3.75 stars

Much like your favorite Christmas movies, this book is cheesy, heartwarming, and a little outlandish.
I love a marriage-in-crisis trope so I was excited to see how Patrick and Quinn resolved their issues. They rushed through a lot of life steps and are now having a lot of trouble communicating, leading to them both being unhappy.
They’re thrown into a whole world of magic and Christmas and all kinds of changes, while still trying to figure out their relationship.
This book had all the Christmas magic and some sweet moments as well as decent character growth. However, I felt like these characters still weren’t communicating as well as they should have been.

I also am not really sure how I feel about the ending. While it wrapped everything up (no pun intended) I felt like the biggest problem they had was that Patrick kept making decisions for Quinn and that’s… pretty much what happened at the end. It was also in general just kind of a dissatisfying ending.

This book was sweet and festive but I just wanted a little bit more both from and for our characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC!

This was such a fun holiday romance novel, it had a strong story going on and thought the overall feel worked with the plot of the book. I enjoyed going through this story and how everything worked in this romance element. Timothy Janovsky wrote this perfectly and was glad I was able to read this.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
This was a hard one for me to sort out how to review.
On the one hand, I love love love the overall concept here of the Christmas/North Pole setting, taking up the claus mantle, etc and just how much of a fun romp that creates.
But the author also chose at the same time to delve into some really deeply complex interpersonal issues that did not, to me, get resolved in a realistic or believable way. I was left at the end feeling like I’d watched a relationship trainwreck where everyone was in denial and thought they were just fine. Reader, they are not going to be fine without a heck of a lot more work and therapy.

The Merriest Misters was absolutely wonderful! This book is dripping in Christmas magic and love! I delighted in getting to join a sweet couple on their year long move to the North Pole!

It's the merriest time of year...but for Patrick and Quinn, the cracks are showing. They've been married less than a year, and they're barely communicating anymore. Instead they're keeping secrets, spending time in separate rooms, and...knocking out Santa downstairs?

And so we learn that when one Santa quits, retires, or dies, another Santa must take his place...and with a sudden time crunch for a decision to be made, it's up to Patrick to try—and Quinn to reinvent Mrs. Claus as the Merriest Mister. When they agree to a trial year in the North Pole, it seems that all of their problems have been solved...for now.

Generally speaking, this makes for a cute, high-concept romp. I can't say that I've ever actually dreamed of moving to the North Pole and taking over Santa's workshop, but it's sort of fun to imagine, isn't it? There must be hot chocolate year-round. I did end up wishing that more of the details of that concept had been workshopped, though. We learn early on that it's the love of Santa and Mrs. Claus (or, in this case, the Merriest Mister) that powers the North Pole—and thus Christmas—so Patrick and Quinn quietly push aside their (very valid!) relationship concerns to go on something of a belated honeymoon in the North Pole. And so everything is grand...until, relatively late in the book, they have an argument (Patrick is not great at involving Quinn in giant, life-changing decisions), and the very fabric of Christmas is threatened. And, okay: I read too many memoirs about toxic iterations of religion. I am viewing this from a lens through which it's not supposed to be viewed. But I can't help but think that this is a version of Christmas powered not so much by love as by Mrs. Claus/the Merriest Mister 'keeping sweet', as it were, and making sure Santa stays happy.

I would love to know so much more about this world: What were the experiences of the previous Santas and Mrs. Clauses we meet, and why did they choose to stay? What or who did they leave behind? What do their lives in North-Pole retirement look like? We meet them briefly but never get to know them in any kind of detail. What does it mean in practice that the real-world life of a Santa is "taken care of" while he's working? (Because...as far as I can tell, all it means for Patrick and Quinn is that the bank doesn't repossess their house while they're away; the confusion and upset with which their loved ones greet them when they call—the North Pole has great reception, it seems—suggests that it's not actually as simple as their lives being expertly put on hold.) Is it an effect of the North Pole that Patrick casually forgets his commitments back home, or is that just Patrick? (I initially thought it was the former, but then we see that they're able to contact people at home whenever they want, so I'm less convinced that it's a Christmas-magic thing.) What are the lives of the elves like, and who are they when they're not bowing and scraping and making sure the Claus couple's needs are met? Could a Claus couple bring a kid to, or have a kid in, the North Pole, if they were so inclined? What happens if you're stuck in the North Pole as Santa, not allowed to leave, and something happens to a loved one in the real world? How much does Santa actually *do*, and how much is he a figurehead? Is Santa expected to visit *every* household that celebrates Christmas, or just some of them—and if the latter, how is that determined? What about traditions that celebrate Christmas in January? If Christmas were cancelled, what would that actually look like? Just no gifts from Santa, or would trees magically disappear from people's houses and stockings fall from fireplaces?

I think this can be chalked up to one that is very fun in concept but requires a fair amount of suspension of disbelief, which is unfortunately not my forte. Recommended for those who overthink less than I do.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

*miscommunication - so so much miscommunication
*second chance romance

This read as very simplistic YA/NA to me, but worse, the writing style and I did not gel at all and that did adversely affect my enjoyment of this. I wasn’t the right reader for this.

Also…
Wanting your love to be interminable? Unless you’re a severe masochist, I don’t think that word means what you think it means.



Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for the DRC

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

This one was somewhere between 3 and 4 stars for me, but in order to not be a scrooge I'll round up. This was queer Christmas joy in a book and it was quite lovely. I loved all the scenes at the magical North Pole with all its magic.

As far as the plot goes, (SPOILER) I'm not sure how their relationship is going to stay "fixed" when they're essentially doing long distance the whole year. It also seems like the whole foundation of their relationship and first few years was a bit rocky. I'm not sure that all the magic of the North Pole and Santa can fix that.

I enjoyed the North Pole bits the best. I found the flashbacks and switching perspectives to be a bit clunky. I would've loved to hear more about Quinn and Patrick's opinions on gender expression, as some of the scenes with the wardrobe were interesting. This was a fun read and will be a good one for those looking for a light, festive, MM romcom.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel. But! I think it's emotional conflicts we're kind of heavy for it's setting. Maybe that's just me, but I think if something is christmas themed it has to sort of carry the weight of the genre.

Still a good time, worth the read for the hallmark lovers.

Patrick and Quinn met in college, graduated, married, and went on to live mostly normal lives in the real world.. Until their marriage on the rocks becomes even more complicated when Patrick knocks out Santa with a frying pan on Christmas Eve. When Santa quits Patrick assumes the responsibility of saving Christmas and Quinn becomes the first ever Merriest Mister. They’re presented with the opportunity of a lifetime, but will it be enough to save their marriage and the love they’ve grown through the years?

The Santa Clause meets a rom-com in this jolly holiday read and I couldn’t get enough of it! The Merriest Misters was a fun, easy, quick read that had me giggling from the start. It was a story of self-acceptance, the magic of the holiday season, and a beautiful compromise for the one your heart belongs to.

The book was presented in a dual POV between Patrick and Quinn which I felt really worked for the story. I liked seeing Patrick’s POV as Santa and then Quinn’s POV as the Merriest Mister. It allowed the reader to see what was going on in each of their lives and heads, organically pushing the story along. We did get blurbs of flashbacks between the two which I loved. They were short and packed a punch- providing an extra layer of sentiment.

The details from the North Pole and about the Christmas magic were my favorite part! Learning about how the magic of Santa came to be and life in the North Pole was so fun and let the reader buy into the setting and Patrick and Quinn’s new world. The community in the North Pole and all of the events and traditions were just so, so cool!

Seeing Quinn and Patrick learn about themselves and their relationships with others was beautifully written and added so much depth to their characters. This growth contributed to the conclusion in a really awesome way, and I really loved the ending!

Overall, this was such a fun holiday read and I highly recommend adding it to your holiday TBR!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Read if you love..
Marriage on the rocks
Dual POV
Epic snowball fighting
Captivating storytelling
Sweet Christmas details

I freaking LOVED THIS BOOK! What an absolutely unique concept for a Christmas romance. I am obsessed. I love these men with my whole heart and this was such a fun and heartwarming story!

I wanted to love this book! I did like it but just seemed to be missing that something to draw me in and not let me go.

I’m going to preface this with, a three-star review, to me, is a solid enough book that wasn’t for me personally. This was a fun romcom with plenty of Santa jokes, but I didn’t click with the characters or with the writing style. The book is told in the first-person present tense - including in numerous flashbacks - and both MMCs have remarkably similar narrative voices. Secondly, the book is a marriage-in-trouble book and as such it deals with a lot of thorny, complicated relationship issues.

Patrick and Quinn got married quickly, don’t have enough money, have unsupportive families, and are both feeling professionally burned out with their jobs. In a sense this was a take on the “marriage to receive an inheritance” trope: Patrick and Quinn will receive financial security, luxury, and breathing room to figure out their lives by taking up the Claus roles - but only if their marriage works. Instead of getting married for that financial security, they have to have a good marriage. This is kind of a problem, because they both have massive communications issues.

Patrick’s controlling family have labeled him the disappointment compared to his brother, and instilled a belief that he should have a heteronormative relationship in which he is the provider and his spouse is a homemaker. Quinn’s mother, on the other hand, is unsupportive and mostly unavailable, meaning that he is intensely lonely; he, too, wants the approval of Patrick’s family, but actually loathes “homemaking” and would prefer a more egalitarian relationship focusing on quality time and mutual support.

Needless to say, neither of them have shared these issues with each other, and it all comes to a head on Christmas Eve when Quinn learns that Patrick lost his job and hadn’t told him. As I said above, these are complicated, somewhat heavy issues and I don’t think they work with the lighthearted romcom treatment. And generally speaking I don’t think there was enough growth - particularly for Patrick - over the course of the novel; at 80% he’s still doing all the same things he’s been doing throughout his relationship with Quinn. Similarly, every single issue brought up in the book - not only involving Quinn and Patrick but their respective families and interpersonal relationships - is tied up neatly with a bow at the end in a way I found utterly implausible. And while yes, this is a romance novel in which the main characters become Santa and Mrs. Claus for the duration of the year, one of the important things to me about romance novels - whether they're gritty contemporary romance or cozy fantasy romance about orcs - is the way in which the relationships and the emotions involved feel real and plausible and believable and I root for them. That didn't happen here.

I'm sure this book will work for others for whom light glossy romcoms are more their thing, but unfortunately it isn't mine.

This book was fine! I liked the journey of growth that both Patrick and Quinn went on. I really did not enjoy the writing style as it was all tell and no show. There was also a LOT of the miscommunication trope, which I don’t love in books. It’s a fun seasonal read!

This was such a cute, heartwarming second-chance story about a young married couple who get the opportunity of a lifetime. Patrick Hargrave wants nothing more than to be a successful architect, but he's so consumed with work and providing for his adorable husband that he's missing out on his own life. Quinn Muller is a second grade teacher at a New Jersey public school and, because of a terrible piece of advice from his mother-in-law, has been letting Patrick run rough-shod over his wants and needs. When a burglar on Christmas Eve turns out to be the real Santa Claus, Patrick sees an opportunity to return everything to rights - Christmas, his life, and his marriage. Quinn is less enthusiastic but willing to do anything to save his marriage.

Normally I'm not a fan of male-written romance stories, but this one absolutely needed a queer voice to tell the story. It addresses so many genuine issues, from appearance to social perception to self-image, and I just really enjoyed it overall. I'm not a huge fan of second chance stories so only 4 stars for that, but everything else was great.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for an arc of this book which I voluntarily read and reviewed. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Oh my, this book was adorable, sweet, funny, charming and so much more. Patrick and Quinn have been together six years and married a little less than one year. And then <spoilers> so, Patrick becomes Santa and Quinn the merriest mister.

I adored Quinn. It took longer for me to warm up to Patrick, but I definitely did. The secondary characters were really fun too. Mick, a young elf learning to be brave was super cute. The other elves and former Claus’s made for a fun roundup in the North Pole. I appreciated Patrick’s and Quinn’s families for who they were, some of whom redeemed themselves well, some less so, but that’s okay.

This book is about love, growth, communication, trust, and so much more - all with the backdrop of the North Pole. You will root for Patrick and Quinn. You will feel joy reading about healed relationships. You will smile at the kindness and hope felt throughout this incredibly heartwarming holiday story.

Bonus: flashbacks!

Timothy Janovsky never misses, this book included. I think it's a little too early for Christmas books but it was still Holly and jolly and it really was like the Santa clause but gay.

4 Stars – Delightfully tender and overflowing with affection!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for providing me with an ARC of “The Merriest Misters” by Timothy Janovsky in exchange for an honest review.


With fond memories of Tim Allen in The Santa Clause, and a desperate need for something cheerful to ease my rattling nerves after a ridiculously stress-ridden couple of weeks, this holiday rom-com jumped to the top of my TBR. With “The Merriest Misters” being the first Janovsky book I’ve picked up, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

So, I was delightfully surprised to find myself being drawn into the light, yet wry, humor of Quinn’s narration from the very first page. Between his and Patrick’s perspectives, it’s obvious that despite the less than ideal state of their relationship, there’s still affection there. It’s just been muted by the pressures and expectations of family and work responsibilities. It’s the classic case of ‘life getting you down.’ Quinn and Patrick are too busy, too tired, and too damn out of sync, and neither of them really understands how they ended up that way.

Janovsky pairs this marriage-on-the-rocks trope with a weaponized frying pan and a healthy dose of Santa shenanigans to set Quinn and Patrick off on a magical holiday adventure that has all the makings of a hallmark movie.

The story progresses at a good pace. The characters are interesting with behaviors and motivations that make sense. The tone is well established and consistent; setting Quinn and Patrick’s early hopes and dreams for their careers and life together against the stagnant dissatisfaction of settling for notions of “happiness” and “success” that don’t necessarily fit them.

The flashback chapters work wonderfully to add context to the feelings the two are dealing with in the present without feeling clunky or overwritten. And despite all the cheesiness and Christmas-induced holiday cheer in the North Pole village, the rekindled romance manages to feel quite authentic.

For once, the third act separation doesn’t feel like a gimmick. It doesn’t come out of some inane misunderstanding or contrived drama. All things considered, it makes perfect sense. More than that, the time apart is used for real self-reflection and growth beyond just the romance, putting what Quinn and Patrick want and need to feel fulfilled by their lives into perspective.

And though the romance was certainly sweet, it’s the moments of reconnecting with family that really got to me. <spoiler> I was literally brought to tears when Patrick reads the letter his brother had written to Santa when they were kids. </spoiler>


I’m actually surprised by how much I enjoyed “The Merriest Misters.”

Sure, there are some things I wasn’t fond of, but I’m really picky when it comes to the technical details of narrative construction and syntactic choices. Given how well the text comes together overall, I’m pretty sure most people won’t be grumbling over the way some descriptions are handled, or how awkward it is to see a line like “you know because” when your brain tells you it really should be “you know why.”

My biggest gripe with the narrative though would have to be <spoiler> the way Quinn’s issues with Patrick’s mom are brushed off in a couple lines when her expectations and opinions have had such a huge negative impact on him. I’m sorry to be petty, but lending Quinn her pearl necklace does not make up for years of judgment that made him feel like crap, like he was wrong for dressing a certain way, like he just wasn’t enough. </spoiler> Yeah, I’m bitter. It is what it is. This might just be another me thing though…


In any case, “The Merriest Mister” is a delightful read full of Christmas magic and the much needed reminder that happiness for you may not look the same as it does for everyone else, and that’s okay.

This was a really fun read and takes you on a great holiday journey of reconnecting with yourself and your loved one.

I enjoyed the way the author expressed themselves and the emotions of the main characters felt real and honest. Would definitely recommend as a holiday read.

Thanks to NetGallery and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.