Icecapade (His for the Holidays) in Q&A with Josh Lanyon

Dec 07, 2010 Ami rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-stars_rating, mm-romance-or-erotica

Ten years ago, diamond thief Noel Snow had a wonderful one night with FBI special agent Robert Cuffe, after months of playing cat and mouse. Noel decided to leave in the morning though. After a bad fall that fractured his skull and permanently damaged his inner ear, Noel cannot do heights anymore. Though he already plans to quit his ill-gotten glory days, the fall firmly secure his resignation from the burglary job.

Noel then starts writing a very successful series, whose characters interestingl Ten years ago, diamond thief Noel Snow had a wonderful one night with FBI special agent Robert Cuffe, after months of playing cat and mouse. Noel decided to leave in the morning though. After a bad fall that fractured his skull and permanently damaged his inner ear, Noel cannot do heights anymore. Though he already plans to quit his ill-gotten glory days, the fall firmly secure his resignation from the burglary job.

Noel then starts writing a very successful series, whose characters interestingly "imitate" himself and Cuffe. Not only that, over the past ten years, Noel makes it a habit to leave a phone call on New Year's Eve to Robert, as part of his attempt to apologize to the other man. Then, this Christmas, a knock on the door brings Robert Cuffe back into Noel's life.

Unfortunately, Robert accuses Noel of being responsible (the doer or the mastermind) for a series of recent jewel robberies. Despite of that, Noel is still attracted to Robert and he knows the agent feels at least the same way. Well, Noel decides that this Christmas, it will be a whole different outcome for the two of them.

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AWWWWWWW .... this is probably the most romantic story from Josh Lanyon yet. I have practically read almost of his stories, and aside from The Dickens With Love and The French Has Name For It, this is probably one story that does not really involve murder or animosity against the two guys. Oh, sure, Robert claims to come to Noel's house this Christmas to question him about the robberies, but it is SO CLEAR that it's just an empty threat. I don't feel that coldness indifference or deep anger or hostility or someone acting like an ass-hat. There is NOTHING like that at all here. It's plain sweet and written in the perfect pace for the ending, when our heroes FINALLY make it together *sigh*.

A couple of scenes here just make me smile in delight or at one point, choked in surprise then grinning like an idiot ("After a few seconds he became aware of Robert’s lips moving almost soundlessly against his ear. “If you think the earth moved just now, imagine what’ll happen when I fuck you.”). Add a couple of fun secondary characters, including Noel's neighbor who breeds Llama(!) -- thanks Josh, I gather a new knowledge today that baby llama is called "cria" -- this story is captivating AND an absolute winner. One I will easily revisit for re-read.

I would give the story 4.5 stars but let's just say a scene involving a rescue attempt of baby llama pushes it to the perfect 5-star rating. Come on, how many times you encounter llama in romantic story?!? Dogs, cats, horses, sure -- at the last short story I read, a moose. But llama??! That baby llama needs the score of his own *grin*. ...more

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Jul 23, 2012 ttg rated it it was amazing

Shelves: m-m, reviews, favorites

This novella is a real gem! I totally loved this holiday story of retired cat burglar Noel Snow, whose quiet solitude at an upstate New York horse farm is interrupted when his former FBI nemesis (and one-time lover) comes knocking on his door to interrogate him about a rash of robberies.

Even though you may have a strong idea of how this story might end (being a Lanyon story and a holiday-themed one to boot), it still unspooled in ways that I hadn’t suspected at all, and I was just as surprised a ...more

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Dec 11, 2010 Cat rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, top-m-m-author, reread-of-the-week

I'm very glad this gentle, tender story was next on my reread list. The concept - a catburglar falls in love with the cop who is supposed to catch him, spends one night with him and the two are separated for 10 years before reuniting - might appear far-fetched and unbelievable, but I'm a romantic at heart and although I know that such a scenario has less than 1% chance of happening, I'm clinging to it. It is a very sweet Christmas story, and Josh is showing off his romantic side here - the story ...more

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