Scan barcode
A review by mspilesofpaper
Let Your Hearts Be Light by Fae Quin
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Baxter and Paxton were set up by their children in a Christmas Buddies program - though their kids had very different motives for doing so. Right from the start, they don't get along because Paxton is grumpy and distrustful of Baxter, and Baxter ... well, he tries. Yet, as they spend time together, they start falling for each other.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
Let Your Hearts Be Light is a contemporary romance set in the USA. It is the first book in a series, but can be considered as a standalone because the reader gets only hints at the following pairings. There's no world-building in it at all. Everything is very vague and very much Hallmark movie-esque.
Usually, I would talk about the characters and the romance a bit more in-depth here, but this book is (and pardon my French) a fucking shitshow. It's very clearly written by a straight woman, and if you switch out the baker Dad with a baker Mom, the book won't change much aside from the homophobia that's mentioned in two sentences and the coming out of Lumberjack Dad to his son. That's it. Everything else would be the same and the sex scenes would make more sense because my only thought was: "Yeah, that's not how anal sex works." :-| (And if I have to read once more the phrase "his fluttering pink hole", I'm going to commit a crime.) Also the icing went from sugary icing to buttercream to icing again, and putting that up your ass is ... well, I hope you have a good shower.
The entire romance is very forced and based on instant-love and instant-attraction. Lumberjack Dad goes from "I hate the man" to "Fuck, I want him so badly" in like two days. There's no "enemies-to-lovers" or "hate-to-love" that's playing out realistically. There's zero character development and romance development that would make sense. They don't really learn anything about each other until suddenly they give each other gifts that are semi-meaningful. When did they learn that the other would like it? Who knows. Even the big gesture from Lumberjack Dad to Baker Dad is so ... ugh. It's very Hallmark-esque but it could have been used to show that Lumberjack Dad connects more with his new future step-daughter but they get like 2 scenes where he just realises that she looks like her uncle-father (biologically her uncle, socially her dad) and wants to touch her hair because it's in a bun.
The writing style is 100% "tell and no showing" because there's so much fucking inner monologue. Pretty much everything that is semi-plot relevant is being told in inner monologue and after the event happens. There's barely any dialogue and if there is dialogue, it is cringy as hell. The end speech made me shiver and die from second hand embarrassment.
TL;DR: Save your time and skip this one. It is pretty much "straight woman fetishing gay/bi man, so she wrote a novel about it" because you could exchange the sunshine character dad with a mother and not much would change. The sex is utterly repulsive (I'm already sex-repulsed but if I wouldn't be, this book would've made me sex-repulsed).
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
TWs & CWs: oral and anal sex, anxiety, panic attacks, coming out, rimming, fingering, death of a sibling (in the past), homophobia (mentioned; from parents to their son), sex in a semi-public setting (car and hot pool), food play, no condom
Trope(s): grumpy & sunshine, older main characters
Genre: Contemporary romance, LGBTQIA+ romance
Heat/Spice: 2 🌶️
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
Let Your Hearts Be Light is a contemporary romance set in the USA. It is the first book in a series, but can be considered as a standalone because the reader gets only hints at the following pairings. There's no world-building in it at all. Everything is very vague and very much Hallmark movie-esque.
Usually, I would talk about the characters and the romance a bit more in-depth here, but this book is (and pardon my French) a fucking shitshow. It's very clearly written by a straight woman, and if you switch out the baker Dad with a baker Mom, the book won't change much aside from the homophobia that's mentioned in two sentences and the coming out of Lumberjack Dad to his son. That's it. Everything else would be the same and the sex scenes would make more sense because my only thought was: "Yeah, that's not how anal sex works." :-| (And if I have to read once more the phrase "his fluttering pink hole", I'm going to commit a crime.) Also the icing went from sugary icing to buttercream to icing again, and putting that up your ass is ... well, I hope you have a good shower.
The entire romance is very forced and based on instant-love and instant-attraction. Lumberjack Dad goes from "I hate the man" to "Fuck, I want him so badly" in like two days. There's no "enemies-to-lovers" or "hate-to-love" that's playing out realistically. There's zero character development and romance development that would make sense. They don't really learn anything about each other until suddenly they give each other gifts that are semi-meaningful. When did they learn that the other would like it? Who knows. Even the big gesture from Lumberjack Dad to Baker Dad is so ... ugh. It's very Hallmark-esque but it could have been used to show that Lumberjack Dad connects more with his new future step-daughter but they get like 2 scenes where he just realises that she looks like her uncle-father (biologically her uncle, socially her dad) and wants to touch her hair because it's in a bun.
The writing style is 100% "tell and no showing" because there's so much fucking inner monologue. Pretty much everything that is semi-plot relevant is being told in inner monologue and after the event happens. There's barely any dialogue and if there is dialogue, it is cringy as hell. The end speech made me shiver and die from second hand embarrassment.
TL;DR: Save your time and skip this one. It is pretty much "straight woman fetishing gay/bi man, so she wrote a novel about it" because you could exchange the sunshine character dad with a mother and not much would change. The sex is utterly repulsive (I'm already sex-repulsed but if I wouldn't be, this book would've made me sex-repulsed).
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
TWs & CWs: oral and anal sex, anxiety, panic attacks, coming out, rimming, fingering, death of a sibling (in the past), homophobia (mentioned; from parents to their son), sex in a semi-public setting (car and hot pool), food play, no condom
Trope(s): grumpy & sunshine, older main characters
Genre: Contemporary romance, LGBTQIA+ romance
Heat/Spice: 2 🌶️