ARC Review: Out for the Holidays by Cara Dee

Blurb:

I’m not saying Henry jinxed us when he chose to send out two hundred holiday cards stating we were going to have a blissful Christmas at home…

Before we knew it, our peace and quiet went out the window, and we were headed to Mexico for a photo shoot my agent had neglected to tell me about. Of course, we had to deal with the man who didn’t want us to be together, and then we ended up back in LA, and we had to figure out what was going on with my brother, and, and… Okay, deep breaths. FYI, Philadelphia is nowhere near our home in northern Washington. Additionally, I wonder how Viagra really works, and what’s it gonna take to get a proposal around here?

Honestly. I’m not saying Henry jinxed us, but I’m writing the damn card next year.

Todd's rating:

Okay, I just have to say it. I may or may not have a huge crush on Zach. He's totally my flavor of "not quite right," but in the very best way. : )

This semi-short, holiday read took place about a year and a half after the events in "Out," showing their relationship going as strong as ever, which I loved.

Zach has been modeling the entire time, but he's starting to fray around the edges a bit from all of the scheduling pressures and time away from Henry.

So they both decided to take the entire month of December off, devoting more time to one another and their families, to help recharge their depleted internal batteries.

Except, oh boy, did fate have much different plans for them.


First, Zach's agent forgot to tell him about a week-long beachside photo shoot in Mexico, which didn't actually turn out quite as badly as he feared.

Let's just say that the sexy scene where Henry's skeezy friend Joseph finally, THANK GOD ALL-FUCKING-MIGHTY, got it through his thick skull that he needed to fuck right the hell off and stop pushing the guys for a 3-way made their time south of the border totally worth it.

Then there was a bit of drama with Mattie going MIA and running off to Philadelphia that they had to deal with, and the never-ending list of "OMG, what now?" seemed to go on and on.

But the book was so full of humorous moments and the MC's spending lots of quality time together that the drama never felt as if it was too much.

I'd been told that this 120 page read felt a bit too sex-heavy, so I was expecting much more than what I encountered. To me, there was "enough" steam, without things ever approaching that dreaded line of feeling gratuitous.

But Oh. My. God. The Viagra scene. A total snort-fest, that one.

“Safeword, safeword, my fiancé’s priapism is trying to fuck me, safeword!”

Plus, the plans for the last Viagra tablet. Classic Zach. I loved it. Like I said, the boy is soooo not right.

This story read a bit like a "Greatest Hits of Camassia," as various characters from the previous books made appearances, so I adored revisiting and catching up with them.

If I did have to pick an aspect of the book that I could've done without, the same as with "Out," I'd have to say it would be Henry's use of "really old dude" words like 'dear', plus the entire 'boy' and 'daddy' thing. So not my thing, especially since Henry isn't *that* old.

Overall, this story was a total winner for me and I'd have to rate it at around 4.5 stars for all of the fun, wacky situations that Cara threw at our MC's here.

I would note that this is *not* a standalone story.

My ARC copy of the book was provided by the author in exchange for a fair, unbiased review. 

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