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queenofswordsandwords's review
4.0
- Mutual pinning
- D/S Dd/Lb
- Close proximity
- Trans MC, Gay MC with anxiety
as always, Reese Morrison never disapoints. Amazing well rounded and compeling characters. a beautiful holiday romance that doesn't revolve around christmas. So much cute moments and a character learning about hanukkah and trying his best to share that holiday and make it special.
- D/S Dd/Lb
- Close proximity
- Trans MC, Gay MC with anxiety
as always, Reese Morrison never disapoints. Amazing well rounded and compeling characters. a beautiful holiday romance that doesn't revolve around christmas. So much cute moments and a character learning about hanukkah and trying his best to share that holiday and make it special.
annas_sweets_and_stories's review
5.0
Reread December 2021
Well I still really love this book. I get frustrated when reviews make comments about one of the main characters, Adam, saying that he is too much and to whiny and complains too much mostly because just let people be. Honestly I really hate it when reviewers comment about characters being over the top because I know that there are people like that, myself included, who have been told that they're over the top and too much and not worth the effort and it is frustrating and disheartening to see readers who hypothetically should have more open minds about all sorts of human experiences, trash a specific personality type.
Anyway, Adam is frustrated and exhausted and tired of living as a Jewish person in a Christmas dominated society. He hates every moment of the holiday season and ends up having a tantrum of sorts in the lobby of his local kink club. Tate, a friend of Adam's and a Dom, happened to be there during the tantrum and becomes dedicated to giving Adam the best Hanukkah he can. This book has a trans Dom which is super fun and very enjoyable. It is a daddy / boy dynamic with no age play. There are a couple explicit scenes.
As much as I enjoy this book, I do think it could have benefited with some sort of prequel or just more expansion on Adam and Tate's relationship as friends beforehand. There is some brief comments about it but it's never dealt into enough and I think that that sometimes doesn't allow a reader to connect fully with their experience. But as a whole, I still really enjoyed it and would recommend it.
Original review:
Apparently I've been seriously missing out on kinky trans and queer romance books. I'm a little obsessed with Reese Morrison and love all their stories and their writing style. I swear nothing is off limits and nothing is shamed. It's kind of miraculous to see such open and honest trans kinky rep. This one features a gay trans Dom and gay Jewish sub. Both the trans and Jewish rep is own voices.
Well I still really love this book. I get frustrated when reviews make comments about one of the main characters, Adam, saying that he is too much and to whiny and complains too much mostly because just let people be. Honestly I really hate it when reviewers comment about characters being over the top because I know that there are people like that, myself included, who have been told that they're over the top and too much and not worth the effort and it is frustrating and disheartening to see readers who hypothetically should have more open minds about all sorts of human experiences, trash a specific personality type.
Anyway, Adam is frustrated and exhausted and tired of living as a Jewish person in a Christmas dominated society. He hates every moment of the holiday season and ends up having a tantrum of sorts in the lobby of his local kink club. Tate, a friend of Adam's and a Dom, happened to be there during the tantrum and becomes dedicated to giving Adam the best Hanukkah he can. This book has a trans Dom which is super fun and very enjoyable. It is a daddy / boy dynamic with no age play. There are a couple explicit scenes.
As much as I enjoy this book, I do think it could have benefited with some sort of prequel or just more expansion on Adam and Tate's relationship as friends beforehand. There is some brief comments about it but it's never dealt into enough and I think that that sometimes doesn't allow a reader to connect fully with their experience. But as a whole, I still really enjoyed it and would recommend it.
Original review:
Apparently I've been seriously missing out on kinky trans and queer romance books. I'm a little obsessed with Reese Morrison and love all their stories and their writing style. I swear nothing is off limits and nothing is shamed. It's kind of miraculous to see such open and honest trans kinky rep. This one features a gay trans Dom and gay Jewish sub. Both the trans and Jewish rep is own voices.
lucsbooks's review
4.0
This was just the cutest.
This is a kind of second chance romance between two incredibly different characters that complement each other so well. Most of all I liked that this goes to prove that it's okay not to settle, that it's fine and perfectly normal to date and break up and look for someone to treat you with the respect you deserve.
I really enjoyed learning a lot about Jewish rituals and Jewish history and faith. Some of the funniest scenes in this book are when Adam is raging against most people's complete disregard of other religious traditions and focus exclusively on Christian ones and I'm pretty sure this is as close to therapy as a lot of folks will come.
I also loved to see a character that lives with anxiety being represented but mostly I loved how filled with trans love this story is, particularly after the last few months. I really liked reading about Tate's experience and how it differed from previous characters and people I've encountered without making it any less valid.
Thank you to the author for this ARC.
This is a kind of second chance romance between two incredibly different characters that complement each other so well. Most of all I liked that this goes to prove that it's okay not to settle, that it's fine and perfectly normal to date and break up and look for someone to treat you with the respect you deserve.
I really enjoyed learning a lot about Jewish rituals and Jewish history and faith. Some of the funniest scenes in this book are when Adam is raging against most people's complete disregard of other religious traditions and focus exclusively on Christian ones and I'm pretty sure this is as close to therapy as a lot of folks will come.
I also loved to see a character that lives with anxiety being represented but mostly I loved how filled with trans love this story is, particularly after the last few months. I really liked reading about Tate's experience and how it differed from previous characters and people I've encountered without making it any less valid.
Thank you to the author for this ARC.
misssleepless's review
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lennie_reads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Transphobia, Racism, Homophobia, and Mental illness
kell_xavi's review
4.0
This book taught me lots about both Hanukkah traditions and dom/sub relationships. It was pretty cute too.
I picked it up because the author and one of the protagonists are trans, and its different than the usual holiday story. The dynamics had an authenticity that I appreciated, a move away from cishet ideas of queerness and imagined kink (I say this as someone who wrote slash fantasies in my teens), both of which I'm wary of.
I liked both the characters, but Tate was too perfect. His only worry about himself is that he was trans, which I totally get because it makes relationships are a little bit more complex, but it sometimes seemed like the book was saying he even though his actions were constantly caring and right, he wasn't perfect because he was a trans man... and I take issue with that.
Also, I'm sure this was intentional, but I wanted to know how old the boys were, and what their jobs were. It was a bit of an awkward omission.
Honestly though, very cute. Adam's anxiety is so real, and I just wanted to protect him (and also be him). I'll keep an eye out for Morrison in the future <3
I picked it up because the author and one of the protagonists are trans, and its different than the usual holiday story. The dynamics had an authenticity that I appreciated, a move away from cishet ideas of queerness and imagined kink (I say this as someone who wrote slash fantasies in my teens), both of which I'm wary of.
I liked both the characters, but Tate was too perfect. His only worry about himself is that he was trans, which I totally get because it makes relationships are a little bit more complex, but it sometimes seemed like the book was saying he even though his actions were constantly caring and right, he wasn't perfect because he was a trans man... and I take issue with that.
Also, I'm sure this was intentional, but I wanted to know how old the boys were, and what their jobs were. It was a bit of an awkward omission.
Honestly though, very cute. Adam's anxiety is so real, and I just wanted to protect him (and also be him). I'll keep an eye out for Morrison in the future <3
karentje's review
5.0
A wonderful mix of sweetness, holiday warmth, and smutty heat. The MC’s are both well-drawn and grow throughout the story. I especially liked Tate’s self-assuredness and his steadying influence on Adam. The chemistry between them is sooo hot, and at the same time, they are incredibly endearing together too. As a history buff myself, I totally understood Adam’s enthusiasm regarding all the historical details behind the current Jewish traditions and how those have evolved, the facts behind the faith, and even the impact of the more mainstream Christian customs that are so very present in society. He’s so sincere in his approach to his religion, and I loved how respectful Tate was of that. My heart also ached for Adam because of how his parents treated him. Tate seems mostly very secure in who he, so his few more vulnerable moments really tugged on my heartstrings. Loved this story. Recommend.
peachani's review
emotional
medium-paced
3.0
This is my first gay romance book in a long while, and I suppose I'm glad I read this one because I got insight into what Jewish people might feel in December, how some of BDSM works, and the inner lives of trans men. I look forward to reading more fiction and nonfiction about all of these communities.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Homophobia, and Xenophobia
lizziethereader's review
I read this because I was so intrigued by the high ratings and promise of different kinds of representation. I also knew that it had a bdsm focus, which isn't my thing at all - so while I enjoyed learning about Hanukkah (and other things), ultimately big parts of the book weren't for me. But since that is totally on me (I knew it going in) and not on the author, who has done a great job educating me on some stuff, I'm not rating this book because I don't want to falsify the ratings.
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