Review: A holiday treat that is short and sweet but not too sugary
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 13, 2012
I was looking for a holiday read, but this story being New Adult is what really drew me to it (although I don't think the cover conveys NA). I've been into that category recently, just something about it being new and fresh, the love sometimes unsure or angsty but always hopeful and romantic. And I got that here with this little story. The heroine, Natasha, is twenty, just about to turn twenty-one, and the hero, Jason, is nine years older and is also her college professor. Now, this really got me, that forbidden aspect of the student-professor relationship, one of my very favorite themes/tropes. All that wanting something you shouldn't have, are forbidden to have, just makes for more tension and longing.Also, we have the damaged/wounded heroine here, a lot of secret pain in her life, and this contributed to her acting out and to her gaining a good-time-girl reputation on campus, a rep Jason is well aware of and somewhat leery of. But on Christmas Eve, these two somehow let hidden fears and secret feelings out, confiding in each other, and it was very sweet and heart-felt. Usually, I get the wounded hero not feeling worthy, but it was the heroine in this case, and I liked that, that she was imperfect, had made some mistakes, but was very much worthy of this man.Oh, and that hero had me at gaming nerd. I love a nerdy/geeky hero in a fit, hot body, especially when he speaks my language of games. Yum. I wanted more of him.As far as the romance, it's pretty clean, only some urgent kissing with hands roaming, no sex at all. This story is about 44 kindle pages /667 locations, not super long, but the story doesn't feel incomplete, has a very nice feel to it, sweet but not saccharine, and it has characters I did come to care about. There is unexpected layered depth here in the characters, considering the story-length, and I actually would love this to be developed into a longer type of romance, as it has so many things/themes I love in romance. I'd love to get more into the heroine's painful backstory, too. If this is this author's debut, then job well done.