2,5 stars ( )

A laugh-out-loud funny little Christmas short! Love it! Loved it! Loved it! Rabid racoons indeed...! :D ( )

Normally, I avoid holiday stories because the difficulty of mixing erotic romance with family themes can lead many authors to err on the side of jarring sexual silliness or heavy-handedly saccharine situations. My exceptions are Astrid Amara’s realistic and funny Hanukah novels, and Tam Ames’s stories, which highlight her talent for satire. I desperately wanted to quote several funny lines in this review, but you will enjoy it much more if you buy the story and read them for yourself.

Lane, a burly bartender, isn’t exactly out about his relationship with Gavin, a flirtatious pretty boy employed in a government office. Gavin has a Santa problem. The man who usually plays Santa for the office winter festivities has been posted to Caracas and no one else will do the job. So he hopes he can coax his gruff boyfriend Lane into dressing up as Santa. Here the author has priceless fun with twink-and-bear interactions. Our heroes indulge in raunchy sex talk and some hilariously inept attempts at BDSM role-playing.

What is Lane to do? He manfully faces his government office Christmas ordeal, which has some uniquely Canadian touches such as the need for Santa to be able to speak French or at least have a translator to help him. The indignities that Lane suffers at the hands of the kids are many and varied. Best of all, the story doesn’t just wrap up with a joke. Lane gets the opportunity to do something for Gavin that introduces a deeper note of emotional commitment, which strengthens the story while keeping the comic elements in balance. Highly recommended.

Val for AReCafe ( )