Jamie Bailey has not had such a wonderful life. He gave up his dreams of Harvard at 18 to raise his sister’s unwanted baby, and later a prized job to help a sick friend. Now the father of six-year-old Mia, and assistant manager at Raven Books, Jamie’s dreams are dashed once again when Uncle Billy admits what dire straights the bookshop is in.
Stanton Potter, son of the most notorious businesswoman in Bedford Falls, loves his job teaching at the local elementary school. But he’s less than thrilled when he is forced to put together a Christmas pageant with first-graders, including Mia Bailey.
When Stanton meets Jamie, angels sing. Jamie’s gender-bending fashion sense, and sweet aura, have Stanton suffering through the worse crush he’s had since he was a teen. But can there be any hope for them when Jamie and Mia’s lives are about to be uprooted?
This Christmas, its Jamie’s turn to receive a little help from heaven.
Dani's rating:
However, while I liked Angels Sing, I didn't love it. Because reasons, the main one being:
SO MANY DAMN KIDS.
Yes, yes, this series is about daddies, but the kids (not just Mia, Jamie's daughter, but all of Stanton's 1st grade students) took over the story line. Stanton is pushed into being a 1st grade substitute teacher, and one of his tasks is helping the kids put together a short Christmas program. Jamie, his student Mia's dad, volunteers to help.
Stanton, who's bi but has never really explored his attraction to men, has a huge crush on feminine Jamie, but the MCs are never really together outside the kid-infused setting.
A couple sexy scenes, which are perfectly lovely (the kimono scene is HOT!), are included, and I didn't need any more steam, but I wanted these guys to have some adult time: a dinner date, walk in the park, ANYTHING besides talking about the Christmas pageant and Mia. As it stands, the relationship development was minimal.
This is very much a feel-good story, even though we find out Jamie gave up all his dreams to raise Mia (who is not his biological daughter). The bookstore where Jamie has worked for years, and which he considered his and Mia's future, is in financial straits, and Jamie is despondent that he has to start all over again.
Not to worry: the ending is a VERY happy one, with the issue of the book store bankruptcy resolved by a real-life "angel" with some serious business acumen. Indeed, the epilogue is all kinds of hopeful and sweet.
My other niggle is that there is a hint of magical intervention that never comes to fruition. I have no idea why those scenes were included, since they went nowhere. Oh, and there is a chapter from Amelia's (Stanton's mom) POV that felt random and was, in my opinion, unnecessary.
Other than that, this is an enjoyable holiday story. I'm not a fan of kids in my romance, but if you are, you'll adore this book.
Get the book:
If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book.~J.K. Rowling
An ARC of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. Download links are provided as a courtesy and do not constitute an endorsement of or affiliation with the book, author, publisher, or website listed.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Hey, thanks for reading this post. We hope you liked it. Please share your thoughts - we always enjoy hearing from readers.