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Annabeth Albert’s The Geek Who Saved Christmas is a charming confection of seasonal goodness featuring a sweet and steamy grumpy/sunshine romance and lots of warm and fuzzy Christmas feels. It’s a light-hearted, undemanding read, but the low-angst nature of the story don’t mean it lacks depth or a bit of bite; even when she dials down the drama, Ms. Albert creates engaging characters with relatable problems and insecurities that arise naturally from their circumstances, so conflict feels organic rather than manufactured. And with both leads in their forties, there’s plenty of baggage to be unpacked and learned behaviours to be unlearned before this Christmas Elf and his Grinch can arrive at a well-deserved HEA.
Bright and chirpy, Gideon Holiday (yes, really!) is the sort of guy who’s always ready to lend a hand. He enjoys helping people and making them happy – and he’s especially in his element when the holidays come around. Every year, he co-ordinates the neighbourhood holiday lights fundraiser, selecting the theme, organising the donations and planning various holiday-themed activities – he loves doing it and when the book begins, it’s the night of the big reveal of this year’s scheme. On his way into the community centre, Gideon bumps into his next-door neighbour, Paul Frost (yes, really!) and is rather surprised to see him as Paul is a bit of a grouch and community meetings aren’t really his thing. The man may be a seriously hot silver fox, but Gideon doesn’t think he’s ever seen him smile, attend a single neighbourhood party or put up a single Christmas decoration. But, ever the optimist, Gideon hopes that maybe Paul’s attendance at the meeting is a sign that might be about to change.
It isn’t – Paul is at the meeting for another reason entirely, but he can’t deny Gideon is fun to look at, with his impish grin and sparkling eyes as he gushes about lighting schemes and donation collection duties. Paul doesn’t do Christmas and doesn’t see anything inherently magical about December – it’s just another month on the calendar and not worth all the fuss. But then Gideon approaches him after the meeting and suggests that Paul can still contribute to the fundraising effort, but won’t have to do a single thing; Gideon can set up all the lights on Paul’s house and put them on timers. Paul’s instinct is ‘hell, no’ – and he knows he’ll have to convince Gideon to leave him to have his seasonal funk in peace.
But fate, of course, has other plans. A few days later, Paul’s younger brother Brandon – a genius scientist who lives on the West Coast – calls to tell Paul that he’s going to propose to his fiancée Elaine, and that he wants to bring her home for Christmas and then pop the question in front of the tree on Christmas morning. As he listens to Brandon enthusing about a “real Christmas” with snow on the ground and a big tree in the living room, Paul’s heart sinks. His house isn’t exactly ready for the perfect Christmas proposal, but there’s no way he’s going to tell Brandon not to come.
Luckily for Paul, a helping hand isn’t very far away – just next door in fact. He’s far from thrilled at the idea that he needs help, but Brandon’s plans have stunned him into inaction and he doesn’t know what to do; he doesn’t intend to dump all his worries on Gideon, but somehow, they just come pouring out. Gideon is only too pleased to come to the rescue – and of course, he Has A Plan.
Over the next few weeks, Gideon – with the aid of his many lists and spreadsheets (!) – slowly helps Paul to transform his somewhat spartan house into a warm and welcoming home. The time they spend together shopping and decorating gives rise to a number of heartfelt conversations and insightful observations as they come to know each other better and begin to fall deeply in love. Paul sees what nobody else does, that Gideon is lonely and works hard to keep himself busy, especially during the holidays; that he doesn’t really have anyone to spend them with but longs for closeness and connection. And Gideon learns why Paul dislikes the season so much and tries to hibernate through it – but he’s determined to make this a memorable Christmas for Paul and his brother.
Gideon and Paul both have things in their pasts that have affected them profoundly and continue to inform their choices, choices which probably aren’t right for them but which at least mean they can get on with their lives as best they can. I think we can all relate to that. They’re both decent, kind men who’ve lost their way somewhat, and who need a bit of help to get back onto the right path. Gideon’s sense of self-worth has become tied up in how much use he can be to others, and he has to learn that he deserves to be loved for himself and not what he can provide, while Paul needs to realise that it’s past time he reclaimed the life he put on hold in order to take care of Brandon. They have terrific chemistry and their journey from wariness to affection to love is really well done, with some nicely steamy moments along the way, and I enjoyed watching them offer each other the sort of care and understanding they’re both so badly in need of. The secondary characters – Brandon and Elaine – are really well-written, and I loved the way they so easily and warmly accept Gideon into their family unit.
Warm, funny, sexy and poignant, The Geek Who Saved Christmas is sweet without being cloying, a delightful, low-angst romance full of festive cheer and genuine emotion. It should definitely be on your radar if you’re looking for a feel-good, Christmassy love story to curl up with on a cold winter’s evening.
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Grade: B
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 12/11/21
Publication Date: 11/2021
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
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Since Thanksgiving is now over, I am on to the holiday novels/novellas and this was near the top of my list. I just finished it last night and I loved it. It was sweeter than her other books but I like that in a Christmas story. I felt it had just the right amount of angst for the main characters to work through and I liked that the relationship was developed over a month’s time. I would give it an A and after my disappointment with Sailor Proof, this book has renewed my faith in Annabeth Albert!
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I think the grading comes down to the fact that I’m an angst-bunny and I find it hard to really adore books without any! I did also think there were a few things missing in this, as we discussed elsewhere on this thread. But it’s a lovely festive read, nonetheless.
Yay, looking forward to this one!
Hi Caz, thanks for the review! I have already bought this book but waiting to read it closer to Christmas. It sounds great but I wondered why a B instead of A grade?
Rather like the recent Sailor Proof, it’s expertly done “fluff” that has some more serious overtones, but I suppose because I generally prefer meatier stuff, I class fluffy books as “good” (=B) rather than “excellent” (=DIK).
But there were a few details I felt were missing in this one; we know Gideon has been divorced (he married his high-school best friend) for some years, but not much about his life between the divorce and “now”, Paul really needed to have a proper talk with his brother, and the conflict, which is based entirely on Gideon making assumptions, is a bit weak. It’s still a lovely comfort read, though.
Thanks for the further insights. I didn’t like Sailor Proof as much as I hoped I would but I’m still looking forward to reading this book. Gotta wait until I feel more Christmas-y, which is generally just a day or two after Thanksgiving is over, lol.
I’m a bit of a Scrooge when it comes to Christmas things – 1st December is the first date I’ll consider putting up decorations and it’s well into December before I want to hear Christmas music! Books have to be a bit different though – especially if I’m reviewing them as I have to read them early to get reviews done in time.
We don’t have Thanksgiving here, so we just jump right into Christmas as and when we’re ready!
I feel you! We often host Thanksgiving dinner and our tradition is to put on the Christmas music as we clean up after everyone has left. I won’t allow it one moment before! We put up the Christmas house lights later that weekend. I have to admit that this year, I have already read a few Christmas short stories but I’m resolutely holding off on the longer novellas, ha ha!
Thanks for the review. I already have it on my Kindle! These days I have tons of book lined up on kindle, but fewer that are grabbing me on audio. The downside is I get less done because I can’t dochores and read! :-)
Well, if you can wait until 14th Dec, the audio (Tim Paige narrating) will be out!
I’m going to do that! Thank you for the heads up!