Series: Rory & Jack
Volume: 3/3Publisher: Independently published
Genre/s: Contemporary M/M Romance
Length: 49 000 words
Read in: English
Review copy format: epub
Rate:✮✮✮✮✮✰
After two years of a flourishing relationship, "watered" each day with love, tenderness and closeness of a beloved person, Rory and Jack, just like flowers, are close to being in full bloom and saying "I do". Their wedding is planned for Christmas Eve and although all the preparations are done by Jack's mother, the stress associated with this special day still makes Rory feel bad. But how could it be otherwise when the ceremony, which was supposed to be small and modest, slowly grows without the grooms' knowledge? Their wedding should be a joyous moment, but won't stress overshadow its beauty before this important day?
"A Christmas Wedding" is the third installment of Rory and Jack's love story written by A E Ryecart. There's no doubt that the first advantage of this novel is the fact that once again, as Christmas is coming, we "visit" these two characters, whom we already had the opportunity to meet and fall in love with. I think it's all the more important because in this way, step by step, novel by novel, we see the progress of their relationship, changes that take place in their lives and in them. What's more, reading about Rory and Jack once again, we feel as if we are visiting some old friends with whom we are going to spend Christmas. This comparison seems to me all the more adequate as "A Christmas Wedding" focuses not only on the events taking place right before our eyes, but to some extent it also recounts what has happened so far. So we have the impression that the characters tell us what happened when we were "absent", and thus about the events taking place between the books. It's a really unique and enjoyable feeling.
Rory and Jack's wedding is naturally the theme that dominates "A Christmas Wedding". The way the author approaches this topic is really amazing, as this is not some mawkish story about two men in love who finally have the opportunity to say the significant "I do". In this novel, we can find all the emotions that are related to the wedding, starting from stress. What's interesting, A E Ryecart doesn't limit herself by presenting the stress of preparations, but she focuses mostly on the human psyche, and thus on questions such as: "Is my involvement in the ceremony sufficient?", "Am I good enough?". What's more, the author also raises the problem of becoming part of a new family. A family that is not ours in genetic and emotional terms. And finally, since it's all about marriage, we also see joy and happiness, which, although muffled by stress, are enormous and omnipresent. In other words, in this novel the author presents the topic of the wedding in a realistic way in terms of emotions.
Another advantage of "A Christmas Wedding" is the way the author presents Christmas. Obviously, our characters spend the holidays together, which allows her to present the topic of their personal traditions, problems and joys. However, to me the most important is the fact that A E Ryecart approaches the subject in the way that reminds me a little of "A Christmas Carol". In other words, her characters face the ghosts of past, present and future Christmas. Of course, this is not about facing the ghosts literally, as in Charles Dickens' story. Rory and Jack often think about Christmas taking into account the mentioned three points on the timeline. This is undoubtedly very interesting, especially since it encourages us to do the same.
Finally, I would like to mention that in "A Christmas Wedding" the topic of enjoying life and every day, every success, small or great pleasure is really important. It's undoubtedly very festive and positive, it makes us smile and encourage us to look at our lives from a different, more optimistic angle. What's more, it is worth mentioning that this type of sweetness is combined with a bit of bitterness of hesitation, which is quite normal for all of us, or lack of complete confidence. Thanks to all this, in other words all these better and worse moments, Rory and Jack are the characters closer to the readers.
To sum up, "A Christmas Wedding" is an enjoyable novel that approaches the presented events seriously and rather realistically. Although the story is full of sweetness that comes from love of two people, we can also find here some sour thoughts, thanks to which our characters develop as the story moves forward.
Headcanon: Rory and Jack try to have "normal" Christmas with "normal" Christmas tree. After few hours they have enough.
Fanfiction idea: Rory prepares doggy Christmas for his neighbors' dogs.
AU idea: Rory is the flight attendant during Jack's flight. Eating his meal, Jack is choking on meat, so Rory helps him.
Here's some more about:
Book Title: A Christmas Wedding
Author: A E Ryecart
Cover Artist: Tammy Clarke/Meredith Russell
Trope/s: Fake boyfriend
Themes: Christmas, Wedding/Marriage, Domineering family
Heat Rating: 3 flames
Release Date: November 19, 2019
It is part of a series but it can certainly be read as a standalone.
Christmas. A Wedding. Family. It's the Perfect Storm...
Blurb
Blurb
For Rory Kincaid marrying Jack, the youngest son of the aristocratic De Lacy family, on Christmas Eve, is a dream come true. Handing over the wedding planning to Jack’s mother, the strong-willed Lady Diana, is turning out to be more of a nightmare.
As their big day approaches, the pressure’s on and the strain is beginning to show. Announcements in society magazines, a guest list that’s growing and growing, and fittings for the best bespoke tailoring in London, it’s all a far cry from Rory’s humble upbringing. Piece by piece, Rory and Jack’s dream of a simple winter wedding is fading fast.
Rory is Jack’s everything. Sweet, kind, and totally adorable, Rory is all Jack has ever wanted. And what Jack wants most of all is to give the man he loves the wedding day of his dreams — and that means taking a stand against the indomitable Diana.
***Warning: this story contains two gorgeous men, a mountain of mince pies and cupcakes, a punk rocker Christmas fairy called Bunty, and a snowy Christmas Wedding.***
As their big day approaches, the pressure’s on and the strain is beginning to show. Announcements in society magazines, a guest list that’s growing and growing, and fittings for the best bespoke tailoring in London, it’s all a far cry from Rory’s humble upbringing. Piece by piece, Rory and Jack’s dream of a simple winter wedding is fading fast.
Rory is Jack’s everything. Sweet, kind, and totally adorable, Rory is all Jack has ever wanted. And what Jack wants most of all is to give the man he loves the wedding day of his dreams — and that means taking a stand against the indomitable Diana.
***Warning: this story contains two gorgeous men, a mountain of mince pies and cupcakes, a punk rocker Christmas fairy called Bunty, and a snowy Christmas Wedding.***
Buy Links - Available on Kindle Unlimited
Excerpt
“Where are we going? The Tube station’s that way.” Rory nodded in the direction they were coming from.
“We’re not going home, or not just yet.”
“Oh? I thought we were going to decorate our living room, drink lots of advocaat, and then get naked on the rug.”
Jack threw back his head and laughed. “That sounds like a plan, but there’s something I want to do first.”
“You mean something is more important than naked advocaat?”
Jack just smiled in response. There wasn’t a lot that was more important than naked advocaat, but what they were about to do next just about topped it.
The tiny street would be so easy to miss in the messy and higgledy-piggledy maze that was the City of London.
“Jack? What—?”
Jack pressed his fingertips to Rory’s lips and gazed into Rory’s questioning, confused eyes.
“Just go with me on this, okay?”
Jack pushed the door open, and he and Rory stepped into another time.
The shop was crammed with tall and narrow display cabinets, all of them holding a treasure of watches. Behind the counter, in a corner and almost hidden, sat a small, round, bald-headed man. A pair of glasses perched on the end of his nose, and another was wedged on the top of his head as he worked on the mechanism of a pocket watch, using what looked like a set of toy tools.
“Mr. De Lacy.” The man put aside his work, stood up and extended his hand to Jack.
“Mr. Hogarth. Let me introduce Rory Kincaid, my fiancé.”
Jack moved aside to allow Rory to shake Mr. Hogarth’s hand. Jack smiled; in a moment everything would be revealed.
“Let me bring your order.” Mr. Hogarth disappeared into a back room.
“Jack, I don’t understand. What’s going on?”
Before Jack could answer, Mr. Hogarth returned bearing a small black box, which he handed over to Jack.
“Please.” Mr. Hogarth gestured to a small table and a couple of chairs on the other side of the shop, in the only space not taken up with display cabinets, before he returned to his place once more behind the counter and took up his work as though he were alone.
“I want you to have this,” Jack said, opening the box as soon as he and Rory were seated.
“What?” Rory gaped at the watch, displayed on a pad of black velvet. “But we agreed a strict ten-pound budget, just something silly this year. I haven’t—”
“No, it’s not a Christmas present.”
“Then what—? I don’t understand.”
Jack took the watch out of the box. Like his own, it was plain and unadorned. The black Roman numerals were stark against the white face; the casing was gold, deep and burnished.
“When I was twenty-one, my father presented me with a watch from this shop. He did the same for George,” Jack said, referring to his elder brother. “My father also had a watch on his twenty-first birthday, as did my grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather. The De Lacy men have had watches in one form or another from Hogarth’s since the late eighteenth century. All those watches came from here, from this very shop.” Jack glanced toward the counter, but Mr. Hogarth had gone and was now nowhere to be seen.
“This isn’t a Christmas present, Ro. This is something every De Lacy man receives. And I wanted you to have one, too, because that’s what you’re on the point of becoming: a De Lacy man.” Jack’s lips lifted in a wry smile. “I didn’t know you when you turned twenty-one, although I wish I did. I’m just making up for lost time. On Christmas Eve, you’re going to take my name. I want you to be wearing this watch when you do.”
“Jack, I–I don’t know what to say.”
“Then don’t say anything. Just accept it, along with the words I had engraved.”
Jack held the watch out. All his focus was on his fiancé, reading for the first time the words engraved not only on the watch but on Jack’s heart.
Love, always and forever.
Four simple words which said everything Jack held deep inside about the man he’d found huddled on his doorstep just two Christmases before.
About the Author
I love all kinds of MM romance and gay fiction, but I especially like contemporary stories. Born and raised in London, the city is part of my DNA so I like to set many of my stories in and around present-day London, providing the perfect, metropolitan backdrop to the main action. I write at home, in the gym, in cafés —in fact I write any place I can find a good coffee!
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