friends to lovers

Keira Andrews has written a wonderful Christmas story. Michael's Christmas goes so very differently than planned when he overhears a phone call his boyfriend has made. He ends up with car trouble in the middle of nowhere and calls his former best friend Will, whom he hasn't seen in two years. And what begins as a fake boyfriend relationship in front of Will's boss ends in a Christmas vacation together. But how long can a fake relationship be faked when real feelings are involved? Will and Michael are both very sympathetic and I found this storyline sweet and heartwarming. And even though there is no snow, there is a festive mood. There is some laughter, lots of feelings, lots of sunshine, nice secondary protagonists, romance and of course love. If you like friends to lovers and that at Christmas, you should listen to this audiobook. I was hooked from the beginning and listened to the audiobook in just two days.

Greg Boudreaux was brilliant as the narrator. He brought the story to life with an ease and gave appropriate voices to the characters. I love his Scottish accent! I will definitely be looking for more audiobooks by this narrator.

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Super cute!

Lovely Christmas, fake-dating story! Estranged best friends Will and Michael reconnect at Christmas and are thrown into pretending to be boyfriends. Neither of them seem to mind it too much, and while Michael knows he’s been in love with Will for years, it takes Will a little longer to catch up!
Low-angst, cute and sweet, this story is like a Christmas-sy marshmallow!
I loved Greg Boudreaux’s performance, especially Will’s Scottish brogue!

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Awww!

This is a super sweet second chance romance and I loved it!
Michael and Will's story had me hooked right from the beginning and I was rooting for them all the way through.
Greg Boudreax has done a brilliant job of bringing these characters and their story to life.
I don't want to say too much about this,as I don't want to spoil this absolute delight for anyone.

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Funny second chance Christmas romance

I am a huge Greg Boudreaux fan and I'm also Scottish. At first Will's accent was cringe worthy but it got a lot better as the book went on so well done Greg. This was a nice second chance, friends to lovers romance with a few spicy scenes. I really enjoyed it.

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Touching story of love

A tragedy of life when it takes so long to find the love of your life is everything you wanted and needed and here we get that beautiful HEA enjoy I know i did.

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A beautiful holiday story

One of the best MM authors and one of the best MM narrators in one audiobook. How could it be any better?

Loved the story between Will and Michael and Greg’s narration was absolutely stellar - really capturing both characters really well. Brilliant listen!

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Really disappointing

I loved The Christmas Deal and I'm a big fan of both author and narrator, so I had high hopes for this, especially with Greg Boudreaux narrating.

But what a let-down. I like the fake-relationship trope as a rule, but the thing with tropes is that they’re so well-worn that getting them to work well hinges on the strength of the characterisation - and Will and Michael are not particularly well fleshed-out. Will is basically a saint, forgiving Michael instantly for ghosting him without even having a conversation about it, and as for Michael, we never find out who he is beyond how he feels about Will. His relationship with his ex, Jared, was formed basically because he was desperate to get over Will, and I found myself sympathising with Jared - at least he was trying to be kind and was honest and willing to communicate about their relationship., which Michael never was.

And much as it pains me to say it, because I'm a massive fan of Greg Boudreaux, his Scottish accent is pretty bad. Please, please, don't believe the gushing reviews praising it - I can only assume they've been written by people who have never heard an authentic Scottish accent. At a few points in the text, the author tells us that Will thinks he doesn’t have much of an accent, whereas Michael thinks he sounds like he’s just stepped off the set of Outlander, but I’m afraid neither of those things is true. I had to try to forget Will was Scottish whenever I listened to his chapters in order to get through the book.

I suppose everyone's entitled to an off-day, but unfortunately, neither Ms. Andrews nor Mr. Boudreaux is at their best here.

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Ideal Christmas romance

Well written Christmas love story.
I especially loved the Scottish accent.
Nice strong story and a pleasure to read.

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A cute, easy listening Christmas romance

The Christmas Leap is a sweet follow-up to The Christmas Deal. It's a pleasure to spend a few hours capering about with idiots in love Will and Michael, and wonderful to catch up with some old friends. Spying Logan and Seth a few years down the line is a treat, and I am absolutely agog to find out what is going on with Connor.

The change in location to Australia broke the flow for me a little, however there were cameos from other Andrews characters that I'm sure delighted people who have read Flash Rip.

The Christmas Leap is lighter fare than The Christmas Deal and many of Andrews' other Christmas classics, and perfect if you're looking for easy listening romance with a few laugh out loud moments.

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Christmas Wishes

Will has always hidden a huge part of himself, even from his best friend Michael. Michael, who is in love with Will and has no clue about the questions Will is asking himself, finally had to put some distance between them. Will has never understood Michael's behavior but when Michael needs him , he's right there. As they start to re-establish their friendship they end up in a fake dating situation to impress Will's boss. It's a holiday romance, so you can imagine the fake gets real very soon. It's lovely to see these two finally lay their cards on the table and get the wonderful Christmas they deserve. I've now also listened to the audiobook and Greg Boudreaux does a fantastic job capturing the early confusion these two experience about each other's behavior and then their relief and excitement when the reconnect, open up and realize what might actually be possible.

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