**spoiler alert** I'm going to go ahead and say this because it's glaring... there's a typo in the blurb. Had I seen it before I read the book, it mig**spoiler alert** I'm going to go ahead and say this because it's glaring... there's a typo in the blurb. Had I seen it before I read the book, it might have driven me a little crazy. :) I didn't, and I loved the book, so I'm letting it go.
Now to my review...
As much as I've enjoyed the other books by this author I've read, I think I enjoyed Jalen & Colby so much because it was more of a slow burn than the guys immediately jumping into a sexual relationship. Don't get me wrong, I loved the hell out of the other books, and I'll continue to read the fairy tale retellings for as long as the author is writing them. It's all a matter of what I'm in the mood for at any given time.
This is another book in A Daddy For Christmas, a multi-author series.
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Jalen and Colby are best friends, both living in Australia. Jalen's an American, with Colby being an Aussie. They became best friends years before over their shared love of a nineties TV series that they discovered through streaming. It didn't matter that they lived in two different hemispheres. They're very close, so close that Jalen got a work visa and moved to Australia to be roomies with his friend.
I cracked up over the differences between the two. I'm American and Kazza is Australian, and we're so different, but we work as close friends and blog partners. She not only gets my Americanisms, but she's stuck with the southernisms too. :)
His choice of words seems a bit odd, but then again, he's often coming out with Americanisms that surprise me.
Jalen's head over heels in love with said friend, but he keeps that to himself. What he doesn't know is that Colby feels the same for him.
Unbeknownst to the other, they're in a massive eBay bidding war as they each try to buy action figures and other items from their favorite show. The plan is to win the items and give them to the other one for Christmas.
Andreas is selling his collection, shocked when two bidders go back and forth until the auction ends. He doesn't really want to get rid of the stuff, but he feels like maybe he needs to grow up. He's been in Sydney for a few years, having moved there from the UK when his job transferred. He ends up getting a lot more than he expected, realizing after the fact that the two bidders are best friends wanting to surprise the other. This is pretty much confirmed when both bidders send him messages when the auction ends.
Imagine Colby and Jalen's surprise when there's a knock on their door a few days later and they open it to the man who sold the action figures. Not only that, but he'd also made a few repairs on the figures, and even repaid the money spent on them.
It doesn’t look like a mailman, but phew, he sure is delivering something.
“Hi?” I utter, blinking rapidly and wondering how fast that mimosa has gone to my head. I’m pretty sure I didn’t order a hunky daddy, but here is one anyway.
This visit from Andreas turned into the three of them spending more time together.
Andreas, 37, has some serious Daddy vibes.
Jalen, 29, is flamboyantly awesome, or as he called himself, a glitter-coated handful. He was perfect.
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Colby, 25, is a sweetheart who will break your heart when you learn about his horrible family. That horrible family knocked Colby down so much that he doesn't have a good opinion of himself. Thankfully, Jalen is always right there to remind him that he's somebody special.
And now he has Andreas, who is totally charmed by the best friends who so obviously love each other.
The relationship between the three men is a slow burn yet not. The friendship happens quickly, and Andreas is a true Daddy wanting to spoil his boys, even if they're not technically 'his' boys. Hell, he's only now, thanks to Jalen, even seeing himself as a Daddy. He's wanting to buy them things, take them out to fancy dinners, even surprising them with a trip to the UK to spend Christmas with his family who he hasn't seen in years.
As for the sexual part of their relationship, it happens later. It was definitely worth the wait.
A lot of things had to happen first. Colby and Jalen had to get comfortable with Andreas, who is basically a total stranger. It's especially hard for Colby to accept anything because he'd always been told he was worthless and didn't deserve good things.
First and foremost is the friendship between Colby and Jalen. Oh, how sweet it was! I just wanted to hug them both. They both wanted, needed, someone like Andreas, though they secretly went back and forth privately over allowing the other one to have him. This was long before being a throuple was even considered. What they didn't understand was that Andreas was falling for both of them equally.
I’m drawn to both of these young men, but there’s something about Colby that reminds me of a wounded bird. I just want to wrap him up warm and take care of him until he can fly on his own again.
I absolutely LOVED Andreas' family, especially Nai Nai, his grandmother. She knew right off that Jalen and Colby were Andreas' boys, even calling them his boyfriends during their first meeting. She was totally a kick ass and take names kind of old girl. You can't not adore her.
When Andreas, Jalen, and Colby finally came together, it was absolutely perfect. First, the two best friends had to finally admit their love for each other. Once that was done, it was easy to open their hearts for Andreas.
MMM books have always been hit or miss for me. While I've read some pretty good ones, there are still a select few that didn't work. The ones that didn't work had jealousy by one or more of the characters, and a bunch of silly drama thrown in. That was definitely not the case with Jalen & Colby. Their only goal was making the other one happy. Adding Andreas to the mix was just the icing on the cake of their amazing relationship.
Overall, a really enjoyable read. I felt these guys together from the very beginning, and the sex scenes - as always with this author - were written very well. They were also sweet, something that they, especially Colby, needed.
I'm not rating this, but if I did, I would be heavily leaning toward 1 star. I hate that, especially considering how I'm in the minority if other reviI'm not rating this, but if I did, I would be heavily leaning toward 1 star. I hate that, especially considering how I'm in the minority if other reviews/ratings are to go by.
This was not Tink's/Alex's story. This was Ro and Finn's story. Alex was thrown into it in small bits here and there. That really bugged me because I was really looking forward to seeing Alex finally get his HEA. I might could have gotten beyond all that had Ro and Finn not been so damn boring. I can't recall the last book I read that had me as uninterested in a couple of the main characters like this one. Alex is this funny and flamboyant guy who everybody loves. The other two, not even close.
Honestly, I'm glad I didn't read this one first. Had I done so, I'd have walked away from a really good series. I don't feel like Alex got the story he deserved.
Full review - WITH A LOT OF SPOILERS - can be found at -
I read this - even after a DNF of one of the others in the series - because I was curious about dragon play. While I found the book to be en3.5 stars.
I read this - even after a DNF of one of the others in the series - because I was curious about dragon play. While I found the book to be entertaining, there were a few things in it that kind of drove me crazy, along with an inconsistency with regard to a character from Prancing With Daddy. Twice Cody (from that book) is described as a pony when he wasn't. Shane, Cody's love interest, was the pony. One time I could overlook, but not two. I know the books are written by two different authors, but still. They're in the same series.
Even so, I liked Evan, Tristan, and Riley for the most part.
I enjoyed this, but I feel like it would have benefited more by bringing Avery into the 'relationship' earlier in the book. I get that Felix and Zach I enjoyed this, but I feel like it would have benefited more by bringing Avery into the 'relationship' earlier in the book. I get that Felix and Zach were trying to take it slow for reasons mentioned in the story. Even so, I feel that too much time was spent leading up to the main event, so to speak. And when it did happen, it was all rush, rush, with only a few short pages devoted to the three of them together.
I love that there was no weirdness or silly jealousy, and that Zach and Felix had always been on the same page when it came to Avery. I love all the secondary characters, especially Lake, Avery's brother. Lake was a blast.
I like that it's set in Sydney because my best friend and blog partner lives in Australia. It even has Zach eating vegemite on Christmas morning.
I did have a few issues with the story, other than the rush, rush ending.
Avery was silly more often than not when it came to Felix and Zach. He was twenty-five, not five, but he acted like a silly kid early on. I get that he'd always had a major crush on his brother's two best friends, but come on.
Something I've noticed in a lot of the books I've read lately is serious italics overload. I have no problem with a few here and there because the author is trying to stress something, but the amount I'm seeing now is ridiculous. And honestly, it's distracting - like !!!! - which is another annoyance of mine. This had way to many !!!!, making Avery come across as more immature than anything else.
Even so, I enjoyed it. I just wish there would've been more Avery/Zach/Felix time, not all the build up to it. It definitely needed to be longer. ...more
I adored Blake. I adored him in the first book and I really adored him in his. MMM books are usually hit or miss for me. Some 5 'Daddy and Sir' stars.
I adored Blake. I adored him in the first book and I really adored him in his. MMM books are usually hit or miss for me. Some are written well enough. Others, not so much. My biggest issue with poly books is that there’s usually jealousy by at least one of the three. Not in this one.
Blake is considered the 'scattered' of the triplets, though he wasn't scattered at all. If anything, I saw him as being the more responsible of the three when it came to Corey's five-year-old daughter.
Corey's a different matter altogether, as I say rather bluntly in my review of his book.
Blake is an underwear model, unlike his 'responsible' brothers who are a personal assistant and art teacher. He tried college when he was eighteen, but it didn't work for him like it did the others. Because he's not like them and went a different career route, his parents treat him as lazy and scattered. He's neither.
There are no words for how much I totally despised Blake's parents. They were quite vocal about how they saw their middle son as a failure while going on and on about how amazing Archie and Corey were.
God, I hated them, which also added to my opinion of Corey.
As the youngest of three girls who was CONSTANTLY being told how I'd never come close to being as perfect as my oldest sister, I related to Blake in so many ways when it came to his parents.
Blake, Calvin, and Gabe were beautiful together. It’s the classic friends to lovers story with a major twist. That twist being, of course, Blake. Cal and Gabe may not have ever seen each other ‘that way’ until Blake came into their world, but once they did, there was no weirdness or trying to hide their feelings. The two together were nice. All three made for one hell of an awesome triad.
There’s a lot of kink in this book, mostly consisting of roping and orgasm denial. Even so, the kink didn’t overshadow the relationship, unlike in Archie and Hamish’s story. Calvin, Gabe, and Blake talked about things. They may have jumped in head first in the beginning, but it wasn’t just about the sex and kink. It was getting to know each other as a triad, coming together as a triad. Calvin and Gabe were there for Blake during his down moments, not just the sexy times. For that reason, this was an easy 5-star book for me.
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