RJ Scott writes lots of wonderful books but her Christmas stories are always heartfelt and tear-inducing – in the best way. The Wishing Tree had my eyes leaking more than a few times. If you’re looking for a super sexy book this may not be the one for you, but if you want to read a really romantic one, I can highly recommend this book.

Bailey and Kai have known each other since they were kids – Kai is Bailey’s brother’s best friend – and Bailey has been in love with him since he was a teenager. Kai learns that Bailey loves him one year at the Wishing Tree where Bailey is making his wish. Bailey never meant for Kai to learn these things about him and he’s upset and hurt when Kai pushes him away.

Fast forward 10 years and Kai has decided to retire from professional hockey. He wants to correct the mistakes he’s made in the past. Bailey can’t trust that Kai really knows what he wants and Kai works really hard to prove to Bailey that he wants him.

Bailey is such a wonderful and sensitive soul. I loved all of the beautiful descriptions of his creations. RJ Scott made it possible for me to visualize them in my mind. Kai may have been a bit of an unfeeling character in the beginning but he more than made up for it later in the book.

I loved how supportive both families are and how they actively want Bailey and Kai to be together. It was refreshing to read a story where being gay wasn’t an issue. The Wishing Tree has a perfect mix of humor and light angst. It’s not a long book to read but it was very satisfying and I loved the epilogue giving us a glimpse of Bailey and Kai one year in the future.

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“What now?” Archie asked, clutching his precious notebook to his chest. He was old-school like that, everything written down in longhand, but then he was close to retiring at sixty-two, and kept telling me the old ways were the best. Maybe he was right—in an age of texting emojis, there was an intimacy in writing. He had to come to terms with one of his clients deciding to retire all on his own account, but he’d never tried to stop me.

“I’m going home for good now.”

“To Oak Tree?”

“Wishing Tree,” I corrected him, and smiled at the fond memories conjured up by hearing the name of the town where I’d grown up.

It was time to go home and face up to all the things I’d messed up with my family, apologize to my dad and sister, offer a ton of babysitting, have beers with old friends, and maybe get my head on straight. Find out if I could work hard and make my dreams a reality. I’d spent so many years flirting with Bailey, and then pulling back, scared of hurting him, terrified of having nothing to offer him, and I couldn’t do this anymore. I needed to be honest with him, and to say I loved him and that he was my everything.

Archie and I stared at each other for the longest time, and I could see my agent’s brain spinning until finally, he folded his arms across his chest and smiled.

“I’m glad you’re searching for something else; I’ve been worried about you.”

“I’ve been worried about myself.” For so long I’d been Kai-the-hockey-player, pushing through injury, aiming for the cup, being part of the team, and my head was so messed up. I’d lost my mom to cancer five years ago and I’d used hockey as a crutch, the grief pushed so far down that I’d almost forgotten. It had festered and become something so big I couldn’t ignore it anymore.

“I’ll be here if you want to talk about the future, although…” He stopped and then huffed a laugh. “You’re my last client, and you know what? I’m sixty-two and I think I might just be retiring as well.”

“I’m sorry, shit—”

“No, don’t be. Miriam wants us to move back to Vancouver, spend time with the grandkids, and I get the feeling the time is right.”

“For both of us.”

“Yeah.”

“All I know now is that I need to go home. I owe apologies, I need to make amends, and then there’s…”

“What?”