Jud Hess has loved Derek Gentry since they were children. When they became lovers in college, he thought they were destined to be together forever. All that changed with Derek's tragic death only four years later, on Christmas Day.
Now, more than a decade after that horrible event, Jud clings to a promise he made the night before Derek died. He vowed that he would never, ever, be with another man. And he's clung to that vow with every bit of what's left of his heart.
But Derek's death brought an unlikely gift. After his lover died, Jud began to see spirits. And although ghosts have become his constant companions, the one spirit he longs to see only appears to him at Christmas. Or at least, he used to.
This year, Derek doesn't come. But someone else does; a man who brings with him the kind of erotic temptation and a need of his own that Jud is helpless to resist.
To end a decade of loneliness, Jud will have to give in to the sultry seduction of a stranger...and betray the spirit of the man who should have been the love of his life.
Publisher's This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find Anal play/intercourse, male/male sexual practices.
Redemption, second chances, Purgatory... all are powerful words, but this Christmas story is one I'm more than contented that I took the time to read. A short story, true, but it was enough and it was enlightening and just enough to appease a readers senses. It's worth making the time to read this one. I did and there's no regrets.
FUBAR! Once a year, the MC-a walking, talking lust-had sex with the ghost of his lover in a church. On the tenth year, ghost lover didn't come, instead he sent a man whom the ghost has been slowly poisoning with unbridled lust for ten years.
The MC met this man, they fell in lust, they fucked. Ghost lover got his wings because the MC forgave him for making the MC keep his vow for a decade, then promptly lost the wings again because ghost lover actually couldn't let go of the MC and wanted the MC dead.
The MC got his HEA with the new guy and just because he had been "forced" to keep his vow for a decade and because ghost lover wanted him dead when he finally fucked a new man, them being together since children, him (supposedly) grieving for a decade didn't mean anything at all. "There was nothing left of Derek in his heart. Every beat belonged to Ty, now and forever."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This is quite a sad story and even if there is a sort of happily ever after, I still felt like the sadness was not all gone.
Jud and Derek were best friends since they were children, and not long after they also fell in love. The life seemed perfect for them; they were living together, good jobs and a new home. But something maybe was missing, maybe they were not on the same line of thinking, maybe one of them was outclassing the other… anyway they hadn’t the time to understand what it was since Derek died on Christmas day, just the day after he made Jud promise that there was never anyone else for him. Already this promise was strange, why on earth a man as young as Derek was wresting promises from his lover, like he had the feeling that he would be not there. But Jud had promise indeed, and Derek died, and so, guilt or love, or maybe a mix of the two, made Jud keep the promise for 10 years, helped maybe by the little booby prize of having Derek back for one day each year, on Christmas day.
First year it’s joy, second year it’s hope, third, fourth, …, tenth year it’s almost damnation. Yes, it’s harsh to say, but time indeed heals the wounds, and Jud is young, and Derek is died, and where a romantic sees a wonderful love story, a practical man sees an eternal doom. It’s time for Jud to move over, and if this moves will lead him near to or far from Derek, well, you have to read the book to know. What I can say you is that, in Jud’s shoes, I would have not left those silver bells, even if they represented ten years of grief, they were also the remembrance of an important part of his life.
On a side note, despite the sad feeling I already mentioned above, the story manages to be the same very sexy, to some level that, sometime, the reader has the idea that what Jud is missing is not much the love but more the lover. To the romantic reader who will not like the idea, I will suggest to consider the idea that, in a way, Jud and Derek were not made to be together, and that, if Derek had not died, there would be a good chance for both of them to outgrow their youth love; death instead, gave it a forever kind of nature.
I just can't get past the fact that after 10 years of complete and utter devotion to the "love of his life" Derek is suddenly villainized over loving Jud TOO much. It's a little harsh how he is portrayed in the end and how quickly all that love is forgotten for a stranger (a hot, sexy one sure but still). For example, the last quote "Jud took a deep breath, only to release it on a sigh a moment later. He'd been right. There was nothing left of Derek in his heart. Every beat belonged to Ty, now and forever." Okay, it's happy you moved on but that's all you have to say of someone you've loved since you were a child? Harsh.
I do want to say, despite the above annoyance I DID enjoy this book, it was a good quick read. I just wish more authors could be honest about moving on and loving another wholeheartedly without destroying the first love for some reason.
4-1/2 Stars A Christmas story at Halloween? Yes, Silver Bells may be a Christmas romance but it's paranormal and Halloweeny all the way. Just when Jud thought his life with Derek was getting started, life throws him the biggest and baddest curve ball he never saw coming. For ten years, Jud has lived the life that curve ball redirected his journey to and he thought that journey would last the rest of his days. Once again, a curve ball shakes him up again, this time instead of tragedy it's in the form of a very handsome man with dark and intense eyes named Ty Sullivan. If you want to know where Jud's story turns, you'll have to read Silver Bells yourself and trust me, you won't regret it. The sexiness of the story may stand out more than the romance but the romance is clearly there and the heartwarming feels had me from beginning to end.
Category: N/N; Paranormal Recommended by: Bitten By Books blog
Jud and Derek have been together for years and one night, Derek makes Jud promise to never love another even if one of them dies...10 years later, Jud is still holding to that promise, but what does he do, when he mets someone else? This book was a relatively quick read and sweet. It was the first by this author that I had read and I will likely seek her out again in the future and would recommend to people who like M/M type books.