Yolande Kleinn, $0.99, ISBN 978-1310277153
Contemporary Romance, 2012

I like it when Yolande Kleinn tackles short cute vignettes of people falling in love around Christmastime.

Especially at Christmas is one of those stories, and it’s cute. I know, “cute” is such a trite word, but that’s what this story is. Sure, there is that part where zippers go down and other… things pop out, but on the whole, this tale is rather wholesome.

I just wish that the characters don’t have this strong a whiff of stale eau du cliché to them.

Andrew, the main guy, is a lovelorn, heartbroken bloke prone to anxiety when he feels that he is losing control of a situation—an easy feeling to have when he’s planning a Christmas party that is about to start in a couple of hours and OMG they are out of milk and it’s the end of the world AAAAAAAAAHHHH…

Then there is the cute roommate of his, Jake. Jake is the cute younger and happier-go-lucky foil of his that is also dependable around the place. He’s that Cute Boyfriend Material fellow, and not much else. That particular pool is scenic and inviting, but it’s not very deep.

As I’ve said, this is a quaint and adorable story, although it also feels like I’ve read a variation of this particular story with these particular characters a few times already. That sense of familiarity doesn’t hinder my appreciation of the author’s elegant and persuasive phraseology and narrative style, however, as it is so easy for me to just sink into the story and enjoy the vicarious trip with Andrew and Jake.

However, and I know this may get my serious reader card revoked, I wish this story has remained wholly G-rated. Sure, you can say guys are physical creatures and they don’t like to waste time holding hands and gazing at the moon when they can just pull down their trousers and fly to the moon instead, but come on.

The romance flies from the surprise of a kiss to banana split time way too quickly, it’s like I’m enjoying a leisurely ride on a cart, looking at the view around me, only to suddenly have the cart ride morph into a roller-coaster and the next thing I know, I am screaming my heart out as everything hurtles straight down to hell at the speed of light. 

It’s all too fast, too abrupt, and too much of a change of pace from wholesome to torrid that my immersion in the story is completely broken as a result.

In the end, I just can’t help thinking that the story would have been perfect if it ended with the kiss, or perhaps a cute exchange after the kiss. Let’s close the door at that, and leave the rest to my imagination, because there’s a beautiful art in ending a story at the perfect spot, on the perfect note.