Sasha Holiday is so over the holidays after getting left at the altar last Christmas Eve. But as the marketing maven for Lady Robin’s Intimate Implements, she’s stuck not-so-merrily pitching naughty toys at a romance book club’s Christmas party. Her loathing of the yuletide only intensifies as a snowstorm rolls in and traps her at the Winterberry Inn. Stranded with her is Perry Winters—a hot … bearded book club member trimmed in flannel and tattoos.
Perry’s a romantic with an unerring belief in the magic of the season, and he recognizes a Christmas miracle when he sees it. Brave, smart, and confident—Sasha Holiday is a gift. And the gifts keep coming when she suggests they pass the time with some no-strings fun. After all, she has a big bag of toys that would make even Santa want to stay in bed on Christmas Eve.
But the frisky festivities turn complicated as feelings spark between Sasha and Perry. Perry wants to see Sasha once the snow clears, but Sasha is reluctant to take the relationship sleigh ride again. Perry will have to show her that love is more than just a holiday feeling.
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3 stars – I liked it
Sasha Holiday is a grinch. She hates Christmas after being left at the later on Christmas Eve. As the marketing maven for Lady Robin’s Intimate Implements she is stuck doing a sales pitch to a book club’s Christmas party. Unfortunately a snowstorm traps her with the book club, including the hot Perry Winters.
This was a fun holiday romance about two people who have not had great experiences with relationships. Sasha was left at the altar by her ex and is now gun shy of anything involving relationships, and now hates Christmas. Perry recently went through a bad breakup and is dealing with other huge life changes. Together these two have a steamy two day fling while snowed in but their emotions won’t stay away.
Perry was adorable. I loved how much of a romantic he was and how determined he was to win Sasha over. Also a guy who reads romance books? Yes please! His inexperience with toys and willingness to play was adorable and sweet. Also I just loved that Perry is a tattooed romantic who just wants to plant flowers and do holiday crafts.
Overall, this was a sweet and steamy holiday romance. I will definitely be reading more of McLellan’s books now.
I loved getting to know sex toy saleswoman Sasha and Perry, who meet right around Christmastime when she’s running a sex toy party at Perry’s sister’s inn and gets snowed in. Sasha hates Christmas, while the holiday and all its trimmings are in Perry’s blood. Things heat up between them and even though Perry isn’t really a one night stand kind of guy, he agrees to a strictly sex hookup because he’s so infatuated with Sasha. She, meanwhile, is fighting her feelings for Perry and resisting the Christmas trappings all over, a painful reminder of being stood up at the altar at the holiday.
This was such a sexy romance and one that treated sexuality and sex toys and queerness with both casual familiarity and total respect. It’s very rare to see sex toys used pretty much throughout a romance novel, but here they were both a plot point and a way for Sasha and Perry to get to know each other in bed and out. That he admires her savvy about them, even toys that work on him rather than her, said a lot about his character. McLellan won me over from the start and had me rooting for them, and packs plenty of hot and creative sex scenes into this novella. Highly recommended.
I love my Romances with lots of spice this story had TONS of spice with very little romance, but for me it worked. Sasha or as I like to refer to her Ms. Scrooge really dislikes Christmas, I mean she hates it so when she has to work a sex toy party right before the holiday she dreads it but she is willing to play up the stocking stuffers gimmick to gain a few extra sales but she can’t seem to get the party ended quick enough.
Then in walks Perry, the hostesses brother, and there is an instant connection between the two of them. There is a snowstorm of epic proportions heading their way but hits sooner than expected and Sasha is now stranded at Winterbury Inn with Perry to keep her company and her bag of toys…. “It could be the twelve days of Christmas sex toys. A new gizmo every day.” And…this is where things get interesting. Perry is not the type of guy to have a one-night-stand but Sasha intrigues him and she is only interested in having fun so they break into her bag of tricks and the party really begins.
The use of sex toys in this book was so plentiful it was refreshing. This wasn’t the heroine secretly using a vibrator to get off because she doesn’t have a man in her life, this was a couple using toys on one another and enjoying it. Even though intimacy is not what Sasha was looking for or wanted its what happens when a couple uses toys together.
If this story had been a chapter or two longer and worked more on the romance between Perry and Sasha I would have probably given this five stars but it didn’t deliver on the romance part of “Erotic Romance” for me which is why I gave it four stars. But it is a HOT read that is sure to get you into the holiday spirit.
Happy Reading!!!
What a treat of a steamy Christmas romance! I’ve been meaning to read Erin McLellan for a couple of years and this was a wonderful introduction to her work.
Sasha is a bisexual sex toy saleswoman doing a demo for a romance book club shortly before her most hated holiday: Christmas. In walks Perry, a bearded, tattooed romance-reading wonder of a man. He headed home for the holidays a day early to beat the impending blizzard. The one that’s about to snow Sasha in for the next couple of days, to her eternal chagrin.
So, yes. We’ve got forced proximity and all kinds of fireworks going off between Sasha and Perry! I was here for it.
I loved both of these characters so much! Sasha is so good at her job and her sex toy education was inclusive of gender and sexuality. This was great to see. Despite her hatred of Christmas, she does her best to get along with everyone at the inn and participate in the various activities. I’m not so sure I would have done the same. Perry is just a sweetheart and I endlessly swooned for him. He was so responsive to Sasha’s needs and he’s a great brother to Valerie, who runs the inn. He’s at a bit of an impasse in his life but he’s so drawn to Sasha that he goes for it anyway, even though he knows he’s not much for one-night stands and that’s all she has to offer.
This was super steamy with Sasha and Perry incorporating the unsold sex toys from her demo into their play. They clearly had chemistry but there was a deeper connection too, which understandably freaks Sasha out.
I didn’t completely get Sasha’s hatred for Christmas (misdirected anger much?) We’re briefly told her fiancé jilted her at their Christmas wedding. Absolutely this would be painful. But we’re not told much more until toward the end of this story and I think that context would have gone a long way, had we been given it sooner.
The side characters are marvelous and I loved how queer-friendly the whole story is. I was delighted watching Sasha and Perry’s relationship unfold. It had humor and heart and heat. What more do you need? This will be a great one to reread each Christmas.
One note: while Sasha says she’s bisexual, she sounded more pansexual to me. ”Gender had never factored into it for her. She liked women. She liked men. And she liked people who were both or neither or fluid.” Obviously, people can choose whatever label they’d like but I thought it was interesting. I’m cis-het so I’ll defer to queer readers on this.
CW: past wedding day jilting
Disclosure: I received an advanced copy from A Novel Take PR in exchange for an honest review.
Okay, so here’s the thing, this little novella walks a thin line between erotica and erotic romance. The HEA/HFN between Sasha & Perry is a bit hard for me to connect with because there wasn’t development of it, but I enjoyed the heck out of them anyways LOL
With just a few more chapters, this could easily have been a really sexy romance journey but that’s not how the author wanted to write it so *shrug*
Erotic romance flipped – the woman is the aggressor and the man is the blusher, cute
Sasha is a “Lady Robin’s Intimate Implements” substitute sales representative. Sort of like a Tupperware house-party thing but with sex toys and racy lingerie instead. On this particular day she was asked to put on a party for the Staunchly Raunchy Book Club at Winterberry Inn, a Bed and Breakfast, totally decked out for Christmas which is only a few days away. In the middle of her presentation Perry, the B & B’s owner’s brother enters. He’s surprised at the demo but takes it in stride once he sees Sasha. As she is wrapping up her demonstrations it begins to snow, heavily. After a failed attempt to leave, Sasha and everyone else are snowed in by a “snow-pocalypse.” Beyond everything else about this event, Sasha hates Christmas and Perry adores it, but somehow, they find a way to entertain themselves testing Sasha’s intimate implements! Why does she hate Christmas? She has her reasons…
Oh. My. That first scene in the bathroom which connects their rooms! Then there was the fun on the third floor. Let’s just say that Sasha’s use of so many of the sex toys or stocking stuffers, will keep her cost margins high:-) Sasha and Perry seemed doomed from the beginning but is there hope? They both have their own situations to deal with. Can Sasha make room for a sweet, adoring man like Perry?
This was a sweet but steamy female-empowering story and it comes highly recommended. I volunteered to review an ARC of this book through A Novel Take PR.