Title: The Christmas Tree Guy
Series: N/A
Author: Railyn Stone
Genre: Romance
Blurb: Sydnee Garrett has a lot on her to-do list. Wrangle her young and rambunctious twin boys. Check. Get her life back in order since her husband decided to leave her for a much younger woman. Check. And buy a Christmas tree. Check.
What she wasn’t expecting was adding one more thing to her list. A young, sexy personal trainer. Check. Quinn Masters is a man who knows what he wants and doesn’t take no for an answer. He isn’t fazed by age or race differences and he does everything in his power to win Sydnee over. Will Sydnee continue to fight for her orderly life or welcome in the chaos that’s threatening to change her entire world?
Thoughts: The Christmas Tree Guy was interesting on a number of different levels. If you’re looking for nothing more than a simple, easy, light-hearted, holiday read, this isn’t quite what you are looking for. That’s not to say it was not an enjoyable read…I enjoyed the characters and the story – but it is far from light hearted. In fact, it takes on quite a bit of a serious element for the holiday season – but it is something that is dealt with everyday in our society – interracial relationships. Sydnee is a single mother, raising twin boys on her own, who meets a man who is not only white, but also 8 years younger than her. These are definitely challenges to a relationship, even though she is extremely attracted to him. Not only does she have her own misgivings about a relationship with him, but she has to deal with how others in her life feel about interracial relationships – and finds out that she may not know those as close to her as well as she thought.
This was a bit of a refreshing read in a way. Frankly, I have never seen interracial relationships handled quite so candidly in a book before – or so honestly. I’ve read them, but for the most part they usually read just like a stereotypical “normal” romance, and to be honest you forget that your even dealing with an interracial couple. You don’t get the hard stuff, the struggles, and the people who aren’t always accepting of people who are different than themselves. This book was sometimes excruciating in its realness. It wasn’t always easy to read.
I felt that Quinn was almost too perfect to be real at times, however….LOL So perfect with kids, doesn’t care that she’s a single mom, an infinite amount of patience dealing not only with jerk ex-husbands but also a crazy mom with extreme prejudice issues that are insulting him to his face with ease? Sydnee, however, could be a bit annoying and whiny at times, which could be understand though given the circumstances she’s going through in her life and the new pressures and discriminations she’s dealing with (not everyone handles that sort of stuff well). But overall? An excellent book, that is quite a refreshing dose of reality in this genre yet still maintains its romantic aura.
Rate: A-
A little of a different story. Sounds interesting.
Will have to check this one out. Sounds like a good holiday read.