Tic-Tac-Mistletoe by N.R. Walker

4.25 stars January 13, 2021

Such a sweet story. N.R. Walker has dominated the first three books for my 2021 reading. I am rarely a fan of insta-love, but having known people who have been together 30 plus years who fell in love over a few days.

I can't deny that it can and does happen. Some say, when you know, you know. Hamish has uprooted his entire life to move half-way around the world from Australia to Idaho. Weather stranded him at the wrong airport, but desperate to get to his sister Hamish rents a car. Navigating the road with the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car and people driving on the wrong side of the road, Hamish ends up driving in blizzard conditions, when he has never even seen snow before. Sliding off the road into a ditch in the middle of nowhere, Hamish fears the worst. Ren lives the small town life, owns the local hardware store and loves his dog. For a gay man in the middle of nowhere Montana, he has resolved to be alone. That is until he pulls a handsome quirky and unapologetically gay man from the side of the road before he had a chance to freeze to death. This story is heartwarmingly funny and the attraction between the characters is almost palpable. The text explores grief and what if feels like to not only be seen, but heard. Insta-love trope done well, dare I say. The thing I have noticed about Walker's writing is that even when the love is quick, the story on the page along with the well written attractions of her characters feels like you've been on this long, great journey with them and that the love was a product of that journey. It snuck up on me that this was a relationship forged and cemented within days of meeting each other. Well done, can't wait to read more of this author's work.