Orphaned Lucas figures spending the holidays with his obnoxious roommate’s family in New York City is better than staying alone on campus upstate. He ends up sharing a room again, this time with his roommate’s brother, Nate. Geeky photographer Nate isn’t at all what Lucas expects. In fact, he’s incredibly sexy—especially when he invites Lucas into his darkroom...
They hide their attraction during Hanukkah celebrations, but behind closed doors, Lucas and Nate can’t keep their hands (or mouths) off each other. Nate’s only looking for a bit of holiday fun, and amazing sex with a hot virgin definitely fits the bill. Yet as the candles burn, Nate and Lucas begin to realize eight nights will never be enough.
I am ridiculously in love with holiday stories, it’s my vice and I’ll read them all year long. I love Christmas stories best of all, and I’m sure that’s because that’s what I know, but what a treat to read a story about Hanukkah for a change. Not that I haven’t read a Hanukkah themed story before, there just aren’t nearly as many or nearly enough.
I think Eight Nights in December will stick with me because of how well everything meshed together organically. The MCs were amazing, but the family dynamics and the importance of the traditions to them all were just as integral to the story as the romance, giving Eight Nights in December more depth than most holiday novellas.
Speaking of MCs . . . . Lucas was the kind you root for from the moment he comes on page and he’s just an all around good person you would feel lucky to have in your life. I love his sense of empathy and his goals to live life as his true self. He doesn’t have it easy after the loss of his dad, but he doesn’t wallow, he grieves as one would expect while at the same time looking forward. He covers the gamut of emotions in a restrained, realistic way and the author showed me what Lucas was going through without telling me in overly dramatic prose.
His college roommates younger brother Nate, who he ends up rooming with when Nate’s mom refuses to let him spend winter break alone, is also a treat to read about. He’s the quiet, bookish one in the family as opposed to his jock star of a brother. It was obvious his family loved him, but it was also clear he was lonely in his own home. His passion, photography, was regarded as a hobby and he kept his sexuality a secret as he feared the repercussions of coming out. I really liked him from the beginning and he also broke my heart.
The two of them end up deciding to have a holiday fling as Nate does not DO the boyfriend thing. Who am I kidding, they didn’t decide, they couldn’t really keep away from each other and Nate found the fact that Lucas was a virgin completely delicious. These two have some hardcore chemistry and their interludes were both hot and sweet. Now Lucas DOES want to do the boyfriend thing, but he’s not about to ruin a good thing, so he keeps his yap shut the best he can.
The adorable thing is that they are obviously both way more into each other than they let on and there’s enough give and take of emotions and flirtations to keep the story hopeful throughout even if they aren’t rushing their way to any declarations. The angst was short lived and kept to a minimum and I was so glad to read through Lucas and Nate’s communication because it actually kept them moving forward to being happy.
They do keep everything a secret and that did add an element of excitement to their trysts, but when things starting getting real the secret became harder to keep and something had to give. It did and it was the perfect of resolutions. It may have been a little too perfect, but it’s exactly what I would have wanted for them, so I loved it pretty hard.
Another gem in this story was the epilogue. When I finished the last actual chapter prior to the epilogue with a plethora of percentage left I was bummed because I wanted more and I was expecting the token HEA, but the author did right by these guys and gave a beauty of an epilogue that was more than just a couple of pages of closure. I got to read about Lucas and Nate as a real couple and got to know them in that new light. I absolutely loved that it covered their time, their growth, the family and Hanukkah again. It felt like the story came full circle.
I've added this one to my holiday reread list.
**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**
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