When Sam spots the hot guy moving in next door, he’s all for going round to introduce himself. That soon changes when it turns out his new neighbour is Charles Whitmore, an old school acquaintance. Sam didn’t like him back then, for good reason, and fifteen years haven’t altered that.
Splitting up from his long-term boyfriend means a move across the city for Charlie. As luck would have it, his immediate neighbour is a guy he went to school with, Sam Gellar. While Sam is less than welcoming, his best mate is more than happy to invite Charlie into their social circle. Whatever problem Sam has with him, Charlie resolves to get to the bottom of it because, frosty beginnings aside, Charlie likes him.
With Christmas just around the corner, fate pushes them together, and they get on much better than they ever did at school. Despite his efforts not to, Sam develops feelings for Charlie, and they appear to be reciprocated. If Sam wants to take things further, he needs to either confront Charlie about their past—a past Charlie seems to have forgotten entirely—or let it go and move on. Sam knows deep down that he can’t let it go, but can’t find the right time to bring it up either.
Could it be the season that made me love this? Could it be my hopeless romantic heart that rooted for Sam and Charlie to find their way to each other? Could it be that this was just a simple romance and exactly what I needed? Take your pick because they all worked for me.
I like stories like this; two people who vaguely knew one another when they were young but that somehow they impacted the others life. For Sam, it was what he thought Charlie did to his friend in school and for Charlie, it’s that Sam was a snitch on everything he did back then. The men, now 15 years after that time have become neighbors and while each begins to fancy the other, the both know there is something in the way.
I can’t explain why but while reading this, I had the Beauty and the Beast song stuck in my head. I think it’s the whole “Finding you can change, learning you were wrong” lyric that really hit home. Sam judges Charlie on who he thought we was 15 years ago as the man Charlie is today. But Sam, he doesn’t know the whole story of what happened back then and he will need to put away his grudge and see Charlie for the man he is.
I loved that this was told with both POV’s because I really like to see exactly what each man thinks of the other. Of course, they both think their neighbor is attractive, and when they acknowledge that they knew each other from school it gives the story a layer of angst because we know what Sam thinks. He thinks Charlie was some jerk who beat up his friend so badly he put him in hospital but is that really what happened? As the blurb says, there are two sides to every story.
Watching Sam and Charlie find their way to becoming friends was a pleasure to watch. The coincidence of Sam’s job giving them a chance to hang out was convenient but Charlie making cups and cups of tea for Sam was adorable.
Sam isn’t the only one coming into this story with baggage though as we have Charlie who has just left a long term relationship and is starting over. Charlie isn’t a one night stand/hookup kind of guy, he loves being in a relationship and the way he sees Sam makes me smile so big it hurts. I loved how he found Sam a bit weird when they were in school and now how he sees Sam’s quirks endearing.
The romance in this is a bit of a slow burn that left this reader absolutely satisfied with the payoff. I like that the author didn’t dive head first into the physical and even after the first bit of intimacy had our couple come to terms with the grudge Sam had been holding. It makes sense that they would need to get it all out before they could move forward and thankfully Charlie has a cat that really likes to hang out at Sam’s place.
Everything about this was perfect for me. Sam and Charlie has a realness to them that gave weight to the romance and made me fall in love with them. Dave, Sam’s best friend and Kath Charlie’s sister were lovely characters that gave each man support in their romantic endeavor and I wouldn’t mind more of Dave and his partner Louis as it seems there a story there.
A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
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