Reviewed by Nikyta
Title: Santa’s Last Gift
Author: Sandine Tomas
Series: Dreamspun Desires # 95
Heroes: Seb & Matty
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 231 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: December 3, 2019
Available at: Dreamspinner Press & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: The greatest gift might be what they already have.
After years away building his career, event planner Sebastian Chesnut returns to his small hometown of Fir Falls to reconnect with his mother, sister, and young nieces before his job takes him to London.
He doesn’t expect to find his high school boyfriend, Matty, has become a virtual member of Seb’s family. Back then, Matty only offered a casual relationship, but Seb fell hard, and history is soon repeating itself. Seb’s afraid to hope for a second chance, no matter how much they’ve grown and despite the family they share. Instead, he focuses on creating a last perfect holiday, which won’t be easy with his sister’s ex planning to take the girls over Christmas.
Seb and Matty might not know what to do about their feelings for each other, but one thing’s for sure—it won’t be Christmas without the kids. Can these star-crossed lovers pull off a holiday miracle?
Review:
This was a super cute story! I loved that it has that second chances feel to it with a bit of yearning. It was interesting to see how Seb reacted to being home for the holidays, the first time he’s been home in years. It was heartbreaking to see his nieces’ not really trust him to be around because they haven’t really met him in person. In comes Matty, Seb’s sister’s best friend and the girls love Matty. I really enjoyed seeing how the girls reacted to people and especially to Seb at first. As for the characters, Seb is a bit bitter in the beginning but slowly starts to soften to his family and Matty and I loved seeing him get more involved with the business, the girls and the town. For Matty, I loved him so much! I loved that he’s been there for Seb’s family and how much he’s like family to them and the girls especially since he was so good to them, they even had their own rooms at his house!! I enjoyed seeing Matty and Seb get closer even though Seb didn’t want to start anything he knew he wouldn’t be around long to have so I was really intrigued with them getting so close so fast.
I enjoyed this one but it was hard for me to like Seb as a character at first. It’s actually my biggest issue with the story. He’s gone for years and then comes back and is upset that someone he used to date is more included in his family and with his nieces than he was. I can kind of understand why he’s upset, especially since his sister never said anything about Matty considering how much Matty helps her, but most of me doesn’t. He’s the one who chose to stay away while Matty chose to be there and help with the family by helping with Seb’s nieces and it really aggravated me that Seb was so angry with the situation. Add to that, when the whole conflict happened, I didn’t understand why it took Seb so long to explain things to Matty. I get that Matty didn’t want to hear it but there are a lot of ways Seb could have told Matty what was going on instead of just waiting and cornering him at the gala.
All in all, though, I did really enjoy it. Seb irritated me a bit but I loved Matty as a character and I loved how big the girls’ personalities were for being so young. I also really enjoyed seeing Seb and Matty getting to know each other again and see that love blossom. If you’re looking for a story about second chances, definitely give this one a go.
Overall Impression: I really liked it
*I received a copy of this book from the author in return for a fair and honest review.*
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