3.5 stars
I got this from NetGalley as an ARC, so shoutout to them!

Hm, I knew this book was short, so I wasn't convinced from the beginning that I would get a full and satisfactory story. I'm pretty satisfied with the events, but I wanted more from Lucas's character. By the end I put together that he was agoraphobic (it wasn't explicitly stated in the summary I read), but I wasn't sure what triggered his need to be indoors. I generally felt like I couldn't get a read on what his feelings were about ANYTHING until the end, when Jean did a little flash forward of the next few months of his life.

I did really like Jeremy. I found him endearing, sweet and patient. Overall I wish the story was a little longer but it's a quick, cute read for a wholesome M/M romance.

I feel like I say this a lot when I review these short stories, but I think this one especially needed to be longer.

It’s hard to get a read on Lucas really. He has the beginnings of a good character, but he just wasn’t developed enough. You saw glimmers of his personality in some interactions and then it was back to nothing. Jeremy was more developed, but even then was lacking.

The story was cute, but really just needed MORE. Lucas is depressed and it kind of explains a little about it. The general gist was sometimes depression just happens for no big reason, which is a good thing to be said because it’s true and sometimes people think there has to be a big reason behind why someone is depressed.

I just wish we would have seen more of Lucas people watching, especially Jeremy. It made it like Lucas was attracted to Jeremy in the beginning, especially when he found out Jeremy was gay, but then later Lucas seems surprised that he is attracted to Jeremy. It just seemed a little odd? I dunno. Maybe I just read it wrong.

Not a bad read at all. Just don’t go in expecting depth really.

Why did I decide to try this story here? Because it is by an author I’ve read and loved a book by. So much so that I’ve read that book twice (5 star reads both times). That was a female-female book, though, and this is a male-male short story. But I knew/know that going in.

This is a difficult story to review for one specific reason: I could summarize the story in a few words. It is a brief story of something around 26 to 31 pages and it would be easy accidentally say too much in a review, to spoil things.

So, what can I say? This story was originally published in 2013 at about 31 pages in length and, judging from the reviews, is similar to but not exactly the same as the story I read. There are medical conditions mentioned in those reviews not mentioned in the story I read (though I’m not sure those conditions were ever in the story, considering how they are referred to in the reviews I saw).

And the story? Two men meet, one is happy hard working type, the other is depressing and while he has his hobbies, is not the hard working type. They feel a certain attraction to each other. Oh, and this story occurs in the days before and on Christmas day.

Jeremy is the happy hard working one. Lucas the who stares at people, depressed, and jots down notes in a notebook. Both are roughly 23 to 25 years of age. I do not recall if physical characteristics were mentioned (beyond height, weight, and how strong they look). I pictured both in a way that probably doesn’t correspond to the situation at hand, at least if I look at the covers. *shrugs* eh, my imagination makes weird leaps at times.

An interesting slice of life story with a thread of romance, and a touch of family stuff. An okay story.

Rating: 3.50

June 25 2018