Ranting at its best

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Ice, snow and mistletoe

Author :: Jocelynn drake

Rating :: :star: / :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

Summary :: Bookreads

John Sullivan is escaping to Denver. Even with a massive snow storm on his heels, he plans to hide away in his cabin in the mountains and ignore Christmas. It’ll be just him and a bottle of whiskey until the new year when he must return to Cincinnati for his best friend’s wedding.

At least, that’s the plan until he runs into Oz at the airport.

Oz … the man who should have been just a fling. The man who was fun and laughs but quickly turned into so much more before he completely kicked John out of his life.

Oz who desperately needs his help…

John is ready to leave Oz stranded at the Denver airport in the coming blizzard, but he finds himself possibly staring down at the reason Oz pushed him away, and John can’t say no.

Second chances don’t come around often, but John is willing to fight for one with Oz.

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✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Hello and welcome to another book review.

This review is going to be a good rant because wow did I hate this book. And yes, this is anything but civil so well, I might have made some english mistakes here and there. Basically it is not a clAsSy review. This is just me ranting '-' and I have basically explained the whole book in short so

**Spoiler alert**

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:sparkles: The points that initially attracted me to read this book :sparkles:

I was looking for a short novella type romance book and came across this one. I had read the previous book in this series and totally loved it, so my brain thought let's bulldoze our way through this book too and I jumped into it without much thought.

Also, this book had a gay character with a child so that was one of the selling points for me. I like to read novels where gay people are not exaggerated into some mythical beings and are written as normal breathing human beings.

But this book. It got on my nerves every damn page. There was not even a single redeeming point in this whole story. It was all over the place and was a huge disappointment.

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:sparkles: Review :sparkles:

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John is a lawyer and very open and confident about his sexuality. He has not had any serious partners after a fling that ended rather abruptly, although he definitely wants a relationship for himself. John had a very sad backstory. The poor guy had been through a lot of parental issues and was still getting crushed between his parents. In fact the only character I liked in this book would be of John. But damn, the guy is just a living and walking example of stupid.

Giving second chances in a relationship is alright. But they should be given to people who deserve it. John did not value himself at all. He was lonely and craved a relationship desperately and then entered Oz, the fling who ended their relationship abruptly, stranded in a very pathetic situation with his daughter.

Oz has to be the one character who made it to the top of my 'jerk character' lists. He has to be the most selfish, stupid and ignorantly toxic person ever. So in the start of the novel we have Oz going to meet a blind date. He sees a very attractive guy, a.k.a John enter a gay club. And he tells himself that he could spare himself some seconds to enter the club and follow the guy.

Now, this was Oz's first gay experience. He had never been attracted to a guy before but from across the street John caught his interest so much so that he just had to enter the gay club and look at him once more. Here, no gay shame? Yes, appreciated. The ships were sailing smoothly till here. He finds John, they talk a little, John somehow convinces him to cancel on his date and spend the night with him.

Till here the story was going well and I would say normal. Sometime later into the book we get the flashbacks where they hook up and start spending a lot of time together. John doesn't share much about his family with Oz, because they are his main issue and he hasn't even told his best friend anything about them. They both start to develop feelings and Oz thinks John is in it only for the goods while John thinks about asking Oz out. Like till here the flashback story was going so freaking normal and okay. Like the same tropes over and over again. But what is a novel without a shitstorm?

Like literally everything went downhill from this point. I hated every single part after this. The novel starts from them meeting again at the airport. John is going to Denver to spend a lonely Christmas because his parents are such disappointments and make his life more difficult than it already is. But that is not enough so he ends up meeting his ex Oz and they are even on the same plane.

When they land we get to know that now Oz has become a father as we see his ex Ashley is dropping their daughter off at the airport. But the thing is, Oz was supposed to stay in Denver because there is a blizzard, but no, Ashley decided that she wanted to run away on a trip with her recent hook up so her daughter can freeze if she wishes, but she doesn't care. Like literally, I felt like punching the crap out of Ashley at this point. She left Oz out without any option. Denver is not his hometown, it was Christmas time so all lodgings would be full. You would think you couldn't hate her more at this point, right?

But wait. There is more. When Oz asks if he could perhaps stay at her place she very rudely and quite egotistically refuses him that request as well with some ultra lame excuse and runs away with her hook up or as she called him boyfriend of that time.

So, now Oz is left stranded in the middle of a blizzard on an airport with his daughter. What a great situation for some reunions to happen right? All this exchange is noticed by John and he generously offers Oz to stay with him because he didn't want his little girl to suffer.

But Oz very rudely refuses and guess what? He ends up going with him in the end.

(Good job done there Oz. You could have been a bit more respectful.)

And as the story progresses we get their flashbacks and everything. After this, I just want to make a list why Oz is a toxic character to me for the rest of the story. So read along.

:sparkles: i. The breakup of their fling. :sparkles:

So, as I have already hinted, they both hooked up in the past and meet again in the present time. This story is about second chances so of course they meet again.

But like, their first breakup was martyr bullshit at its peak. So, if you haven't figured out till now, an ex girlfriend of Oz got pregnant and he freaked out. But this was not the part that irked me. In fact I completely understand his actions. His business was going down in shambles and he suddenly had responsibility for a possible new life on his shoulders. Not to mention that he was unsure and insecure about where he stood with John.

But, the breakup, the way it went. He completely cut John off without so much of even a warning. John literally tracked him down and he wanted to ask him out that day but boy, did Oz had different plans for them. The breakup was less than civil and resembled a cold war perfectly. He must have broken John's heart into so many pieces that I couldn't even fathom the mental damage it did to him, considering John was finally opening up to Oz.

:sparkles: ii. The way he treats John :sparkles:

When they meet again in the present his behaviour isn't very pleasing to me. Like I could never imagine myself in such a situation because yes, I think Oz is just the embodiment of rudeness. Like seriously, he told John to buy some essentials but like, the guy is a big time lawyer and has some decent money, so he wanted to make Elizabeth's (Oz's daughter) christmas special since all her gifts were back at their home. So he buys a little too much stuff and Oz decides to go about scolding him in a very less than nice way.

Like, okay. First, I get it, I really do. Money issues in a relationship are real. Oz was a very insecure character to me. He had issues with money and fatherhood. He worried his daughter would get used to the luxuries John was providing her and he wouldn't be able to meet the standards of good dad then. Also, did I mention that they had some problems with the children association (idk why it was called XD) too? Because, well Ashley did not give a flying fuck about her daughter so some accidents had happened in the past.

I get Oz but his issues don't give him any right to just freak out on another person. John had no idea of all the things he went through. Hell, the guy didn't even know that Elizabeth was the reason Oz broke up with him in the first place. John just wanted to make her christmas special because he never had that growing up. His cabin was all empty and upon finally having some company he was happy. Not to mention his suppressed feelings were starting to jump again.

So yes, Oz is unreasonable, insecure and immature. He goes off on a guy who offered him to stay at his home when otherwise he would have been stranded in snow with his small daughter, a guy who just wants to make his daughter's christmas special.

(Yes, I hate Oz from the bottom of my heart if that isn't clear by now. I don't have even an ounce of sympathy for this guy.)

:sparkles: iii. Their whole relationship :sparkles:

Like seriously, for a romantic novel this sucks big time. Oz is a guy who doesn't want to get involved with John because he is already in way too much mess because of Ashley and wants to make his daughter his priority, but, at the same time Oz is also the man who can't keep his damn hands to himself and maybe keep his pants close for a minute. He doesn't think much from his brain, has absolutely zero communication ability, acts like an immature child when John is literally being so vulnerable in front of him. Oz is immature. He thinks his issues give him some right to act like an ignorant ass.

I get it. I completely get him not wanting to start a relationship with John. But like, dude? Stop giving the other person mixed signals then. He keeps giving John false hope but at the end after John begs him maybe millions of times to stay and risk another chance on them(because as I already said, John doesn't value himself like he should. He is way too forgiving and generous), he still leaves.

:sparkles: The final straw :sparkles:

Even after all of this, I could have given this book a two star rating because Elizabeth. She is so cute and I totally loved her. But, no the author had more planned in the store.

In the book Ashley calls Oz to buy her a plane ticket back to Denver because her supposed boyfriend who she was in love with and for whom she ditched her own daughter like some object, he had ditched her in some unknown place and she had no money on her. So of course she "expected" Oz, the same Oz who she had left out in a freaking blizzard to rescue her because he always did. He did it before because he wanted a mother for Elizabeth and wasn't too sure if the court would rule over the sole custody to him being a single father.

Oz finally stood up for himself in like the last 25% of the book and acted like an actual adult. But no. How could the book end on a right note? He then leaves John alone in his cabin refusing all of his requests to stay and flies back home with his daughter crying about not wanting to leave.

So in like the last chapter Ashley goes through a sudden transformation and rises like a new living being from the dead. She comes to her senses after being left without anything in a place and with no one to help her.

(I think I forgot to tell this too, but she refused to her parents before saying they would force her to go back home, but like, she eventually ends up home because her parents were the last people who could help her out after Oz and magically she is reformed).

So Oz is back home and the newly reformed Ashley entered in the last chapter saying she realised her mistake and what not yada yada yada. But the last straw for me was, this Ashley, the same person who freaking left her own daughter in the middle of a blizzard, this same Ashley then tells Oz to not let John go, and magically the universe decided to donate some brain cells to Oz at that precise moment and he gets it. He accepted what Ashley said to him when he totally disregarded all the pleas John made to him.

This was actually it for me. At this point I was like, someone please kidnap and hide John so this selfish and stupid man isn't able to find him anymore. And well, ofcourse they get together in the end. John is at the wedding of his best friend (the same best friend who came for him when Oz left him all alone even after knowing his whole family story).

Oz reaches there with some help and John ever so easily forgives him and takes him back. Because of course, why not?

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:sparkles: Final thoughts :sparkles:

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The main thing about this book is I did not want them both to end up together. They are not it for each other. John forgave everything Oz did to him way too easily, which was probably because he craved a relationship so desperately. It looked as if he was hanging onto whatever little string Oz offered him which is not a healthy relationship at all.

And Oz, gosh I think I have been pretty clear about how much I hated this guy throughout this entire rant? Just please, someone go and smash a flower pot on his head for me.