Review: Mr. Frosty Pants by Leta Blake
SYNOPSIS:
Frosty former friends get a steamy second chance in this Christmas gay romance!
Can true love warm his frozen heart?
When Casey Stevens went away to college four years ago, he ghosted on his straight best friend, Joel Vreeland. He hoped time and distance would lessen the unrequited affection he felt, but all it did was make him miss Joel more. Home for the holidays, Casey hopes they might find a way to be friends again. But Joel’s frosty reception reminds Casey of just how hard he had to fight to be Joel’s friend in the first place. It’s going to take a Christmas miracle to get past that cool façade again.
Joel isn’t as straight as Casey believes, and his years of pining for Casey have left him hurting and alone, caring for his abusive father and struggling to get by. Unable to trust anyone except his rescue dog—and with no reason to believe Casey is interested in him for more than a holiday fling—Joel’s icy heart might shatter before it can thaw.
Can Casey and Joel’s love overcome mistrust, parental rejection, class differences, and four long years apart?
REVIEW:
This book was just a meh read for me, if I am being honest, I didn’t care for it. Leta Blake is a hit or miss author with me but I thought for sure I would fall in love with this Christmas romance. But the story was filled with so much heaviness that even Christmas couldn’t lift the dark cloud. Add in the whole second-chance romance/insta-love and I was instantly out of interest.
I need to start with the undertones of abuse that play a central part in this story. It’s dark, it’s heavy, and it’s depressing. Joel and Casey both suffered at the hands of their parents, emotionally and physically. And while we did see Joel have closure, I didn’t like how things played out with Casey. His dad was still a POS and things wrapped up at the ending a little too nicely. Furthermore, if the abuse wasn’t bringing down the mood, Joel’s personality was. He was just a negative, dark spot in the story. He never had any hope and was constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. Which set the stage for angsty romance and an exhausting read for me.
I actually took over a week to read this because I needed breaks from Joel. Then as the romance got underway, I will give Leta credit, she writes some sizzling sex scenes and character intimacy. But Joel and Casey just had nothing in common. Their whole tentative relationship felt rushed and I didn’t feel any emotional connection between them. Joel seemed so closed off and against any type of emotions when it came to conversing but would then be sobbing during sex. The man was a yo-yo and it was sucking the soul out of me.
In the end, it was a whole lot of meh. I read the book for free via Kindle Unlimited but I definitely wouldn’t buy it or recommend it to a friend. I think I will give the second book in the series a go though, because RJ intrigued me with his free-floating lifestyle. So hopefully things pick up in that story.
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