This was so sweet and tender of a story. I loved the nod to the Santa Claus. It read like a movie I would watch cozied up with hot chocolate and popcorn to laugh and cry right along with the characters.

Thank you for letting me read another amazing ARC! I think this might be one of my favorites! I am not a Christmas person at all. Ba humbug but, I always enjoy Timothy’s books. Patrick and Quinn are in for a treat with this book! You will love where the “Santa suit” takes them!

Thank you to Timothy Janovsky, St. Martin’s Press, and Net Galley for this ARC!

All thought and opinions are my own 💕

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Find more on my IG @kayreads_romance

⚠️ !! Please be sure to check any TWs before diving in !! ⚠️

What to expect:
* Dual POV
* Told in first person
* Marriage in trouble
* Christmas Vibes
* The Santa Clause vibes!!
* Dual timeline



My thoughts:
I immediately liked the writing style! It drew me in from the start.

I enjoyed this book a lot! I really appreciate journey we were taken on with the characters. I am excited to read more from this author!!

This book was a wild ride. I went in a little blind, only going off of my familiarity with the author and not reading the full description, but I had so much fun with a surprise jump into the world of Santa and the North Pole.

Despite feeling like a fairly lighthearted holiday romance, this did have a marriage-in-crisis trope and dealt with a few heavier topics - relationship struggles, financial difficulties, and family estrangements.

While I enjoyed reading this book, I didn’t love the narration of it, and at points it fell a little flat. I also struggled to connect with Patrick, one of the MC’s, and had a hard time rooting for the main characters to rebuild their relationship.

Timothy Janovski is a hit or a miss for me, but lately, sadly, more of a miss. Maybe it’s a me thing because I had to read the blurb better, and I am not much of a Santa Claus lover. I might have liked it more without the whole Santa Claus/North Pole setting. I’m still hoping for another book like New Adult because I loved that one!

This was a cute Christmas story and a great palate cleanser! I loved the magic and the live story between Patrick and Quinn. Thank you for allowing me to read and review this ARC!

A Santa Clause type story with an angsty love story. Patrick and Quinn are struggling newlyweds. They do love each other, but they're drifting apart with other responsibilities pulling at them. A chance encounter on Christmas Eve has Patrick becoming Santa Claus. Quinn reluctantly decides to go to the North Pole with him. They rekindle their marriage, but still aren't quite where they should be. They don't fix their problems and they end up separating to save Christmas. Being apart helps them find themselves and each other again. Both grow and become better versions of themselves. I'm not sure that their compromise to be together would work for anyone else, it's their HEA. Mostly a fun read, but a little heartbreaking too.

This is an adorable book of two men in love! I love the dualogue between both men, the North Pole scenes, and all of the holiday fun! This is one of those great holiday books you read to relax after your day. Hallmark has nothing in this author!

I chose this book without reading the summary because I was in a Christmas-y mood. I'm not a huge fan of The Santa Clause, which this book is loosely based on, but I decided to stick with it because I found myself really liking the character Quinn, one of the protagonists. Quinn and Patrick, his husband, find themselves taking on the mantles of Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus (now Merriest Mister) after a Christmas Eve snafu. As Patrick takes on the responsibilities of Santa and begins his journey to self-actualization, Quinn steps into the role of Merriest Mister, where he's able to reevaluate some of his choices and where he wants his life to lead. I really empathized with Quinn's character (undervalued school teacher, extra-glittery personality that he tones down to be more "normal") and enjoyed his journey of self-discovery over the course of the book. HOWEVER, I saw a lot of red flags in his relationship with Patrick, especially for them having been married for less than a year. The major issues that they went through (rushing into marriage, home ownership, keeping secrets, etc) didn't really get resolved over the course of the book, and their plan to move forward with their relationship after their first year as Santa/Merriest Mister seems like a breeding ground for those issues to take hold again. Overall, this was a cute, Christmasy story, but the relationship between the two main characters was a miss for me.

3.75 stars

Much like your favorite Christmas movies, this book is cheesy, heartwarming, and a little outlandish.
I love a marriage-in-crisis trope so I was excited to see how Patrick and Quinn resolved their issues. They rushed through a lot of life steps and are now having a lot of trouble communicating, leading to them both being unhappy.
They’re thrown into a whole world of magic and Christmas and all kinds of changes, while still trying to figure out their relationship.
This book had all the Christmas magic and some sweet moments as well as decent character growth. However, I felt like these characters still weren’t communicating as well as they should have been.

I also am not really sure how I feel about the ending. While it wrapped everything up (no pun intended) I felt like the biggest problem they had was that Patrick kept making decisions for Quinn and that’s… pretty much what happened at the end. It was also in general just kind of a dissatisfying ending.

This book was sweet and festive but I just wanted a little bit more both from and for our characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
This was a hard one for me to sort out how to review.
On the one hand, I love love love the overall concept here of the Christmas/North Pole setting, taking up the claus mantle, etc and just how much of a fun romp that creates.
But the author also chose at the same time to delve into some really deeply complex interpersonal issues that did not, to me, get resolved in a realistic or believable way. I was left at the end feeling like I’d watched a relationship trainwreck where everyone was in denial and thought they were just fine. Reader, they are not going to be fine without a heck of a lot more work and therapy.

The Merriest Misters was absolutely wonderful! This book is dripping in Christmas magic and love! I delighted in getting to join a sweet couple on their year long move to the North Pole!

It's the merriest time of year...but for Patrick and Quinn, the cracks are showing. They've been married less than a year, and they're barely communicating anymore. Instead they're keeping secrets, spending time in separate rooms, and...knocking out Santa downstairs?

And so we learn that when one Santa quits, retires, or dies, another Santa must take his place...and with a sudden time crunch for a decision to be made, it's up to Patrick to try—and Quinn to reinvent Mrs. Claus as the Merriest Mister. When they agree to a trial year in the North Pole, it seems that all of their problems have been solved...for now.

Generally speaking, this makes for a cute, high-concept romp. I can't say that I've ever actually dreamed of moving to the North Pole and taking over Santa's workshop, but it's sort of fun to imagine, isn't it? There must be hot chocolate year-round. I did end up wishing that more of the details of that concept had been workshopped, though. We learn early on that it's the love of Santa and Mrs. Claus (or, in this case, the Merriest Mister) that powers the North Pole—and thus Christmas—so Patrick and Quinn quietly push aside their (very valid!) relationship concerns to go on something of a belated honeymoon in the North Pole. And so everything is grand...until, relatively late in the book, they have an argument (Patrick is not great at involving Quinn in giant, life-changing decisions), and the very fabric of Christmas is threatened. And, okay: I read too many memoirs about toxic iterations of religion. I am viewing this from a lens through which it's not supposed to be viewed. But I can't help but think that this is a version of Christmas powered not so much by love as by Mrs. Claus/the Merriest Mister 'keeping sweet', as it were, and making sure Santa stays happy.

I would love to know so much more about this world: What were the experiences of the previous Santas and Mrs. Clauses we meet, and why did they choose to stay? What or who did they leave behind? What do their lives in North-Pole retirement look like? We meet them briefly but never get to know them in any kind of detail. What does it mean in practice that the real-world life of a Santa is "taken care of" while he's working? (Because...as far as I can tell, all it means for Patrick and Quinn is that the bank doesn't repossess their house while they're away; the confusion and upset with which their loved ones greet them when they call—the North Pole has great reception, it seems—suggests that it's not actually as simple as their lives being expertly put on hold.) Is it an effect of the North Pole that Patrick casually forgets his commitments back home, or is that just Patrick? (I initially thought it was the former, but then we see that they're able to contact people at home whenever they want, so I'm less convinced that it's a Christmas-magic thing.) What are the lives of the elves like, and who are they when they're not bowing and scraping and making sure the Claus couple's needs are met? Could a Claus couple bring a kid to, or have a kid in, the North Pole, if they were so inclined? What happens if you're stuck in the North Pole as Santa, not allowed to leave, and something happens to a loved one in the real world? How much does Santa actually *do*, and how much is he a figurehead? Is Santa expected to visit *every* household that celebrates Christmas, or just some of them—and if the latter, how is that determined? What about traditions that celebrate Christmas in January? If Christmas were cancelled, what would that actually look like? Just no gifts from Santa, or would trees magically disappear from people's houses and stockings fall from fireplaces?

I think this can be chalked up to one that is very fun in concept but requires a fair amount of suspension of disbelief, which is unfortunately not my forte. Recommended for those who overthink less than I do.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

*miscommunication - so so much miscommunication
*second chance romance

This read as very simplistic YA/NA to me, but worse, the writing style and I did not gel at all and that did adversely affect my enjoyment of this. I wasn’t the right reader for this.

Also…
Wanting your love to be interminable? Unless you’re a severe masochist, I don’t think that word means what you think it means.



Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for the DRC

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

This one was somewhere between 3 and 4 stars for me, but in order to not be a scrooge I'll round up. This was queer Christmas joy in a book and it was quite lovely. I loved all the scenes at the magical North Pole with all its magic.

As far as the plot goes, (SPOILER) I'm not sure how their relationship is going to stay "fixed" when they're essentially doing long distance the whole year. It also seems like the whole foundation of their relationship and first few years was a bit rocky. I'm not sure that all the magic of the North Pole and Santa can fix that.

I enjoyed the North Pole bits the best. I found the flashbacks and switching perspectives to be a bit clunky. I would've loved to hear more about Quinn and Patrick's opinions on gender expression, as some of the scenes with the wardrobe were interesting. This was a fun read and will be a good one for those looking for a light, festive, MM romcom.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel. But! I think it's emotional conflicts we're kind of heavy for it's setting. Maybe that's just me, but I think if something is christmas themed it has to sort of carry the weight of the genre.

Still a good time, worth the read for the hallmark lovers.

Patrick and Quinn met in college, graduated, married, and went on to live mostly normal lives in the real world.. Until their marriage on the rocks becomes even more complicated when Patrick knocks out Santa with a frying pan on Christmas Eve. When Santa quits Patrick assumes the responsibility of saving Christmas and Quinn becomes the first ever Merriest Mister. They’re presented with the opportunity of a lifetime, but will it be enough to save their marriage and the love they’ve grown through the years?

The Santa Clause meets a rom-com in this jolly holiday read and I couldn’t get enough of it! The Merriest Misters was a fun, easy, quick read that had me giggling from the start. It was a story of self-acceptance, the magic of the holiday season, and a beautiful compromise for the one your heart belongs to.

The book was presented in a dual POV between Patrick and Quinn which I felt really worked for the story. I liked seeing Patrick’s POV as Santa and then Quinn’s POV as the Merriest Mister. It allowed the reader to see what was going on in each of their lives and heads, organically pushing the story along. We did get blurbs of flashbacks between the two which I loved. They were short and packed a punch- providing an extra layer of sentiment.

The details from the North Pole and about the Christmas magic were my favorite part! Learning about how the magic of Santa came to be and life in the North Pole was so fun and let the reader buy into the setting and Patrick and Quinn’s new world. The community in the North Pole and all of the events and traditions were just so, so cool!

Seeing Quinn and Patrick learn about themselves and their relationships with others was beautifully written and added so much depth to their characters. This growth contributed to the conclusion in a really awesome way, and I really loved the ending!

Overall, this was such a fun holiday read and I highly recommend adding it to your holiday TBR!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Read if you love..
Marriage on the rocks
Dual POV
Epic snowball fighting
Captivating storytelling
Sweet Christmas details

I freaking LOVED THIS BOOK! What an absolutely unique concept for a Christmas romance. I am obsessed. I love these men with my whole heart and this was such a fun and heartwarming story!

I wanted to love this book! I did like it but just seemed to be missing that something to draw me in and not let me go.

I’m going to preface this with, a three-star review, to me, is a solid enough book that wasn’t for me personally. This was a fun romcom with plenty of Santa jokes, but I didn’t click with the characters or with the writing style. The book is told in the first-person present tense - including in numerous flashbacks - and both MMCs have remarkably similar narrative voices. Secondly, the book is a marriage-in-trouble book and as such it deals with a lot of thorny, complicated relationship issues.

Patrick and Quinn got married quickly, don’t have enough money, have unsupportive families, and are both feeling professionally burned out with their jobs. In a sense this was a take on the “marriage to receive an inheritance” trope: Patrick and Quinn will receive financial security, luxury, and breathing room to figure out their lives by taking up the Claus roles - but only if their marriage works. Instead of getting married for that financial security, they have to have a good marriage. This is kind of a problem, because they both have massive communications issues.

Patrick’s controlling family have labeled him the disappointment compared to his brother, and instilled a belief that he should have a heteronormative relationship in which he is the provider and his spouse is a homemaker. Quinn’s mother, on the other hand, is unsupportive and mostly unavailable, meaning that he is intensely lonely; he, too, wants the approval of Patrick’s family, but actually loathes “homemaking” and would prefer a more egalitarian relationship focusing on quality time and mutual support.

Needless to say, neither of them have shared these issues with each other, and it all comes to a head on Christmas Eve when Quinn learns that Patrick lost his job and hadn’t told him. As I said above, these are complicated, somewhat heavy issues and I don’t think they work with the lighthearted romcom treatment. And generally speaking I don’t think there was enough growth - particularly for Patrick - over the course of the novel; at 80% he’s still doing all the same things he’s been doing throughout his relationship with Quinn. Similarly, every single issue brought up in the book - not only involving Quinn and Patrick but their respective families and interpersonal relationships - is tied up neatly with a bow at the end in a way I found utterly implausible. And while yes, this is a romance novel in which the main characters become Santa and Mrs. Claus for the duration of the year, one of the important things to me about romance novels - whether they're gritty contemporary romance or cozy fantasy romance about orcs - is the way in which the relationships and the emotions involved feel real and plausible and believable and I root for them. That didn't happen here.

I'm sure this book will work for others for whom light glossy romcoms are more their thing, but unfortunately it isn't mine.