Rating: 4 Stars

Publisher: Kota Quinn

Genre: Gay Holiday Romance

Tags: Contemporary, Age Gap (9 Years), Christmas, Romance, Series

Length: 221 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At: Amazon

Blurb –

June:

I never imagined I’d be starting over at the age of thirty-six, but when I lose my landscaping job due to seasonal cutbacks, my boyfriend of six years decides to dump me as well. Just like that, I’m forced to sleep on my mom’s old sofa while I look for a job. I never expected to be a mall elf, but here I am in a crazy costume, trying to avoid the sexy photographer that looks more like a supermodel than the guy behind the camera.

Alec:

It was just supposed to be one night. A moment of weakness between me and my grumpy coworker. But when I realize how June is living, my dominant and protective side flares up and I offer him a place to stay. As if June isn’t distracting enough with his larger body, sexy tattoos, and love for Christmas movies, now we’re roommates, and he’s so freaking tempting.

Juniper Evergreen is a roommates-to-lovers, age gap, MM romance featuring a beautiful photographer with “Big Daddy Energy” and a landscaper trying to find his way in life.

This story is part of the Merry Elf-Mas multi-author series. Each story can be read as a standalone, but why not come along for the ride as each of Santa’s elves finds love during the holidays?

Review –

Juniper (aka June, Juni) and Alec were introduced in Jingle. Juniper, 36, is a new mall elf, and Alec, 27, is the photographer for the Santa Claus photos. I ended Jingle with the jury still out on Juniper, but I easily fell in love with Alec. That didn’t change in this book.

Every November, I fly out to Maine and visit my mother for the holidays. I usually arrive the day before Thanksgiving and leave just after Christmas, but this year I decided to leave town ahead of schedule.

Juniper just lost his job and longtime boyfriend, Len. When Len dumped him, he had no choice but to move back home with his mother, forced to sleep on the couch. June is a big guy, so it’s not the best of accommodations, but it’s the best he can do right now. He has to find a job and save enough to get his own place. Unable to find anything in his trade (landscaping) he goes to the local mall and applies for basically anything available. Surprisingly, he’s hired by Shae (Jingle) to be one of Santa’s elves. Juniper is much bigger and much older than the other elves. Even so, he accepts the position because, really, what else can he do?

Alec is often described as model handsome by pretty much everybody. This includes Juniper who sees Alec in passing while he’s waiting to be interviewed by Shae. Juniper is so taken by that quick glimpse that Alec becomes his fantasy guy during his one-on-one time with his hand and toy. After having his fun (when his mom is out of the house), who should see him practically butt naked through the window holding the toy? Yeah, Alec, the guy he’d just jerked off to minutes before. Alec had been walking his mother’s dog, not realizing that he was about to see a show. 😉

No, that’s not awkward at all. *snort*

Actually, it’s quite awkward for Juniper because he’ll be working with the guy. Even so, Juniper really goes out of his way to be standoffish and rude to Alec when Alec has been nothing but kind. Sure, he flirts a lot, but he’s also looking out for Juniper, taking care of him, even when Juniper doesn’t realize it. Once Juniper is smacked in the head by what Alec is doing for him, he knows he needs to apologize.

A quickie blow job later and Alec learns that Juniper is sleeping on his mother’s couch. Alec lives in a separate apartment (conveniently next door to Juniper) and offers him his extra room. He immediately agrees.

The two families are friends, though I don’t know how Juniper hadn’t ever met Alec before? Granted, Juniper had been with his horrible boyfriend, and Alec was mostly in California, but still. These two families were so close they even had keys to each other’s homes.

So, Juniper and Alec move in together but Juniper has roommate rules. These rules mostly consist of them doing nothing sexually or flirting or anything like that. He always catches feelings, and he’s trying to avoid that. Alec will be going back to California, and he’s already had his heart broken by Len. He knows Alec has the ability of hurting him even more than the ex did.

Yeah, those rules go out the window fairly quickly. What Juniper doesn’t know is that Alec is already falling hard for him, and has no desire to walk away.

I liked Juniper and Alec together. Juniper is this big guy, and Alec is much smaller. I think what I enjoyed most about this book is the power exchange between the two. With Juniper’s size and his being the older of the two, he doesn’t exactly come across as the submissive type. But he is. And then there’s Alec, who has some serious hot Daddy vibes going. It worked.

I loved Juniper’s family, especially his younger brother and niece. I also loved catching up with the other mall elves. And I can’t forget Len, Juniper’s bastard ex. He was your classic story villain who got his in the end.

I liked how everything came together with Juniper and Alec, though I did find parts to be cheesy and a little silly. Even so, I enjoyed the story. I don’t think I’ve read this author before. I’ll be checking out more of their books.