Designer Holiday

by Ari McKay

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Designer Holiday is the story of Rayne Sadler, an interior designer, and Emilio Rives, a dancer. The story is told in third person through Rayne and Emilio’s povs.

Before I start the review, I want to say how much I love the cover. Everything about it conveys the holiday season. It’s sparkly and pretty right down to the color of the shirts.

This is a second chance story. Rayne and Emilio were high school boyfriends, but Rayne decided to move away to college and make a name for himself in the big city. Emilio preferred the small town, but he wanted to follow Rayne because he loved him. But Rayne didn’t answer his letters or talk to him when Emilio’s father passed away. Rayne’s lack of response finally hardened Emilio’s heart and I don’t blame him. Rayne’s behavior was immature. The least he could’ve done was tell Emilio that he wanted to break up, but Rayne was all about Rayne, not thinking of anyone else.

The story is about Rayne trying to get back into Emilio’s good graces once he returns to town. I honestly think Emilio shouldn’t have taken Rayne back. Rayne explains he returned because he missed living in Holiday Pines and he wanted to get back with Emilio. Personally, I don’t think Rayne would’ve returned if he hadn’t broken up with his boyfriend. He was lonely and wanted someone familiar, someone he didn’t even have the courtesy to break up with. The one thing I’ve noticed in some of the books this author team writes about men who return to try to rekindle a romance, is that the guy who did the damage doesn’t grovel enough. In this case Rayne doesn’t seem to really acknowledge the damage he did. It’s more like he goes, “Oh sure, I get it. Now can we get back together?” There’s also nothing in his behavior that proves he’d never do the same thing again. I’ve read an article about the best way to apologize, and the instigator, in this case Rayne, never apologizes properly so I never believe him, sympathize with him or identify with his character. I don’t like him, even at the end of the book. That goes for other characters like Rayne in other books the authors have written. So because of Rayne, this is not one of my favorite stories by the writers.

Emilio’s personality is more volatile, but he cares deeply about Holiday Pines, dancing, and the people he teaches, and about people he loves. His emotions run deep and that's why he hurts for so long. Rayne on the other hand is all about Rayne. Until he returns to Holiday Pines, I don’t think he cared about doing anything for anyone else and even once he returned, his motivations pretty much centered on what he could do to impress and win Emilio back. How his own actions could benefit himself in winning over Emilio. It was all about what Rayne could do for Rayne and if that meant improving the town that’s great ( I didn't believe it was because he loved the town he left), as long as it got Emilio back. He told himself he’d be okay with getting back to being friends with Emilio, but even then Rayne knew he was lying to himself. Rayne’s personality is selfish so I didn’t like him as a character.

The authors did a good job of getting across the atmosphere of a small town during the holiday season. One thing I didn’t like was the large amount of monologue in this book, but that’s personal taste since I prefer a nice balance with dialogue.

I wish I liked this story more since I like this writing duo, but the story didn’t work for me, specifically because of Rayne. He was too selfish and I didn’t like how he didn’t grovel and truly understand the hurt he’d caused Emilio. However, I love the cover. I give Designer Holiday, 3 Stars.

I was given a copy of this book by the authors for an honest and unbiased opinion.

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