To be home for Christmas, they must bridge the distance between them.
Charlie Yates is desperate. It’s almost Christmas and his flight home from college has been delayed. For days. Charlie promised his little sister Ava he’d be home for her first holiday season since going into remission from leukemia. Now he’s stuck on the opposite coast and someone else grabbed the last rental car. Someone he hasn’t even spoken to in four years. Someone who broke his heart.
Gavin Bloomberg’s childhood friendship with Charlie ended overnight after a day of stolen kisses. With years of resentment between them, they don’t want to be in the same room together, let alone a car. But for Ava’s sake, Gavin agrees to share the rental and drive across the country together.
As they face unexpected bumps along the road, can Charlie and Gavin pave the way to a future together?
Amazon
Author Name: Keira Andrews
Book Title: If Only in My Dreams
Publisher: KA Books
Release Date: November 19, 2015
Genre: M/M holiday, contemporary, new adult
Tags: Christmas, holiday, contemporary, new adult, road trip, enemies to lovers
Heat Level (1 being no sexual content, 5 being erotica): 4
Pairing (Male/Female, Male/Male, Female/Female, Ménage): M/M
Length: 42,000 words
Book Links:
Goodreads Book Page
http://www.keiraandrews.com/contemporary/if-only-in-my-dreams/
I don’t usually read YA/NA. Not that I have found it to be bad, just because I usually find (and this could totally be in my mind!) that our life experience is so different, I find it hard to connect with the characters. However that being said, I will always read anything by Keira Andrews. She has yet to disappoint me (made me want to throw my kindle, yes, but disappoint, no), and everything I have read I have just loved, and been pleasantly surprised by, in some way.
If Only In My Dreams was another surprise love for me. I had just been asking for an enemies to lovers book, and there comes Keira’s Christmas book to save my day. Gavin and Charlie really worked for me. To have been friends, and then secretly loving each other all this time, made sense. Teenagers find ways to create their own problems, and just don’t know how to get out of them. These two young men did just that. Yet, when thrown together, they find a way to connect back to each other, and bring themselves to another level in their relationship. They had pain, anger, and leftover hostility, and they had to work through it to find a way to meet each other in the middle.
Coming home and dealing with the families they each had wasn’t easy. Charlie’s family truly had no concerns about him, other than his safety, so allowing a man he loved into his life was simple. However, dealing with Gavin’s family, put a fresh coat of pain on all the things they had already dealt with. Yet, they handled it like adults, and moved forward until the time came for healing to begin.
I’m putting my request in now for this couple for next year for a holiday novella from Keira. Maybe see where they are while they are in college? Just a thought. 🙂
4.5 pieces of eye candy for me!
Holiday stories are some of my favorites. There’s something magical about love that starts during what’s been touted as the most wonderful time of the year. If Only in My Dreams by Keira Andrews brought so much hope, love, and healing that I’m sure it’ll leave me smiling the rest of the day.
Okay, so the concept of Charlie running into the boy who broke his heart when they were younger on the complete opposite side of the country and needing to rely on his help to get home might be far-fetched. But it works! Especially because Charlie is so desperate to get home.
There were times when I wished Gavin and Charlie had gotten over the past a bit sooner since this is a novella, but if I’m being honest, I don’t think that would have worked. We needed to see and feel their struggle. We needed the pain to make their reconciliation that much sweeter. And it was!
When I reached the end of the book, I was left wanting more. Not because anything was missing, but because I’m dying to know if Gavin and Charlie are able to make it work once they head back to school. They’re still going to have struggles to overcome, but I truly think they’re going to make it. Maybe they’ll even give Gavin’s mom those grandbabies she was so worried about and prove to her that being gay doesn’t mean they’re missing out on anything in life, it simply means their normal doesn’t look the same as “traditional” families.
If Only in My Dreams will definitely be added to the list of Christmas books I re-read every November and December.
4.5 pieces of eye candy.
After writing for years yet never really finding the right inspiration, Keira discovered her voice in gay romance, which has become a passion. She writes contemporary, historical, paranormal, and fantasy fiction, and—although she loves delicious angst along the way—Keira firmly believes in happy endings. For as Oscar Wilde once said, “The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.” You can find out more about Keira and her books at her website, and on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to her monthly newsletter for news, giveaways and more.