This novel is intensely characters-driven, with a core of love. I needed that to make it through the tough parts. The author covers some hard topics, most notably abuse, via our three protagonists' points of view. We are right in there, dealing along with them. It required a box of tissues, so be warned. Not waved away, just warned. Buckle up, it's fun and sweet and upsetting and scary and not simple, of course.

They puzzle out their version of polyamory the same way we all do, that was well-done! We get to follow the entire evolution, from all three viewpoints. There's no magic-thinking as I've seen now and then, the over-romanticized version of relationships in general brought to a supposedly poly story. No, they forge what they want out of what they need, and verbalize, and agree. Like adults. It's awesome.

If you don't understand BDSM, this might be an informative book for you. It will certainly illustrate the value for people like these men. And it may explain to you how some (not all) abuse can happen. Compassion is key. For so many things.

The author handles abuse with respect, even as some characters screw it up. The real failures of our justice system glare as the characters sort out what to do. The references are real cases.

I LOVE the detective. LOVE.

I haven't yet read the first three books in this series, but never felt lost. Santa Baby is well-written and well-edited; few typos, events tracked well, that sort of thing. If you want a reasonable poly story, want or at least don't mind man-sex or kink play, enjoy a bossy mom and a sometimes funny Dom and his friends, and a very happy ending, read this. ( )

I love this series so why the caution (especially as I was pushing for a new release for Christmas). I loved Arthur and Gabriel as a couple and cautious about adding a third. I know this sort of relationship is part of Arthur's past...

Edit: I've bitten the bullet and bought it.

I love this series so why the caution (especially as I was pushing for a new release for Christmas). I loved Arthur and Gabriel as a couple and cautious about adding a third. I know this sort of relationship is part of Arthur's past...

Edit: I've bitten the bullet and bought it.

Some of the best romance novels I've ever read were by Heidi Cullinan, and I have a particular love for the Minnesota Christmas series, of which this is a part. So I'm particularly saddened that I didn't love the socks off this book. But I didn't.

The premise is that Gabriel, who we know from the other three books, and who got his happy ending in book two with Arthur, realizes (with Arthur's help) that he's polyamorous and that he's falling in love with Dale. This was my first difficulty with the story. I've read lots of stories about polyamory, and it's not a thing that bugs me at all, but I had a terrible time getting over this feeling that this plot "overrode" the HEA of book two, even though Gabriel and Arthur are still together and happy. I told myself to just go with it, as it felt like a me problem rather than a book problem, but I never quite managed to. In addition to that nagging feeling, I felt like Gabriel and Arthur didn't quite read like themselves, like maybe Cullinan altered their characters a bit to tell this story. And sure, people change, and there's no reason why that can't be represented in a romance series. But it didn't feel earned, somehow. Furthermore (and this is my biggest complaint about the book), the idea here is that Gabriel is poly and Arthur is "open-minded," willing (and happy) to be in a relationship with a man who falls in love with multiple people and will have more than one relationship at once. But Arthur's not meant to be poly: he's supposed to be fond of Dale, to be coming to love him, but the primary love story here is meant to be between Gabriel and Dale, the *falling in love* is supposed to be between them. But, having finished the story, I have no idea what Dale and Gabriel see in each other, no idea what made them fall in love with each other, but I know *exactly* how Arthur and Dale have fallen in love. Their relationship was on the page; Gabriel and Dale's wasn't (much). I also never felt like I knew Dale in the way that I knew all of the other characters from this series of books. I always say that Cullinan's books should be just a little longer, but this one could have used another hundred pages, honestly. We had three pov characters, one of whom is completely new to us, and the book just didn't have room to handle all those povs fully along with all of the emotional arcs and plot points.

Whew. Okay, that's a lot of points against. Now for the points for. This book *feels* right, that is, it feels like a Minnesota Christmas book, and that erases a lot of my unhappiness with it otherwise all by itself. Because I love this series so much. Also, Cullinan absolutely nails (as usual) the male friendships among all the characters we've come to know over the course of the series. And finally, there are a few scenes in the book (two or three) that are full-on, shivers down the spine, read them three times in a row AMAZEPANTS. (They all involve Arthur; it kind of becomes his book in a lot of ways.) Cullinan writes the high emotion scenes (Gabriel discovering new things about himself; some dark, abuse-related stuff with Dale) like nobody's business. These save the book for me, honestly. I just wish the whole thing could have hung together better, or--maybe--that she had told *this* story with a different set of characters. ( )