Put A Bow On It

by Kracken

After moving to Seattle from a small mid-western town with big dreams and a bigger ego, Chris Mathews soon discovers that his brilliant designs are not a key to instant success without experience or references. On the brink of going home a failure, the last thing Chris expects is to meet the man of his dreams, his neighbor Karl Collins. With only three days until Christmas and nearly broke, Chris is determined to find Karl the perfect gift and to win his heart while also desperately trying to sell his designs. The success of his career had been all about his ego, but now he needed to succeed to stay with the man he loved.

Genres: Holiday

63 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 1, 2018

About the author

I've been writing m/m since I was twelve. Now that I'm fifty, I think it's a lifetime obsession. ^_^

Reviews

[⚣Michaelle⚣ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.0 Stars

I'm not sure how I managed to be both tickled and annoyed with this at the same time...but I'll give it a try:

First off, the insta-love was way insta. Like, 3 days. I think with a few more pages it would have been possible to stretch that out to, I don't know a week? 12 Days? (To fit the gift-giving exercise.) I mean, the book opens with Chris & his pseudo live-in boyfriend breaking up...because he'd slept with the guy the BF had been seeing on the side and was trying to use to make Chris jealous. But Chris wasn't. Never has been. Doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would be and doesn't actually seem to want to be.

Well, until he meets the neighbor. While in the middle of that Jerry Springer-worthy mess. The neighbor who hears everything. And still decides, "Yeah, I'mma take a chance on that"?? A guy who reckless spent like he had an endless supply of money and is looking at being homeless quite soon, and no prospects for his business because he wasted all his money on everything so that his lifestyle met his expectations...instead of building protoypes of his designs. Well, he had one built - and it's in his kitchen. Oooookay.

But, I laughed at quite a few things. Like ripping out said kitchen counter and shoving the whole thing into a Mini Cooper to take to a business meeting. Like doing some ridiculous Gift of the Magi-like stunts - sacrificing a deluxe espresso maker (when I'm not sure there wasn't a single scene without the need for or actual drinking of coffee), tearing into his kitchen cabinets & taking apart other appliances - to make special presents for Karl. Because Chris doesn't have the money to buy anything. I've got to admit that was kinda cute. (Would have made more sense if they'd known each other a little longer, but IIWII.)

The sex was mediocre at best with a descriptive fellatio scene and almost fade-to-grey intercourse scene. (Those seemed much less explicit.) BUT OMG that blow-job revealed...*I almost wish I had a drumroll here* Hipster-Karl has a tattooed cock. Yeah, that's hot. And why I wish there was more to this (both story-wise and erotic detail) because I don't see that often in the books I've been reading.

So, yeah. Mixed bag here with a lot of potential that sort of fell short on the execution. Oddly enough, if there is a tale for Farmer-Casey (Chris' best friend) and the offhandedly mentioned vet...well, I'd probably read it.

[Jenn (not Lily) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a lot here to review...it seemed like it was going somewhere, but this really could benefit from maybe a dozen more pages to fill out the story. Two decent sex scenes, but I'm not sure I've ever read such extreme insta-love.