Joy of the Season by T. A. Chase

Title: Joy of the Season

Author: T.A. Chase

Genre: Contemporary

Length: Novella (28th November 2011)

Publisher: MLR Press

Heat Level: Explicit

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥5Hearts

Reviewer: Pixie

Blurb: Hal Sims runs a non-profit hospice named after his older brother. For ten years, he’s thrown himself into running the charity, and keeping his brother’s memory alive. Hal doesn’t have time for a relationship, especially with a rich golden boy like Tavis Komen.

Tavis Komen wants to change his life, and decides volunteering at Rupert’s Legacy is the first step to a better him. Meeting Hal Sims hits Tavis in ways he never planned.

When one of the hospice residents takes a turn for the worse, Tavis and Hal come together to comfort each other, and Tavis shows Hal there is joy to be found in a season that Hal has lost all interest in.

Purchase Link: http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=TACJYOFS

Review: Hal opened the hospice after his brother died; he offers support, love and respite from the worries of the world.  But as each year passes and those who come to him and become friends and then die, he finds it harder and harder to face each heartache without crawling into a bottle. Tavis has decided he needs to help on a more hands-on level, rather than just send a check each year.  When he meets Hal he begins to realize that he has found more than he first realized.

Hal has had his heart torn out more times than he can count.  He no longer finds joy in Christmas since his brother died and so many others since then.  He is wary of death but he provides something for these people that they desperately need… human contact and comfort in their last months and years. Tavis is a good man he has always supported charities and has been on humanitarian missions with his mother but the last one affected him more than he realized.  He now needs to do more, when they meet there is attraction but neither one is sure what to do about it.

I adored this story. It is gentle, loving, heartbreakingly touching and although it is sad it is also joyful. These two men come together at a time in their lives when they need the other.  Hal needs something and someone to remind him that life isn’t all death and sadness and Tavis has realized that his life is really quite shallow.

This book is so wonderfully written that I doubt that anyone will be able to read it without succumbing to tears. The characters are wonderful, especially Joey who will touch your hearts, and the lovemaking is beautiful.

I have to recommend this to everyone as it is a novella not to be missed.