My guy. Last night, Zeb had truly felt like mine, a piece of myself I hadn’t known was missing, and something that belonged to me and me alone. Mine.
Zeb has had a crush on his older brother’s best friend, Atlas, for years. He has no idea of Atlas’s sexual orientation but Atlas is coming home on leave from the Navy to help Zeb and his brother with their seasonal gift shop and catering business and Zeb is finally going to shoot his shot with Atlas. It helps that Atlas will be staying with him while in town and thanks to a malfunctioning air mattress, they end up having to share a bed. Atlas has never been into guys before but there’s something about Zeb that he can’t resist. What starts as a holiday fling quickly turns into real feelings but with Zeb feeling tied to his hometown and Atlas having a job that can take him anywhere in the world, do they have any hope of building a future together?
This was another sweet and heartwarming holiday romance! There were so many good tropes here – brother’s best friend, age gap, forced proximity, only one bed, opposites attract to name a few. I loved Zeb’s bravery in finally making a move on Atlas. He’d been crushing on him for a long time but never did anything about it, and Atlas viewed him as Gabe’s little brother. But once Atlas started spending real time with Zeb, he realized how kind, funny, and wonderful he was.
I love a good bi-awakening story and seeing Atlas discover he was into guys, particularly into Zeb, and seeing the two of them explore that was great. Neither one was particularly experienced so there was a lot of exploring going on from both sides. It was lovely watching them build that trust between them. This one tugged at my heartstrings a lot! They both developed big feelings, pretty quickly, but for various reasons, it was hard for them to envision a future where they could be together. The longing was portrayed so well that it brought tears to my eyes a couple of times. But the book had the sweetest ending, so it was all worth it!
“You’ve spent all year convincing me I deserve a home, a family, love, and commitment, and I believe you. And us. I believe in us.”
The Book Boyfriend Addict 