My Christmas Spirit by K.C. Wells

Buy links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Blurb

I knew I had problems when I woke up in the middle of the night to find Mike Stubbins sitting at the foot of my bed, stark naked, still as gorgeous as every one of my memories of him.
So what’s the problem, I hear you cry? Gorgeous, naked man in my bedroom?
Well, there’s the not-so-small, highly significant detail that he died six years ago.

Yup. You read that right. And now he’s everywhere. I can’t even brush my teeth in peace. And did I mention that he never stops talking?

I’ve missed him like crazy, every day of the six years he’s been gone. And with Christmas coming, the memories are even more acute. But this is getting beyond a joke. Ignoring a naked guy is a pretty tough task, especially when I’m the only one who sees him.
So when he bops a complete stranger on the head with his dick in the middle of the coffee shop, I have to laugh. Anyone would, right?

Except… there’s a look on the guy’s face that tells me he felt that. But… how could he?
And now he’s looking at me like he’s expecting me to explain what just happened.

Either he’ll call for the guys with the straitjacket… or this will be one of the most interesting conversations I’ve ever had….

Review

Some stories are emotional and deeply touching. Other stories are light and uplifting. And then there are stories like My Christmas Spirit, which manage to be both at the same time.

Meet Andy who, on the surface is doing pretty well. He has a job and a routine and moves from day to day without much look forward to or worry about. He’s lost Mike, the love of his life, six years previously and has basically given up on joy, love, and Christmas ever since.

Six years is a long time to be stuck and apparently Mike agrees because one night in the run up to Christmas, his ghost appears in Andy’s bedroom, stark naked, determined to push Andy out of his funk, and not beyond using his ‘junk’ to get the job done. 😊

It is thanks to Mike that Andy breaks his normal routine and enters a coffeeshop where he meets Ollie (and where Mike pulls the stunt described in the blurb). Ollie is more or less in the same boat as Andy, having lost his partner three years earlier and thus, with some not always gentle prodding from Mike, Andy and Ollie start spending time together. It isn’t long before they discover that they have more in common than just their grief. Acknowledging the attraction between them takes a while longer and accepting it requires more time again but, as Christmas draws closer, their resistance fades as their feelings grow.

This adorable story is as touching as it is funny. Mike’s antics had me laughing out loud more than once while Andy and Ollie’s feelings tugged at the heartstrings, and the balance between those two was pretty much perfect. Watching Andy and Ollie as they slowly crawl out of their self-imposed isolation and embrace life, fun, and ultimately love again was delightful. While there certainly were one or two heartbreaking moments, Mike’s presence prevented the story from ever becoming angst-ridden or too sad.

My Christmas Spirit is a wonderful holiday story. The combination of deep emotions, humour, and ghostly goings-on will put you right in the mood for the upcoming holidays while Andy and Ollie’s coming together will leave you with a smile on your face. And that’s before I mention that just when you think the story has reached its conclusion, it holds one more, delightful surprise.

Lucky by Garrett Leigh - Review Tour

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Length: 70,000 words approx.

Cover Design: Garrett Leigh @ Black Jazz Design

Blurb

Dominic Ramos is a Premiership football player with a secret. There are no trophies for being gay in his game. Locked into his rep as the meanest defender on the pitch, keeping his secret is soul-crushing, but love has no place in his sport, even if his soft heart craves it.

Lucky Coleman is on his knees when he meets a man with more money than sense. It’s a Grindr hook-up for cash, not a love match, but dreaming of his desperate, kind eyes earns a place amongst his numerous bad habits.

Meeting once was risky, twice pushes Dom’s courage to the limit. Losing Lucky seems inevitable, but his tight grip on his image counts for nothing when Lucky starts to fall.

Catching him could cost Dom everything, but if he can set his heart free, getting Lucky long term might be a risk worth taking.

Review

Life in the closet is hard. Dom may be able to convince himself that he doesn’t have any sexuality, or need for intimacy, at all for months at a time but inevitably the moment will arrive when his need overcomes his fears and he surrenders to yet another anonymous hook-up.

Lucky isn’t a prostitute. Hooking up for money is something he does because his circumstances mean he doesn’t have a choice if he wants to survive. In fact, meeting Dom for a paid blow-job is Lucky’s first time exchanging sex for money.

Two men who couldn’t be further apart if they tried. Dom is successful, famous even and appears to live a dream, except that his life as a professional footballer means he can’t come out as gay. And that makes all the advantages his career provides fade into the background as he becomes ever more frustrated. Lucky, on the other hand, is never more than a few minutes away from his whole house of cards collapsing around his ears, holding it together barely and very much against the odds.

Despite their differences the attraction between these two men is undeniable from the moment they first set eyes on each other. And despite both of them keeping their personal business very close to their chest and although Dom knows he’s playing with fire, they continue their hook-ups. It isn’t long before what was only about sex turns into something more…something neither is willing to acknowledge or knows how to deal with.

Between Dom’s self-imposed isolation because he doesn’t trust anyone and can’t afford to put his trust in the wrong person was heartbreaking and proof, if anybody needed it, that lots of money does not make up for any and all discomfort. Lucky’s everyday struggle to not go under in a world that really doesn’t care for the likes of him, was hard to read…but to balance it all out, there’s always Lucky’s approach to life. So much stronger than he thinks he is and through and through good, despite the curve balls life continues to throw at him, he doesn’t give up and makes the best of what he does have despite fear and hunger. He brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion while I found myself cheering him and his resilience on, every step of his at times tortuous way.

Dom’s situation just made me angry. Not even so much because of what happens in the story, because the outcome there was just about perfect (and much better than Dom could have ever expected). No, what got me going there was the reality of the painful situation he finds himself in. Out football players are few and far between and that is, obviously, not because there are no gay football players. It infuriates me that there still are whole (sub)cultures in which it is almost certainly professional suicide to come out.

So yeah, this book had me experiencing all the feels. The scenes in which Dom and Lucky were together were nothing short of glorious, not to mention mostly incredibly hot. But as soon as they were apart, fighting their individual demons, my anxiety levels would rise, leaving me wanting to comfort them.

Garrett Leigh does hurt/comfort stories like few others, and Lucky is no exception to that rule. Well written and captivating from the start, Lucky will take you on an emotional rollercoaster that may come close to breaking you once or twice but will ultimately leave you uplifted and enriched.

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Author Bio

Garrett Leigh is an award-winning British writer and book designer, currently working for Dreamspinner Press, Loose Id, Riptide Publishing, and Fox Love Press.

Garrett's debut novel, Slide, won Best Bisexual Debut at the 2014 Rainbow Book Awards, and her polyamorous novel, Misfits was a finalist in the 2016 LAMBDA awards.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible, all the while shouting at her menagerie of children and animals and attempting to tame her unruly and wonderful FOX.

Garrett is also an award winning cover artist, taking the silver medal at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in 2016. She designs for various publishing houses and independent authors at blackjazzdesign.com, and co-owns the specialist stock site moonstockphotography.com with renowned LGBTQA+ photographer Dan Burgess.

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