So freakin' ADORABLE!

Maaaaan, I loved this! Ryan had to figure out three personal presents as secret santa for non other than Jamie Peterson. The same Jamie he secretly watched, but openly didn't stand up for when fellow students or his own best friend make fun of him. Quite the opposite, since they usually pick on him because Jamie's gay and out, while Ryan is... not. 

This was unbelievably sweet, darned cute and sooo adorable. I loved Ryan. He was the epitome of a young guy, not yet a man, but not a boy anymore - who was trying so very hard to find himself, deal with his hormones and not hurt anyone in the process. He wasn't perfect. He made mistakes and had regrets. But deep down he's such a good guy and it showed again and again. Plus, I freakin' loved his sparkly rainbow spider! Dang, the cuteness was killing me. 

This book is only a short read, but it's full of promise, feelings and tenderness. I absolutely loved it, and that's saying something since I'm not the biggest fan of CoA & YA stories. Seriously, if you're in the mood for a little holiday spirit, but mostly sweetness and great MCs, pick this one up!

Title: Sock It To Me, Santa!

Author: Madison Parker

Publisher: Smashwords

Publication Date: Nov 12th 2012

Page Number: 55 pages

Blurb:

Ryan is assigned to Jamie Peterson for his class's secret gift exchange. If word gets out that he has to make a handcrafted gift for flamboyant and openly gay Jamie, Ryan will be the laughing stock of the school. It's a good thing no self-respecting boy would be caught dead in a craft store, because otherwise he'd be at risk of being spotted when his mom drags him to her weekly craft workshops. He hopes Jamie will appreciate all the trouble he's going to for this assignment. Finding the perfect gift is gonna be tricky. Jamie deserves something good, though, after all the crap he has to put up with at school. At least, Ryan tells himself that's the reason he's putting so much thought into the gift. It couldn't be that he has feelings for Jamie, could it?

What I Thought:

A cute GLBT story and Secret Santa project revealed the true feeling. Like any other GLBT teen stories, this novella also showed the anxiety to be recognized as a gay teen. The fear of closest people's reactions to the gayness. But also like any other GLBT teen stories, nothing to worried

Opening Lines:

I don't know what made me do it -- what made me say her name. I guess I panicked.

First the good news: This isn't written in first person voice as I feared. It's been such a long time since I actually bought this book that I'd forgotten most if not all of why I wanted to read it. But the title kept putting me off because I do dislike first person voice narration quite a bit. (That's a British "quite" by the way.)

Then the bad news. The main character is too weepy to my tastes. There's nothing wrong with crying but an author needs to pick their moments for a story. If there are tears for every. single. remotely emotional moment. it becomes too much. Like the punctuation here.

Other than that, it's quite a sweet (read: occasionally too sweet) story about coming out to your family and even to yourself. It has less of the love triangle—or quadrangle—than I feared, but I believe it's too much for those who don't want to read about the character with anyone other than the main love interest.

And then there's the preachy tone I couldn't pin down until I read the author description. Apparently Parker wrote this because she had something to say about bullying.

It's a good attempt but misses my sweet spot for escapist fiction.

P.S. I skipped the physical descriptions and imagined the characters more diverse than they were.

And in a very nice way. No drama, no angst.

And what I loved especially: no confidence issues for the geek.

Two very likable main characters, a nice set of secondaries and a sweet and enjoyable story.

This was a cute little story, but the ending was way too abrupt - I hope the author's planning a follow-up story.