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The Christmas Mac-n-Cheese Mystery

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Ruslan knows that the best student organization on campus is the Mac-n-Cheese Club…and that’s not just because he’s the professor in charge of it. He’s also a little and an expert in mac-n-cheese. But as the holidays approach, he’s found another reason to love the club…his new Secret Santa.

Dante knows that the best student organization on campus is the Mac-n-Cheese Club because it’s led him to the most adorable little ever…and the most clueless. So when flirting isn’t helpful in the slightest, he knows it’s time to bring in the heavy hitter…Santa.

When a rigged game of Secret Santa helps a little open his eyes, it’ll take mac-n-cheese and a little romance to bring a stubborn cutie out of his

This story has so much mac-n-cheese in it you probably should stock up before reading it.

275 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 3, 2023

199 people are currently reading
73 people want to read

About the author

M.A. Innes

141 books1,189 followers
M.A. Innes writes kinky and curious things like age play, puppy play, sweet guys in lingerie, cute boys in search of a Daddy and more.

When M.A. Innes wants to write a little more mainstream, she writes under the name: Shaw Montgomery

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5 stars
172 (43%)
4 stars
122 (31%)
3 stars
67 (17%)
2 stars
19 (4%)
1 star
12 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
Profile Image for Rainbow Reads and Reviews.
247 reviews9 followers
November 10, 2023
what is this?

I'm here to update my review. My initial 2 star rating has now been bumped down to a one star.

At this point, this has turned into deceptive marketing. Again, no proof, but you cannot tell me that Shaw wrote this book from beginning to end. If she did, we have bigger problems.

This is not the worst book Shaw has released this year, but it's top 3. All three read as if they were written by AI or a ghost writer...and no one bothered to proofread any of them.

My biggest pet peeve about several of the books this year has been the repetitive use of some words. I've shared the count of several. I believe the last book I shared used the word boy over 350 times. Guess what...it hasn't improved.

In this book, Dante is both Daddy and Master. The word master was used over 230 times and the word daddy was used 297 times. Yes, 297. You have over 500 words in this book used as an honorific or description of one character. ONE. Now, Dante is in a master's program, but maybe it's used 10 times for that. I do not understand how an established, and successful, author allows a book with such poor writing to be published in their catalog. The writing in this book is embarrassing.

If this review comes across angry, it's because I am. I'm livid. The last few releases felt more on par with Shaw's writing. Again, this one is such a departure from her normal formula. It's repetitive. It's boring. It's deceptive. It's a waste of time and money.
Out of 9 books, 3 read as if they were written by someone else. The books are
Finley & Jared : A M/m Humiliation Play Romance (Beautiful Shame Book 5),
The Gift of Strength and now this one.

It's disappointing to watch an author sell out. It's heartbreaking to read another book by a former favorite author and feel deceived. I'm over it.
29 reviews
November 8, 2023
Sweet Story

This is a very sweet, low angst daddy/boy story with an adorable meet cute. I generally love all of M.A. Innes and Shaw Montgomery’s books. However, I’ve struggled a bit with the last few releases and have not finished a couple for the same reason. The problem is that there are pages and pages dedicated to the couple discussing how their relationship will play out, including how they plan to interact with each other, kinks, limits, etc. This is all incredibly important stuff! However, it can be covered in a couple of pages. This book and the last published had almost the same scene with the the boy sitting in the living room with the daddy talking on and on and on about their relationship. Chapters 8-11 were dedicated to discussing relationship dynamics. There was a bit of sexy stuff sprinkled in but The Talk continued the whole time. It just seemed like the story was basically over at that point and couldn’t hold my attention.
Profile Image for Natalie  H.
3,793 reviews30 followers
October 30, 2025
October 2025
Kindle edition

Initially I liked this one. The set up was cute with the mac-n-cheese obsession and the presents. After the walk in play things pretty much were done and dusted with the majority on the play and sex side. It started to drag around the 60% mark. Cute couple but started on a high and went from there.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Jamie Lee Zonneveld.
1,681 reviews52 followers
November 3, 2023
4,5 stars
The Christmas Mac-n-Cheese Mystery by M.A. Innes is part of the Secret Santa Daddy series season 3.

This story is about Dante and Ruslan. I loved their story. It was sweet, sexy, full of feels and very well written. Russie is an adorable crazy cutie and Dante is the perfect Daddy and Master for him.
Profile Image for Lindsey Middlemiss.
394 reviews13 followers
December 8, 2023
Fun, sweet and spicy

The Christmas Mac'n'Cheese Mystery by MA Innes

"Merry Christmas from your Secret Santa.
The best little deserves the best presents.
“Oh… I got a Secret Daddy?” My big side said I should probably be worried, but my little side was too excited and he won. He ’minded me that no one at the University cared and most of the club was probably Doms and subs, anyway.
“What’s Secret Daddy gonna get me next?”
Mac- n- Cheese Club just kept getting better and better. I got yummy pizza, a big brownie, and a Daddy."

This was a cute story of a college professor, who is a Little and a Submissive, and the Daddy Dom Post-grad student who is his Secret Santa at Mac'n'Cheese Club.

It's fun, sweet and spicy.

This is written as a queer & kink normative environment, so although one main character is alienated from his parents, there's no queerphobia or kink shaming.

Despite the title, there is no mystery FWIW. Even the Secret Santa aspect is clear to all early on.

In this you'll find:
✨MM contemporary romance
✨BDSM + Daddy/Little kink
✨Young college professor Little Sub
✨Post-grad student Daddy Dom
✨Mac'n'Cheese club
✨Rigged Secret Santa
✨Accepting queer & kink normative environment
✨C$ck cage
✨Alienation from family
✨Use of Master as BDSM honorific
✨Discussion of Master/Slave fantasies
✨Found family
✨A HEA
Profile Image for Mandy.
4,883 reviews46 followers
November 5, 2023
Professor Ruslan knows that the best student organisation on campus is the Mac-n-Cheese Club not just because he is in charge of it but because he is also a little and an expert in mac-n-cheese. As the holidays approached he found a new reason to love the club - his new Secret Santa. Dante knows the best student organisation on campus is the Mac-n-Cheese Club because it lets him get closer to the most adorable little ever who is clueless at licking up flirting and so he has to have the help of the heavy hitter - Santa. When a rigged game of Secret Santa helps a little open his eyes, it’ll take mac-n-cheese and a little romance to bring a stubborn cutie out of his shell.

I loved this story with Ruslan being so focused on being big in his working life that he wasn't good at picking up queues and that he was very careful to be little in private or with his close friends where the Daddy was nice enough to help him when it was needed. Rusland was so cute and Ddante was really good at pushing his buttons in a way that I was surprised he was able to think clearly at all. I loved the ending of this story and would love to know what happens next to them. Easy to read, feel and understand. This was an MM story with mature content and BDSM-like DDLB and D/s dynamics.
Profile Image for Marta.
364 reviews1 follower
November 7, 2023
MA Innes writes great books about littles and their daddies and this is a perfect example of them.
Ruslan and Dante are a professor and a student in the same university, but Dante has never been Ruslan student. They are both in the Mac and cheese club, where Ruslan judges the differents options the students come up with.
Dante pursues him sweetly and with some cleverness is able to make his interest know without tipping everyone in the club.
Together they begin a very interesting journey towards something significant.
Both characters are adorable, with some insecurities, some baggage, but with lists and quite too many conversations they make it work.
Love the quirks Innes puts in every character, and really enjoyed this book.
620 reviews6 followers
November 25, 2023
This one was okay. Over the top numerous sex scenes, and Kink with a capital K. Ruslan was an extremely shy, secret little/sub/slave who did his best to not "out" himself, even if he was a professor at a college where the kink lifestyle was accepted. Dante is a Daddy/Dom/Master grad student, but never was Ruslan's student. Instead they were both part of a club for lovers of Mac and Cheese. During the holidays the club has a competition for the best twist on the Mac and Cheese dinner, and a Secret Santa. Getting together Dante helps Ruslan discover who he is, and help him be brave enough to admit it. Liked that there was another couple in the book, Malcolm and Jacki, who could mentor and support Ruslan and Dante on their journey.
Profile Image for Amanda Lillie.
22 reviews
June 3, 2024
I agree with a lot of the other reviews. What even is this? I’ve read a few of this authors books in the past and this one is like she let someone else write and use her name. It doesn’t even feel like the same writing style as the other books I’ve read. The writing is so amateurish and like they don’t know how an actual adult acts, regression aside this didn’t seem like there was any grasp of how adults interact with each other. I couldn’t finish this, made it maybe 4 chapters but it took me two days to even get there. The interactions were forced and awkward. Not very realistic. The author should pull this book and rewrite it completely. I wanna know what drew people in who rated it higher than one star?

Profile Image for Denise GremoryKohta.
4,231 reviews6 followers
November 5, 2023
This was amazing. I know I say this a lot but I do believe that Ruskin and Dante are two characters that’ll stick with me for a long time. The one thing I love most about this author’s work is how character driven it is and this one shows that the most. I found it to be even more complex and detailed without losing the humor or depth of care and emotional connection the characters build. And then there are the side characters which just made it even better. I want to know more about Malcolm and Jack, plus we can’t forget Dante’s interesting roommates. This is one book that’ll definitely leave readers wanting to read more and probably send new readers hunting up more books.
Profile Image for Terri.
1,659 reviews
November 10, 2023
This was such a fun read, full of heat and laughs. Ruslan was an adorable little and sub, and Dante was the perfect daddy and master for him. I loved the interactions between these two, from the sexy times to the funny moments when Dante was worrying too much or Ruslan was being sneaky and naughty. They were so cute! I was glad there wasn't too much focus on Dante being a student, since he was a graduate student about to be done with school, and Ruslan wasn't his professor. I also liked the various friendships, which are always something this author writes well. I hope some of these friends find love in future stories. I loved this one!
Profile Image for Ayesha Hawkins.
318 reviews14 followers
November 23, 2023
Rating 1.5
CW: MM, AgePlay, mild degradation, mild D/s

To be honest I almost DNF this book. It has taken me two weeks to read this book when it normally takes a day. I just felt the characters were unbelievable. I feel like the author lost the plot until about 88% into the book. This author is one of my favorite MM authors but I just couldn't get into this storyline.

The sub Professor, who was obvious to how he is being viewed and cannot communicate their limits even though his is not a new sub.

A Younger dom in grad school, who can't seem to put his sub at ease unless he is practically reading his mind.
Profile Image for Jennie.
848 reviews25 followers
November 4, 2023
Professor Ruslan and masters program student Dante are part of the same Mac n Cheese club.

I really liked the way that Dante made Ruslan talk about limits and boundaries, making sure they were both comfortable with what was happening between them as their relationship developed.

"Sometimes the hardest part of being a Dom was finding the best way to drive a sub crazy."

"He had to keep making things difficult by thinking.
Smart Doms were exhausting. "

These two are super sweet and romantic together. This is a fun, sexy, romantic Daddy/Little, D/S Christmas story I'd happily recommend.
Profile Image for Ashley D.
1,357 reviews12 followers
December 4, 2023
Ruslan loves the Mac-n-Cheese club, mainly because he is a little and loves Mac-n-cheese. When he gets a Secret Santa gift during the club's meeting, it's another reason to love the club. Dante loves the club because it leads him to the best little, Ruslan. Dante needs to get Ruslan to understand he is flirting with him.

Ruslan and Dante were great together; Ruslan was adorable and clueless at the same time. This was a pretty low angst book, with lots of charming littles time. We saw some old characters from previous books, which is always lovely.
96 reviews
January 7, 2024
As much as I have enjoyed this authors books in past readings, I have to say the writing has gone down hill for a few. The whole story was just dragging with repeats and I got so frustrated with all of Ruslan's responses like he just turned into a moron. UM, UGH, I, I, PLEASE. No complete sentences. Who acts like that when in and during the process of sexual acts?. Seems a lot of other stories lately are the same. Give the characters some sense. I skipped the rest of series as I didn't want to read the same thing in those too.
6 reviews
December 5, 2025
This is a very sweet, low angst daddy/boy story with an adorable meet cute. The two main characters had a good bond and good communication (in their own way, Ruslan finds it difficult to communicate but they manage to figure it out together). I generally love all of M.A. Innes and Shaw Montgomery’s books, but this may be one of my favorites.
I find the Daddy/boy dynamic to be especially cute, funny, and comforting, the more D/s stuff I find more hot and romantic. Most books are one of these two, but this book was in my oppinion a great mix of the two!
Profile Image for Ζωή Παππά.
Author 3 books29 followers
November 4, 2023
"The Christmas Mac-n-Cheese Mystery" is a sweet and festive romance book with secret Santa shenanigans and lots of mac n cheese ( it will most likely make you hungry).
We follow Ruslan, a college professor and Dante a student at the college (Ruslan isn't his professor).
The two of them were really cute together and they had explosive chemistry. I loved their dynamic.
I had a fun time reading their story. It was fluffy and heart warming.
623 reviews11 followers
November 5, 2023
Absolute adorable little who has no idea when people are flirting with him and a daddy with the patients for the right time to make a move on him .
Dante loves going to the Mac and Cheese club, where Ruslan the professor runs it. Watching Ruslan is the best part , but when secret Santa starts he's determined to be Ruslan Santa.
Both characters are adorable and perfect for each other. Highly recommend
Profile Image for Rachel Blomberg.
1,506 reviews7 followers
November 7, 2023
Dante becomes Ruslan's Daddy and Master

A university that has more kink than anyone knows about including professors and students. It all starts in a Jacob club's secret Santa, where professor Ruslan receives gifts that appeals to his little side that he thought he tried to hide. Dante knew he was going to be Ruslan's Daddy and Master he just needs to do it quickly to protect his privacy.
Profile Image for ShelfLife.
555 reviews
March 13, 2024
I can’t recall how far I read before stopping. It doesn’t really matter. This book is really, really bad. It does not read like other books by this author. And this is the second of their books I’ve felt this way about. I can’t remember the other one, but it was a recent release (2023), and I wrote a review for it, because it was also really bad.

Not sure what’s changed with this author, but I won’t be reading their books again until I see some legit raving reviews. Sad.
Profile Image for Shannon.
119 reviews6 followers
November 4, 2023
Mac n cheese!

This was a perfect, sweet, zero angst (ignoring Russie's drama) story. It was so cute and I absolutely adored it. With D/s dynamics, age play, younger Dom/older sub AND professor/student, it had so much going on but it was uncomplicated and lovely.

Perfect secret santa daddy story.
Profile Image for Rachwithheadinabook.
1,893 reviews
November 5, 2023
God I love these Secret Santa books they always herald the start of the season for me and are quite frankly a delight to read. This is a story of a professorLlittle and a student Daddy who are so adorable that I love it. There is Mac and Cheese man as well. So sweet, sexy and quite a bit kinky as well.
Profile Image for FHR.
1,073 reviews13 followers
November 6, 2023
Ruslan is a professor who is a bit oblivious to his surroundings but loves Mac n cheese as a little.
Dante is a student who is also a Dom and is captivated with Ruslan. With a little bit of planning Dante gets to be little Russies Daddy.

This was an absolutely adorable read with daddy/little themes, a D/s plot with kinky times and great supporting characters. Definitely a recommended read.
1,107 reviews
November 7, 2023
Holiday fun!

I loved Dante and Ruslan’s story! My first holiday book of the season and it’s set the bar very high for all the rest! It’s sweet, moderately kinky, and fun. Russie is the most adorable little, but I liked that Ruslan took pleasure in expressing his big/sub side as well
241 reviews4 followers
November 14, 2023
Sigh...I want more

I always feel like this with M. A. Innes. I get so swept up in the story and invested into he characters I am sad when it is over and I want more because I am invested.

The story was complete and through...I am needy and want more.

The characters. The story. Everything flowed well and made for an easy read I didn't want to put down. A perfect little escape.
337 reviews1 follower
November 19, 2023
Secret Santa and Mac-n-Cheese what's not to love

This is the first book in the season three of Secret Santa Daddy and I am so thrilled I stumbled across this multi author collaboration. The books in this series are an entertaining Christmas themed (obviously) read. They are lots of fun and simply put a joy to read! I can't wait for Season four next year.
109 reviews
December 1, 2023
1 star

I couldn't get through this one. It took me almost two weeks just to get to 40% progress. I totally get and respect talking about limits and such but this was so drawn out and boring I decided to DNF it. This is the first MA Innes book that I've disliked but omg it was awful.
1,473 reviews9 followers
November 4, 2023
Great story

I absolutely loved this story. This was such a wonderful story full of laugh out loud moments and lots of awww. The characters were all so fascinating and now I want a story for each one of them. I really didn’t want to put this down and I highly recommend it.
Profile Image for Sarah Mitcham.
1,296 reviews8 followers
November 9, 2023
Oblivious To Flirting.

MM, Age Gap, Daddy/boy. D/s, Age Play, Romance. Reads great as a stand-alone and was so humorous, sweet and was so obviously going to be extremely steamy. Fantastic characters that you can't help but fall in love with. Great read. Guaranteed HEA.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews

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