Meags's Reviews > Not Just for Christmas

4 Star

This has been a December of firsts for me. I've been trying all sorts of Christmas stories from M/M authors I've never gotten around to reading before, and I must say that my first Annabelle Jacobs experience has been a raging success!



Not Just For Christmas is a sweet, drama-free friends-to-lovers story, set over the holiday period, featuring a delicious slow-burn and plenty of men-with-pets action for those, like myself, who completely melt over hot men with fur babies.



*ahem*

Ben has harbored a crush on his best buddy Liam's older brother Jason for as long as he can remember. Now that Ben is finally moving back home into a new flat with Liam, after years away at university and later for work, Ben (now 24) is hoping to catch 35 year old Jason's attention, in some way other than just as his little brother's shy friend.

Ben needs not worry because Jason sure does notice him now. The once shy and blushing kid with an innocent crush has turned into a gorgeous man with an exceedingly kind heart and a surprising level of maturity for his young age, leaving Jason feeling confused and guilty over his sudden attraction. As Ben and Jason grow closer, Jason struggles to do what's best. His family means the world to him and the last thing he wants to do is rock the boat by romantically pursuing his little brother's best friend, but Ben might just prove too appealing to deny.

I utterly adored this story. The falling-for-my-best-friends-brother trope is an absolute favourite of mine and I really appreciated the way it was executed here. The fact the developing romance between Ben and Jason was somewhat of a slow-burn definitely helped, but my favourite aspect of the story was how their families knew of Ben's crush for years, and even though they occasionally teased Jason and Ben about it, each and everyone of them, including best friend/brother Liam, were all completely open to the idea of the two men being together, especially if that's what made them happy. I truly loved that complete, unquestioning show of support and acceptance.

Best of all were all the animals featured in the story. I’m a sucker for a good book fur baby, but sometimes I feel animals are just thrown into the mix in an attempt to win cute points – which often works, you manipulative bastards! But here, all the featured animals were integral to the story as a whole. Plus, they were super fricken cute and pulled on my heart-strings more than once.



This story is certainly a win in this season's holiday offerings and I eagerly look forward to exploring Jacobs’ work further in the future!