Merry Cherry Christmas

By: Keira Andrews

Narrated by: Kirt Graves

Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

A nice boy gets naughty...

Redheaded freshman Jeremy "Cherry" Rourke is certainly living up to his childhood nickname, although still being inexperienced is the least of his concerns. After coming out, his parents barely talk to him. He hasn't made any friends at university. Worst of all, he's about to spend Christmas completely alone in an empty dorm.

Jeremy clearly needs a fairy godfather, so football captain Max Pimenta takes him under his wing to help him find his dating groove. But Jeremy's wound way too tight. He's too vulnerable. Max can't trust some random guy with him. He needs to take care of Jeremy himself and introduce him to no-pressure exploration. It's not about romance or feelings - he's just doing the kid a favor.

Max is definitely not falling for this lonely, beautiful boy. No way.

And it's not like he can leave Jeremy all alone for the holidays. He'll bring him home to his family's maple syrup farm - strictly as friends since his parents have rules. No more fooling around. No more eager, breathless fun. No more making Jeremy shiver and blush with suggestive whispers in his ear. No more sweeter-than-sugar kisses. All nice. No more naughty.

But Jeremy's sleeping right across the hall, and Max wants him for himself. The 12 days of Christmas will last an eternity if they don't break the rules.

Shhh. No one has to know...

Merry Cherry Christmas is a feel-good holiday MM romance from Keira Andrews featuring a nervous nerd and protective jock, forced proximity, first times, and of course a happy ending.

©2020 Keira Andrews (P)2021 Keira Andrews

Clumsy politics get in the way of a decent story

Keira Andrews is one of the most frustrating M/M writers out there. She's generally a really good writer, her plots and characters are engaging, but she has NO idea how to be subtle about inserting her politics into her work. Time after time it's like the action comes crashing to a halt, the curtain closes, someone comes out to the center of the stage and the music begins for a PSA about queer politics. After they've delivered the message, the plot resumes.

Here are a couple examples: the two main characters are talking, and one of them mentions the show "Queer as Folk." He then follows it up with: "Super white, and not great on trans rep." That's... not the character talking, that's the author talking, to the reader, awkwardly. It doesn't flow into the conversation at all. A bit later, Max (who is Goan) is talking about his family and mentions that they're Catholic and utters the phrase "Those Europeans sure like to colonize." The other character shakes his head. "They sure do." Clumsy, clumsy, clumsy. Also sort of racist. Goa has been passed from empire to empire for two thousand years like a basket of dinner rolls. It has NEVER been its own thing. Why does history only matter when white people are involved?

This just happens over and over in the book until I gave up. Don't even get me started on the overuse of the word "queer" which has been foisted on gay men (over their objections) by other members of the "community" and by well-meaning straight women who think they're crusaders for justice, like Andrews. Get me off this train, please. Underneath the blundering attempts at political messaging is a sweet book about two likable characters, but I doubt I'll finish it.

enjoyed it

Would I listen to it again: yes
Did the story keep me engaged: yes
Was I invested in the characters: yes

📖 Story comment: Good pace, likeable characters, nice flow.
A cute college age feel-good story. A little predictable, but that's what I look for in a holiday romance, made all the better with an awkward nerd and an overprotective jock with a loving family.

🎧 Narrator comment: Kirt Graves has done a good job bringing Merry Cherry Christmas to life. He suited the characters, each character has his own voice, the rhythm, changes in pitch and intonation and the cadence of voice all work to bring the story to life. Overall an enjoyable performance.

-------
📌 Where does it fall on my personal scale? 7
• 1 not my thing • 2 didn't like the narration • 3 didn't keep my attention • 4 was good, but once was enough • 5 enjoyed it • 6 will listen again if i'm in the mood for the narrator [4⭐] • 7 goes on the "re-listen" list [4⭐] • 8 kept me up past bed-time [4.5⭐] • 9 recommended to family/friends [4.75⭐] • 10 own it in multiple formats [5⭐] • 11 keep a copy with me at all times [5⭐]

Yikes!

Some genre fiction try to be a bit more literary. Not this one.

This story is vacuous and packed with every cliched trope that can be found in poorly written gay male genre fiction.

In this one, a nerdy, insecure, closeted freshman connects with a burley, he-man, yet sensitive, football playing, out senior.

Not only is there a distressingly simplistic portrayal of the psychology of gay men, but the characters in this book have no inner lives. They pass through scene to scene saying and doing whatever is necessary to move the story along to get to its rather forgettable ending.

Great!

I really enjoyed this story, and definitely left me wanting more. Highly recommended for good holiday cheer.

Cute story, great audio

I got this story in Kindle a while ago, it seemed like a cute, fun, low angst Christmas story and I actually liked it enough to read a couple of times. The audio just enhanced the simple love story. Kirt Graves gives it such life and I found myself tearing up while listening. It was surprising how much more emotional the story was when listening to it.

I loved this

This story is like sitting next to a fire, sipping on something warm, and relaxing.

Having read this in ebook form, I was not surprised by anything but dang, did Kurt Graves do a fantastic job.

So here we have Cherry, a freshman in college that one day runs into Max, a senior football star who steps on his glasses, making this a meet-cute trope that I love

So Max decides that he will help Cherry make friends and not die a virgin.

Y'all know what happens, these two numbskulls fall in love (yes it's instalove) and everything works out.

When I first read this, I was not sure why going out with someone was featured so prominently but the second time was the charm. I get it now.

Love the story, is fresh, joyful and very hot but.

Jeremy performance was actually good, full of insecurities and scary to be proudly gay, innocent and naive, his character get to you slowly and easy, not the same with Max, who was emotionless, maybe is because I read the book in advanced and I imagined his character more strong and hot, even the hot scenes were off.

So Adorable!

Great story! I always appreciate more realistic gay romance novels. I find I am able to relate more and picture it as a relatable thing.

Just okay

I wanted to like this more than I did. The story was weak, as well as the character development. I did enjoy the characters but not much happened in this book. It had feel good moments and the required HEA, but still was lacking something.

Fun Read

There s is a sweet, easy, feel good read great for de-stressing during the hectic news of the holiday.
Highly recommended if well written, and easy read is what you are wanting

A wonderful Xmas romance

Amazing Xmas story - Andrews is just a Xmas storyteller extraordinaire. I love Kirt Graves as a narrator, and as always, he did the characters in this story justice as always. If you want an easy, feel good listen with low angst, this is for you. 5*

Good narration, jury is still out on the story...

I honestly did not remember that this one had so much sex in it; perhaps that would've changed my mind as to whether to buy this audio, even though it's read by one of my fave narrators. Oh well 😕, 4 stars rounded up for the audio.

Enjoyable

This was an enjoyable book to listen to, and I liked the characters. Didn’t blow me away, but I felt invested in their story.