What a magical, queer take on The Santa Clause!

I love Janovsky's writing and this is the book version of a Hallmark movie with abundant holiday cheer, a marriage-in-trouble plot, and the comforting elements of the Christmas season. It's got enough conflict to move the plot forward, while still managing to be hopeful and joyful. It's got lovable characters and nostalgic nods to our favorite holiday movies and traditions.

Elementary school teacher Quinn and overworked architect Patrick are dealing with their ships-in-the-night marriage when they're suddenly whisked via an enchanted cloak to the North Pole to take over Santa and Merriest Mister duties. But living 24/7 in the magical land of eternal merriment isn't all mistletoe and nice lists -- the newlyweds must still figure out how to repair their relationship and save Christmas, all while competing in epic snowball fights and leading the troupe of elves in holiday tasks.

Sweet and festive, THE MERRIEST MISTERS is the literary version of warm cup of cocoa (mini marshmallows included).

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest, unbiased review. THE MERRIEST MISTERS is out now!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin’s and Netgalley for a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 20%

This book was not for me. It’s definitely me and not the book. Marriage-in-crisis isn’t one of my favourite tropes and I found the Santa Claus plot line didn’t really work me. If these tropes appeal to you, give this one a try.

The Merriest Misters by Timothy Janovsky was not the usual Christmas story. There is a great deal of love and romance in the story. Is kinda of a rendition of Tim Allen’s The Santa Claus with a different twist.

I loved the premise of this book- the blurb sounds so fun and magical. Not only is Christmas on the line after a huge accident, but so is Patrick and Quinn's marriage. I thought the magic would have kickstarted and gone into over-drive as soon as Patrick and Quinn found themselves in the North Pole playing the Merriest Misters, however, that was far from the case. It felt like this was more of a domestic novel where we focus strictly on a couple whose marriage is hanging on by a thread instead of a fun, magical Christmas fantasy. There were many times where I found myself exhausted from Patrick and Quinn's problems instead of excited and thrilled for the elf and reindeer magic, not to mention a human playing Santa. The parts where we did have the Christmas magic were wonderful, I must say, and I honestly wish there was more of that throughout the book as opposed to marital issues, family drama, etc. 2.5 stars, rounding up to 4.
Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Timothy Janovsky for this ARC.

Timothy Janovsky is one of my all time favorite queer writers and I will never not want to read his works. This was a perfect Christmas rom com and it brought so much joy to my life

It’s like if the movie The Santa Clause replaced Scott Calvin with Scott & Calvin, the dynamic gay couple who are currently “wading through a rough patch.”

I was super into the beginning of this story, but the middle dragged through as we were working through that rough patch. Rarely do I wish a plot were different, but I really wanted to follow this couple as they fell into the North Pole & had a great time. Unfortunately, they brought their marriage woes with them, so it took away that Christmas magic for me. A solid holiday novel, but it may be a little too sad for some.

In a Nutshell: A Christmas MM romance-drama with a married gay couple at the centre of attention. Fabulous inclusivity, a plot with some atypical writing choices (especially considering the genre), shallow main characters, somewhat YA/NA in tone. Might work better for you if you like NA romances.

Plot Preview:
Patrick and Quinn have been married for not even a year and the cracks have already begun showing up. Patrick is very work-obsessed, which leaves Quinn feeling neglected and frustrated at having to handle the domestic chores alone.
When Patrick ends up hitting a “burglar” with a frying pan on Christmas Eve, they both are stunned that they’ve knocked Santa Claus unconscious. Santa’s flustered assistant, an elf named Hobart, insists that one of the two men take over Santa duties to save Christmas. Little do they realise that their duties weren’t meant to last only till Christmas morning. Will their struggling marriage be able to handle this added pressure?
The story comes to us in the alternating first-person perspectives of Patrick and Quinn, from two timelines.


This is my first proper M/M romance novel. For some reason, I have never found M/M blurbs appealing, though I have read and enjoyed plenty of F/F love stories. This book’s blurb reminded me of Tim Allen’s ‘The Santa Clause’ movies, which I had really enjoyed back in the day. Though the book didn’t entirely satisfy me, it is partly due to my reading preferences, and I hope I have a better experience with the next M/M story I pick up any time.

Bookish Yays:
🌈 A “romance” where the couple is already married and their relationship is somewhat fragile – quite unusual for this genre. It was refreshing to see a young couple struggling with the requirements of domestic living.
🌈 This might be a negative for some readers, but I truly appreciated how the plot shows one of them being dominant in the relationship without even realising how it affects the other one. Fictional gay relationships are always depicted as 100% positive. This book shows that they are as normal and as problematic as any straight relationship.
🌈 Every time there’s a white character in the book, the writing introduces them as such: “a white man”. I have rarely seen books introduce any white characters by referencing their skin colour, so kudos to the author! Let’s hope this becomes the norm. The default character colour in Western books shouldn’t be assumed to be white.
🌈 The rep is outstanding: a gay couple, a lesbian couple, a trans character, an ace character… At times, it did feel like there was a checklist being ticked off, but on the whole, it was a big positive.
🌈 Some chapters are termed “memories”, and these offer a flashback glimpse at how Patrick and Quinn first met and came together. These were well-written, and quite important in understanding their present difficulties.
🌈 A minor thread focusses on the issues faced by public school teachers (as Quinn is one) due to fund cuts – too short to be a major arc in the plot, but an important topic nonetheless.
🌈 Quinn has a "camp sensibility", a feminine side that he secretly acknowledges but struggles to show openly. I loved this writing choice! This portrayal is usually avoided in fiction as it is considered stereotypical or offensive. But Quinn's character development is very positive, showing him slowly embracing his "feminine side" without fear of rejection.


Bookish Mixed Bags:
⛅ I'm not a big fan of the whole “Christmas is RUINED without Santa and presents” trope. The book focusses only on the commercial aspects of Christmas such as gifts and lavish lunches and decoration. But given the premise of the book, I was kinda prepared for it.
⛅ While the Christmas setting does add some holiday spirit to the plot, the main storyline isn’t about Christmas but about the couple. The holiday vibes hence felt somewhat subdued, even in the location where everything should have felt most Christmassy.
⛅ The steam level is lukewarm – plenty of references to sex, no open-door action. This is good for me as I don’t enjoy steam in any romance books, regardless of the gender of the couple. But there are some corny references connected to the libido that made me cringe.

Bookish Nays:
🌧️ Patrick and Quinn are just twenty-six, which means they are new adults in their approach towards everything, including each other. This might be fine for readers in that age group, but much-older-moi found their actions tedious and their behaviour juvenile most times. It felt like they had much growing up to do individually and as a couple.
🌧️ Way too much anatomical focus in the writing! Almost every scene involves some mention of lips or eyes or hands or legs or whatever, along with various adjectives to describe them. (The word ‘eye(s)’, for instance, pops up a whopping 142 times in the book, with about a third of those references having descriptive adjectives.) Such writing makes me feel like the relationship is based primarily on physical attraction than on genuine feelings. Not my cup of tea at all. Might not be an issue for other readers.
🌧️ Way too much miscommunication between the lead pair! Also a lot of overreactions nd hyperdrama - annoying after a point.
🌧️ Broad daylight in the North Pole in December? Bruh!

All in all, this was a good first experience of a M/M romance, but I do wish the characters had behaved more maturely and the Christmas setting had been put to better use. At the same time, the nays are because of my personal reading preferences. The right reader ought to like this work better.

Recommended to M/M romance readers looking for a story more focussed on repairing love than on new love.
3.25 stars.

The Merriest Misters is a fun twist on the Santa Clause. Patrick and Quinn's marriage is in trouble a year after their wedding. They are feeling the pressure of normal life, and a big mortgage. When you add a little Christmas magic anything is possible. Can Patrick and Quinn find a way to fall in love while saving Christmas? Honestly, this was really funny. I enjoyed it. Merriest Misters is an entertaining and charming Christmas story!

Thank you to the publisher for giving me the chance to read an early digital copy of this book! I went into this one without having read the synopsis, and I think that was a mistake because the plot of this one was a lot different than what I expected. I tried to keep reading but ending up setting this one aside for now. I think I may wait until a little closer to Christmas to pick this one back up. I don't know if I just wasn't in the right head space for it, but it wasn't really working for me at this time.

This one got a 5 star rating for me half way through the book! I've always enjoyed Janovsky's books, but this one, mixed with Christmas has taken the cake! The Merriest Misters is very The Santa Clause-eqsue (think of the movie with Tim Allen). It has so many great references to classic Christmas movies that I myself love so much.

Patrick & Quinn's story was so real, honest and fun. Sometimes people forget who they are along the way in relationships. But magic, love and Christmas always seems to bring people together. This story had many real life issues: LGBTQ+, Parent/Child Relationships, Sibling Relationships & Career decisons). The relationships, and character development was so smooth and realistic. The Merriest Misters was a perfect holiday story & made this a really great treat as we head into the holiday season.

Thank you so much NetGalley, Timothy Janovsky, and St. Martin's Press for and E-Arc of The Merriest Misters, out
October 15th, 2024!

This one was almost a DNF for me. I thought it would be a good story for me but with the two MMC having almost no personality I just couldn’t get into it. Add in that it felt very much like a LGBTIQ version of the movie The Santa Clause …..just made it a no for me.
I won’t ruin the end of the book for anyone
Who might enjoy it,but I will say that the ending was the final nail in the books coffin for me.
I received a ARC of this title, all opinions are my own.

I love the premise of this story, it’s very The Santa Clause but gay and less cringey. Against a backdrop of holiday merriment mixed with mayhem, Timothy Janovsky tells the story of Patrick and Quinn, a married couple who’ve lost their spark and are trying to rekindle the love between them. What better than Christmas magic to bring them together? But this isn’t a Hallmark Christmas movie, and nothing is easily solved by sharing mugs of hot cocoa or saving a town festival.

Patrick & Quinn are on different pages - maybe even in different books! - in their daily lives. They’re not communicating, they’ve lost their way, and the pressure and expectations they feel are weighing them down. Bottom line, they’re not happy, and there’s a lot of soul searching and self-discovery that needs to happen to get them back on course. Not to mention a Christmas miracle.

When their miracle happens, I was hopeful removing the pressure and complications of everyday life would provide the time and space to rediscover the magic between them. And for a while, it does. But being the Merriest Misters brings with it a new set of challenges and expectations, and instead of coming together in a united front, Patrick & Quinn find themselves yet again on different pages, in completely new and different books.

I don’t begrudge these guys the experiences that led to their personal growth and self-discovery, but I didn’t necessarily enjoy the place they reached in their relationship either. It’s not the resolution I hoped for and didn’t quite hit the mark for me as far as a satisfying romantic conclusion. However, it does feel true to their unique situation, and I can see how the arrangement works for them, although it seems more like a compromise than a commitment to each other. Nothing has ever made a couple feel like two distinct halves of a whole than they did by the end of this story.

This story is a return to Janovsky’s less spicy roots, with some discussion of physical intimacy and sex, but little more than some kissing and making out takes place on page.

*I voluntarily read a complimentary copy of this book*

4 stars!

I just love Timothy Janovsky's books so, so much, and "The Merriest Misters" is no exception! It's basically a more modernized version of "The Santa Clause," with a second-chance "save our marriage" plot attached to it. Janovsky's bouncy writing style fits this holiday romp. "The Merriest Misters" is absolutely adorable and deceptively deep. It captures the Christmas spirit in a tremendous, joyful way. I really liked the main characters, a married couple named Quinn and Patrick, who are going through a bit of a rough patch in their young marriage. Though they love each other, they are each unhappy at work and in life, and they find themselves slowly drifting apart. On Christmas Eve, an accident happens. One thing leads to another, and Patrick is presented with the opportunity to become Santa Claus. Hoping to rekindle their crumbling marriage, Quinn decides to uproot himself, too, to go with Patrick to the North Pole. While I fully admit that this book can be cheesy at times, it's the right kind of cheesy, the kind you want to feel during the holidays, the kind that warms your insides and makes you believe in magic. There's so much jollyness here that I found myself smiling the entire time I was reading it. It's well-paced and flows well. There is a lot of miscommunication in this book, but it didn't bother me as much as it usually does. Maybe it's because I liked these characters and their journey. I had fun reading this one and highly recommend you add it to your holiday TBR!

Thank you to NetGalley, Timothy Janovsky, St. Martin's Press, and St. Martin's Griffin for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

Unsurprisingly, I adored this book. The premise had me immediately - The Santa Clause but make it gay? Yes PLEASE. And the story DELIVERED (much like Santa Patrick). It was cute as hell but also balanced really well with some poignant moments of difficulty and clarity for the characters. THE CHARACTERS! I adored them. I don’t read a lot of romances where a married couple has to find their way back to each other so this really stood out as exceptional for that reason. The writing is great, the pacing is great, really and truly it’s all great. You have to suspend disbelief to some extent to fully enjoy it but what is believing in Santa if not doing exactly that? At this point, if I see Timothy Janovsky has written something, I immediately instinctively pick it up. He really has become one of my favorite authors and I don’t think he’s ever written a single bad book. I said what I said. This was a joy to read and I cannot wait for his next book!

The Merriest Misters by Timothy Janovsky
Holiday diverse M-M paranormal romance. Dual POV.
Patrick Hargrave and Quinn Muller have been married for less than a year and with a cumbersome mortgage and jobs neither are fully happy with, their relationship is suffering. Their lives are Interrupted when Patrick knocks out Santa with a frying pan and has to step into the role to save Christmas. They agree to stay at the North Pole for a year and become busy with making the toys and all the tasks needed for the job. Their relationship doesn’t take thrive which puts the magic in jeopardy. Will Christmas survive? Will they?

🎧 I alternated between an ebook and an audiobook. The recording was performed by Mark Sanderlin and Zach Barela who each takes on one of the POV’s. I did speed up the playback to 1.5 to better match reading speed and conversational comfort. The audiobook was easy to follow even when it switched to a memory as chapter changes and time changes were announced.
Because of the memories and flashbacks, the print version may be easier to read for some.

The story was sentimental with adult issues. I expected it to be happier simply because of the premise of Christmas and the North Pole and the cartoonish cover. It is not a comedy at all. It is a romance so hea, but I shed some tears as they both recognized their own needs as adults and living life. Romance hea.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and publisher Macmillan Audio.

Not wholly original; a queer-retelling of The Santa Clause. I didn't care for the jumping around of time periods but other than that the story was enjoyable. I wish Christmas books came out closer to Christmas; it's tough to get involved in a Christmas story before Halloween.

This is a cute, dual POV, LGBTQ, Christmas romance. Patrick knocks out Santa with a frying pan and has to be Santa to save Christmas. Patrick and Queen stay at the North Pole for the year.
Very creative and an enjoyable holiday read.

Thank you to Net Galley and St Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was really enjoying the beginning, but I didn't know this was magical realism and I don't really enjoy that. So when that started I really tuned out and I couldn't continue. I had to DNF this one unfortunately.

I really enjoyed this book. It was an overall sweet book and I just couldn’t put it down as I wanted to see where this went. My only negative was in the ending, I really hated that part and it kind of felt like a total let down to me.

Are you a fan of the Santa Clause movies?

If so, I would recommend adding the Merriest Misters to your holiday reading list.

Patrick and Quinn’s marriage is on the rocks with jobs issues, a last minute Christmas dinner and a house crumbling down around them.

If things couldn’t get worse, Patrick knocks out a burglar on Christmas Eve. Well the burglar, isn’t so much a burglar, and now Patrick and Quinn have to save Christmas. Can they save Christmas plus their marriage?

This was an atmospheric holiday romance read. The way the North Pole is depicted sounds like a Winter Wonderland!

The Merriest Misters had romance but also touches on more serious topics of self-discovery and inclusion. Overall it was a cute holiday read.