Review: King of Cups by Elinor Gray

Christmas, thanks to massive winter storms that blanket the Europe. He's facing a holiday spent in a hostel eating cold beans out of a can, when Hugh Campbell, his friend from university, surprises him with an invitation to Scotland. If Charlie is going to miss Christmas with his own family, he might as well spend it with someone else's. But nothing is ever that simple, especially when Hugh's mum puts them up in Hugh's old bedroom together. Charlie's been nursing a crush on Hugh since they met, but he can't ruin a perfectly good friendship over that.

Hugh knew his mum and dad would see right through him, but he should have expected that Charlie would get the boyfriend treatment. Rather than dispel any illusions, he and Charlie agree to let the matter lie and to act as normal as possible. But when Hugh's friends get on his case about Charlie, he'll deny his attraction until the sun comes up. Not that anyone believes him.

Without the distractions of school work or flatmates, the tension of being alone together grows. Charlie is headed home after the New Year, and then will be gone for good by the summertime. Can they sort out their feelings before it's too late? Or will this just be another missed opportunity? 






*Sighs*

If, like me, you can't get enough of romance at this time of year, then this needs to go on your tbr pile, immediately. Christmas jizz, SRAL calls these books, and I can't read them fast enough.

This has all the right ingredients for the perfect Christmas romance recipe...

• Two good friends
• One delayed flight
• A handful of interfering pals and/or family
• One perfect winter setting

Put the two friends together. Add in a delayed flight and let the ideas simmer gently until the perfect one is formed. This idea should look like the two friends unexpectedly spending Christmas together. Add in a handful of interfering friends and/or family and let their interference start to combine the two friends together. This process is not an exact science, a conclusion will often be reached by or on Christmas day, sometimes it will be new year and occasionally even longer. Some good writing, well developed characters and general all round swooniness will move things in the right direction, at a pace best set by the author. When all the above have combined to work together add in one beautiful winter scene, and the romance is complete. Sit back with a cup of tea and sigh contentedly as the exchange that first, oh so yummy, kiss.

Yep, for me this book is a perfect winter warmer and I'd highly recommend it to all Christmas jizz  winter romance fans.


I'm certainly going to check out more books by Elinor Gray.

A copy of this book was given in exchange for an honest review.