The newly published MM Christmas stories that I’ve read this year have just been wonderful and Christmas Wish List is no exception. Jayden and Cass are pretty great together and this was a great slow-burn story.

Jayden’s a professional chef and a bit of a wanderer. He’s accepted a short temp job at Cass’s newly opened bed-and-breakfast. I loved N.R. Walker’s descriptive writing, especially her description of the manor house that Cass renovated and turned into a B & B. The town of Hartbridge sounds like a perfectly wonderful place to visit. I probably wouldn’t mind living there either if it didn’t have all that cold and snow. 😊

Cass has never had a relationship with a man. Two years ago, he turned his life upside down by admitting to his wife and parents that he’s gay. Things are pretty good between him and his ex-wife now and when she sees him with Jayden, she can see that Cass has feelings for him that he hasn’t even admitted to himself yet. Jayden is also great with Cass’s two kids. He loves cooking for people and made special treats for them.

This really is a beautiful slow-burn romance. Although the relationship develops over a matter of only a few days it’s well past the 50% mark before even kissing happens and I thought that was just perfect for this story.

Once Cass admits to himself that he doesn’t want Jayden to leave he has to convince Jayden that he needs to stay. I loved how Jayden organized lots of things throughout the story, making lots of lists, and how Cass used that to help convince Jayden to stay in Hartbridge.

I have one tiny thing that bothered me just a bit, but didn’t affect my star rating. N.R. Walker is an Aussie but this book is set in the U.S. and I was a bit surprised that U.S. spelling of various words wasn’t used. Don’t get me wrong, I love books by non-U.S. authors; they probably make up at least 50% of the reading I do. I just think that the spelling of English words should reflect the country/region/location where the story is set. Jayden using arse to describe Cass’s butt was fine but when Cass said he admired Jayden’s arse it just didn’t seem like he would have used that word.

Reviews for N.R. Walker

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Hartbridge Christmas Series

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