4.5 ⭐
This is a sweet and easy read, that got me in the holiday spirit. Sometimes in the search for the spiciest, steamiest read, I forget that what I’m really looking for at the end of the day is a good old fashioned love story. This was a good reminder.
Adam/Alex is in witness protection in the sleepy, wintry New England town of Sleepy Shoals, hoping to start over, but not sure how, when he bungles his way into commandeering Eli's boat to dispose of a body.
Eli is a trans captain of a failing fishing charter, trying to rebuild his life after a break-up. He falls asleep on his boat, sick with the flu, only to be surprised by a hulking stranger at the helm.
So here we have Adam/Alex and Eli, who wind up together on Eli‘s boat in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, in a snow storm, on Christmas Eve after They have to work together to get back to land, and they catch feels in the process.
Both Adam/Alex and Eli are misunderstood in their own ways, but they end up being seen by one another. And isn’t that what we all want? So happy holidays to them.
My one gripe is, why did that poor boy have to lay in the bed with wet draws?
For a 100 page novella, there were some great lines, good banter, and a well paced development to the relationship. Both characters were able to share their backstory, so we can invest in their future. Nothing felt rushed, and the author did not try to squeeze too much in; everything was given its due.
There were actually three characters in the story. Adam/Alex, Eli, and the town where they live. Really, the setting, I suppose. The author does a great job of helping you feel like you are really there, painting the picture for you. I swear I was cold reading the entire story, that could just be because I was reading it from Maine, but she did make it sound cold.
CWs
Mentions of past violence
References to disposal of bodies
References to transphobia
References to bod y discomfort/dysmorphia
Tropes
Size difference
Forced proximity
Details
Sexual orientation of either MC not discussed
Cis/trans MCs
No spice
HEA
Quotes:
Maybe this is how Stockholm Syndrome starts.
Eli’s thigh is pressed against his, the kind of accidental contact that shouldn’t mean anything, but somehow feels like everything.
What had the shrink called it? Maladaptive codependency. Adam figures she should. have just cut to the chase and called it glutton for punishment.
Silver Shoals? Eli? That was always a fantasy, the place he had no right, dreaming about, a world men like him, or never meant to touch.
Eli pulls back with a regretful little sniffle, the drapes, another towel over Adam’s lap, a barrier between whatever this moment is in whatever it might have become.
All Adam wants is to become someone Eli would choose.
Each step is slow, measured, the confidence of a man who knows the world bends for him.
He’s anchored in love, buoyed hope.