Helena Stone

Too Hot for Santa is a short story starring Jonah Walsh, an actor, and Nick Claseman, a theater financier. This is told in third person from both Jonah and Nick’s pov.



I enjoyed this short Christmas story set in Australia. It’s a fast, no angst read that fits well in the holiday genre.

The author did a surprisingly good job of covering the growth of Jonah and Nick’s relationship in slightly over fifty pages. Because of a compromising video of Jonah that went viral, he destroyed his career in Ireland. When the job offer from Australia arrived, he took it. Nick meets Jonah at the airport and they don’t get off to a good start. Once Nick realizes what a jerk he’s being, he sets out to make Jonah welcome. Since this is a short story, the author couldn’t cover a lot of territory; however, each scene was set up nicely to move the relationship along. There is one thing about Nick that perplexes me. Maybe I missed it, but what is Nick's profession? Sure he finances the theater, but where does he get his money to do that?

There’s one thing that I wish was better written, and this comes down to personal preference. Endings to books are very important, especially the last few lines. They are the last impression made and can make a book fall flat or even ruin it. This book’s epilogue was a nice finishing touch, but I would’ve liked it if the last paragraph of the story was more heartfelt with emotion rather than a statement of fact. The last paragraph was about describing a thing, there was no emotion to pull me in. The last line used the words, ‘represented’ and ‘declared’, to indicate Nick’s feelings. Those words don’t convey an emotional impact; they are a statement of facts, as if I was reading an instruction manual or sitting in on a business meeting. I felt cheated because the ending didn’t show the great love Nick felt in his heart and I wanted to feel. The story was cute and sweet, but the last paragraph just left me feeling let down. If the author ever makes a second edition, I hope she considers rewriting the last few paragraphs with heartfelt emotion in mind.

If you want to learn a little about what Christmas in Australia is like and also to relax with an entertaining, HEA story, you’ll probably like Too Hot for Santa. Despite my disappointment with the last paragraph where it fell flat without emotion, the author created convincing, likeable characters. I give this story, 4 Stars.

… (mais)