The Problem with Mistletoe is a Christmas themed book part of the Five Point series by Kyle Baxter. Each story stands independent of each other and shares a common thread with the series name.
In the first book of the series, we meet Alex from New York. He has returned to his hometown to assist his aunt and uncle prepare to sell their family business. Alex has avoided coming back due to the abuse he suffered from his father growing up. Though his father passed away several years earlier, he had yet to deal with it. He inherited his childhood home, but cannot bring himself to visit it because of the memories and emotions that will return.
Another reason for his dread is running into David, his former childhood friend. David is now divorced from his wife and has custody of his son, Eric. He hasn’t seen Alex since he left home as a teenager. Seeing Alex drudges up past feelings that David is trying to avoid having.
The two are not able to keep apart as David’s mother is hosting a fundraiser event to raise money for their LGBTQ organization. But as it is not going as planned, David’s mother hires Alex to help plan it. He is a perfect fit for the job, as he is part owner of a catering business in New York.
Now the two are forced to work together, while they try to ignore the one thing that everyone else sees. They are still in love with each other.
This was a fun book and a great holiday read. Watching Alex fight his nature throughout the story is a delight. He knows he cannot stay here as his life and career are in New York. But he finds himself slowly falling into a routine as well as forming relationships that will be difficult to end.
Eric becomes fond of Alex and likes to spend time with him. It isn’t long before Eric starts to refer to him as Pop and keeps acting like Alex is his new stepfather. Eric’s presence makes Alex happy, but he tries to distance their connection and put a stop to it. Alex knows he will have to return home abandoning Eric.
Being a Christmas romance, it was easy to assume they would end up together. But throughout the story, I keep trying to figure out if David would end up uprooting his life for New York. Or would Alex uproot his life to live permanently in his hometown? The answer was a little bit of both, as both men make major changes to their lives to not only be together but improve their career and situation.
My only complaint on the story, which isn’t much of a complaint, is the length of the story. More specifically how it is broken up. The story itself is not long, but the chapters are quick and short at first, and then lengthen into the story. The abundance of chapters made the story feel longer than it was, so it took me a bit longer to finish than I normally would have. But the trade-off is what the author did with the chapter titles. They are song titles in which he created a Spotify playlist that went along with the book that the reader could listen to while reading it.
I highly recommend giving this story about a family coming together for the holidays a try.
Links
Kyle Baxter on Twitter
Available on Amazon
Esteban Q Mathieus 