Merry Christmas, Everyone!

 Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, filled with all the love and laughter your hearts can handle!

Favorite Fictional Character --- Felix Bassenak

 

There are certain movies I have to watch every Christmas season, and near the top of that list is Christmas in Connecticut (1945). It stars one of the greatest actresses of all time, Barbara Stanwyck, a screen goddess with a filmography so solid I honestly can’t think of a single movie of hers I don’t love. Still, Christmas in Connecticut will always be special to me, and a big part of that is thanks to "Uncle" Felix Bassenak.

If you’ve never seen the movie, Stanwyck plays Elizabeth Lane, a lifestyle columnist who has built her entire career around writing about her family and their idyllic life on a farm in Connecticut. She even waxes poetic about the incredible, home-cooked meals they sit down to every day. There’s just one tiny problem: she lives alone in a New York apartment, has no family, and can’t cook. Enter Uncle Felix, who owns a restaurant and quietly supplies her with a menu for every article she writes. As you can imagine, this little arrangement eventually spirals into chaos, and there’s no way Elizabeth survives it without her honorary uncle.

Over the course of a few days, Felix pulls Elizabeth out of one disaster after another. He pretends to swallow a gold watch. He repeatedly—and ingeniously—gets a judge out of the house. He plays matchmaker when it matters most and clears the way for true love. And he does it all with a larger-than-life presence that’s almost impossible to describe if you’ve never had the pleasure of watching S. Z. Sakall on screen. He even manages to hold his own against Sydney Greenstreet, which is no small feat considering Greenstreet’s ability to dominate every scene he’s in.

I know this post probably doesn’t give Uncle Felix quite the credit he deserves, but that’s because he’s one of those characters you really have to see in action to fully appreciate. So I suppose I’m left with only one option: gently (or not so gently) begging you to watch Christmas in Connecticut for yourself—preferably during the holidays, with something cozy to drink. 

The Handsel Witches by Ryan J Hamshaw

 

Synopsis From Goodreads:

Four months after the defeat of the Dark Friars, Liam O'Connor is finally finding some balance in life. He's juggling college, his friends, and his role as a Keeper of the Crossing. But that balance is about to break, and his friends’ safety is on the line.

Tariq Ashar is trying to make his new relationship with Liam work while dealing with old secrets tied to Lucas Martindale, the obnoxious and unpredictable grandson of the Head of the Guild. When Lucas’ troubled past comes back to haunt him, it pulls Tariq and Liam into danger, putting everything at risk.

Meanwhile, a new enemy is rising in Sarumbourne, driven by anger and revenge. As darkness spreads through the city, the Keepers must fight to protect it - or lose what they’ve sworn to defend.

Do you have those books that, no matter the genre, become comfort reads almost immediately? The kind where, a paragraph or two in, you know you’re safe. You can set the rest of the world aside and just sink into the story as the words unfold on the page. I have far too many of those to list, but to give you an idea, they include The Last Herald Mage trilogy by Mercedes Lackey, And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, and the A Matter of Time series by Mary Calmes—along with, honestly, most of her books. I’m also pretty sure the Keepers of the Crossing series by Ryan J Hamshaw has officially joined that group.

I’m not ready to say I’m a full-on YA reader yet, but I might be getting there. Or at least I’m becoming a fan of a very specific flavor of YA: a little dark, a little queer, and a whole lot of fun. I don’t know why it still surprises me how good some YA authors are at building immersive worlds and filling them with characters I don’t just enjoy reading about, but actually come to care about. That happened to me years ago with Rotters by Daniel Kraus, and again earlier this year with The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass (a review I swear I’ll write eventually). Both pulled me into worlds I never wanted to leave. The world Ryan J. Hamshaw has created in the Keepers of the Crossing series fits right in with those.

What really surprised me was how The Dark Friars pulled me in… and then The Handsel Witches went and did it all over again. I honestly think I enjoyed this second book even more than the first. The stakes are higher this time around, especially when it comes to the people Liam loves most. The action is more intense, and the vampire fight alone is worth every moment spent in this version of Sarumbourne. 

But as much as I enjoyed the story itself, that’s not the reason I know I’ll be rereading this series for years. That credit goes to Liam, Tariq, Jack, Lily, and the rest of the cast (including Lucas). These are characters the author clearly loves, and that affection comes through on the page. There’s an intentionality to how they’re written that makes this series feel like a comfort read, even when things get dark. They’re flawed, insecure, hopeful, and constantly growing into themselves—and I’m more than happy to keep spending time with them as they do.

The Night Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch

 

Synopsis From Back Cover:

Nicholas “Coal” Claus used to love Christmas. Until his father, the reigning Santa, turned the holiday into a PR façade. Coal will do anything to escape the spectacle, including getting tangled in a drunken, supremely hot make- out session with a beautiful man behind a seedy bar one night.

But the heir to Christmas is soon commanded to do his duty: he will marry his best friend, Iris, the Easter Princess and his brother’s not-so-secret crush. A situation that has disaster written all over it.

Things go from bad to worse when a rival arrives to challenge Coal for the princess’s hand…and Coal comes face-to-face with his mysterious behind-the-bar hottie: Hex, the Prince of Halloween.

It’s a fake competition between two holiday princes who can’t keep their hands off each other over a marriage of convenience that no one wants. And it all leads to one of the sweetest, sexiest, messiest, most delightfully unforgettable love stories of the year.

Most of my romance reading happens on my tablet. At first, that was because I was slightly embarrassed to be seen in public reading a romance novel, and hiding a cover is infinitely easier when the book is digital. The only other solution I could think of was creating false dust jackets for physical books, and honestly, I’m just not that crafty. These days, it’s mostly practical: Kindle Unlimited makes my romance reading a hell of a lot cheaper. I do still buy physical copies occasionally, but it’s usually my favorite Mary Calmes books — the ones that, for whatever reason, feel like they belong both on my shelves and on my tablet.

The Nightmare Before Kissmas is one of the very rare exceptions I’ve made to those unspoken rules. Last December, while browsing Barnes & Noble, I wandered past the romance table — something I always do, even though it’s almost entirely straight romances. Every now and then, though, there will be one or two gay romance titles mixed in, and that December, The Nightmare Before Kissmas was one of them. Without any real conscious decision-making, my hands reached out, and before I fully processed what was happening, I was at the counter paying for it. And then it sat on my shelf for a full year, patiently waiting to be read.

I knew going in that it would be cute. I mean, it’s the Crown Prince of Christmas falling for the Crown Prince of Halloween — the cuteness is baked right into the premise. What I wasn’t expecting were the political machinations underpinning the story, particularly a Santa so consumed by grief and anger that his own children become pawns in a larger power struggle. I also wasn’t expecting to be just as invested in that surrounding story as I was in the romance itself. And the romance, for lack of a better word, was absolutely adorable.

Coal and Hex aren’t exactly champions of communication, but given their roles within their respective holidays and the immense familial expectations placed on them, that feels not just believable but inevitable. They’re clearly right for each other, and it’s impossible not to root for them as they try to carve out space for themselves beyond what duty demands. Since the story is told entirely from Coal’s perspective, we only see the relationship through his eyes, but he’s refreshingly honest about his own flaws — particularly his rebellious streak, which has caused more than a little chaos in the past. Over the course of the book, Coal does a great deal of growing up, driven partly by his relationship with Hex, but mostly by his desire to repair the damage his father has inflicted on Christmas and the other winter holidays.

I absolutely adored Coal and Hex, and while I know they’ll appear again in later books, I’m already sad to leave them behind as the main protagonists — especially Coal. Not someone I’ll admit to developing a crush on, but definitely someone for whom I gained a tremendous amount of respect.

Challenges: Yuletide Spirit

Favorite Fictional Character --- Lock, Shock, and Barrel

 

"Kidnap Mr. Sandy Claws?

I wanna do it

Let's draw straws

Jack said, "we should work together"

Three of a kind

Birds of a feather

Now and forever, whee (la, la, la)

(La, la, la)

(La, la, la, la, la, la)"

I can’t count the number of times I’ve watched The Nightmare Before Christmas, watching Jack fall into Christmas Town and love it so much that he decides to take it over, becoming the new and “improved” Santa Claws. You’ve got to love a man with ambition.

In his misguided attempt to “improve” a holiday other than his own, Jack enlists the legendary mischievous trick-or-treaters known as Lock, Shock, and Barrel to kidnap Santa Claus—and that’s when the real fun begins.

Those three little imps, who relish trouble and can’t help causing mayhem everywhere they go, have to be one of the most fun trios ever put to screen. The fact that they’re voiced by Danny Elfman, Catherine O’Hara, and Paul Reubens is like having a bag full of trick-or-treat candy dumped in front of you and being able to do nothing but stare in awe at the abundance of riches.

There’s no way, despite their fumbled villainy, not to thoroughly enjoy every second they spend tooling around in their bathtub convertible as they follow the orders of Oogie Boogie. I absolutely adore these prank-loving hobgoblins who take such delight in the chaos they cause simply by being themselves.

The Geek Who Saved Christmas by Annabeth Albert

Synopsis From Goodreads:

Gideon Holiday is the perfect neighbor. Need a cup of sugar? Spare folding chair? Extra batteries? He’s always ready to help. And he’s waited years for his hot, grumpy, silver fox neighbor, Paul, to need him. For anything. But this December, Gideon would be happy if he could just get the Scrooge-like Paul on board with the neighborhood holiday lights fundraiser.

Paul Frost has no intention of decking his halls or blazing any Yule logs. Even if his spunky bowtie-clad neighbor does look perfect for unwrapping, Paul would prefer to hide away until December is done. But when his beloved younger brother announces an unexpected visit, Paul needs all the trimmings for a festive homecoming—and fast.

Luckily, Gideon is there with a color-coded plan to save Christmas. Soon Paul’s hanging lights, trimming trees, and rolling out cookies. And steaming up his new flannel sheets with Gideon. How did that happen?

It’ll take some winter magic to preserve their happiness and keep these rival neighbors together longer than one holiday season.

I love Christmas movies to the point that I start watching them on November 1st. I have my favorites — the ones I own and rewatch every year — like Christmas in Connecticut (1945), which I watch in bed as if the season depends on it, or The Ref (1994), which I watch every Christmas Eve while wrapping presents.

Since the point of this post is to write a clever review that entices you to read The Geek Who Saved Christmas by Annabeth Albert (and for the record, I kind of suck at reviewing romance novels), I won’t give you a full list of every Christmas movie and TV special I own, though I reserve the right to do that at a later date. The reason I brought up movies at all is to highlight my absolute addiction to Hallmark-ish Christmas movies of all stripes, and how badly I want to see this book adapted into a TV movie. If there was ever a Christmas romance begging to be told on the small screen, it’s this one.

We have one MC who’s the type to run around helping others — volunteering, pitching in, and coming to the rescue more often than not. He has plenty of friends, but he keeps himself busy because he never quite feels like he fits or fully belongs in their lives. The other MC is the grumpy, slightly standoffish neighbor who doesn’t interact much with anyone, mostly because he’s hiding some hurt of his own. Neither of them had stellar childhoods, and both are sitting on a deep well of insecurity. All of which makes them perfect for each other.

There’s a reason clichés and tropes work so damn well in romance. What Annabeth Albert achieves with them in The Geek Who Saved Christmas is pure rom-com gold, and I’m already craving more. Stories like this don’t usually change your life or alter the way you see the world, but that’s not what I want from most romance stories I pick up or choose to watch. I want to feel good the entire time I’m reading. I want to root for the couple, coo and sigh every time one of them does or says something sweet, get a little angsty when communication breaks down, and then cheer out loud when they finally end up on the same page again.

I got all of that here. I felt all of that while reading Gideon and Paul’s story. This is the perfect holiday romance.

Challenges: Yuletide Spirit

Wordsmithonia Radio - The Christmas Playlist

It should come as no surprise, after sharing some of my favorite Halloween songs, that I’d be back with a few of my favorite Christmas picks. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love Christmas music. To put my adoration in perspective, I’m that annoying person who listens to it in the car during the hottest days of summer, hoping it’ll trick my brain into thinking it’s colder outside than it actually is. And honestly, if thirteen years of retail management didn’t kill my love of Christmas music, I don’t think anything will.

I even have a Spotify playlist made up entirely of Christmas music that’s currently 9 hours and 44 minutes long — with only one version per song. So I figured I’d share a few of my favorites with you all. Enjoy!

Linda Eder "Do You Hear I Hear?"

Annie Lennox "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"

Seth MacFarlane "Moonlight In Vermont"

The Chipmunks "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)"

Barbara Streisand "Jimgle Bells?"

Straight No Chaser "Hey Santa!"

Loreena McKennitt "Good King Wenceslas"

Julie London "I'd Like You For Christmas"

Nancy Wilson "The Christmas Waltz"

Annelise Cepero "This is Christmas"