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The Lights on Knockbridge Lane is a cute, fluffy (well, mostly) Christmas-themed story that is the very first male/male romance to appear in one of Harlequin’s main category lines. It’s the third in Roan Parrish’s Garnet Run series, and although characters from the earlier books do appear, they’re cameos and it’s not essential to have read those titles in order to enjoy this one.
Recently divorced Adam Mills moved back to Garnet Run with his eight-year-old daughter, Gus, after his husband decided he didn’t want to be a dad any more. Life as a single father has meant big changes for Adam; from a career as a photographer he’s gone to working in the local hardware store (owned by Best Laid Plans‘ Charlie Matheson) in order to provide for Gus and he’s determined to do whatever it takes to provide stability and make her happy. She’s adjusting to life without her “Papa” quite well, and is a bright, inquisitive child… albeit sometimes too inquisitive for her own good.
In the four months since he returned to Garnet Run, Adam has only seen his reclusive neighbour Westley Mobray out after sunset. Everyone who lives on Knockbridge Lane has an opinion about him; he’s variously a vampire, a witch, a devil-worshipper, a mesmerist, a gorgon or just a plain old freak, and even though he lives just opposite, Adam has never spoken to him, never waved hello or otherwise interacted. Which is why he’s surprised to see the man standing on his doorstep with Gus at his side – and even moreso when Mobray – Wes – tells Adam that Gus broke into his house through the basement window.
Embarrassed, Adam apologises, Wes leaves and Gus proceeds to explain that Wes has the best basement with four lizards and a huge hairy spider which he showed her and put right in her face! Adam is horrified (he’s terrified of spiders) while Gus’ face is lit with joy and enthusiasm as she tells Adam how interesting it all was – but Adam is stuck on the ‘shoved a tarantula in his daughter’s face’ thing and marches across the street to confront Wes, shoving aside his realisation that his reclusive neighbour is rather attractive.
After this less than promising beginning, the two men – and Gus – start spending time together regularly and get to know each other. Adam and Wes have strong chemistry and the attraction between them sparks early on, but Adam is understandably cautious about bringing someone else into his and Gus’ lives who might not stick around, and Wes struggles with an anxiety disorder that stems back to his teenaged years and has caused him to eschew social interaction. There’s a real sense of how hard it is for him to push himself beyond his comfort zone, but he does it for Adam and Gus and it’s lovely to see his growing ease with them.
The story takes place in the run up to Christmas, which is where the “Lights” come in. Adam asks an upset Gus what one thing would make this the most fun Christmas for her – and she says she wants “our house to have the most Christmas lights of any house in the world.”
No biggie, then.
The Lights on Knockbridge Lane does exactly what it’s supposed to do, provide lots of warm fuzzies and a good helping of holiday cheer. That’s not to say it’s superficial, because it isn’t. The characters are satisfyingly complex and are struggling to deal with emotional baggage, which, for Adam, is trying to process the breakdown of his marriage and his feelings of guilt over what may have led to it as well as his guilt over the way the divorce has affected Gus, while Wes seems to be hiding from his issues rather than attempting to deal with them in any sustainable way. Both men have to learn to face their fears and overcome them if they’re to move forward with their lives and with each other – but of course, there are a few hiccups along the way.
Adam and Wes are both likeable, memorable characters. Adam is sweet and optimistic and I liked that he’s so openly emotional; he feels things deeply and is often moved to tears by his emotions, which is something he’s struggled with over the years, especially when he was bullied and belittled for it when he was younger. Wes is more outwardly stoic, but that hides a very dry sense of humour and an innate kindness; he’s harder to read and shows his affection for Adam in unusual ways, such as reorganising his pantry alphabetically. Gus is a cute mix of eight-year-old confidence and insecurity, but there’s no getting away from the fact that she’s a plot-moppet – albeit a well-written and loveable one – who often comes across as older than her years, and needs some firmer boundaries set by her dad!
I couldn’t quite work out how a guy who kept a tarantula as a pet and let it roam around the house (*shudder*!!) and a guy who was terrified of them were ever going to be able to share a home. I’m with Adam on that one; spiders freak me out, so No Spiders would an absolute house rule! And I’m not sure I bought into all the science; Wes is working to create a viable sustainable alternative to electric light – an admirable ambition – but I couldn’t help but wonder how feasible it all was.
Those quibbles aside however, The Lights on Knockbridge Lane is a charming, low-angst Christmas-themed read about love, family and fresh-starts. It’s definitely one to curl up with – with a cup of cocoa – on a cold winter’s evening.
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Grade: B-
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 10/10/21
Publication Date: 09/2021
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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Sorry, this one was a DNF after about a chapter and a half. Why? Because the setup turned out to be way too creepy and weird for me. I can definitely see an odd kid breaking into the neighbor’s basement and getting in trouble for it- and having an awkward meet cute between the two heroes over it. But when the basement owner in question is a recluse surrounded by rumors of witchcraft, devil worship, and so forth, and the kid’s dad is totally okay with his daughter sending this guy a letter for… reasons? That felt super inappropriate and icky. Just no. Plus, the whole thing about Adam’s sibling being a “they?” I’m done.
Adam’s sibling was a secondary character in Best Laid Plans, so that was kind of set before this book. As to the rest of it… my problem was more with that Adam wasn’t setting strong boundaries for Gus… and with the spiders.
The witchy rumour thing didn’t bother me because it was so silly – not in the sense that there were rumours, because people really can be dumb about people they don’t know much about, but because I find it hard to credit that anyone, in 2021, would actually believe in devil worshipers and vampires!
It’s not that the witchy rumor thing bothered me. Sorry if my comment gave that impression. Actually, I thought that would be a fun don’t-judge-people-before-you-know-them plotline. What bothered me was, like you said, Adam’s lack of boundaries especially concerning his disturbing level of comfort with his eight year old daughter making largely unsupervised contact with a grown man who is a virtual stranger. That would have been uncomfortable enough, but knowing this man is a recluse with all these rumors flying around him on top of that? If I were an editor at Harlequin, that would be setting off all kinds of alarm bells.
Well, sure. The vampire thing really is silly. But devil worshippers do exist, believe it or not. Whether that’s silly or not, I think most parents would think twice about letting their daughter galivant about someone with that kind of rumor clouding the air- at least until it got refuted. And again, I’m way more creeped out by the idea that a father would be totally cool with his daughter sending letters to a mysterious neighbor.
Too bad this isn’t DIK level, but I’m definitely gonna give it a once-over!
It’s worth a read, for sure.
Thank you for the excellent review. While I don’t always dislike children in romance books, and in fact I’ve read plenty that are well done, I generally dislike plot-moppets. But it’s a Christmas story and low-angst, so I’ll probably give it a go.
As to the spider, I had to smile at that. I don’t have a spider phobia but I also would nix having a tarantula running lose in the house, thankyouverymuch. Of course in my house it would last long as our dogs love to eat random critters that find their way in. We’d have to keep the little guy penned up for his own survival!
I have this e-book on hold at the library. Glad to hear it’s a solid- if not perfect- beginning for queer romances in the main Harlequin line.
From what I understand, plot moppets are pretty much unavoidable in the Special Edition Line, given how it focuses on families and community in addition to the romance itself. At least Gus doesn’t sound too cutsey wootsie.
Also, I am intrigued by a romance where one hero is a recluse and source of vicious town gossip. Introverts in both literature and real life often get an undeserved bad rap. It’s nice to see one in a romance, just as long as he isn’t turned into a totally different person for the sake of an HEA.
Thanks for the information about the Special Edition Line and children. I like knowing a head of time what I’m getting into because I am generally not a fan of children in romances. It’s not a hard-and-fast rule, but I have been known to skip books simply because children play a big role in them. I think this is in part because I’ve read too many that either don’t get children right, or the children are disrespectful brats and the parent(s) seem too cowed by them to actually parent! And I HATE reading “Well, that’s just to be expected of teenagers.” I taught teens and while they are complicated people trying to move between the child and adult worlds, I’ve never met a more interesting, funny, and challenging group of people in my life.
The guidelines for Harlequin Special Editions:
and one bullet point says:
So I expected that Adam’s daughter would play a fairly big role in the story. She’s precocious and there were one or two times I thought Adam should have been firmer with her and set a clearer boundary,
But for all that, she’s well written and mostly feels fairly true to her stated age.
Oh good! Thanks for giving me more info!
You’re welcome, Carrie. I’m not usually a fan of children in romances either, but I know a number of readers prefer a more fleshed out family situation for their characters. So, it’s great that the Special Edition line exists to give those readers exactly what they’re looking for. :-)
Actually, one of the things I like about Harlequin romances in general is their adherence to particular tastes within each line. Yes, I know I’ve complained that their heroes can have a kind of bland sameness or that they run the risk of being too formulaic at times. But on the other hand, if I pick up a Harlequin HR, I know I’m not going to get some dual narrative time travel romance that I don’t like. And if I pick up a Harlequin Intrigue, I know there’s going to be a mystery and/or thriller element that doesn’t drag because of the tight word count requirements.
If you’re curious about each line’s specific requirements for reading reference, I highly recommend checking out their author submission page. Since it’s written with would-be authors in mind, I’ve found it’s way more helpful and specific in regard to category expectations than their standard advertising copy.
I liked Gus despite her plot-moppetry (!), and as you say, family and community are a focus of this particular line, so that wasn’t unexpected.
I think RP handles Wes’ situation quite well – he definitely doesn’t get a personality transplant by the end.
I was going to give this a try after reading another review, but found that the ebook isn’t available in UK.
I know – I was looking for it, too, because when I post reviews to my blog, I include UK links, but it seems to be available in audio and paperback only here. I’m assuming it’s some sort of geo-restriction issue, but it makes no sense whatsoever. I did see a Tweet to the author a couple of weeks back about it, and she said she was going to look into it. What’s silly is that if it had remained in the Carina Adores line, like the other two books, it would have been available here.