The Holiday Hoax by Skylar M. Cates

Title: The Holiday Hoax
Series: N/A
Author: Skylar M. Cates
Genre: New Adult/Holiday
Length: Novella (85 pages)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (December 12th, 2014)
Heat Level: Low
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4 Hearts
Reviewer: Aerin
Blurb: I’m Evan Goodman, budding actor, future star, college freshman. Oh, and let’s not forget—recently dumped. If only my family wasn’t expecting to meet my new boyfriend over the holiday break. Enter JD Laurens—a sweet and quiet science major who mostly keeps to himself. When he gathers the courage to come out, poor JD gets abandoned by his only family right in front of me, and now he has nowhere to go for Christmas.

But I have a proposition for him: pretend to be my boyfriend for the holidays so I can take him home.

It’s a win-win. What could go wrong?

ISBN: 9781632165930

Product Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5801

Review: What a cute holiday story, the best I’ve read so far. Our main characters are Evan and JD, both college students, each with his own problems concerning Christmas. JD’s story was quite sad and unfortunately, a lot of young gay men have stories similar to his. JD’s brother can’t accept the fact that JD is gay and now JD doesn’t have anywhere to go for Christmas.

Evan was excited to take his boyfriend Tyler home for Christmas to introduce him to his parents, but got dumped by Tyler at the last-minute. After witnessing JD’s abandonment by his brother, he comes up with a genial solution: he offers JD a home and a family for Christmas and in return, JD helps him out by pretending to be Tyler.

As Evan gets to know JD better, the pretend relationship they have starts to feel real. I liked them together, their relationship seemed genuine and their chemistry intense. Evan’s family is very open-minded but conservative at the same time. They were kind and made JD feel welcome, but what I really loved about them was the fact that religious traditions were important to them, but only if they got to experience them as a family.

There’s no steam in this book, no on-page sex, but the feelings JD and Evan develop for each other are strong and real. This is a perfect, lovely holiday read that will definitely put a smile on your face.

* I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *