Mini Reviews: M/M Christmas Novellas – Loving Blitz, Disarming Donner, The King’s Courage

 
 

In Loving Blitz, two best friends start to have feelings for each other, but one of them has a secret he hopes won’t ruin things. In Disarming Donner, a Christmas elf realizes that maybe it is possible for a dark elf to be good. In The King’s Courage, one elf is determined to crack the King of Frost’s icy veneer and show him that he deserves to love again. Enjoy my mini reviews for these three M/M Christmas novellas!


Loving Blitz by Charlie Cochet

Mini Review: Loving Blitz (North Pole City Tales Book 4) by Charlie Cochet | reading, books, book review, fantasy, christmas, lgbt
Title: Loving Blitz
Author: Charlie Cochet
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Book Number: Book 4
Pages: 95
Rating: 3.5 stars
 
Review:

This book in the series was about Blitzen and Cupid, two of the Rein Dears. I liked that these two were close friends before getting romantic; it made their feelings more believable. I also like how even though each book is about different main characters, they all intertwine, and you still get to see stuff going on among the characters from past books sometimes (mostly Rudy and Jack). The blurb alludes to a big secret that Cupid has, and while he does in fact have a secret, the book wasn't nearly as angsty as the blurb makes it seem. Much like the others in the series, this was another a light, fluffy, quick, Christmassy read!

*Note: Even though each book has different main characters, I recommend reading these in order.*

 
 

Disarming Donner by Charlie Cochet

Mini Review: Disarming Donner (North Pole City Tales Book 5) by Charlie Cochet | reading, books, book review, fantasy, christmas, lgbt
Title: Disarming Donner
Author: Charlie Cochet
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Book Number: Book 5
Pages: 76
Rating: 3.5 stars
 
Review:

Instead of being about two Christmas elves, this one in the series was about a Christmas elf and a Dockalfar (dark elf), which I thought made it a little more interesting because we got to learn a bit about the Dockalfar. And I felt so bad for Calder! Like, the dark elves aren't even allowed to have sweets or music, but poor Calder enjoyed those things. And the way everyone ran from him in terror no matter how friendly he was was so sad! He was so kind and thoughtful though. Donner, on the other hand, was a prejudiced jerk at the beginning. (So was Jack, for that matter.) But in the end, everyone got past their prejudice and all was well and sweet, making this another light, quick read.

*Note: Even though each book has different main characters, I recommend reading these in order.*

 
 

The King's Courage by Charlie Cochet

Mini Review: The King's Courage (North Pole City Tales Book 6) by Charlie Cochet | reading, books, book review, fantasy, christmas, lgbt
Title: The King's Courage
Author: Charlie Cochet
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Book Number: Book 6
Pages: 87
Rating: 4 stars
 
Review:

*I received an ecopy of this book from the publisher. This has not influenced my review.*

I had been anticipating this one since... Book 4? Whenever it was that Dasher first set his sights on the king. Granted I only had to anticipate it for a few days since I binge-read the series, but still. The king was a character we never got to know very well, and Dasher seemed a little more mature and deep than the other elves we'd seen so far but still playful, so it seemed like the romance would be a good one. And I was right---this relationship was a little more serious and believable for me than the others in the series because of these two characters' maturity and pasts, and I liked the book all the more for it. But don't worry, this book still had the same sweet, easy, light romance that readers have come to expect, and once these two did start wooing each other, their relationship turned out to be the most fun and playful one yet. I loved the flirting and how they kept trying to one-up/fluster the other, like when they were using Eirik's powers to send and receive whispers on the wind in order to whisper naughty things to each other and try to make each other blush all throughout lunch one day. And I literally laughed out loud during some parts, like when Eirik joined in the Rein Dear games and, well, you'll see what happened and why it was so funny when you read the book ;-) There were even some nice non-romance things in the book, like touching moments between Eirik and Jack (father and son).

I believe this was the last in the series (unfortunately, since I've enjoyed all the books), but it would seem the author saved the best for last as this was definitely my favorite one! To be honest, I didn't expect to enjoy this series as much as I did since I'm not generally a fan of fluffy books or of novellas/shorts in general. But, while this was not a particularly realistic series, it had creative world-building, sweet romances, and hilarious Christmas-based sexual euphemisms, and it was overall a lot of fun and just what I was in the mood for!

*Note: Even though each book has different main characters, I recommend reading these in order.*

 
 
 
 

Talk to me!

Have you read any of these M/M Christmas novellas?
Do you like friends-to-lovers romance?
Have you ever read about different types of elves?
Do you like reading about fun, playful relationships?

 
 
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Your Thoughts

 

20 thoughts on “Mini Reviews: M/M Christmas Novellas – Loving Blitz, Disarming Donner, The King’s Courage

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  1. Let's Get Beyond Tolerance

    Aw, these all sound really good. I don’t read a ton of novellas, but you KNOW I love almost anything m/m. haha I read quite a few of the m/m Christmas stories last year but nothing this year yet.

    -Lauren

  2. Greg

    More Rein Dears! I like the dark elf angle, how rude that they’re not allowed sweets. that’d be enough to make an elf angry right there! I hope they straightened that out. 🙂

  3. Luna & Saturn

    Loving Blitz seems like a good read to get into the Christmas season, and also Disarming Donner. It is so sad people ran away from Calder even in spite of his niceness, but it’s good everyone got past it though. That’s a nice read.

    1. Kristen Burns

      This whole series was a lot of fun and great for Christmas-time 🙂 Glad to hear from you guys! You’ll have to let me know if you’re coming back to blogging in 2018 so I can be sure to visit again!

      1. Luna & Saturn

        Thanks for your support 🙂 We’re not too sure if we’re going to come back to blogging in 2018 as of yet. Maybe next year though. We’re just really happy being able to come back to comment on blogs.

        ~ Luna & Saturn @ Pendragons

  4. Lola

    This series sounds so fun and this seems like the perfect time to read and review these. I always like friends to lovers romances as it always feels so believable and I like reading about a couple moving from friends to lovers. That’s great the character overcame their prejudice in that second book you listed. That’s great the last book was so good. It’s nice when a series ends on a high note. And the covers for this series all look so great and it sounds like they fit the stories too, which is awesome.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yeah, they’re perfect for Christmas time, and they were a lot of fun! I like friends-to-lovers too, and I agree, it’s great when series end on a high note! I also like the covers 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      It is a lot of fun! I rec it if you want something Christmassy, whatever time of year 🙂 (Anyway, it’s almost more wintery than Christmassy, so still good in Jan!)

  5. Danya @ Fine Print

    Normally I’m not a huge reader of Christmas stories, but I definitely get the appeal of reading something wintery and cozy-feeling this time of year! I do like the sound of The King’s Courage though, since a romance with elements of family dynamics are my faves. I’m glad to hear the series ended on such a high note!

  6. Olivia Roach

    I remember you saying you wanted to read some seasonal kind of books for the Christmassy period and you’ve managed to do that! I am glad you were able to mostly enjoy all of these, especially the last one, and that they were sweet and cute. Maybe unrealistic, but maybe we just gotta take some of that Christmas spirit into account 😉

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yeah this series ended up being perfect for my mood! And the last one was def the best! Exactly, sometimes I can let a bit of unrealistic-ness slide, especially when the books involve so much Christmas spirit 😉