Genre: Holiday, Romance, Fantasy
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Reviewer: Linda, Paranormal Romance Guild
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About The Book
Very little is merry in a private dick’s world.
Private detective Nick Bozic works the mean streets of 1950s Portland, Oregon, shadowing unfaithful spouses and nabbing thieving employees. He may be lonely, but at least he’s not crooked. Despite the festive season, Christmas simply means less dough in his pocket.
With the holiday only a few days away, a regular client drops a new case on him: yet another being has come through the Rift and needs help finding his way home. Maybe Evindal the elf will help Nick find something too—a bit of cheer and magic amid the usual brew of corruption and betrayal.
The Review
Nick Bozic is a private investigator in Portland, Oregon in the 1950’s. Once a police officer, he got tired of the corruption perpetrated by the very men who were supposed to be the law. Now on his own and mostly on the straight and narrow, he struggles to make ends meet. He usually follows cheating spouses for pay, but Christmas is upon them and unfortunately the cheaters are forced to stay close to home, so business is slow.
Nick also has a nice income from the city, thanks to the rift under Sansone Booksellers. Men, women and sometimes hideous creatures are zapped into a cell in the store, and his job is to find a way to send them home. When another being arrives due to the rift, Nick is called in. This job will change his life forever.
The newest arrival is an elf named Evindale with the whole works – a pointy hat, shoes with bells and pointy ears. He works in Mr. Kringle’s workshop – yes that Mr. Kringle, the one at the North Pole. Evindale usually paints toys, but now he finds himself in a cell with no idea how he got there.
Nick and Evindale are both gay, but Evindale lives in a place where it doesn’t matter and Nick lives in the 50’s where being with another man could get him thrown in jail – that was the saddest part of this story.
Nick doesn’t think it will be hard to return Evindale because it is the Christmas season and he comes from the North Pole where he works for Santa, so trips to anywhere with Christmas decorations and celebrations should be the answer. A piece of cake, or so Nick thinks.
Evindale is the happiest being and my favorite character in the story. He sees joy in everything, and his first trip away from the North Pole is filled with one surprise after another. He can’t get enough of rain, elevators, restaurants, books and movies – all just one thrill after another.
While trying to find a way to send Evindale home, Nick finds himself beginning to enjoy the things around him that he has become blind to – his difficult past made him a sad man with nothing to give him joy. Now this elf has turned his life around, and he is beginning to smell the roses.
In addition to Nick trying to find a way to get Evindale home, he gets another case from a woman covered in mink and jewels – which puts Nick in jeopard and makes him realize what having Evindale in his life means to him.
The elf and the lonely, disenchanted private investigator have a chance at love, but when Evindale returns to the North Pole, all Nick will have are memories. Still, it is a holiday tale, so hold on for the HEA!
This novella is the perfect Christmas story! Five stars.
The Reviewer
I am an avid reader the mother of 3 sons and grandmother to seven grandchildren. Since retiring I have been doing more reading while volunteering as a CASA worker. CASA is an organization that works with the family court system to ensure that children are in the best living situation. There are way too many children that get overlooked in the foster care system and I visit homes and make visits to the parents. I was born and raised in New York and my husband of 50 years and I live in Upstate New York.
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