Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC. I love Adriana Herrera's writing, so I was really excited to read this. The story was sweet but way too short, even for a short story. I felt that there was so much information crammed in there to set the stage, but once the story itself got underway, I really enjoyed it. Never really disappointed by Adriana's writing!

Adorable, happy little story. I highly enjoyed the Dreamers series and having this short story about Yin and Ari is icing on the cake. I liked how the it played out so perfectly wrong, but perfectly right in the end.

Thank you Carina Press and NetGalley for the ARC!

A pleasant story, reminiscent of The Gift of the Magi, told in present day. Yin and Ari are two hard-working American Dreamers, determined to build their best life in America.

Though most readers probably wouldn't notice, there are details that really impacted my overall enjoyment, and thus, the review of this book. The musical Hamilton is referenced a lot, as is the movie version that was released July 2020. In doing so, the author placed this story right in the middle of a pandemic that is not referenced at all. Many gatherings and contacts-- but no mention of masks or social distancing. Also references to travel and activities that aren't even logical, if not impossible, during this time. One of the events, has been shut down-- and will remain shut down at least until spring 0f 2021.

Even if the story was written prior to the pandemic (publication Nov 2020), it would have been wise to make a few minor changes. Either set the story a year or two earlier, or reference the current crisis and change some of the detailing.

Placing the timeline as this Christmas (2020) kept pulling my thoughts away from the story and making me uncomfortable (reminding me) of the pandemic ravaging our country.

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A sweet sexy perfect Christmas read. The right length to cozy up and spend a few hours celebrating Christmas and winter full of feels. Loved it.

American Christmas was the perfect read to escape into!! It was so wonderful to see Yin and Ari happy and living together. They were always delightful side characters during the Dreamers series and the absolute definition of the American Dream. This is based off the Gift of the Magi and even knowing that story I got so caught up in these two and their gift ideas/exchange for one another. The selfless love and intent warmed my heart even when things went belly up. And of course the crew came together in the end to save the day.

This was definitely the happy, love filled return to this world that I needed!

This was a quick sweet holiday read where we get a story for Yin and Ari. We meet these two over the course of the other Dreamers books (which I love!) I was happy to see that all the Dreamers characters returned in this one for a truly heart warming Christmas.

This group reminds me a lot of my family, as a Caribbean person and might i toss in our (Trinidadian) ponche de creme in the battle of the milky Caribbean drinks lol. I actually wasn't aware some of the other islands had a drink similar to ours as well. I knew abut coquito but not the others so that was fun to learn. Also you can really sense how much this group loves each other. I've always enjoyed the found family aspect of this series.

The group really pulled through after Ari and Yin sort of mess of their gifts to each other. These two are both so selfless and it was really sweet to see their family come together like this to make Christmas truly special for these two guys.

Adriana Herrera’s Dreamers series has been a favorite since American Dreamer arrived in March of 2019 each book is full of wonderful, real characters finding their happily ever after. For this holiday season, Adriana brings us a wonderful finale to the series with American Christmas, featuring Ari and Yin.

We met Ari and Yin when Nestor hired them to work on his food truck in American Dreamer, and they’ve been a constant presence through the series. We’ve seen their romance start to blossom, and each of them find their place in an amazing circle of friends but also the circumstances that put them both in Ithaca.

Now at Christmas time, Ari and Yin are preparing for their next big chapter as they prepare to leave their support system and move to Syracuse for college. Ari is headed to law school and Yin is starting a nursing program. They’re understandably nervous about what this big change, but also excited. They’re also planning a big Christmas–each unbeknownst to the other.

Adriana takes a classic holiday story device and makes it her own with some beautiful Dreamers accents. You see, Ari and Yin promised to spend only $100 on each other because they’re supposed to minding their finances ahead of the move and going to school. They both went very above and beyond and unfortunately their gifts end up canceling each other out and leaving them devastated that they ruined their holiday.

But, Christmas is about miracles and Ari and Yin’s friends have their backs. You can be sure this turns out to be one magical Christmas for the two before they head off on their new adventure.

As with all of the Dreamers books, Adriana brings us a story of a couple so much in love and a couple looking to create their best lives and going for their dreams. It’s also about having incredible found family who will move heaven and earth to keep them happy and safe.

I’m so glad we got this book because I’ve been fans of Ari and Yin from the beginning, and even more so after seeing a big part of their story in American Love Story, which is Patrice’s book. Something felt so perfect about their story falling at Christmas too. It’s always felt like Ari and Yin and are the little brothers, in the best way, to Nesto, Patrice and the gang in Ithaca and the family really came through to make Christmas the best ever.

This is a wonderful wrap to the Dreamers series. I can’t overstate how happy I am that we got Ari and Yin’s story and that it kicked off my holiday reading season. I can’t wait to listen to the audio too. Sean Crisden’s narration has been perfect through the series and even though I’ve already read this, I’m picking up the audio to enjoy this Christmas story one more time.

Ahh this was the perfect read to get me in an early Christmas mood. I might actually reread it closer to Christmas, that's how much I enjoyed it.

It was such a fluffy, heartwarming read, and I loved seeing so many recurring characters from one of my favourite romance series.

Actual Rating: 3.5 stars

American Christmas is a sweet and steamy m/m holiday romance novella featuring side characters from the American Dreamers series, with appearances from the main characters in the series. It plays with the tropes of Gifts of the Magi, but with a really great twist that emphasizes working through issues in a relationship, recognizing your own value as a person of color, and the importance of a vibrant community.

Yin and Ari are both American immigrants, in love and spending their first Christmas together. They both want it to be perfect, so they secretly plan over the top gifts for each other, not realizing things are about to go very wrong. Early on we get a lot of backstory on Yin and Ari, which is interesting but feels a bit rushed an info-dumpy. Because it's a novella of course, but I would have liked to see that woven into the narrative a bit more smoothly. The back half of the novella was just lovely though.

As always, Adriana Herrera brings in great diversity. Yin spent his early childhood in a refugee camp in Myanmar and still feels the need to prove himself worthy of the second chance he got in America. Ari is Afro-Latinx and also struggles with not feeling good enough. They feel like real people dealing with real relationship issues, but who care deeply for each other. This is a great holiday story filled with love and friendship. I received an advance copy of this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I think this is a wonderful sendoff to the Dreamers family. It doesn't hold up that well as a standalone work because it's so short and so much of the character and world building has already happened. Plus, it's a relationship in trouble plot, so you want to have already seen the relationship.

It's sweet and quite low angst in the end. It's a bit of a Gift of the Magi retelling (as is referenced in the novella itself) and is a nice reminder of how to work through mild troubles in relationships happen when people are very in love but aren't communicating at their best.

The found family really shines in this as well, which is what I love so much about this series. Because the stakes are pretty low, it's just like chilling with your family at Christmas, which is a lovely mode to be reading in.

I enjoyed American Christmas and was happy to see this happy couple get the HEA they so richly deserved. That said, didn't they already have it at the start of the story? I'm not sure the conflict - going big on the holidays and messing up a gift exchange - necessarily qualifies for or merits a standalone story. Much of the novella was simply the principal characters revisiting why they loved their partner and cataloging the many reasons for the rest of us. Their deep love is the cause of their "angst," but fortunately wealthy, wise, generous friends (the cameos are an A+ addition) redeem the holiday. Honestly, it's a treat to read about a happy couple, but this one is so saccharine sweet and predictable from start to finish, that I missed an actual hurdle to the HEA.

It's definitely a feel good story - and at holiday time I know that's what a lot of readers are looking for, and I was happy to revisit characters from the earlier books. Most fans will be pleased, but in my case, I'm not sure there was enough in this story to merit a standalone. This felt more like an epilogue.

4.5 stars!

This review was written for and published on Joyfully Jay Reviews:
American Christmas is a sweet and sexy Christmas novella featuring side character readers met in American Love Story, the third book in the Dreamers series. It is fully enjoyable being read as a standalone.

Yin Thuta and Ari Douniama are both immigrants to the U.S. who survived civil war, refugee camps, and legal status challenges before their immigration was settled. They each bear scars from this experience, with Yin wanting to celebrate milestones in big flamboyant ways, while Ari lives in fear of not having finances to support himself and Yin. They are both out and gay, and have been in a relationship for about two years. They live together and work hard. Both of them have just been accepted to graduate school: Yin for nursing and Ari for law school. With the help of their friends in Ithaca, NY, they live in a reasonable studio apartment and each man finally feels they have a real shot at success in life together.

The story opens right before Christmas, with both Ari and Yin revealing to the reader that they have broken their $100 budget for gift giving. They both want to splurge this one time, to make the gifts they give the very best possible. Yin knows that Ari had a dream to attend a huge semipro soccer camp in Arizona over spring break, so he made purchases to support Ari attending the camp. Meanwhile, Ari wants to be the bestest boyfriend ever and give Yin the ultimate musical and NYC experience…over spring break.

The reader knows this is a Gift of the Magi situation long before Yin and Ari do, and that adds tension to the story. It’s such a bittersweet moment as they unveil the amazing gifts they sacrificed to obtain for one another. I loved the way each man handled the disappointment, not railing to their partner, but looking outward to their supports. I also loved the way their loving community rallied to truly demonstrat the Christmas spirit both Ari and Yin had hoped to foster for one another.

With all the Dreamers stories, it is community that helps and heals the wounds of society and situations. I loved seeing all my favorite characters from previous stories appear to help Ari and Yin get the bestest Christmas ever when it seemed their incredible and uncharacteristic sacrifices would amount to nothing but heartache. I think the author does a great job of letting us know how each of these characters fits the support network for Yin and Ari, which is why I say it CAN be read as a standalone. That said, I was so happy reading this after having read three of the previous stories. These men were really a side issue for a previous story, and I loved seeing them, and their very settled, very sexy, relationship on the page.

A delightful, gentle novella about a couple trying to find the best Christmas gift for each other. While it would have been useful to have read the other books in the series, it wasn’t necessary for me to enjoy it.

While you might get some more background on these two characters in the rest of the series and enjoy the cameos more (I’ve only read the first one so far), I think it was pretty easy to jump into their relationship for this twist on a classic Christmas story. Romance novels with established relationships seem to be pretty rare (for understandable reasons, but still), so I appreciated this cute story about a couple who has been together for a couple of years and are making new traditions.

It's their first Christmas living together and Yin and Ari have gotten each other the perfect gift...

As this book comes out, the world is kind of a rough place. And this story is a wonderful little capsule of two people who love each other and want to make the dreams of the other come true. And how the people around them love and support them and want to make their dreams come true.

It's satisfying to see these two characters happy together, after seeing their struggles throughout the other books in the series. It's also serves as a lovely curtain call for the other couples in the series.

If you think you could use a happy cry and you want to see nice people do nice things, this is for you.

I received an ARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley.

I loved this book! Ari and Yin were completely adorable. I liked that this book started when they were already a couple. I will say that I missed some of what was going on since I didn’t realize this was a continuation of her other stories in the series. That didn’t tamper my joy in this book at all! I will be going back to read all the previous books and then doing a reread of this one.

This is a lovely story, a glimpse into the first Christmas Yin and Ari celebrate in their own apartment in Ithaca. As the story opens, both men are looking forward to giving each other the perfect gift: one they’ve had to sacrifice to provide.

Yin and Ari were minor characters in the early books and it’s a pleasure to see them now, surrounded by the friends readers first met in the previous installments of the series. They need those friends because both young men moved forward with their gift without consulting each other about schedules or possible roadblocks and, of course, though both gifts are outstanding, neither can accept their gift.

So expect a patch of heartbreak in the story. But the catch here is that these two young men, both immigrants, have worked hard to get where they are and they’ve built strong friendships with the characters in the other stories. They’ve built a family of the heart, and that family comes through for them, providing Yin and Ari, and the readers, with some much-needed lessons about communication and about embracing those who love you and accepting help.

Though I don’t recommend this as a standalone, if you care to know the background on the many characters in this book, this at least serves as a little slice of the life of this group of friends who have become family. The warmth and spirit of the holiday season shines through and I definitely recommend it to those who have loved the Dreamer series.

I was unaware that this was a Novella in the Dreamers series, but it definitely makes me want to read the series! I really enjoyed Ari and Yin's relationship. This Novella is short and sweet, yet still had complexity and was overall wholesome.

It was enjoyable to read about how much these characters loved each other and how selfless they were toward each other. A couple takeaways I got from this story was that communication in a relationship is key and to not let ego or insecurity impede one's relationship. Their love felt like it was on solid ground and I enjoyed that they were able to resolve their complications together, without blame or hurt feelings. The story also had a couple good steamy scenes.


If you love M/M romance, found family, immigrant MC's, and/or holiday romances then definitely read this cute and quick read!


Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I do not know who is sweeter: Ari, Yin, or their “family” in American Christmas. I do not know if Adriana Herrera named this book aptly because, I may be biased here, Americans are just not that loving. (Rainbows don’t hit me!!! I can only offer my words based on my experience in the world.)

Luckily for us we have Herrera to create a world where self-love is not placed first and partnership is applauded. Ari and Yin look out for each other’s needs and end up creating quite a conundrum in their goal to make the other happy during their first live-in Christmas together.

Will the pressure get to the two of them? Will the sex give out before make-up sex can even be put on the table? You will have to read this delightful tale of an American Christmas.

I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.

This novella was so sweet! It was amazing how much Adriana Herrera can do with her characters in such a short story. I loved Yin and Ari's relationship. Yin's enthusiasm, especially, jumped off the page. Their chemistry and connection was so beautiful. I loved how readers are given just enough insight to each of their backstories to understand their motivations. And the casual references to therapy were fantastic! The found family in this story makes me want to read the rest of the series for sure. I would definitely recommend this delightful, cozy, yet still sexy, little novella for this upcoming Christmas season!