Christmas Angel

The Christmas Angel, Book 1

By: Eli Easton

Narrated by: J. C. Love

Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

When John Trent, a dedicated member of the new Bow Street Runners, finds an exquisite carved angel floating in the Thames, he can’t stop thinking about it. He tracks down its creator, a sad and quiet young sculptor. But neither the angel nor the sculptor is done with John just yet. The blasted angel refuses to leave him be, behaving not at all like an inanimate object should.

Alec Allston is resigned to the fact that his love will ever be a river that flows out and never flows in. All he wanted to do was create a special gift so that a small part of himself could be with his unattainable and noble beloved, always. But when the gift keeps showing back up at his shop in the hands of a windblown and rugged thief-taker, Alec will need to reconsider his conviction that love is destined to remain an ethereal ideal.

This book is one of seven stories which can all be listened to and enjoyed in any order.

The Christmas Angel Series:

In 1750, a master woodcarver poured all his unrequited love, passion, and longing into his masterpiece - a gorgeous Christmas angel for his beloved’s tree. When the man he loved tossed the angel away without a second thought, a miracle happened. The angel was found by another who brought the woodcarver True Love. Since then, the angel has been passed down, sold, lost and found, but its magic remains.

Hear the romances inspired by (and perhaps nudged along by) the Christmas angel through the years. Whether it’s the 1880’s New York (Kim Fielding’s "Summerfield’s Angel"), the turn-of-the-century (Jordan L. Hawk’s "Magician’s Angel"), World War II (L.A. Witt’s "Christmas Homecoming"), Vietnam-era (N.R. Walker’s "Soldier’s Wish"), the 1990’s (Anyta Sunday’s "Shrewd Angel"), or 2018 (RJ Scott’s "Christmas Prince"), the Christmas angel has a way of landing on the trees of lonely men who need its blessing for a very Merry Christmas and forever HEA.

©2018 Jane Holmes (P)2020 Jane Holmes

Wonderful Holiday Story

I have read the kindle version of this gentle, loving book a couple of times and was thrilled when it appeared in audio. I love all of Eli Easton's work, but she has a special gift for seasonal stories. In addition to a delicious slow seduction, this one includes a group of friends of various queer identities providing safety and warmth for each other in a particularly perilous era. The angel moves on through time, facilitating happiness in other authors' books in this series, but this is the story of her creation.

J.C. Love did a great job of narration, but there is something odd about the production - it seemed unnaturally slow to me. I have never changed the speed of a recording before, but I played this one at 1.3x, which sounded more like the narrator's natural cadence. Maybe it was just my download, but if it seems delayed to you, try that. In any case, enjoy this lovely historical.

The performance robbed this one of a lot.

While I did end up enjoying “The Christmas Angel,” it’s a rare “I’d suggest reading it, not listening to it” from me. For one, I had to speed up the playback to x1.5 to make the reader’s incredibly slow pace hit a natural cadence—something I've never done before, but he was excruciatingly slow at normal speed. Second, there were quite a few mispronunciations: blackguard, regaled, some British-isms. So, all in all, I ended up having to kind of get “past” the performer, which made it harder to sink into the story from an author of holiday novellas I’ve really enjoyed in the past (I often do a yearly re-listen to “Blame it on the Mistletoe” and “Merry Christmas, Mr. Miggles.”)

A smaller caveat is more to do with the historical setting, and the fallout thereof. The reason I picked this one up was because it begins a series of interrelated but standalone books that span many years and all feature, at some point, a carved Christmas angel. I’d read some of the other stories, the ones set closer to the present day, and enjoyed them enough to want to see the beginning. The angel is carved in this book by one of the protagonists, and that angel is inspired by a visitation that happens to him when the book opens and he’s contemplating suicide. Now, it’s a very “It’s A Wonderful Life” sort of opening, though the story doesn’t follow that narrative, and the historical setting has fuelled much of the darkness in Alec’s heart: he had fallen for someone, a Duke, and they cannot be together, he will never know love, he believes, and now the Duke is marrying and ending their affair (which was chaste to keep their souls pure) and... at that point I almost ejected right off the bat. Not because this isn’t within the realm of the realistic for the time, but more because this is why, as a queer man, I shy away from historical fiction around queer people as a whole: the present day is frustrating and depressing enough, thanks.

I did keep going, and I’m glad I did, as the story that unfolded was very much more about finding the joy in the cracks between, a kind of found-family narrative that I enjoy the most, tucked in historical London. At times the story does delve a little darker than I would normally enjoy in a holiday novella (most specifically, including a sexual assault/attack that happens near the end of the story providing a black moment), but it does ultimately deliver something upbeat and ends absolutely on a happy note for nearly every queer character (and certainly for those deserving of one).

Love Story in 1750 London

The Christmas Angel series is one of my favorites and each book is a stand-alone. This was a lovely audiobook narrated by J.C. Love and written by Eli Easton. New narrator for me but J.C. did a wonderful job bringing John, Alec, and the Christmas Angel to life.

The Christmas Angel is the first one in the series and follows the romance of a master woodcarver (Alec) in 1750 who actually created the Christmas angel by pouring his love, passion, and longing into the masterpiece for his beloved's Christmas tree. Even though both men couldn't be together he wanted his love to have a piece of him for always. Unfortunately, his beloved didn't feel the same and tossed the angel away. John found the angel which led him to Alec's shop and true love. Lovely audiobook with the magic and romance of the Christmas Angel for Alec and John :)

All the good Christmas feels!

CW: suicidal ideation

This story opens with one of the MCs considering suicide so if that’s a concern for you, you can skip the first chapter and miss it without missing a thread of the story.

Alec is a sculptor and he’s resigned himself to a life of celibacy to avoid society’s judgement. John is a member of London’s newly established law enforcement and he has other ideas for Alec—ideas that definitely don’t involve celibacy. This story is sweet and kind with a real courtship and great supporting characters. Alec and John get a happy ending you can feel. It’s a wonderful Christmas story! Eli Easton is a great author and I always enjoy her holiday stories!

The performance by J.C. Love is also good. I love a good British accent!

Homosexual theme

Everyone is entitled to make their own choices, but I personally don’t want to read about a same sex relationship.