Winter Wonderland

A reread of a Minnesota Christmas book I first read last year. I didn't intend to reread this this year, but well. I just enjoy the characters in this one so very, very much, especially Paul. ~December 2016

Thirty-eight-year-old Paul Jansen wants love, and a relationship, and a happily every after. But he doesn't want to leave his small Minnesota hometown, and all the other gay men nearby are already in a relationship or don't want one. Twenty-five- year-old Kyle Parks has had a crush on Paul since he was thirteen, and now he's starting to think they might actually make a good couple. But he can't get Paul (or anyone else in town) to see him as anything but a kid. With a little help from Paul's friends, Kyle sets out to show Paul what show more he's really like.

I enjoyed this story a lot, despite its feeling uneven in places. The characters are all wonderful, and I kind of want to move to a small town in Minnesota after reading this book. Paul hauls a lot of emotional baggage around with him (his family is the actual worst), and Cullinan does an excellent job making his pain real and affecting. Kyle's twin sister has Down's Syndrome, and the characterization of her is just lovely. (Are you waiting for me to say something about diversity and my bells? Well, there ya go.) The cozy holiday-ness of the story hits just the right notes without being saccharine. Cullinan illuminates and busts up some sterotypes (Paul looks like a bear but is a subby bottom, and Kyle looks and acts like a twink but is a dommy top, and Paul almost puts the kibosh on the relationship before it even starts because he can't wrap his head around the idea that the "twink" kid will be compatible with him in bed), and I love that.

Despite all that good stuff to love (and it is a nice pile of good stuff), I felt like I kept waiting for threads to get probably woven in that didn't quite. The book feels like it's going to be about stereotyping in the beginning, and while it is, that theme drops off a bit once Paul and Kyle get together. The sex scenes in the first half of the book get a lot of space on the page, but in the back half (while they don't feel rushed or anything) they get much less. Paul makes an important connection with his niece, but there's no further reference to her when he (apparently) splits with his family entirely in the end. The end of the book feels rushed--though I think it was meant to mimic cheesy holiday romance movies (which Paul loves), which I gather--my new love of romances novels hasn't extended to watching any cheesy holiday romance movies--end quickly with miraculous HEAs, and I give props to Cullinan for that idea for structure, even if I did feel a bit "Ein Minuten, bitte, it's over?" when I got to the last page.

On the whole, the wonderful outweighed the uneven. I just wish the book had been, I dunno, twenty pages longer, with those twenty pages just fleshing out the story that was already there. In any case, that will not be keeping me from going back and reading the first two books in this series of holiday romances. The only question is whether I will be making myself save them for next year. ~December 2015 show less

Well worth the wait. LOVED this. Paul is just so...human and screwed up. In fact both the guys spend half their time second guessing their actions and feelings, just like they would IRL.
So glad that Paul's issues weren't solved with the magical power of the peen, that the family situation didn't end up with them being born-again LGBTQ flag wavers and that, in the end, he was the one to be pro-active about making himself a new family.
December 2016 - Dave's story? Or a triple wedding at Winter Wonderland 2016?

Come on Heidi. You know you wanna.


******

OMG a new book in my favourite Christmas series! I know it's only July but, aghh, I need this book now!

Bought and downloaded. Now we wait for December *drums fingers at self imposed hell*

Paul lives in a small Minnesota town and is the only one of his friends still looking for a lasting relationship. Kyle has had a crush on Paul for years and now wants to find out if Paul might be interested in him. But Paul thinks Kyle is too young for him and too twink, and Kyle is worried that Paul might freak and bail, and so break Kyle's heart. Despite the hesitations and worries, and despite also the heavy resistance from Paul's awful, ultra-conservative, super-emotionally abusive family (I mean, just UGH), they somehow make it work and end up with a lovely, Christmasy HEA.
If not for a recommendation from a trusted source, I suspect I would never have picked this one up, but I loved it and so I'm very happy I did. The characters show more are great - sweet and well-rounded and believable - and I absolutely love the small-town-at-Christmas feel to it. The relationships between the male characters are particularly well done, the sex scenes are adorably steamy, and the testing of stereotypes on various levels made me very happy, too. It could have been a bit longer, maybe, the story fleshed out just a tad more perhaps, but it honestly works just fine as is. show less

This little series follows three gay men in small town Minnesota, Marcus, Arthur and Paul, three "bears" and best friends, as they find their mates. In the first book, Let It Snow, Marcus and Frankie fall in love. The second book, Sleigh Ride we see Arthur and Frankie get their happy ever after, and now in this one we finally get to see Paul, the neediest of the entire group, find his love....but of course we first have to have a little angst and drama. Paul is from a conservative family in Minnesota. Poor guy…. He’s a big bear, and he’s a big mess of anxiety, lack of confidence. He has friends, he’s dated, but he can’t ever seem to connect with the right one. He’s lonely and so tied up in his own head that he can’t see show more what is right in front of him...namely Kyle Park, resident "twink". Kyle has had a crush on Paul for years...ever since he was a teenager. It doesn't help that he still looks like one even if he is now 25 and works at the local care center. He has an awesome family, which he lives with and a twin sister who has Downs Syndrome. He finally decides he’s waited long enough and he’s going to "get him a man". He starts by trying to connect on Grindr...no luck there, so next he tries his specialty... snow sculptures. He leaves a lovely one on Paul’s front porch. Paul is NOT impressed, and neither is the rest of the town. I won't say what the sculpture was of...just use your imagination. The town's busybody...every town has one...decides to "help" him out and comes up with a plan. To find out what the plan was and how it worked or didn't work, you'll have to read the story...it's a sweet one. The writing was perfect. The plot, the characters, the connection, was all good. If you don't mind same sex romances and are looking for a sweet holiday story, this one could be a good choice. Actually, all three of the stories in this series are great, and so worth the reading time. show less

I enjoyed this one as much as, if not more than, the first two in the series! It addressed issues that seem obvious to me: a) the anger, fear, and aggression that homophobia brings out in some (as well as peaceful and positive ways to deal with it), and b) the fear that a person encounters when they first begin "THE" relationship... y'know, the one with "Mr. or Ms. Right". It's scary to find someone who is perfect for you--you keep waiting for the flaws in them, or (worse) for them to find the flaws in you and run.... but they don't run, and that's what's awesome! This is the one I would re-read, before the other two. LOVED it!!!

Well worth the wait. LOVED this. Paul is just so...human and screwed up. In fact both the guys spend half their time second guessing their actions and feelings, just like they would IRL.
So glad that Paul's issues weren't solved with the magical power of the peen, that the family situation didn't end up with them being born-again LGBTQ flag wavers and that, in the end, he was the one to be pro-active about making himself a new family.
December 2016 - Dave's story? Or a triple wedding at Winter Wonderland 2016?

Come on Heidi. You know you wanna.


******

OMG a new book in my favourite Christmas series! I know it's only July but, aghh, I need this book now!

Bought and downloaded. Now we wait for December *drums fingers at self imposed hell*

This is book 3 of 4 in this series. Since I read 4 first, it was really fun to see all the pieces come together. And yet, this is very much Paul and Kyle's story. It is intensely character-driven as all these are. And I grinned and said "Hah!" out loud at the end. :) The author burns stereotypes down all the way through the series. I love that the best of all the things she manages to do through these characters. It's a great series, one of the very best I've read.