Review: Angels Sing (Daddy Dearest #2) by Eli Easton

Jamie Bailey has not had such a wonderful life. He gave up his dreams of Harvard at 18 to raise his sister’s unwanted baby, and later a prized job to help a sick friend. Now the father of six-year-old Mia, and assistant manager at Raven Books, Jamie’s dreams are dashed once again when Uncle Billy admits what dire straights the bookshop is in.

Stanton Potter, son of the most notorious businesswoman in Bedford Falls, loves his job teaching at the local elementary school. But he’s less than thrilled when he is forced to put together a Christmas pageant with first-graders, including Mia Bailey. 

When Stanton meets Jamie, angels sing. Jamie’s gender-bending fashion sense, and sweet aura, have Stanton suffering through the worse crush he’s had since he was a teen. But can there be any hope for them when Jamie and Mia’s lives are about to be uprooted?

This Christmas, its Jamie’s turn to receive a little help from heaven.

I am crushing it with the femme reads all the sudden! Keep em comin', authors. I dig it. I dig it muchly.

So... spoiler alert, one of the characters in this sentimental holiday story is androgynous AND femme. Jaime is 100% sweetheart too. He's given up a lot of opportunities in his life to do the right thing and that's a rarity in the human race so I connected to him and his precocious and adorable daughter Mia pretty quickly.

Stanton is his love interest, a slightly older jock type and his physical opposite. This could've easily turned cliche but Easton made him the awkward and tongue tied one which completely worked for me. I half expected him to walk into a door because he was so distracted and besotted by Jaime. Jaime takes a bit longer to glom onto Stanton's interest but once he figures it out it was pretty entertaining to watch him turn Stanton inside out, both the PG-13 version and the adult version, though in different ways. Obviously.

I must confess I'm not a huge holiday story person. More of a cynical grinch type but Easton is hard to resist especially since Unwrapping Hank continues to carry the title of most beloved holiday story.

Was this as good as Hank?

No, but those are big shoes to fill. However, it sure was comforting to read which is something I've come to count on from this author and, for what it's worth, I devoured it.

Another thing it has going for it is it's not overly reliant on the miracle of the Christmas gambit. It's there but subtle and I appreciated that I didn't feel like I had glutted on peppermint sticks and eggnog after I finished it.

So if you're looking for a lighthearted and heartwarming holiday read Angels Sing is just what the doctor ordered.

An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review.