Hometown Christmas

De: Garrett Leigh

Narrado por: Dan Calley

Can Yani and Gavin go from friends to lovers this Christmas?

Yani Nicolaou is sworn off love for good. After fleeing a bad break-up in London, the only blood, sweat, and tears he has left are for his gyro stall at the Christmas market. Rebound fling? No thanks. He’s sticking to one-night-stands.

Ex-army vet Gavin Richie has even less capacity for romance. Managing a homeless shelter while recovering from injury keeps him far too busy. So what if he’s often alone? He’s content being single, or so he thinks until a chance meeting lights a spark he can’t ignore.

Yani is the warmth and affection Gavin hadn’t known he was missing. As Christmas lights up the city, their lives entwine in more ways than one. Falling for each other is easy. Holding on is harder, unless a hometown Christmas proves their love can last longer than the festive season.

Hometown Christmas is a standalone MM Christmas novella.

©2019 Garrett Leigh (P)2020 Garrett Leigh

Feel good in the heart and soul my love

A love story set in lovely Northern England, it has all the Christmas feels and warm, gooey feelings! My kind of a holiday story with two very likeable men. Garret Leigh has done it again to make me feel all the feels.

Two imperfect men finding for their perfect match in Leeds in northern England. It was such a feel-good love story. I loooooove the markets set up in the town. I also love how they go back to their hometown and finding true love there. I also really love really yummy and delicious sounding foods in this novel. It makes me wanna eat all those goodies. And I also love how these two boys are related to author’s other stories and the glimpses of characters from other stories. Their friends are the greatest. Dan Calley also did a great job with his performance. All in all, this is a perfect audio to curl up and listen in bed while sipping a cup of tea in the cold winter. Loved it to the moon and back.

4.5 Feel good in the heart and soul my love stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫



Audio rating

Story - 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Narration - 4.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Performance - 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Overall - 4.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Sweet

Hometown Christmas by Garrett Leigh is a contemporary holiday M/M romance. Yani and Gavin's lovestory is one of instant attraction, sweet connection,  and sexy interaction.  There is hurt and comfort and some big emotion and topics in these pages.  I found the story well written, entertaining,  and enjoyable...with characters that maybe flawed but are for sure endearing.  Dan Calley does a great job as Narrator and it is a fantastic performance of voicework and clear recording work.  Very enjoyable listen.

Show and sweet with a slow build up

This is a pretty sweet Holiday story of not so much healing bunt understanding each others weaknesses and loving them anyway. The narration is really done well and brings the story to life perfectly. A really great listen.

Great Christmas romance

I enjoyed this friends to lovers romance. This story has so much Christmas romance and I loved the sparks between Yani and Gavin. The narrator did a great job with the characters and storyline.

So amazing

Garrett Leigh writes damaged characters so well. This story totally rocked. Great narration too. 😊

Absolutely loved it

I fell in love with this book when it came out. Then it came to audio I had to have it. Dan did such an amazing job with this book He really nailed the charters and all that they are.
In this story, we get Yani and Gavin.
Yani is dealing with OCD and Gavin with PTSD.
Gavin is an ex-military guy who is now working at a homeless shelter.
Yani has moved to Leeds and has his own food truck.
The two come together to feed the homeless.
Two flawed men that were perfect for each other.
This story was wonderful and I highly recommend it.

Yani and Gavin

4.5 stars! Yani and Gavin both have scars and trust is a problem. They each deal with mental health needs and I was impressed with how they addressed them. No judgment, no hiding; just acknowledgment and acceptance. I liked that Yani expressed his need to slow down and Gavin immediately complied without pressuring him. Gavin's recognition that he loves Yani doesn't even make him pause. Yani takes a bit longer to acknowledge it but it's there all the same.
These two make appearances in other stories before they meet. Gavin (aka. Wedge) in Between Ghosts and Soul to Keep. Yani in Misfits and Strays.

Audiobook: excellent narrator

An adorable hurt/comfort holiday romance!

This was a cute Holiday romance.
I loved that it was set during Christmas but there wasn't too much focus put on the Holidays.
I absolutely adored Yani and Gavin.
The chemistry between them was intense and instant and I come help rooting for them.
Dan Calley performed an amazing audio delivery as well.

Great characters

I was given a free audio copy from the author and the GRR arc team for review.

3.5

I wouldn't call this a holiday book. It's just a book that happens to take place in December. The main focus is on a shelter and just being able to keep the doors open and feed the homeless. So if you're not really a holiday read kinda person this one would read like any other story.

Also, the write up here says friends to lovers. When I hear that I think about friendships already made. This was rather 2 strangers that are forced to be around each other lots while they volunteer which leads to them bonding, which leads to them starting to "hook up". Both men don't want more and struggle with their own problems from pasts events and mental health that lead them to push others away.

I struggled with what to rate this book. I would give it a 3 stars for content. Not alot happens and it's mostly repetitive. Them serving food and chatting. However I would say 4 stars for the Characters. They had great chemisty and so much in common even though it doesn't really seem like on the outside. Both characters were sweet and loveable. I empathized for their hardships, esp Gavin who is a injured ex veteran. There's lots of mutual hurt/comfort and I loved hearing their bond grow. It was well written and very sweet and heartwarming. I just wish it was a bit more eventful.

I would rate the narrator a 4. His voice/accent was pleasant and he kept a good pace. You could hear the different emotions. However, it was mostly the same voice for the 2 main characters and dialogue and a few times I kinda drifted from lack of enthusiasm but that was prob more due to not much happening in the plot.

Christmas-Lite Character-Driven Hurt/Comfort Story

I'm a big fan of friends-to-lovers and holiday romances, but "Hometown Christmas" isn't really either so much as a character-driven hurt/comfort story between acquaintances-turned-lovers that coincidentally occurs around Christmastime. Yani and Gavin are interesting, complex characters actively dealing with mental health issues, with military veteran Gavin also adjusting to civilian life, and there's a real-life believability to them and their deepening connection and loving concern for one another. Still, the story never fully clicked for me, some of which may be down to it being a bit more angsty and less Christmassy a story than anticipated given the book blurb. Dan Calley is a new-to-me narrator and I enjoyed his performance and varied British accents. I received this free review copy audio book by request and have left this honest review voluntarily.