Eddie Rodrigues doesn’t stay in one place long enough to get attached. The only time he broke that rule, things went south fast. Now he’s on the road again, with barely enough cash in his pocket to hop a bus to Texas after his (sort-of-stolen) car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, Midwest, USA. He’s fine. He’ll manage. Until he watches that girl get hit by a car and left to die. Local shop … die.
Local shop owner Grayson Croft isn’t in the habit of doing people any favors. But even a recluse can’t avoid everyone in a town as small as Clear Lake. And when the cop who played Juliet to your Romeo in the high school play asks you to put up her key witness for the night, you say yes.
Now Gray’s got a grouchy glass artist stomping around his big, empty house, and it turns out that he . . . maybe . . . kind of . . . likes the company.
But Eddie Rodrigues never sticks around.
Unless a Christmas shop owner who hates the season can show an orphan what it means to have family for the holidays.
more
It’s December, so time to recommend another book I recommend every December!
Glass Tidings by Amy Jo Cousins is a gorgeous, quiet holiday romance about a grumpy shop owner and a mysterious drifter who wind up spending the holidays together. They curl up in front of a fire and read books together as they fall in love. Do you really need to know any more?
Okay, fine. More, then. This book captures cold, hollow, alone-for-the-holidays feelings and warm, cozy, maybe-this-is-where-I-belong feelings with painful, pinpoint accuracy. Feels! So many of them! All the feels, in fact! Want beautiful Christmassy small town worldbuilding? Want grumpy hearts slowly unfolding? Want a truly stunning cover as hauntingly romantic as the book inside it? Then you want this book!
This story is one of those that sneak up on you and when you’re finally aware of it, the characters have already crawled under your skin and you can’t put it down anymore.
At least, that’s what happened to me.
It took me a few chapters to get into this book. It’s my first by this author and the writing style was one I had to get used to. But, it’s exactly that same writing style that is so captivating about this book. By choosing the words to tell this story, the characters and their surroundings got to me in a certain way and I couldn’t shake them off anymore, not even when I closed the book. It took a while for Eddie and Gray to fade into the background again.
It’s certainly not your typical Christmasread, but it does have a kind of wintery, holiday season feeling to it and that’s on the author, because she creates a certain atmosphere, a vibe, in this story and she does that very well.
There’s this guy, Eddie, who never sticks around. He’s hurt, he has a hard time getting attached to people, because all life has proven him so far, is that at some point, they all let him down. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t crave it. He longs for a family, for someone to love him and for him to love. For some place and someone to belong. That’s something the author does very well. Without really giving words to it, you sense it all through every line, through every word you read. Every interaction between Gray and Eddie, every thought you draw from Eddie’s mind, even though he keeps telling himself something different.
And Gray is kind of the same, even though he tells himself the life he built for himself after his last boyfriend left him, is a good one. He doesn’t need to have someone around, to take care of other people. He’s a recluse and he’s fine with that.
Until he isn’t and that’s Eddie’s doing.
This was a slow burn, age gap romance, very cleverly and well written. It’s not the light, warm and fluffy holiday read you might look for around Christmastime, but it certainly does have a lot of feels.
I loved it, and will be sure to look for more of Amy Jo Cousins books.
(less)
Interesting character development
I enjoyed the book. Was frustrating at times and wish a tad more details on the whole glass blowing aspect to give more character insight..