Shiny Things yesterday – you can read it here – and if you haven’t read The Invasion of Tork I dare say it’s time. Not only is it time, it is also free.

It’s time to start the holiday reads!

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Adam is cool, intelligent and drop-dead gorgeous – all the guys tell him so! When he is forced to start voluntary work at the local homeless shelter, all he worries about is keeping the clients well away from him and finishing the placement as soon as possible. Until he meets Tork.

Tork is clever and funny. He makes origami models and reads Dickens. Tork has green hair and makes Adam’s heart race with longing. But Tork is homeless and not at all impressed with Adam’s attitude.

Can Adam see past his fear and arrogance? Can Tork give Adam a chance?
Can two such different men turn the world upside down and find out what really matters? Read to find out their story.

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A story from Boughs of Evergreen: A Holiday Anthology

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* By clicking the Books2Read link you’ll be taken to an external page. Links to Smashwords, Kobo U.S and Amazon contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.