ARC Review: Phin's Christmas by Bonnie Dee

Blurb:

Excited to celebrate his first Christmas with his true love, Phin Abernathy searches for the perfect gift for Teddy, the artist who saved him from solitude (The Artist). But his happy holiday dreams are soon threatened.

After a year of living on his own, then with his beloved partner, Phin has mostly banished his negative view of himself. He and Teddy are happily saving toward a house they can share, when a chance encounter with a stranger raises Phin’s old ghosts of doubt, anxiety, and low self-esteem.

Struggling to quell such negative spirits, Phin focuses on volunteering at a children’s shelter. But when he sees his Teddy and handsome Justin Crump (The Medium) in a suspicious situation, it is difficult to control his racing thoughts. Belief in Teddy’s love for him wars with Phin’s fear his lover wants something more.

Phin must decide how far he is willing to go to keep Teddy in his life, and truly embrace his own worth before he can ever celebrate the season.

Dani's rating:

This book is the follow-up to Bonnie Dee's The Artist, a novel I highly recommend. The author states that Phin's Christmas works as a standalone, but I strongly suggest reading The Artist first to see how Phin and Teddy met and came to be a couple.

My only complaint about The Artist was the somewhat abrupt ending. This book, set a few months after Phin and Teddy's tentative HEA, brings Phin and Teddy's story full circle; it's an extended epilogue of sorts.

While there is some mild angst as Phin doubts he can be enough for Teddy, mostly this is a sweet, tender story about two men who love one another deeply and support each other's dreams.





Teddy's art is taking off, and Phin begins volunteering at a school for impoverished children. If you've read Dee's The Medium, you'll recognize Justin and Albert immediately. Phin is jealous of Justin's beauty and the easy friendship he develops with Teddy. But he needn't fear because Teddy loves Phin madly.

Told in Phin's voice, Phin's Christmas is a gentle, lightly sexy (there is one particularly HOT, passionate scene that was perfection) established-couple romance with a Christmas theme.

I believe that Phin and Teddy's relationship is the real deal. I really love this couple and think you will too.

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Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.

~Harper Lee

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.