Title: ⟫ The Christmas Leap (Festive
Fakes)
Author:
⟫ Keira Andrews
Rating:
⟫ 3.5/5
Blurb:
⟫ Fake
romance shouldn’t feel this real…
Will: I’ve never been with
a man.
Sure, I’ve thought about it.
Wondered. Daydreamed. Imagined. But I wasn’t ready
to take the leap.
I have a reputation as a “ladies’
man.” No one has any idea how curious I am about men—not even my
openly bi best friend. Make that former best friend.
Michael ghosted me, and I have no idea why.
Michael: The man I love is
straight.
It hurt like hell when I had to
distance myself from Will. I’ve tried desperately to grow up and
get over him, but my carefully constructed life just fell apart—and
Will rushes to my rescue.
Now we’re pretending to be a
couple to impress his boss at a holiday retreat. We’re holding
hands and hugging.
We’re sharing a bed.
And Will just kissed me.
Is my best friend falling in love
with me after all?
The Christmas Leap by
Keira Andrews is a Christmas romance featuring friends to lovers, bi
awakening, first times, and of course a happy ending. This
stand-alone novel takes place in the same universe as The
Christmas Deal.
Review:
⟫ Okay, just how
does anyone in this verse manage to keep anything a secret? They are
constantly
talking about their capers, and not in private either – how have
they not been overheard by now?
Angela
is meant to be this fabulous boss who’s a bit of a genius yet she
is constantly being ‘fooled’ by these people into thinking that
they’re queer? Sorry, but of all things, this was the thing that
annoyed me the most – that and the whole ‘pretending to be
bisexual in order to get ahead’ – it just left a bit of a bad
taste in my mouth.
Anyway,
the story is nicely written and you immediately feel a little sad for
Michael – not because of the whole Will thing but because it’s
incredibly crappy timing for what happens to him at the beginning.
The whole Will thing – him ghosting him to enable himself to get
over his feelings was a big struggle for me. What an awful thing to
do to one of your best friends, no matter your reasoning.
I
enjoyed reading this story but upon finishing it, I couldn't really
tell you much about it. There were some relatively hot sex scenes
between Will and Michael, and I enjoyed some of the family members
and friends that we got to meet. There were at least two couples who
I am pretty sure the author has written other stories about (I
haven’t read them).
But
the meat of the story – the idea that Michael has been in love with
Will for years and Will has become a bi-curious? It was resolved what
felt like so quickly and so easily, it was a bit of a non-event.
I
loved Will’s accent and listening to him talk to his parents – I
feel that that was well done. There didn’t feel like enough
differentiation between the two main leads because sometimes I didn’t
realise who was narrating.
I’ve
read other stories by this author and enjoyed them more – I guess
this one just didn’t resonate with me. It was a sweet, enjoyable
story with some heat between the leads with only a little angst –
it will probably be just the thing to relax with with the run-up to
Christmas.
I
received an ARC from GRR.
