Title: Countdown to Santa (Countdown to Daddies #2)
Author: K-Lee Klein
Publisher: MLR Press
Length: 27k words
Genre: m/m Contemporary Romance
Heat: 3 – Sexy & Mild
Sex Frequency: 2 – Few and Far Between
Keywords/Tags: Babies/Kids, Fatherhood, Christmas, Angst-a-licious
Rating: So So
Reviewed by Sadonna
BLURB
Matteo thinks his partner Gabe is wonderful with their twins – all that’s lacking is sleep, romance, a little common sense and maybe his sanity.
Gabe and Matteo have settled into the highs and lows of new fatherhood; exhaustion, dirty diapers, baby bottles and a whole lot of love. But as their first family Christmas looms on the horizon, Matteo is worried about how his partner is handling his new role as Papa Gabe.
There’s no doubt Gabe adores the twins, but his libido, his sense of proportion and perhaps his sanity seem to have disappeared under the strain. Matteo is determined to make their new family work, but it may take thinking outside the box to get back the calm, sensible Gabe he planned to share fatherhood and the rest of his life with.
REVIEW
I was really looking forward to this story because I enjoyed the Father’s Day story of Gabe and Matteo waiting for their babies to be born. They were so cute and anxious in the first story and I loved Gabe’s sister Mira, the birth mother of the babies. Unfortunately, I didn’t like this one as much for a couple of reasons.
At the time of this story, Dominic (Niki) and Megan (Sweetpea) are a few months old and it’s coming up to their first Christmas. Gabe and Matteo have moved into a bigger place because Gabe keeps buying them more and more stuff and they needed more room. Matteo is being driven a little bit nuts by this and he keeps trying to head off Gabe’s incessant worry and shopping, but to no avail. Gabe has taken a six month paternity leave and he is using that time obsessing over every little thing with the babies. Matteo wonders what has happened to his partner and who this stranger is that has taken over his body. At Gabe’s insistence, Matteo has kept working at the yoga studio since his time is more flexible and with Gabe home for the six month, they agree that it’ll work out fine.
He finally decides to go to Gabe’s sister for some advice/help to get Gabe to stop obsessing and relax for minute. They work up a scheme to get Gabe to take his obsessive focus off the babies for at least night, but it all goes horribly wrong and the guys end up in the worst fight of their relationship. Things have gone from bad to worse and Matteo doesn’t know if he can continue to live like this. They say very hurtful things to one another and it appears that they could be on the road to Splitsville. Their communication has completely broken down and both of them are miserable. While we eventually get to a resolution, I felt like there was a lot of anxiety and unhappiness getting there.
I was really hoping for a happy holiday story with these guys and this definitely was not it. I understand that there can be a lot of stress in a relationship when a couple of kids are thrown into the mix. I also understand that everyone gets a little tired and out of sorts with the sleep deprivation of babies and holidays, but I don’t necessarily want to read it in my holiday stories. I felt like the comedy and the fun of the relationship was too overshadowed by the angst in this tale. I really like these guys and I hope that if we get another story about them, it’ll be back to the lighter, happier side of Matteo and Gabe.
The Armchair Reader 