Stanley's Christmas Redemption by Gabbi Grey - Narrated by Michael Dean

This story is about Stanley, a 47 year old guy who used to live in this town but was a horrible person and broke up with his boyfriend and left. We know he was horrible by his first interaction when he got to town. Going by only this book (apparently, most of the backstory is found in ginger snapping all the way, which I only found out by googling.) Stan knew the relationship wasn't working and broke up with someone but was made the villain.

He meets Justin, the grief counselor for Stan's nephew. Yes nephew, who Stan did not know existed. Justin is young and loves this poor boy. But the boy is an orphan and everyone is rallying around to give him support.

During this week or so, Stan and Justin fall for each other but don't like actually talking about feelings and plans with one another. Eventually, they decide to begin a relationship. I do not know if it was because this was a short story that got expanded, but this couple was missing oomph between them.

Usually, if a story is good, one doesn't notice when a kiss happens, but I happened to actually notice that the first kiss was around 4 hours in. Almost midway through the book.

Michael Dean narrated this well, though there was one section that sounded like it had been edited. It wasn't horrible, but it was noticeable.

GR Link