This week my budget book rec is “A Reluctant Santa” by Roan Parrish. It’s a free short that you can grab on a (new-to-me) site called StoryOrigin. I chose it because I’ve read Roan Parrish before so I knew to expect a good portion of angst, or at least that the story wouldn’t be 100% sweet and fluffy. It’s just sweet enough for a Scrooge like me to enjoy. Before I finished the first sentence I knew I would be recommending this one!

Charlie Parkingham trudged down the hallway, his apartment door offering sanctuary after a day filled with the tortures of the damned that accompanied customer service before the holidays.

I love that the main character is a cranky retail worker and the love interest is collecting toys for kids. They seem like opposites, but this deftly crafted story shows that they have more in common than meets the eye. I don’t want to give too much away because this short has so many layers and I want you to enjoy peeling them back as you read just like I did.

The door was thrown open and Charlie only had a moment to register the wide eyes and gasp of the man in the doorway before he was hit full-force with a tumbleweed of brown fur.

Christmas stories are another sub-genre of MM Romance that I only read occasionally. Mainly because the holidays are a difficult time for me. Sometimes reading holiday stories gives me a jolt of the holiday spirit, and sometimes it doesn’t. I’ve written a couple of winter holiday stories and they are all fairly dark and angsty (even the one I tried to make as heartwarming as possible has a loaded backstory for both of the heroes 😊). Writing them is usually much easier than reading them because I do that in July. However, reading “A Reluctant Santa” was more than easy, it was a real pleasure.  If you haven’t yet, you should definitely grab your copy—read it now or save it for a day when you need some holiday cheer.

Find Roan Parrish’s Amazon Author page here.

If you’re a fan of angsty MM Romances, you might also like my books. Subscribe to my newsletter and get a free ebook so you can decide for yourself! Click here to subscribe.

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Sometimes we fall in love by accident …

Charlie Parkingham hates the holidays. Working as a security guard for Macy’s, he sees the worst holiday shopping has to offer, so he’s glad he doesn’t have to worry about making Christmas for himself … or for anyone else. Until the day a mysterious package arrives on his doorstep.

Thomas Blake won’t stop until he’s made the holidays wonderful for every kid in Philadelphia. But when a grouchy neighbor returns a wrongly delivered package, Thomas knows there’s someone else who needs some holiday cheer.

Two men, one dog, and more presents than you can handle!