The Christmas Leap

Festive Fakes

By: Keira Andrews

Narrated by: Greg Boudreaux

Length: 7 hrs

Publisher's Summary

Fake romance shouldn’t feel this real....

Will: I've never been with a man.

Sure, I've thought about it. Wondered. Daydreamed. Imagined. But I wasn't ready to take the leap.

I have a reputation as a "ladies' man". No one has any idea how curious I am about men—not even my openly bi best friend. Make that former best friend. Michael ghosted me, and I have no idea why.

Michael: The man I love is straight.

It hurt like hell when I had to distance myself from Will. I’ve tried desperately to grow up and get over him, but my carefully constructed life just fell apart—and Will rushes to my rescue.

Now we’re pretending to be a couple to impress his boss at a holiday retreat. We’re holding hands and hugging.

We’re sharing a bed.

And Will just kissed me.

Is my best friend falling in love with me after all?

The Christmas Leap by Keira Andrews is a Christmas romance featuring friends to lovers, bi awakening, first times, and of course a happy ending. This stand-alone novel takes place in the same universe as The Christmas Deal.

©2022 Keira Andrews (P)2022 Keira Andrews

Fantastic Narration

Greg Beaudreaux elevates every book he narrates. His accents are fantastic, and he’s truly challenged in this book!

The story of a bi-awakening and best friends to lovers is always a favorite of mine, and this did not disappoint. I wish these characters were better at communicating, but once they figured it out, it was so sweet and steamy, too! I enjoyed the side characters as well. All in all a great holiday listen.

I am secretly in love with Angela Barker

Will brings his long time friend, Michael, as a last minute guest to his company retreat. The check-in person assumes they are dating. When the rumor mill starts up about Will dating a man, and the owner of the company finds out, it seems too late to tell the truth. What if they secretly want it to be true, each in their own way?

I really loved seeing the main characters, Seth and Logan, from the first book in this second book. The timeframe started around the epilogue of the first book, which was perfect. Also, it was great to hear the real star of book 1, secondary character, Angela Barker, have a large role in book 2. Described as a “pink supportive hurricane”, I’m not sure how she knows everything about everyone when she talks so much, no one can get a word in. It would be cool if at the end of the series, we find out that she knew about the capers all along and was secretly meddling. I also have to mention that as soon as I realized she would be in this book, I worried that her voice/accent would sound different with a different narrator (notice, this wasn’t a concern for Seth and Logan’s characters), but Greg voiced her exactly how John did.

I picked up on some hinting in the book that Connor, Logan’s son, could get his own book. How awesome would that be?!

This book, as read by the best narrator in the world, was a real holiday treat!

Frustration off and on

There is a lot to like about this book, and Greg Boudreaux is an excellent narrator. I just keep losing patience with Michael. He is so insecure that he fails to communicate his thoughts and feelings at times people who genuinely like one another would have shared. His second guessing and insecurities make the story drag on and on and on and….
So there’s still and hour left and Michael is getting ready to sabotage the tentative love between himself and Will, his bff from college. Will is open and ready to take their relationship further, but as a newly awakened “bi” he’s depending on Michael to help guide the way. Sigh….
I generally like Kiera Andrews books very much, but I’m actually not able to stomach Michael another minute.
I’ll take a break then go back and finish when I’m not feeling so frustrated.

Sweet holiday read

I definitely enjoy the fake relationship trope and this was a good take on that one. It’s also a fun holiday read. Very happy with the HEA though sad to leave these characters and their story. There was also the only one bed trope which is also always a lot of fun. The narrator did a fantastic job bringing the story and characters to life.

Relationship Leaps

Another great fake it until you make it. There is a bit of history between these two so it is easy for them to be comfortable with each. I also like how the other encourage them in their caper. I listened to audio version and it was a lot of fun.

Thrilling Christmas story

this keeps your attention and sends arousal thru you. I can't wait to hear more of Keira's works.

Worth a reread

I'm just sad that it's over. This was sweet, light with a nice heat towards the end

I loved this!

This was like reading a sultry Hallmark story. I fell in love with both Will and Michael as characters and thought they were so cute together. This was a perfect fluffy Christmas romance, and the narration was soooo good. I loved how distinguishable the characters were. Great listen!

Fun

A nice enjoyable Holiday listen. Low angst and HEA ending. Just what the season needs. Greg was fabulous as always!

The Christmas Leap by Keira Andrews

Tropes/Themes:
-MM contemporary romance
-Christmas romance
-Best friends to lovers
-Fake dating
-Lots of pining
-Only one bed
-Travel (Australia)
-Dual POV
-Book #2 in an interconnected standalone series

This was fine but forgettable. This used a lot of the same tropes from the previous book in the series but had a much lighter tone. I just didn’t really understand how these two could go from being best friends, to them ghosting each other, to them having no contact for 2 years, to a dramatic reunion, to being madly in love days later. Keira Andrews tends to be a hit or miss author for me, so this series unfortunately is a bit of a miss. For what it’s worth though, I liked this one a lot more than the previous book. But I guess that doesn’t really say a lot.

Story: 2/5
Audiobook: 5/5 (narrated by Greg Boudreaux)
Length 7h0min

friends to lovers

Keira Andrews has written a wonderful Christmas story. Michael's Christmas goes so very differently than planned when he overhears a phone call his boyfriend has made. He ends up with car trouble in the middle of nowhere and calls his former best friend Will, whom he hasn't seen in two years. And what begins as a fake boyfriend relationship in front of Will's boss ends in a Christmas vacation together. But how long can a fake relationship be faked when real feelings are involved? Will and Michael are both very sympathetic and I found this storyline sweet and heartwarming. And even though there is no snow, there is a festive mood. There is some laughter, lots of feelings, lots of sunshine, nice secondary protagonists, romance and of course love. If you like friends to lovers and that at Christmas, you should listen to this audiobook. I was hooked from the beginning and listened to the audiobook in just two days.

Greg Boudreaux was brilliant as the narrator. He brought the story to life with an ease and gave appropriate voices to the characters. I love his Scottish accent! I will definitely be looking for more audiobooks by this narrator.

Awww!

This is a super sweet second chance romance and I loved it!
Michael and Will's story had me hooked right from the beginning and I was rooting for them all the way through.
Greg Boudreax has done a brilliant job of bringing these characters and their story to life.
I don't want to say too much about this,as I don't want to spoil this absolute delight for anyone.

Funny second chance Christmas romance

I am a huge Greg Boudreaux fan and I'm also Scottish. At first Will's accent was cringe worthy but it got a lot better as the book went on so well done Greg. This was a nice second chance, friends to lovers romance with a few spicy scenes. I really enjoyed it.

Touching story of love

A tragedy of life when it takes so long to find the love of your life is everything you wanted and needed and here we get that beautiful HEA enjoy I know i did.

A beautiful holiday story

One of the best MM authors and one of the best MM narrators in one audiobook. How could it be any better?

Loved the story between Will and Michael and Greg’s narration was absolutely stellar - really capturing both characters really well. Brilliant listen!

Really disappointing

I loved The Christmas Deal and I'm a big fan of both author and narrator, so I had high hopes for this, especially with Greg Boudreaux narrating.

But what a let-down. I like the fake-relationship trope as a rule, but the thing with tropes is that they’re so well-worn that getting them to work well hinges on the strength of the characterisation - and Will and Michael are not particularly well fleshed-out. Will is basically a saint, forgiving Michael instantly for ghosting him without even having a conversation about it, and as for Michael, we never find out who he is beyond how he feels about Will. His relationship with his ex, Jared, was formed basically because he was desperate to get over Will, and I found myself sympathising with Jared - at least he was trying to be kind and was honest and willing to communicate about their relationship., which Michael never was.

And much as it pains me to say it, because I'm a massive fan of Greg Boudreaux, his Scottish accent is pretty bad. Please, please, don't believe the gushing reviews praising it - I can only assume they've been written by people who have never heard an authentic Scottish accent. At a few points in the text, the author tells us that Will thinks he doesn’t have much of an accent, whereas Michael thinks he sounds like he’s just stepped off the set of Outlander, but I’m afraid neither of those things is true. I had to try to forget Will was Scottish whenever I listened to his chapters in order to get through the book.

I suppose everyone's entitled to an off-day, but unfortunately, neither Ms. Andrews nor Mr. Boudreaux is at their best here.

Ideal Christmas romance

Well written Christmas love story.
I especially loved the Scottish accent.
Nice strong story and a pleasure to read.

A cute, easy listening Christmas romance

The Christmas Leap is a sweet follow-up to The Christmas Deal. It's a pleasure to spend a few hours capering about with idiots in love Will and Michael, and wonderful to catch up with some old friends. Spying Logan and Seth a few years down the line is a treat, and I am absolutely agog to find out what is going on with Connor.

The change in location to Australia broke the flow for me a little, however there were cameos from other Andrews characters that I'm sure delighted people who have read Flash Rip.

The Christmas Leap is lighter fare than The Christmas Deal and many of Andrews' other Christmas classics, and perfect if you're looking for easy listening romance with a few laugh out loud moments.

Christmas Wishes

Will has always hidden a huge part of himself, even from his best friend Michael. Michael, who is in love with Will and has no clue about the questions Will is asking himself, finally had to put some distance between them. Will has never understood Michael's behavior but when Michael needs him , he's right there. As they start to re-establish their friendship they end up in a fake dating situation to impress Will's boss. It's a holiday romance, so you can imagine the fake gets real very soon. It's lovely to see these two finally lay their cards on the table and get the wonderful Christmas they deserve. I've now also listened to the audiobook and Greg Boudreaux does a fantastic job capturing the early confusion these two experience about each other's behavior and then their relief and excitement when the reconnect, open up and realize what might actually be possible.

The Christmas Leap

I love Keira Andrews’ books and The Christmas Leap got me feeling all christmassy and festive.
It’s a sweet, simple, friends to lovers Bi-awakening story that is superbly narrated by Greg Boudreaux.
A lovely way to while away your time wrapped up in blankets in front of a fireplace this wintertime.