Meeting Mr. Christmas

I love Christmas theme books, and this book doesn't disappoint, I like this trope of friends to lovers.
Noel and Jed are best friends since ever, Noel is gay and has been pinning for Jed forever, but Jed is straight, until one night of truth or dare starts to change everything. A night when Jed forgets the keys at home and must stay at Noel's house is the last click for Jed to realize that Noel is not just his best friend.
This is such a cozy, low-angst holidays book with lots of loving friends and two dogs.

Ali

120 reviews

November 6, 2024

I love this author books and hence like to get ARC copies of her book. However, this didn't hit the usual mark for me, sadly. Wasn't in love with the story or characters, unfortunately.

Julie Underhill

673 reviews18 followers

November 12, 2024

Meeting Mr. Christmas by Ali Rycart is part of the Collier’s Creek Christmas series by various authors. It is the story of two men who have been best friends forever and even though everyone around them sees their real relationship it takes a while for them to catch on that they love each other. Noel Christmas works from home with a tech job creating and testing applications for mobile devices. He has a cute dachshund, Peter, who seems to know his moods as well as showing his displeasure when he doesn’t like something Noel is doing. He has been in love with his best friend and protector, Jed, since they were children. Unfortunately, Jed likes women and Noel is into men. That doesn’t stop them from hanging out and having many traditions together, but every time Jed is with a new woman it breaks Noel’s heart a little more. This makes him decide that he needs to do some dating so he signs up with the Love Heartz app. He gets along well with his first date but after a run in where Jed shows up they don’t meet up again. It’s then that he realizes that while he likes a lot of the men he has dated they don’t measure up to Jed so the relationships are bound to fail. The same seems to happen for Jed but he doesn’t realize why. He dates many women, all of whom are petite and dark haired, just like Noel, and he doesn’t understand why he doesn’t like any of the men he dates. Jed works as a florist apprentice, a job he almost didn’t consider until Noel said he might like it. He loves this job and is very good at it and he wouldn’t have it if it wasn’t for him. A missed ritual of going to the Christmas tree lighting in their town of Collier’s Creek because he asked a date to it when he didn’t mean to leads to some hurt feelings and has him start wondering why he hurt Noel. Then a game at a party with friends finds them kissing and Jed wanting more. A stay with Noel because he forgot his keys leads to a hot love scene and a confused Jed leaving early the next morning which finds Noel feeling like he was an experiment. He confronts Jed and tells him he has to make a decision on whether or not they are going to be together because he doesn’t think he can go back to the way they were. Jed doesn’t want to lose his best friends and is still confused about his feelings so he talks to Lucian, his boss, and comes to a decision that feels so right he can’t wait to tell Noel about it, which he does in an epic and sweet way. They declare their love and are on their way to forever together. I really enjoyed this book. Noel is such a sweet guy and yearns to be with Jed, even though he thinks it will never happen. Jed has always been protective of Noel and loves their times together, but is clueless that everything he does is shouting “Noel’s the one”. Once he does figure that out, he goes all in and sees that their past together has led them to where they are now. Collier’s Creek is a fun and very Christmasy place and has quite a few characters that show up among its townspeople. Their friends and family play a big part in this story and I loved how after they came out together everyone said they knew that they would. I highly recommend this book, especially if you like stories about friends to lovers, some pining for something they think they can’t have, a clueless man who finally sees the light, and a happily ever after at Christmas.

Zoë Miranda

622 reviews10 followers

arc deck-the-halls mm-mmm-and-other-lgbt-cuties

Holiday Cheer Meter: 2/5
(Where 1 is as Christmassy as 'Die Hard' and 5 is more like 'Elf')

3rd person, past tense, dual POV
Noel Christmas (23), IT tech, application tester
Jed (23-ish), floral designer trainee at Floristry by Lucian Blaxston

I just finished an ARC for the previous book in the series, I'll be Boned for Christmas so I figured I'd stay on task and read the next installation. I have to admit I'm not the biggest fan of the GFY trope, though I love friends-to-lovers. Not sure having two 'straight' best friend/friends-to-lovers immediately one after the other did this book any favours though but this one had a very different vibe, more hard-won angst and less easy fun.

This was pretty slow burn and it took pretty much the entire book for Jed to come to terms with his feelings. In the meantime Noel's pining can be described as nothing more than suffering if I'm honest and as I didn't have the context to truly understand his relationship with Noel, aside from being told that they are best friends and have always been joined at the hip, I couldn't really understand why Noel stayed in close contact when all it was doing was making him miserable.

Jed's behaviour throughout the book didn't endear him to me; acting jealous and territorial of anyone Noel tried to date and acting dismissive and dickish to anyone he himself tried to date.
I'm baffled as to how he continued to find women who would give him a chance in such a small town as surely that attitude would have earned him a reputation that should have had potential dates steering clear.

At about 70% I actually stopped rooting for the couple. Jed's head was so far up his ass I knew he didn't have the page count to redeem himself in my eyes. It would have taken a Christmas miracle or the grandest of grand gestures to get me there and neither happened. Once they inevitably get together we barely get any time to enjoy their coupledom before the story ended.

I don't even really like dogs and Peter but Gomer were my favourite characters of this book. I also enjoyed Jed's parents, especially his mom, and how caring they were, and it was enjoyable to see Jed at work at the florist shop, working his magic. The game of truth or dare was a stand-out scene and what I thought was going to be the turning point.

I hadn't realized that this was a spin-off series, and while I didn't have any real trouble getting into and enjoying the story, there feels like a lot of established characters and history exists that I didn't have all the context for, I'll probably circle back and read the original six books of series in the new year since I'm deep into my holiday reading at the moment.

I was given an ARC and voluntarily wrote an honest review.

GreenwingReads

339 reviews2 followers

This is the story of Noel and Jed and part of a multi-author holiday series.

Noel and Jed have been best friends since they were in diapers and are practically inseparable. However, for years Noel has been in love with Jed, who is straight. For his part, it was pretty clear that Jed harbored unrealized feelings for Noel because he only dated women who were similar in physical description to Noel (brown hair and slender, petite build). While their families seemed to see what was going on, Noel and Jed were blind to each other's feelings.

The writing style and world building were very good. This was my first book by this author and I will likely read something of theirs again, even if this specific story wasn't for me.

I really wanted to like this story as friends-to-lovers is one of my favorite tropes, but I just couldn't get into it. I really liked Noel's character, but I couldn't stand Jed. Where Noel was sweet, caring, driven, successful, and independent, Jed seemed sort of stuck. He still lived at home while apprenticing at a floral shop (my favorite character of all was Jed's boss at the shop). He dated a lot of women, but only superficially, he was often rude to everyone around him, and he was very jealous and possessive of Noel, but didn't give Noel's feelings much consideration.

Things kick off when Jed invites his girlfriend of the moment to participate in what was a pretty important tradition between Noel and Jed. First, they are supposed to be best friends, but Noel didn't even know Jed was dating anyone. Second, Jed's excuse for inviting his girlfriend (without even consulting Noel) was pretty weak, especially since he knew how much it hurt Noel. When Noel tried to bow out gracefully and let Jed and his girlfriend have their tradition, Jed got upset and guilted Noel into going not only as a third wheel, but to even find a date, who Jed then treated badly. That's just one of several instances where Jed made Noel miserable. I felt really bad for the guy and I felt like Jed was very immature. For his part, Noel should have stood up for himself and stuck to his convictions better.

I thought the first guy that Noel went on a date with was much better suited to Noel. It's rough when you read a romance and you aren't rooting for the MCs to get together. The "grand gesture" if you can call it that, was also pretty weak. I felt like after everything Jed had put him through, Noel deserved much more. The epilogue was cute and that's about the only part of the story where I actually liked Jed at all.

Ramsi

573 reviews2 followers

November 3, 2024

- contemporary romance
- small town USA with a wintery festival
- small burn
- best friends to lovers
- gay for Noel → noelsexual

4,25 stars

Ah, this was definitely a low angst, sweet Christmassy story with likeable MCs and wonderful supporting secondary characters.

Noel and Jed are lifelong friends, one gay, the other straight, but that doesn't hinder feelings to arise. Especially when a kiss while playing truth and dare brings Jed to confront & recognise his own feelings. Put on top of that the fact he always had a type (small brunettes, just like Noel) and gets jealous when Joel decides to sign up for a dating app, he can't stop to question his own feelings.
Yes, there was a brief scene where it felt like everything went wrong but it wasn't much drama. It gets cleared up relatively fast.

The premise itself may not be that original but the execution was charming and heart-warming and let me smile a lot while reading.

But I sometimes was shouting at my kindle too, throwing my hands in the air and just saying: MEN! Really, how 'dumb' can someone be?
If he's not ready to face some truths about himself, the answer is very!
Practically everybody knew that those two belonged with each other and that there was real love between them. Only those two were too blind XD or more accurate, Noel knew he was in love with Jed but thought it was hopeless and 'foolish' since Jed was straight.

To see them finally getting all they're hoping for was wonderful and I was right there with them, all excited for it. I was invested in their journey and rooting for them hard.

I had so much fun reading it, I wanted to read it in one go and could hardly put it down when I needed to sleep.

Feel good, easy to read, Christmassy feelings inducing story. I felt well entertained.
Give it a try yourself

kind of spoiler I think. My reason for not giving 5 stars: I would have loved to be a bit more privy to reactions from family etc when they finally managed to get together.
Just a shortish chapter after they managed to become boyfriends and clear the air between them, showing me the first days of their new coupledom – especially Christmas with Jed's family - would have been sooooo good.

Yes I got told some things in the epilogue but told and shown are still two different things. I know this is my own preference but like this review is my own opinion of the story, that plays a part in the rating for me too.

christmas

Abigail Beckwith

1,700 reviews

And the Christmas ARCs have started!!! Here's Ali Ryecart's "Meeting Mr. Christmas." It's a part of the multi-author series, Collier's Creek Christmas.

["Two best friends. One secret crush. A kiss that changes everything.

There’s never been a time when Noel’s not been in love with his best friend Jed. The problem is, Jed’s straight. Always has been, always will be. Yet, as the festive season descends on Collier’s Creek there’s only one gift Noel for Jed to wake up and realise they are meant to be together. But that’s never going to happen — or not until too many beers and a Christmas movie marathon ends in a steamy make out session.

Jed’s world is turned up side down. He’s straight. He dates girls, not guys. So why does the memory of the taste of Noel’s lips on his send delicious tingles zipping along his spine?

As carols play and stockings are hung, can Jed embrace his newfound feelings? Or will Noel's dreams of love melt away like snow?

Discover the magic of the season in this heartfelt story of friendship, secret desire, and small-town romance."]

The pining and angst in this one was rooouuugh. Heartbreaking and chest aching. I cried quite a few times. BUT the pure love and devotion and friendship between these two was well worth it.

They were perfect together. Everyone knew it. Noel knew it. The entire town knew it. And deep down, Jed knew it. But he struggled a bit with jumping in and letting go of his fears.

But both of their doggies helped set them straight.

And now I have to read the rest of this series... And the OG series...

#meetingmrchristmas #aliryecart #collierscreekchristmasseries #collierscreek #collierscreekseries #books #queerbooks #queererotica #bodicerippers #bookstagram #bookphotography #ilovebooks

lgbt mm

Kiki Reads

455 reviews16 followers

best-friends-to-lovers bi-awakening bisexuality

As a rule, I don’t decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving. But reading Christmas stories? Bring it on!
Meeting Mr. Christmas is a cute and fluffy holiday story with a lot of heart.
This is a small town, slow burn gem.
Noel Christmas has a problem. He’s been in love with his best friend Jed forever. But Jed is straight. And this year, for the first time ever, Jed suggests they bring dates to the annual Collier Creek tree lighting. Something that has always been their thing.
Jed has a problem that he created. As soon as he suggested bringing dates to the tree lighting, he regretted it. And lately seeing his best friend with men who don’t deserve him is bugging him way more than usual. Noel deserves some who sees how wonderful he is and can appreciate him. See how special he is. Like Jed does. Oh…
This best friends/idiots to lovers story is a lot of fun.
Childhood friends. A secret crush. And a kiss that changes everything.
Everyone knows they’re perfect for each other. They just need take their shot. But Jed has a lot of confusing thoughts and almost loses Noel because of his hemming and hawing.
I loved Noel. His kind heart. His adorable dog Peter. I wanted Jed to wake up and realize what was right in front of him.
Luckily Jed Mason, floral designer, dog dad to Gomer, and man with a thing for cute little brunettes finally comes to his senses.
And I loved seeing Lucian from the original Collier Creek series again, as charmingly adorkable as ever, there to give Jed advice.
Ali is a great writer and her Christmas stories are always top tier.
If you’re looking for a book to give you the warm fuzzies, this is

Monica

559 reviews32 followers

October 12, 2024

Is it too early to read Christmas novels? I don't think so! This book was sweet, heartwarming, cozy and had all the feelings to make me keep reading non-stop.
Noel and Jed have been friends since they were born. Nobody can picture one without the other, but what people don't know is Noel's crush on his friend. Jed is straight so Noel has never held any hope of having anything other than a friendship with Jed. Until they kiss and things change completely.
And that's when my heart started to melt because these two were the sweetest when together. It was beautiful to watch their friendship and how much they meant to each other. It was hard seeing Noel struggle because he was deeply in love with Jed, but he didn't want to lose his best friend by confessing his feelings.
Jed was a character that I liked because his sexual discovery and his inner thoughts felt real. He knew Noel meant the world to him, but after that kiss, he realised there was more to it. I enjoyed reading how he came to terms with it and he finally accepted he loved Noel, it then felt like everything was right in the story.
This is a book easy to read with all the feelings, coziness and Christmas atmosphere that I always expect from a book set in this festive season. It made me laugh, feel good and have a great time being part of the love between the MCs.
Can I now put my Christmas tree up? Just asking for a friend.

Belinda Zamora

2,766 reviews8 followers

Sweet, low angst holiday romance, best friends to lovers

Noel and Jed have been joined at the hip since childhood.
Noel is the sweet, shy, gay, nerdy type, and Jed was the big protector.
They're always together and have all kinds of traditions.
They also secretly hate when the other is dating someone.
Their partners never seem to last long.
Noel has been in love with Jed for years, secretly pining because Jed is straight.
Jed has hated every guy Noel has dated but never really delved into why.
A game of truth or dare and peer pressure at a Christmas party enacts a kiss that fries both their brains.
Both are shaken from the encounter and try to rationalize the situation.
This only leads to a further explosive encounter, but this time, Jed runs, afraid of what's happening.
Noel is crushed and makes the decision to finally let go of his feelings for Jed and just maintain the friendship for his sanity.
Jed, meanwhile, is having a crisis and trying to figure out how best to resolve the issue.
After talking things through with a trusted friend, he immediately realizes what's been staring him in the face and was just too afraid to acknowledge that he loves Noel and always has.
He finally makes his declaration to Noel, but Noel is afraid that he's just an experiment, but Jed does convince him that he truly loves him.
I loved this sweet holiday romance filled with friends, family, dogs, and lots of love.

Katriana

1,069 reviews14 followers

2024-reads 5-star-reads-2024 contemporaryy

Here are some of the tropes you can expect to find in this story; Best Friends to lovers, holiday romance, Small Town romance and dog dad's.

I thought this was an adorable Christmas romance, I loved how much Christmas stuff was packed into this story. From the tree lighting ceremony, to Jed and Noel decorating the tree together, to the mentions of snow falling, along with the Christmas feast Jed's mom prepared, it all helped bring out that Christmas holiday feeling.

Jed and Noel have been best friends since they were kids, and while Noel has been in love with Jed for years, Jed's straight and only interested in women. Or so he thought. I liked the pacing of this story, these two dances around their feelings for one another for the majority of the story, but once Jed realizes how he truly feels about Noel their relationship takes off. There is a little angst that occurs in the latter half of the story but it gets resolved within a couple of pages.

I love friends to lovers romances and this one was amazing! They are already so close and have such a strong relationship that once they admitted how they felt about one another, the romance just adds to the relationship they've had with one another. I thought their relationship and the build up of their feelings was written really well. Overall a great story to get you in the festive spirit!

Alix

1,239 reviews54 followers

November 19, 2024

3.5 - Very cute, pretty wholesome holiday story! Childhood BFFs to lovers is one of my fave tropes. Jed and Noel have been connected at the hip since birth, according to Jed's mom, and have always been the best of friends. However, while Jed has been off with his various girlfriends over the years, Noel has been in love and pining for Jed. They have cute traditions together like movie nights, attending the yearly tree lighting ceremonies, and wearing ugly sweaters out and about during Christmas time. This year, however, may be the year when things come to a head, since there's a new matchmaking app available to the LGBTQ+ folks in town and Noel wants to try it out. Is this the year that Noel will find love? Well, there's lots of holiday cheer here as well as time spent with Jed's family and lots of conversations with friends (from other books). At one point, there is a truly excellent game of Truth or Dare and this is perhaps my fave moment in the book! The HEA isn't quite then, but eventually the MCs get there and it is very sweet. Add in a couple of cute pups and also some time reminiscing over childhood and teen photos and trinkets of the MCs and it is just very a cute story, completely with a rainbow Christmas tree!

I received a complimentary copy and am leaving an honest review.

arc holiday mm

DebbieReadsBooks

2,777 reviews51 followers

November 20, 2024

I was gifted my copy of this book.

Noel and Jed have been best friends forever. Noel has been in love with jed for just as long. But Jed is straight. But after a christmas movie marathon, the lines get blurred. And Jed starts to question everything he thought he knew about himself, and how he feels about Noel.

This is book 1 in the new Colliers Creek series. You don't need to have read the others, but Ryecart's book in series 1 was awesome, and Lucien and Arlo pop up here.

And this was awesome too! It's cute and sweet, and warm and fuzzies and super low angst and I bloody LOVED IT!

And there really isn't much more for me to say!

I loved that everyone else could see these two were meant to be together, even if Jed couldn't. But once he starts to question everything, every feeling, every MEMORY of Noel and he together, he can really SEE Noel and the love that Jed has for him. He doesn't really question it after that.

There is steam and passion, and some angst, but mostly on Noel's part at starting this new chapter of their book with Jed.

I'm fairly certain I've said it before, and I will probably say it again at some point, but Ms Ryecart does super low angst beautifully!

I loved this, so bloody well read it!

5 full and shiny stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere

Edga

2,254 reviews23 followers

October 19, 2024

A nice read, it's full of warmth and holiday cheer and left me feeling quite festive. I quickly got caught up in this sweet and seasonal story for its humour and best friends Jed and Noel Christmas...yup, that's his actual name ☺️ Jed and Noel have always been close, on paper they're perfect for each, however, Noel is gay, and Jed is straight. Noel is madly in love with Jed, and Jed is clueless. Still,together, they're incredibly cute, Jed always looking out for Noel, spending a lot of time together, living in one another 's pockets. Their relationship story has a lot packed into it. I do feel that it did get a little repetitive when Jed started to look at Noel differently, and became confused about his emotions. I fully understood his confusion, but I just wanted him to get his head in the game, and stop messing with Noel's feelings. These two have been friends from childhood, they do everything together, and everyone can see what Jed can’t; they’re perfect for each other. On the whole though, I did enjoy the story. It's well written and Ali brings the personalities,thoughts and emotions of the characters to life for the reader. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good festive love story, with just a teeny bit of angst.

ButtonsMom2003

3,814 reviews32 followers

arc-from-author neonrainbow

Ali Ryecart’s stories always bring me joy even when they make my eyes leak. 🥰 I love everything she writes but her Christmas stories are extra special because they’re sweet and not overly angsty.

Noel and Jed have been joined at the hip since they were toddlers and Noel loves Jed. They only problem is that while Noel is gay, Jed is not. It hurts Noel to see Jed with girls because he wants Jed for himself. At the same time, Jed doesn’t quite understand why he always hates Noel’s dates but he does.

This was such a wonderful story about one best friend finally waking up to what he should have known all along – that Noel is his person, the one he loves more than anyone else. Jed says it best, he’s not gay, he’s not bi, he’s Noelsexual.

I know that the gay-for-you trope is no longer used but I’m kind of glad that Jed didn’t say he’s bi-sexual. He’s never been attracted to another guy before; Noel is the only one he’s ever wanted, hence him saying he’s “Noelsexual” and I loved that.

I almost forgot to mention the cute doggies in this story. Peter and Gomer were fun characters in their own right. 🥰

An advanced copy of this book was provided to me at my request; my review was voluntary and not influenced by the author.

Marion

1,825 reviews

This book is part of the multi-author Colliers Creek Christmas series. Each book is a standalone read. This is the story of Jed and Noel. Both has been best friends since they were in diapers. The families are intermingled over years of friendship. Jed is a an apprentice flower designer who has a thing for petite brunettes. Unfortunately, none of his relationships every work out. Noel works from his home with his tech job testing mobile devices. He has also been in love with his best friend for years. He is also a petite brunette. See where I am going with this. Too bad that everyone but Jed can see that. When Jed throws their years old tradition of going to the local tree lighting ceremony together; Noels world is thrown into a spin. When Jed finally has the blinders lifted from his perspective on Noel, things change. This is their story. It is a well written and easy to read book. In the beginning I wasn't very impressed with the way Jed was acting. But as the story developed, I began to root for both of them to get their HEA. I look forward to reading other books in this series.

I received a complementary advanced review copy of this book from the author and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

Traci S

2,058 reviews14 followers

This was a really sweet holiday romance. Noel and Jed are super entwined childhood best friends, which is my favorite flavor of best friends to lovers romance. I adored all their shared Christmas traditions which are clearly so important to them both. It’s clear, neither of them sure how to work other people into the mix. I really felt for Noel, being in love with his straight best friend. Having to spend years watching Jed date a string of local women must have been so painful. That disastrous double date was honestly pretty painful to sit through, so I was rooting for Jed to look a little closer at his feelings for Noel. It’s a bit of a slow burn as Jed works through his confusion over his attraction to Noel. I thought the author handled this part especially well. Jed and Noel, when they finally get it together are amazing together. It’s too bad that doesn’t happen until about 80 percent in because I would have liked more of them actually as a couple. This was pretty lovely, a wonderful holiday read!

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

avid reader 1

822 reviews1 follower

4 ¼ Stars

**Possible Spoilers**
Meeting Mr. Christmas is a sweet addition to the Collier Creek series. I love holiday romances and this one does not disappoint.
Noel and Jed are the epitome of BFFs. I loved all the backstory and references to their shared past as best friends.
Jed is a lovely person, kind of clueless relationship wise, but well meaning and good natured. I wanted to thump him from time to time, but he came through in the end.
Noel is a sweetheart that I would love to be friends with. He made me laugh, cry, and want to binge romcoms with while eating all the tasty treats to be had. He is so squishable, but he can also stand firm when someone threatens his mental and emotional health (even when it’s coming from the most important person in his life). I fell in love with him right away.
It wasn’t easy for these two to hit the right spot to become a couple, but the journey there was sweet, aggravating, sad, and sometimes worrying.
I enjoyed this.
I look forward to more from this author.

Bruce

75 reviews1 follower

What a wonderful story!!
This book is not only full of heartfelt romance, but also of nostalgic themes of Christmas that can only be described as adorable!
Noel and Jed are long-time best friends, and Noel has been secretly in love with his straight BFF for as long as they've known each other. The guys do everything together, it seems - and celebrating Christmas festivities together are a major priority. However, when Jed starts dating a woman seriously just before Christmas, Jed feels the misery of pining for someone that is unobtainable.
This book is especially amazing to me in that the situation that Jed and Noel find themselves in is so convincingly realistic... and emotionally painful as well. The author of this novel is a master at conveying the innermost emotions of her characters, and this talent is revealed in how exceptionally multidimensional her character's thoughts and actions are portrayed in the book.

An excellent holiday romance... one not to be missed!! 5 stars!

Xanthe

2,542 reviews47 followers