Title: Old Acquaintance
Author: Annabelle Jacobs
Genre: Contemporary, Holiday, Christmas
Length: Novella (147 Pages)
Publisher: (November 25, 2018)
Heat level: Low
Heart Rating: 💖💖💖💖 4 Hearts
Blurb: There are two sides to every story, even those buried in the past.
When Sam spots the hot guy moving in next door, he’s all for going round to introduce himself. That soon changes when it turns out his new neighbour is Charles Whitmore, an old school acquaintance. Sam didn’t like him back then, for good reason, and fifteen years haven’t altered that.
Splitting up from his long-term boyfriend means a move across the city for Charlie. As luck would have it, his immediate neighbour is a guy he went to school with, Sam Gellar. While Sam is less than welcoming, his best mate is more than happy to invite Charlie into their social circle. Whatever problem Sam has with him, Charlie resolves to get to the bottom of it because, frosty beginnings aside, Charlie likes him.
With Christmas just around the corner, fate pushes them together, and they get on much better than they ever did at school. Despite his efforts not to, Sam develops feelings for Charlie, and they appear to be reciprocated. If Sam wants to take things further, he needs to either confront Charlie about their past—a past Charlie seems to have forgotten entirely—or let it go and move on. Sam knows deep down that he can’t let it go, but can’t find the right time to bring it up either.
ISBN:Â B07KWGRB1F
Product Link:Â Amazon US | Amazon UK
Reviewer: Lisa
Review: Sam and Dave are definitely being themselves. Sticking their noses in the window to see who the new people are moving in next door. When he realizes who it is, he acts like a total asshat. It would seem it was someone from the past. Someone who had done something bad or so he thought, and he hung on to that attitude. Guess he never heard there were always two sides to a story.
Charlie had broke up with his long time boyfriend and they went their separate ways, at least in a sense. They were still friends, but it didn’t make the holidays coming up look any better. Then he caught a sight of his neighbor and things were looking up. Even if the guy did avoid him.
I found that this one was a bit of a mixture for me. I didn’t really care for Sam at all. He comes off a bit stuffy and odd. Here is a man who holds a 15 year old grudge against Charlie for kicking another guys ass. A guy that dumped Sam’s friendship just because he was gay. I would have been cheering Charlie when meeting up with him again. But that is just me. I did like that in the beginning he stood up for his friend, but now not so much. I loved Sam’s cat phobia though, and the fact that Charlie’s cat seemed to choose Sam. It was adorable.
The story itself had its good parts as well as it’s boring parts. It is a cute slow burn romance that moved to slowly for me. I didn’t really care for the slow pace to the story as it just didn’t keep my attention like it should have. Other than that, it was well written and quite funny in parts. It was a cute Christmas story that worked well for the holidays.
I did enjoy reading this story and look forward to seeing what other stories this author has out there.