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Length: 24,000 words approx.
Cover Design: Meredith Russell
The Christmas Angel Series
Blurb
August 1939. Roger Miller and Jack O’Brien have been close since childhood. By the time they realize there’s more between them than friendship, Jack is leaving their sleepy Iowa town for college. But they console themselves knowing he’ll be home for Christmas. Right?
It is Christmas before they see each other again, but that Christmas comes six years and a world war later. Aged, beaten, and shaken by combat, they’re not the boys they were back then, but their feelings for each other are stronger than ever.
Neither know the words to say everything they’ve carried since that peacetime summer kiss, though. Even as they stand in the same room, there’s a thousand miles between them.
But maybe that’s some distance the little angel in Roger’s rucksack can cross.
This 24,000 word novella is part of the multi-author Christmas Angel series, and can be read as a standalone.
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. Read the romances inspired by (and perhaps nudged along by) the Christmas angel through the years. Whether it’s 1700s England (Eli Easton's Christmas Angel), 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.
Carra's Review
L.A. Witt easily captures the subdued atmosphere of the post-WWII era here in Christmas Homecoming, as well as the upsetting reality of society’s confines with which same sex couples were faced at that time. This story was also intensely emotional and much more angsty than the previous stories in the series. This time around, the angel brings us a second chance romance of childhood friends in a short novella that covers a time frame from 1939 to about 1950.
When we first meet Roger and Jack, it’s just before the war starts. They’re childhood friends about to be separated when Jack is heading off to college. It’s a short glimpse at their close connection and first kiss before everything changes drastically with the inception of World War II, and it’s sweet and innocent but also a bit heartbreaking.
When they next see each other, both have been radically changed after their time serving in the war—that innocence lost, and both of them seemingly resigned to their fates in a world that still does not accept two men together. For me, the way their families were pushing so insistently for each of them to marry and start a family as soon as they were back really chafed—there was no regard for what Roger and Jack wanted, no allowance for what mental and emotional trauma they experienced from their time serving. It made me frustrated to the point I wanted to step into the book and give their families a very large piece of my mind (don’t even get me started on how one of the secondary characters, Barbara, was marginalized as a woman who also served as a civilian nurse in the war).
The story was told from both Roger and Jack’s points of view, and there were several times where it was difficult to tell whose POV it was. Maybe it was because the two men were so similar? I’m not sure, but I did have to flip back the pages at some parts to clarify the POV which did take me out of the story a little bit when it happened.
I loved the intensity between these two, and the highly charged emotional tone of their relationship…though it was a touch too angsty at times for me, but that is one of the pitfalls of historical M/M romance that is a frustration for me. Overall I gave this a 4-star rating and think it’s a great addition to this series, and an accurate portrayal of the time period. This book is meant for readers 18+ for adult language and sexual content.
About the Author
L.A. Witt is an abnormal M/M romance writer who has finally been released from the purgatorial corn maze of Omaha, Nebraska, and now spends her time on the southwestern coast of Spain. In between wondering how she didn’t lose her mind in Omaha, she explores the country with her husband, several clairvoyant hamsters, and an ever-growing herd of rabid plot bunnies. She also has substantially more time on her hands these days, as she has recruited a small army of mercenaries to search South America for her nemesis, romance author Lauren Gallagher, but don’t tell Lauren. And definitely don’t tell Lori A. Witt or Ann Gallagher. Neither of those twits can keep their mouths shut…
GIVEAWAY!
Dec 2 - Amy's MM Romance Reviews, Dec 4 - Cupcakes & Bookshelves, Xtreme Delusions, Dec 6 - Mainely Stories, Dec 8 - Sexy Erotic Xciting, Open Skye, Megan's Media Melange, The Secret Ko, Rainbow Book Reviews, Dec 10 - Mirrigold, Lelyana's Reviews, Dec 12 - Making It Happen, Two Chicks Obsessed, Dec 14 - Momma Says: To Read Or Not To Read, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Lillian Francis, Wicked Reads, Dec 17 - Bonkers About Books, Bayou Book Junkie, Dec 19 - Book Corner Reviews, Dec 21 - MM Good Book Reviews
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