Deck the Holograms: A Spicy Alien Christmas Carol

by Latrexa Nova

Mar'Li was dead, to begin with--dead gorgeous anyway.

With his glittering green skin and unfathomably sweet nature, the eight-foot tall alien handyman has me mesmerized from the moment I meet him. It's a great distraction from the fact that every other human on this stupid planet has found their perfect "mate."

Me? I hate it here. I'm a regular old Scrooge. Yet I'm the one putting together a good old-fashioned Dickensian Christmas party for everyone.

When Mar'Li drops into my room, rattling chains through the air duct, I have questions. But he's got some too--about the human definition of kissing, which I'm only too happy to demonstrate.

Only problem is his species doesn't mate. Or, well, they do but they--to put it kindly--"hit it and quit it." So me getting my very own alien mate is out of the question.

What's worse, the overly cheery shapeshifter is the one person helping me put this stupid holiday celebration together. It wouldn't be so bad if his culture wasn't so frank about their baser desires--and if Mar'Li would stop trying to cheer me up with trips to the Holodeck to show me my Christmas past.

I don't want to be just a plaything. Even if I do wonder what his Christmas spirit feels like under my fingers.

Deck the Holograms is a reverse grumpy/sunshine adaptation of A Christmas Carol, with a lonely interior decorator FMC as Scrooge, a shapeshifting sucker-fingered alien as the visiting spirits, and the wackiness of a Holodeck that operates off of the inconsistency of human memory. This is the final book in the Regency Alien Planet series, and yes, we're releasing them out of order here.

Genres: Holiday, Science Fiction

82 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 14, 2023

About the author

A California native, Latrexa has always seen the weird in the world and seeks to share their outright lust for the strange and unusual. Their hobbies include sculpting unnatural horrors and running from their inner demons. Latrexa writes for the weirdos, heavily featuring darkness and off-beat humor.

Reviews

[Biblio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Regency, aliens and Christmas… oh my!
This was such a fun sci fi Christmas romance story. Mar’li doesn’t have mates in his species. Ellen is a regular Scrooge decorating for Christmas in space while her friends all galavant with their alien mates. These two collide on a Dickinson reverse grumpy sunshine way and it will have you kicking your feet giggling the entire time. This was so sweet and the tension was delicious. Sci fi holiday just jumped up there on my genre list. The dash of regency was a fun twist too! Now I need more regency era books 🤣👏🏼 Latrexa never fails to impress me with their writing. Loved this so much.

[Poppy || Monster Lover · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Ellen was all sorts of grumpy push everyone away and needed this himbo to brighten her life. I loved their dynamic and his ridiculous jokes/pranks. There was some missed potential for some diving into past trauma and processing it all. However, she still found a happy ever after that was sweet.

Spice: 2.5/5

Triggers: discussion of kidnapping and stasis (brief), family trauma, mention of ex cheating, epidemic involving multiple deaths (very low detail)

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 20%. The FMC says plenty of horrible things about other women and I didn't like it. You can be mad at your friends without calling them a bitch. It felt juvenile. When the spicy times came out of literal nowhere - one sentence they are exchanging names and the next they are kissing - I decided to DNF. I was annoyed by this FMC, I was confused by the "romance," and the Christmas Carol retelling elements were forced.

[Valezka Nashira · Rating 3 out of 5]

esto fue muy unico XD primera historia leida x esta autora y siento q me salte algo jajajaj no debí comezar con este pero me gusto auq hubos ratos donde se hiba x las ramas pero no estuvo mal x lo corto que fue fue muy rápido de leer y me gusto la pareja

[Bookfairymel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good continuation of the series! I can see how being the only unmated girl could really bother Ellen and I loved seeing Mar’Li determined to cheer her up. The Christmas vibe was so cute, I could envision all the decor. This couple really turned up the spice and all their scenes were super steamy. A hot holiday read in time for Christmas in July for me!