Heart of the Pines by Jon Keys

HeartofthePinesLGTitle: Heart of the Pines

Series: 2013 – Heartwarming Advent Calendar

Author: Jon Keys

Genre: Contemporary Romance / Holiday

ISBN: 978-1-62798-590-1

Length: Novelette (70 pages)

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Heat Level: Low

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥3.5~4 Hearts

Reviewer: Thommie

Blurb: Christmas is the worst time of the year to find yourself alone. Chris Moss, owner of a tree farm, knows this down to his bones as he makes his way through his first holiday season after losing his wife to cancer. When Wade Hart, an annual customer at the farm, visits, they find common ground: Wade lost his own longtime lover to a parting of ways and is lonely too. The constant, gentle companionship provides fertile soil for an attraction neither expects, but nurturing a new relationship is a tough proposition. With the encouragement of family and friends, Chris and Wade may yet find that a second love later in life can be just as fulfilling as the first.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2013 Advent Calendar package “Heartwarming.”

Product Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4492

Review: I loved this story!
I have a bit of a soft spot when it comes to stories with older guys, yes, but this one was so good that I believe even the twink-lovers will find this read just awesome.

Wade is feeling low doing his Christmas tree shopping alone. Yes, his relationship with his ex was on the down road for a long time now, but one simply can’t help but feel alone on holidays after a ten-year-old relationship is over. While whining his poor fate at Chris, the tree farm owner and good friend, Wade forgets that Chris can understand him better than he thinks. As a matter of fact, Chris points out that it could be worse, and that’s when it hits him that Chris’s wife of thirty-one years, Mary, died nearly a year ago.

This is how Wade starts offering his companionship as comfort to Chris and himself during the holidays as no one should be left alone, but as days and week pass them by, both men are surprised with the unexpected feeling and connection that start blooming between them.

I think this was such a great story, so down to earth with so many real feelings in it. The men’s portrayal was fabulous. Their fears, their hesitance, and the slow steps they take the ghosts of their previous relationships that can’t just leave like that. I thought I was looking down the road at some neighbor in real life, it felt so much alive, so true to reality with all the bittersweet emotions tangling in the air.

Yes, I loved it. I loved both men a lot too. I had a blast not reading about some hot twenty-something young thang… Nothing wrong with them, but I find older guy to be some kind of novelty in romantic books.

And that’s what this story is, a romance. A second chance at love with all that entails, from first awkward date to the first time they come together, and may I congratulate the author on the brilliant first time that didn’t happen for this couple. It was the cherry on top for me at how freaking believable every single event in this story was.

I loved it! Can’t say that enough. Have at it.It’s well worth the read.