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A review by indiekay
Felix Navidad by 'Nathan Burgoine
5.0
4.5 stars
Thank you NetGallery for an advanced ebook in exchange for an honest review.
I will start by saying I have not read the other books in this series, so I came into this one reading it as a stand alone. I think reading the other books would help, because there are a lot of friends and past events mentioned here that could use some context, BUT the overall plot is not at all hampered by not having read the rest of the books.
And Content Warnings:
Okay, all that out of the way: the plot. Felix is a at-home nurse, and the book splits half the chapters between the current time - where Felix is attending his friends' wedding - and the year previously, where we meet one of Felix's patients. Danya is an elderly man recovering from pneumonia. He has lived a fantastic queer live as a drag queen and an owner of a book shop, and now does a lot of community work and is always busy and knows everyone.
Felix never takes the holidays off from work, because he doesn't have family to spend the holidays with anyway, so he might as well give his coworkers that time off instead. But, after encouragement from Danya, Felix decides this year he's going to attend his friends' wedding (which has been delayed two years because of COVID - I do love the rare time I read a book that's actually set in our current time line instead of just pretending the last 2 years never happened!), and then he's got going to get on a plane and go spend a week in Hawai'i.
While at the wedding Felix meets a really hot guy, Kyle, that's one of the groom's ex-boyfriend, but they only talk to each other for one dance before parting ways. But when Felix goes to the airport to catch his flight to Toronto, both his and Kyle's flights are cancelled and Felix offers Kyle a lift to Toronto. And then, of course, there's a snow story and they get trapped in a cute cabin together for a couple of days.
That's the plot stuff done. My actual review: This book is really sweet and delivers on a lot of the things I want most in a holiday romance. Sometimes the fact that every second chapter is a flashback kind of hinders the story a bit, because every time it feels like Felix and Kyle are getting to know each other, the chapter ends, and then just as I settle into Danya and Felix's time together, THEIR chapter ends and I have to get used to Felix and Kyle again. So that did slow down my reading a little bit, but also: this book is quite short, and maybe slowing it down a bit was a good thing.
Anyway, I REALYL liked how the past and the present came together in the end, and the big reveal was not something I'd been expecting, and made me cry buckets. The ending is very sweet happy ending as well.
Thank you NetGallery for an advanced ebook in exchange for an honest review.
I will start by saying I have not read the other books in this series, so I came into this one reading it as a stand alone. I think reading the other books would help, because there are a lot of friends and past events mentioned here that could use some context, BUT the overall plot is not at all hampered by not having read the rest of the books.
And Content Warnings:
Spoiler
COVID is mentioned, though no one explicitly ever has it; some very mild medical descriptions; an elderly character passes away off-screne. There is no explicit sex in this story, and there IS a Happy Ever AfterOkay, all that out of the way: the plot. Felix is a at-home nurse, and the book splits half the chapters between the current time - where Felix is attending his friends' wedding - and the year previously, where we meet one of Felix's patients. Danya is an elderly man recovering from pneumonia. He has lived a fantastic queer live as a drag queen and an owner of a book shop, and now does a lot of community work and is always busy and knows everyone.
Felix never takes the holidays off from work, because he doesn't have family to spend the holidays with anyway, so he might as well give his coworkers that time off instead. But, after encouragement from Danya, Felix decides this year he's going to attend his friends' wedding (which has been delayed two years because of COVID - I do love the rare time I read a book that's actually set in our current time line instead of just pretending the last 2 years never happened!), and then he's got going to get on a plane and go spend a week in Hawai'i.
While at the wedding Felix meets a really hot guy, Kyle, that's one of the groom's ex-boyfriend, but they only talk to each other for one dance before parting ways. But when Felix goes to the airport to catch his flight to Toronto, both his and Kyle's flights are cancelled and Felix offers Kyle a lift to Toronto. And then, of course, there's a snow story and they get trapped in a cute cabin together for a couple of days.
That's the plot stuff done. My actual review: This book is really sweet and delivers on a lot of the things I want most in a holiday romance. Sometimes the fact that every second chapter is a flashback kind of hinders the story a bit, because every time it feels like Felix and Kyle are getting to know each other, the chapter ends, and then just as I settle into Danya and Felix's time together, THEIR chapter ends and I have to get used to Felix and Kyle again. So that did slow down my reading a little bit, but also: this book is quite short, and maybe slowing it down a bit was a good thing.
Anyway, I REALYL liked how the past and the present came together in the end, and the big reveal was not something I'd been expecting, and made me cry buckets. The ending is very sweet happy ending as well.