This was my first romance by TJ Alexander, and I absolutely loved it. I don't read as much contemporary romance these days, and I was honestly so relieved to have the comfort and familiarity of third-person POV (I struggle with the shift to first-person POV in contemporaries!). This centers main characters in their late thirties/nearing forty (!), with a trans main character returning to his ultra-conservative Floridian hometown during a career crisis and a newly single dad navigating life post-divorce with his four year-old. These two have a long history with one another, having grown up as inseparable childhood friends before becoming more in high school, and the nuanced balance between deep familiarity and rediscovery was so well done. Each is making significant assumptions about the other and what they want (relatable and realistic, sigh), and each is navigating particularly thorny personal and family conflicts on the side. I deeply appreciate how each character has an independent conflict to resolve before negotiating a relationship, and that even when they could veer into codependency, they ultimately lean on a larger network of support (fantastic parents, caring and supportive exes, great BFFs, and even new friends). This feels like a love letter to elder millennials and queer folks discovering themselves later in life (Nick!!), and I highly recommend.

I really enjoyed this especially Nick and his relationship with his daughter and father. Also just him being so accepting. Eli did get on my nerves, I just felt like everything was poor him and he just made stupid decisions. I loved his family though. The relationship was cute. I also don’t love how it ended, I get it’s real life, but it just made me sad that Nick was losing so much of his daughter in my opinion. 

I am lowkey shocked that I waited this long to read a TJ Alexander book. I loved literally everything about it. It's set in Florida and whew it's really set IN FLORIDA. The main characters are childhood best friends and former high school sweethearts. Eli has come back to Florida to spend time with his parents for Christmas (and after his life in NYC kinda imploding) and hasn't seen Nick in years (before he transitioned). Nick is a divorced dad, and perhaps the sweetest man on earth. There is SO MUCH to love about this book including complicated and realistic family relationships and the absolute scorching beauty of queer love.

This book has sold me on TJ Alexander. The characters are so lovely and interesting and layered. This was incredible representation of a trans man as well as someone coming to terms with a change in sexuality later in life. Also BLESS for these characters being in their late 30s/early 40s and still learning about themselves. 

Eli's flaws are so real and endearing. He's struggling but he's still got a cockiness (yes) and confidence that adds a charm. He's just who he is and that's not what is keeping him from achieving his goals. Nick is just a doll, I just love him and his whole journey. And the rep of having good co-parenting was chef's kiss (no pun intended for Alexander's other work, I swear). Finally, his daughter is a well-written child, for once. She may have been written slightly too old, but it wasn't infantilizing which grates me. 

The only place this book really lost me was the pacing of the end. It all seemed to come together a bit too rapidly and the epilogue left more questions than answers for me. But that's so so small. 

I'm sharing this book with everyone who enjoys queer lit and/or romance. One of my fav reads of 2023. 

I signed up for this book at the library the moment I found out it was a thing at the end of Chef's Choice. I loved it and it was a wonderful book. It's so great to have an author doing sex scenes with trans bodies and having a character who isn't having a gay panic about his potential not-straightness. TJ Alexander keeps up with their typical "if these characters just asked a blunt question, a lot of stuff would be quickly resolved", but it works best in this book due to the Christmas nonsense that keeps us all too busy sometimes as well as with one of the character's potentially dealing with a huge upheaval in his life at the same time he misunderstands a conversation.

I look forward to the next book that TJ Alexander might come out with.