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Love Blooms
Nico Hamurişi is the one and only son of Santa Claus. All his life, Nico has known he’s expected to fall in love and find lifelong commitment by the Christmas of his thirtieth year—like every other heir before him. But knowing and accepting are vastly different things, and as the final countdown begins, Nico has yet to embrace his fate. His once great enthusiasm for eventually becoming Santa has been dimmed by uncertainty over how the Santa Line will be affected when he marries a man.
With only a year left, will Nico have time to find love and commitment all while learning how magic will transform the family line to accommodate who he is and who he loves?
With only a year left, will Nico have time to find love and commitment all while learning how magic will transform the family line to accommodate who he is and who he loves?
227 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 10, 2018
4 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
About the author
Stephanie Hoyt
4 books220 followersStephanie lives at the intersection of Crying Time™ and Unfettered Enthusiasm™ where she tell stories that blend the melancholy of self-discovery and self-acceptance with the delights of friendship and falling in love. When writing, she’s a plotter with plot-commitment issues who lives and dies by chaotic bisexuals and happily-ever-afters.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 12, 2018
The Santa Clause meets A Cinderella Story but gayer. 😂 ....Okay, not exactly but that's what the story made me think of. I don't know how to add gifs to reviews yet so just imagine the *I'm not giving up my dream, Dad. I'm giving up yours.* gif here.
Nico is supposed to take over from Santa, find a Mrs. Claus, and provide an heir; the typical 'Royal' romance cliche which of course I completely love. There's only one issue. Nico is gay. 😱 <- (sarcasm)
The cover needs to be more Christmas and less Springtime. I wasn't really a fan of the writing. It seemed very debutish (I don't think that's even a word 🤷🏼♀️). With that said, please, for the LOVE OF THE HOLIDAYS, please make this into a Christmas movie. Do it for Nico and Elliott. The World needs it and I want to own it. 🙏🏼🎄🤗💕
Thank you, Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review Love Blooms.
Nico is supposed to take over from Santa, find a Mrs. Claus, and provide an heir; the typical 'Royal' romance cliche which of course I completely love. There's only one issue. Nico is gay. 😱 <- (sarcasm)
The cover needs to be more Christmas and less Springtime. I wasn't really a fan of the writing. It seemed very debutish (I don't think that's even a word 🤷🏼♀️). With that said, please, for the LOVE OF THE HOLIDAYS, please make this into a Christmas movie. Do it for Nico and Elliott. The World needs it and I want to own it. 🙏🏼🎄🤗💕
Thank you, Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review Love Blooms.
January 2, 2019
Arc provided by IndiGo and Stephanie Hoyt for an honest review.
I love the unique premise. Santa powers are passed from generation to generation as each Santa finds his true love, but while there was, once, a bisexual Santa, no Santa has ever married a man.
There were a few plot bits that seemed redundant. The book initially seemed to lean toward one of Nico's exes, Taylor. I think the purpose was to give Nico closure, but it was honestly more confusing than anything.
Nico is a sweetheart, and it's neat to see the concept of Christmas with people who have family spats, and curse, and have various sexualities and internal emotional crisis.
The bit about sending an elf to supervise Nico also seemed redundant, since it wasn't needed to move the plot along.
I'd recommend this if you want a sweet and fluffy twist on Christmas lore. It will make my Christmas re-read list. It could just use a little tightening.
I love the unique premise. Santa powers are passed from generation to generation as each Santa finds his true love, but while there was, once, a bisexual Santa, no Santa has ever married a man.
There were a few plot bits that seemed redundant. The book initially seemed to lean toward one of Nico's exes, Taylor. I think the purpose was to give Nico closure, but it was honestly more confusing than anything.
Nico is a sweetheart, and it's neat to see the concept of Christmas with people who have family spats, and curse, and have various sexualities and internal emotional crisis.
The bit about sending an elf to supervise Nico also seemed redundant, since it wasn't needed to move the plot along.
I'd recommend this if you want a sweet and fluffy twist on Christmas lore. It will make my Christmas re-read list. It could just use a little tightening.
December 22, 2018
3.5*
For some reason this book took forever to read. I don't know if it was just slow paced which caused me to out it down a lot or what.
That being said, I love the idea behind this book. The magic element that binds the heir of Santa to becoming the next Santa...the way Nico is trying to "rage against the machine". Even up until the end, I like how he had tested fate making it his choice and yet the magic still found a way.
Elliot is ah-dor-able. I love his green eyes and his blushing and all his smiles, but I was a little pissed at him while he was hurting Nico..
My favorite character was Nico's sister Noelle. Man she has a mouth of a sailor for being the daughter of Santa Claus, and I lived everything about it! LoL
She was also the voice of reason on MANY occasions. She was Nico's #1 fan when it counted, and she gets all the wins and stars in my book.
For some reason this book took forever to read. I don't know if it was just slow paced which caused me to out it down a lot or what.
That being said, I love the idea behind this book. The magic element that binds the heir of Santa to becoming the next Santa...the way Nico is trying to "rage against the machine". Even up until the end, I like how he had tested fate making it his choice and yet the magic still found a way.
Elliot is ah-dor-able. I love his green eyes and his blushing and all his smiles, but I was a little pissed at him while he was hurting Nico..
My favorite character was Nico's sister Noelle. Man she has a mouth of a sailor for being the daughter of Santa Claus, and I lived everything about it! LoL
She was also the voice of reason on MANY occasions. She was Nico's #1 fan when it counted, and she gets all the wins and stars in my book.
December 14, 2018
This holiday romance was fun and cute, but I had some issues plotwise, which I talk about in my review.
October 6, 2022
Before beginning this book, I had thought that this was going to be a Coming Out narrative - but no, the coming out happens within the first three chapters. I am definitely a fan of seeing gay people live lives that don't revolve around coming out - but still, I was expecting a very different book and it took me several pages to adjust to the fact that this book isn't about what I thought it was about.
If I wrote the description it'd be a little more like this: "Nico Hamurişi is the one and only son of Santa Claus. All his life, Nico has known he's expected to fall in love and find lifelong commitment by the Christmas of his thirtieth year--like every other heir before him. But knowing and accepting are vastly different things, and as the final countdown begins, Nico has yet to embrace his fate. His once great enthusiasm for eventually becoming Santa has been dimmed by uncertainty over how the Santa Line will be affected when he marries a man.
In order to help push him in the right direction, his pregant sister Noelle takes him to live for a while in the small town she lives in every day that isn't Christmas: Pine Cove. At first, Nico is unsure of this: how do you find love in such a small town, especially when being watched 24/7 by your sister, her husband, and an elf your father also insisted come along with you? However, the moment he meets Elliott, he thinks maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all.
But even though he enjoys being with Elliot and Elliot enjoys being with him, the clock is still ticking. With only a year left, will Nico have enough time to convince Elliot to be with him, all while learning how magic will transform the family line to accommodate who he is and who he loves?"
When I first heard about this book, my curiosity was immediately piqued. I love reading about sexed/gendered magic and how queer characters mess the traditions of them up (Cemetery Boys and The Witch Boy are both stunning examples of this), plus the genre-b(l)ending was also exciting. I loved how it was hard to just categorize it as one genre: is it New Adult? Is it Fantasy? Is it something else? All of the above.
I really loved Nico and his very big family (including the elves). I also loved Elliot and the other towns-people we got to see brief glimpses of. All of the characters were wonderful, and so was the little world Hoyt created in her head. There are truthfully not enough Santa Claus stories directed at adults to be honest; the comedies that do exist are trying too hard. This is what I wish we had more of. Kids aren't the only ones who want to have fun with magic.
However, even with all these wonderful things in mind, I couldn't help but feel throughout the entire book that this was a first draft. It felt like it hadn't had enough editing for publication. In addition to quantitative things like little typos here and there (which I can ignore because they happen to everyone no matter how many editors you get on it), there were a lot of more qualitative elements that I felt could have benefitted from more polishing.
For starters, the world building itself. I thought all the parts with the North Pole were GREAT, I felt like I could really imagine it and picture it perfectly, but when it came to the rest of the world I was more than a little confused. On page 5, Noelle says to Nico, "Is it even possible to have no magic though? Everyone's got some when it comes down to it, even the Immunes. Magic's everywhere little bro; it's a fact of life."
This word - the Immunes - never appears again and I thought it was just what the Claus family called everyone who isn't in the family, and it's not until over 50 pages later that it's revealed all characters DO have magic. I had thought when Noelle said everyone has magic it was somewhat-rhetorical, something about how all humans have magic because love and kindess are magic. That is one thing I would have appreciated more clarity on much earlier in the book.
There are also a lot of places where the author repeats the same verb a lot in a short time frame (there was a lot of shrugging in this book), as well as certain spots where she added more exposition than was necessary - and others where she didn't add any exposition at all where some would have helped me understand the story better. And I know how it is because I see these same flaws in my own writings over and over again - that's why editing exists.
One final thing that bothered me about the book was that 90% of it was too easy. I mean, yes, if I am reading a Romance, I want a happily ever after. That is part of the genre. However, I want to see the two of them breaking out of the honeymoon phase and having misunderstandings/arguments. Or maybe it didn't even have to be between the lovers; it could've been between the family. But even though Nico constantly *says* he's afraid of disappointing his father, afraid of how his father will react, we don't ever get to see his father do anything except be put off for exactly one (1) second before doing research and coming back with solutions.
My favorite part of the book was pages 196 - 214 because we finally got to see a conflict start and be resolved slowly. I felt like they were a real couple, finally, because they had a misunderstanding/disagreement and, after several days, resolved it. Everything else before then had been resolved in almost no time at all, and that bothered me a little bit. I could believe it at first because they were in the honeymoon phase, but after a while, it got more than a little unconvincing. (And again, it didn't have to be them disagreeing necessarily - I would've loved more disagreements with the father that weren't instantly resolved.)
All in all, I did love these characters and I did love the set-up/setting. I just felt like it could've been polished a little more before publication. However, I do not regret reading it at all and I am already excited to read The Magic Between by Stephanie Hoyt when I get back from vacation. I think she will only improve as she writes more!
If I wrote the description it'd be a little more like this: "Nico Hamurişi is the one and only son of Santa Claus. All his life, Nico has known he's expected to fall in love and find lifelong commitment by the Christmas of his thirtieth year--like every other heir before him. But knowing and accepting are vastly different things, and as the final countdown begins, Nico has yet to embrace his fate. His once great enthusiasm for eventually becoming Santa has been dimmed by uncertainty over how the Santa Line will be affected when he marries a man.
In order to help push him in the right direction, his pregant sister Noelle takes him to live for a while in the small town she lives in every day that isn't Christmas: Pine Cove. At first, Nico is unsure of this: how do you find love in such a small town, especially when being watched 24/7 by your sister, her husband, and an elf your father also insisted come along with you? However, the moment he meets Elliott, he thinks maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all.
But even though he enjoys being with Elliot and Elliot enjoys being with him, the clock is still ticking. With only a year left, will Nico have enough time to convince Elliot to be with him, all while learning how magic will transform the family line to accommodate who he is and who he loves?"
When I first heard about this book, my curiosity was immediately piqued. I love reading about sexed/gendered magic and how queer characters mess the traditions of them up (Cemetery Boys and The Witch Boy are both stunning examples of this), plus the genre-b(l)ending was also exciting. I loved how it was hard to just categorize it as one genre: is it New Adult? Is it Fantasy? Is it something else? All of the above.
I really loved Nico and his very big family (including the elves). I also loved Elliot and the other towns-people we got to see brief glimpses of. All of the characters were wonderful, and so was the little world Hoyt created in her head. There are truthfully not enough Santa Claus stories directed at adults to be honest; the comedies that do exist are trying too hard. This is what I wish we had more of. Kids aren't the only ones who want to have fun with magic.
However, even with all these wonderful things in mind, I couldn't help but feel throughout the entire book that this was a first draft. It felt like it hadn't had enough editing for publication. In addition to quantitative things like little typos here and there (which I can ignore because they happen to everyone no matter how many editors you get on it), there were a lot of more qualitative elements that I felt could have benefitted from more polishing.
For starters, the world building itself. I thought all the parts with the North Pole were GREAT, I felt like I could really imagine it and picture it perfectly, but when it came to the rest of the world I was more than a little confused. On page 5, Noelle says to Nico, "Is it even possible to have no magic though? Everyone's got some when it comes down to it, even the Immunes. Magic's everywhere little bro; it's a fact of life."
This word - the Immunes - never appears again and I thought it was just what the Claus family called everyone who isn't in the family, and it's not until over 50 pages later that it's revealed all characters DO have magic. I had thought when Noelle said everyone has magic it was somewhat-rhetorical, something about how all humans have magic because love and kindess are magic. That is one thing I would have appreciated more clarity on much earlier in the book.
There are also a lot of places where the author repeats the same verb a lot in a short time frame (there was a lot of shrugging in this book), as well as certain spots where she added more exposition than was necessary - and others where she didn't add any exposition at all where some would have helped me understand the story better. And I know how it is because I see these same flaws in my own writings over and over again - that's why editing exists.
One final thing that bothered me about the book was that 90% of it was too easy. I mean, yes, if I am reading a Romance, I want a happily ever after. That is part of the genre. However, I want to see the two of them breaking out of the honeymoon phase and having misunderstandings/arguments. Or maybe it didn't even have to be between the lovers; it could've been between the family. But even though Nico constantly *says* he's afraid of disappointing his father, afraid of how his father will react, we don't ever get to see his father do anything except be put off for exactly one (1) second before doing research and coming back with solutions.
My favorite part of the book was pages 196 - 214 because we finally got to see a conflict start and be resolved slowly. I felt like they were a real couple, finally, because they had a misunderstanding/disagreement and, after several days, resolved it. Everything else before then had been resolved in almost no time at all, and that bothered me a little bit. I could believe it at first because they were in the honeymoon phase, but after a while, it got more than a little unconvincing. (And again, it didn't have to be them disagreeing necessarily - I would've loved more disagreements with the father that weren't instantly resolved.)
All in all, I did love these characters and I did love the set-up/setting. I just felt like it could've been polished a little more before publication. However, I do not regret reading it at all and I am already excited to read The Magic Between by Stephanie Hoyt when I get back from vacation. I think she will only improve as she writes more!
January 2, 2019
3.5 STARS
Nico has lived his life with the pressure of knowing that he must find his true love by Christmas of his thirtieth year. That means he has precisely one year left to find the lucky guy before he misses his chance to complete the “Santafication” process, which would mean the end of the Santa Claus line. When he meets Elliott he thinks he might actually make the deadline, but of course, it can’t be that easy.
This book was hard to rate, because there were some aspects that I loved and others that just didn’t work for me. I really enjoyed the emotional turmoil that Nico experienced around the prospect of “having to fall in love”. The pressure that he was dealing with and the question of whether he was truly doing it for love or if the Santa magic was forcing the issue was well explored and allowed for some understandably dramatic reactions. The sense that he had no control of his destiny was the prevailing theme of the story, and although I honestly enjoyed that aspect, and think the author did a great job of conveying Nico’s conflict…I don’t know. Maybe the author did too good a job because I really didn’t feel the relationship between the Nico and Elliott had any depth to it. Maybe Nico’s inner monologuing made me doubt their “true love” status too, but the only scene that actually got my emotions revving was the mandatory breakup scene where Nico poured out all of his feelings about his forced destiny to Elliott.
I liked the secondary characters and appreciated that Santa was a bit of an ass as a father. Almost like Nico, as his son, came second to the Santa legacy. I’ve never read a story that showed Santa as anything other than perfect, but seeing him as a parent who has screwed up was sort of nice.
I’m not sure if this story was part of a series or world that I’m unaware of, or if it’s going to become part of a series, but if not then it seemed superfluous to include the idea that everyone had a magical ability. Like, all humans could do something magical, not just Santa’s family. The idea wasn’t integral to the story, and really didn’t go anywhere. In fact it only confused me as I tried to figure out why I needed to know that.
While I can’t say that this story worked for me as a romance, it was still an enjoyable read with some great characters.
Reviewed for Love Bytes Reviews
http://lovebytesreviews.com/2018/12/3...
Nico has lived his life with the pressure of knowing that he must find his true love by Christmas of his thirtieth year. That means he has precisely one year left to find the lucky guy before he misses his chance to complete the “Santafication” process, which would mean the end of the Santa Claus line. When he meets Elliott he thinks he might actually make the deadline, but of course, it can’t be that easy.
This book was hard to rate, because there were some aspects that I loved and others that just didn’t work for me. I really enjoyed the emotional turmoil that Nico experienced around the prospect of “having to fall in love”. The pressure that he was dealing with and the question of whether he was truly doing it for love or if the Santa magic was forcing the issue was well explored and allowed for some understandably dramatic reactions. The sense that he had no control of his destiny was the prevailing theme of the story, and although I honestly enjoyed that aspect, and think the author did a great job of conveying Nico’s conflict…I don’t know. Maybe the author did too good a job because I really didn’t feel the relationship between the Nico and Elliott had any depth to it. Maybe Nico’s inner monologuing made me doubt their “true love” status too, but the only scene that actually got my emotions revving was the mandatory breakup scene where Nico poured out all of his feelings about his forced destiny to Elliott.
I liked the secondary characters and appreciated that Santa was a bit of an ass as a father. Almost like Nico, as his son, came second to the Santa legacy. I’ve never read a story that showed Santa as anything other than perfect, but seeing him as a parent who has screwed up was sort of nice.
I’m not sure if this story was part of a series or world that I’m unaware of, or if it’s going to become part of a series, but if not then it seemed superfluous to include the idea that everyone had a magical ability. Like, all humans could do something magical, not just Santa’s family. The idea wasn’t integral to the story, and really didn’t go anywhere. In fact it only confused me as I tried to figure out why I needed to know that.
While I can’t say that this story worked for me as a romance, it was still an enjoyable read with some great characters.
Reviewed for Love Bytes Reviews
http://lovebytesreviews.com/2018/12/3...
December 25, 2018
This is a very unique and entertaining story with some surprising twists. It is full of magic, has a quirky storyline, an interesting family dynamic, a sweet love story and amazing characters. Nico is a sweetheart who is struggling to find himself among all of the expectations his father, who happens to be Santa, has for his future. With a looming deadline and a distaste for forcing a spouse to deal with being married to Santa he is happy to find everything he wants in Elliot even though he is afraid to tell him everything. Elliot is a cutie who falls for Nico equally as hard but they have a few big obstacles in their way before they can have their HEA. I love the secondary characters and Noelle is awesome as she speaks her mind and keeps Nico on track. The writing style took some time to get used to and the pace of the story was a bit too slow for me. I wish the chemistry between Nico and Elliot was hotter too. Overall I enjoyed it and I look forward to reading more books by this author.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book.
December 13, 2018
*~~*ARC kindly provided by the author to me in exchange for an honest review *~~*
- Full review to come
This was a sweet read and I liked how we had a lot of character development and got a lots of background. Some might say it was too much background and the romance was a bit lacking or came pretty late. Granted, the LI first shown up at 40% in the book but the way the story was build it felt fitting.
The idea was a very nice and unique one, parts of the end came a bit rushed but all in all I enjoyed it an give 4 out of 5 stars. :) A solid work and I'll definitely pick up the next book by this author. :)
Review originally posted on my blog with added content Mikku-chan / A world full of words
- Full review to come
This was a sweet read and I liked how we had a lot of character development and got a lots of background. Some might say it was too much background and the romance was a bit lacking or came pretty late. Granted, the LI first shown up at 40% in the book but the way the story was build it felt fitting.
The idea was a very nice and unique one, parts of the end came a bit rushed but all in all I enjoyed it an give 4 out of 5 stars. :) A solid work and I'll definitely pick up the next book by this author. :)
Review originally posted on my blog with added content Mikku-chan / A world full of words
December 8, 2018
Nico, Santa’s son, has a year to find someone to fall in love with so he can become the father of the next Santa heir. Which presents a huge problem since he’s gay. He meets Elliott and it doesn’t take long for him to figure out he might have the love part solved. Now he needs to convince Elliott of the magic that will make him become Santa. Just leaving that pesky heir thing to be dealt with.
Nico’s internal debate regarding his reluctance to be Santa, made the story slow in places. I liked the unusual take on the Santa myth. The characters were well rounded out and I thought it was a cute holiday story.
Review Copy requested and reviewed on behalf of OMGReads.
Nico’s internal debate regarding his reluctance to be Santa, made the story slow in places. I liked the unusual take on the Santa myth. The characters were well rounded out and I thought it was a cute holiday story.
Review Copy requested and reviewed on behalf of OMGReads.
April 12, 2023
This book is nice but not great. I can't say I loved it. I think the main issue for me was that the whole plot is based on an assumption that came around as a bit ridiculous, not because of the magic (I loved The Magic Between by this author, which is set in the same world); but because of the idea that in such a magical world, a whole story based on literally pressuring a man to fall in love or else sounded off. Based on that, the whole relationship between the MCs was not very... relatable. It was still nice at times but not great. And I hated Nico’s dad which didn't help at all.
December 28, 2023
3.25 stars
I liked the premise and the characters, but I wasn't 100% wowed by this. Enjoyable, but somehow not enough background about the world to make me happy -- everyone has magic? can I get a little more info on that? nope, guess not... Still, well written and I have The Magic Between in my Kindle, so I'm sure I'll be reading that eventually.
I liked the premise and the characters, but I wasn't 100% wowed by this. Enjoyable, but somehow not enough background about the world to make me happy -- everyone has magic? can I get a little more info on that? nope, guess not... Still, well written and I have The Magic Between in my Kindle, so I'm sure I'll be reading that eventually.
December 1, 2022
This was really cute and a quick Christmas read. But I had the same problems with it, that I had with the magic between. A lot of things weren’t talked about but I felt like the author expected me to know them. The book is also 200 pages long and could’ve done with 100 more. It was all very quick and all the problems were resolved were easily. Why have a magic system and rules when it turns out you don’t have to follow them?!
Read
May 9, 2022Very enjoyable. A fantasy about the son of Santa Claus who is set to take over "the business" when it is time for his Dad to retire. The thing is, the son is gay. How will that work? I will not spoil the answer to that question. Find out for yourself. Stephanie Hoyt. I really like magical realism and she is a specialist in that realm. The Magic Between is stunning...check it out too.
January 10, 2019
a really cute and fun read if you're into romance and the magic of christmas. I know the author personally, so I might be biased, but she does a really great job of captivating you and making you feel for the main characters. I'm proud of her for writing her first full-length novel!
January 22, 2019
this book took one of my favorite ideas from the amazing genre of cheesy christmas movies and made it so much better with such an interesting backstory to the santas and allowed for such a great relationship to develop over the course of the story. we love nico and elliot!!!
December 17, 2018
3.5 stars
This was another cute holiday romance. I had some issues with the plot and pacing, but overall this was a fun read, and a good first book by the author.
This was another cute holiday romance. I had some issues with the plot and pacing, but overall this was a fun read, and a good first book by the author.
December 22, 2018
When duty to family and fulfilling a traditional role are all that determine someone’s future, yet that person has very different ideas about what would make them happy, there are only two options. Nico has known all his life that he is expected to be the next Santa Claus, following in his father’s footsteps, that he would be required to find true love with a woman before he turns thirty, get married, and produce an heir. The happiness of all future children getting their presents delivered rests on his shoulders. Talk about pressure! But there is a problem – Nico is gay. How is he supposed to find true love with a woman, never mind get married to her and have children? It’s a conflict he has always faced and this is the story of how he finds a solution now that he has only one year left before his thirtieth birthday.
Please find my full review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
Please find my full review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
December 14, 2018
This was a cute Christmas story! Nico and Elliot are a cute couple and what they have is a true, true love, in a world full of magic. I liked the whole Santa’s heir storyline, it was unique. The only thing I didn’t care for was the writing style, it just bothered me for some reason, but overall it didn’t effect what I thought of the story. I was happy to see Nico and Elliot get their HEA.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews