A (Fake) Boyfriend for Christmas

by Sean Ashcroft

Faking a relationship with his boss isn't exactly what Jay had in mind for the holidays. But when he gets busted making out with Harper at the office Christmas party—by the guy's mom, no less—well... it's his best chance at a Merry Christmas this year.

Not least of all because he's had a reindeer-sized crush on Harper since the day they met.

Faking it only lasts until the searing sexual tension that's been building for months between them boils over, and they come to an arrangement: the full boyfriend experience for the few days they have together, then back to being colleagues at the end.

Should be easy, right?

But baby, it's cold outside and it's warm in bed...

A (Fake) Boyfriend For Christmas is a steamy novella-length gay romance with a HEA and all the holiday feels. It contains: office party makeouts, tree lopping shenanigans, explicit scenes, a snowball fight, oodles of holiday spirit, and true love conquering all.

Genres: M M Romance, Christmas, Romance, Holiday, Contemporary, LGBT, Novella

148 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 5, 2019

About the author

Sean Ashcroft likes rainy days, white hot chocolates (don't knock it 'til you've tried it!) and boys kissing in books. He currently resides in Australia, all the way down at the bottom of the mainland in a sleepy little seaside town.

He writes sweet, hot books about sweet, hot boys who absolutely deserve each other.

Reviews

[⚣Michaelle⚣ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

I find it funny that some of my best Holiday reads have been after the holiday season...and I'm glad this category got picked for the Bachelor challenge.

I love the fake boyfriend trope! I only had one highlight but really there could have been a hundred more...which would have meant the whole book got highlighted and that kind of defeats the purpose. This one was delightfully humorous and romantic and just all around a great read.

[Drache.... (Angelika) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,25 stars.
Lovely, heartwarming holiday novella with charming main characters who work with each other, are in love with each other, and are fake dating over christmas.
The story is less than 150 pages, with sweet moments, family time, lots of chemistry and alone time.

[Evelyn220 · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐️ Well this was just delightful and sweet as pie. I smiled the whole way through. I liked the slightly different take on the fake relationship trope. Harper and Jay are already desperately in love with each other when the story begins but they can’t make it official because they work together—Harper is Jay’s boss.
So they decide to pretend for a weekend that they’re able to have everything they want, and it’s just so heartwarming and hot and romantic. A true comfort read. The writing is top-notch. Loved every moment of this book.

[Leslie]

I don’t often enjoy extra sweet stories. There are exceptions of course. Christmas books being one of them. 🎄

However.

There’s sweet like eating a sugar cookie or two. And sweet like eating your way through the gingerbread house you painstakingly decorated in a matter of days. Not that I’ve ever done that. 😬😉🤷🏻‍♀️

This one was like that. So it wasn’t for me. But I think people will like it who are wanting that extra bit of sweetness. I’m not rating it because it’s a case of me and not the book.

[Eugenia · Rating 4 out of 5]

So fun and Sweet!

Fake boyfriend!!! Loved it!

This was simply a luscious, sexy read with a side of holiday UST for fun!

This story starts out hot and sexy with the MCs all over each other at a holiday office party. But....the hot and heavy ended waaaaay before I wanted it to. (Don't despair...they get going later again!!).

Bring in pushy mother and mistaken assumptions, and you have a boss asking his subordinate to be his holiday boyfriend and meet the family.

We all know how these stories end, and this one played out and ended delightfully. I adored both MCs, the family trip, and the secondary characters!

My rec? It’s a jolly good time!!!

[Pam · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Gustaf · Rating 4 out of 5]

A (Fake) Boyfriend for Christmas is exactly what you expect it to be. It's a fun, low angst, sweet story about to genuinely good men finding the happy ever after that they deserve. It's filled with the joy of the season, family, snow and mentions of all the Christmas food you can think of. I loved Jay and Harper together. I loved how they just fit and brought out strengths in each other, the other didn't think they had. On top of that, this book was also surprisingly steamy. Seriously, when these men got together, it was hot!

With that said, it got fairly predictable after a while, and while I loved seeing Jay and Harper get their HEA, I kinda wanted something more. What? I'm not exactly sure.

[charlotte, · Rating 4 out of 5]

oh that was soft

Rep: gay mcs, lesbian side characters

[Jennifer☠Pher☠ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was cute.

It for sure needed more talk and less thinking but it's Christmas so whatever.

Cute.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a sweet peppermint holiday romance. Jay was just a ray of sunshine and his boss, Harper was just like the cold snow. Together it's like snow angels had descended and everywhere was just blinding! Both were trying to keep their pants on because they were working together. But one phone call from Harper's mom had brought Jay to them for Christmas. Jay became his fake boyfriend and Harper decided to dive in to the total boyfriend experience. In the end, he was drowned in happiness and Christmas lights.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Delightful little
Nothing of a book. Become
Real boyfriends? Uh, yeah.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded to 4

Super light, fluffy and steamy holiday Romance with my beloved fake relationship trope and boss/employee element .

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐️ - this was so hot y’all!! The chemistry, the pining and the fun - they really truly enjoyed each other!! I loved every bit of this one! Sean is a new author to me and this won’t be the only book of his I read. It was so clear that Harper and Jay were deeply emotional about each other but couldn’t do much about it because of their work policies. But the fact that they built a friendship was so sweet. Normally the fake boyfriend trope is super cheesy and flimsy but this one really worked - I think this trope lends itself to novellas (most of the time) rather than full novels. The heat and passion were incredible and really had me invested in their relationship!

[mace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes you just need a fake dating holiday romance novella that's actually surprisingly sweet and low on angst. This was lovely!

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

3/4

[Aldi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Either I'm pants at picking the holidays romances this year or I'm just feeling extra-Grinchy or it's the 2020 energy; but I seem to have zero patience this year for stories where the conflict is basically "two functional adults can't manage to have a single functional conversation about their relationship." This novella hit the ground running (and kept running, to the point where I never quite felt caught up), mid-make-out session between two people who are already in love, have been in love for the better part of a year, continue to be in love, have a full supporting cast very unsubtly rooting for their in-love-ness, face no significant hurdles whatsoever (they work together, but there's any number of obvious solutions for this), and yet spend the entire story dithering in pointless and contrived angst. It doesn't help that due to the short format, you don't really get to know them and they sound identical to boot. It had a few cute moments but I know I'll have forgotten it by tomorrow :/

[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very cute and very low angst. Jay and Harper were supposed to be faking a relationship in front of Harper's family when they visit during the Christmas holidays, but there's nothing fake here. They've been crushing on each other for months. The fake relationship idea is actually an excuse to test the waters. The problem is that Harper is Jay's boss, and a relationship between them is obviously a no-no. Both MCs are equally adorable. Harper's family (dad, mom,sister, niece and nephew) are incredibly sweet from the moment they meet Jay. A bit more angst would've been great but overall I enjoyed it a lot, especially when they finally confess their feelings.

[Kitty · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

This was sweet but slow and very Hallmarky. It had little to no plot or angst. Overall it was full of sweet characters and even sweeter moments, and while it's a decent read, it didn't really grab me. If you're looking for a fluffy romance full to the brim with sweetness, this might work better for you than it did me.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fluffy, light, and adorable, which was exactly what I needed to read last night (since I read it in a matter of hours).

[Raven || The Reader Identity · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my gosh, this was just the sexiest, sweetest, most romantic little fake relationship holiday romance! Usually with fake relationships there’s some awkwardness at some point but the two MCs in this story were meant to be and there were ZERO moments of awkward tension. Noooo, there was some thick, delicious tension that was acted upon and it was amazing and SO passionate.

Harper is the “boss” and Jay is his “assistant.” Harper thinks Jay is wonderful and Jay thinks Harper hung the moon. Both guys are CRAZY about each other but because they work together, they can only succumb to their love for Christmas when Jay accompanies Harper home for the holidays.

I adored Harper’s family. I loved the details and the joy. I was obsessed with the flirting and the soft glances and touches.

❄️ 𝗜𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗜 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂. 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗱. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗶𝘁. 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗱. ❄️

This book made me HAPPY and so content. I’m putting this one on my comfort reread list because not one second of this story did I think of my problems. I needed this.

[Barb ~rede-2-read~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a sweet, light (fluffy) romance between two young men who worked together. In fact, one was the boss but they worked together as a team so didn't consider themselves boss/worker. Until Harper (the boss) needed to bring Jay home for Christmas as his fake boyfriend to get his family off his back.

The two have been in love but never told each other and still don't during the vacation but they take the opportunity to act on their attraction. There's lots of sex for those who like it, and Harper's family is sweet and supportive so no real angst in the story.

The guys finally get around to declaring love toward the end of the book and everyone has a happy holiday. Not much depth to the story but sometimes sweet hits the spot.

[Shaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was all kinds of sweet and fun. I'll admit I love the fake boyfriend trope anyway, but when it all clicks like this one does, it's extra special.

Jay has been lusting after his boss Harper ever since they started working together. Little did he know that Harper had fallen hopelessly in love with him not long after. When Harper's mum interrupts things when they just get going... what else is there to do but to bring Jay home for Christmas?

Jay and Harper are well fleshed-out characters, especially in such a shortish story. Of course I would have loved more, but as it stands it's a prefect holiday read. Just what you want this time of the year!

[Bibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a cute holiday novella! I'm sorry I didn't read it sooner. It was heartwarming and sweet and just perfect to read during a pandemic when comfort is sorely needed.

I'll definitely be checking out more works by this author in the future!

[Caipi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet, light romance but a bit boring. There was no real reason for them to "play" fake boyfriends when they obviously both wanted each other for months now. They just needed to finally find the courage to express their feelings in words. Talk guys!

3.5 stars

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This totally hit my sweet spot- I'm in a christmassy light and fun reading mood.
You just have to love those two idiots. How oblivious can you be?
Perfect light and funny read for the second to last Sunday before Christmas!

[Kaila · Rating 5 out of 5]

so totally sweet funny and adorable. haha.. i enjoyed these characters and also the side characters. i loved seeing them get their own stories in the middle of our mcs. it was amazing

[Silkeeeeeereads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very Cute

I’ve read a few Christmas stories this year and this has been only the second one I enjoyed. I think it was the characters.

[melek · Rating 5 out of 5]

very sweet and hot leads to more when harper invite jay to be his fake boyfriend for Christmas. very very light read

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit sickly sweet for me. 😟

[Akila · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted something light and fluffy and Christmassy and this delivered. It was a cute boss-employee, fake relationship story. Their conflicts were mildly contrived but it delivered like an over sweet Christmas cookie.