A Sucker for Christmas: A Winter Holiday MM Tentacle Romance, Tinsel and Tentacles by JP Sayle

Here we are again in the Tinsel and Tentacles multi-author series and we have an octopus shifter this time! In a SUCKER FOR CHRISTMAS two best friends learn how to take the leap and try for more with the help of a meddling sister.

From the blurb:

An annual Christmas vacation to Australia gives two long-term friends more than they bargained for—love. But one of them has a secret that could suck in more ways than one.

Fitch found his soulmate, Shaun, when they were both four years old, but they were separated by two things, a couple of oceans and their age. Not to mention the secret Fitch has been keeping. The fact you can turn into an octopus at will isn’t the kind of thing to be sprung on anyone, especially a soul mate.

Every winter, Shaun heads down under to spend Christmas with his family. For the last twenty years, he’s spent his favorite holiday surfing and lazing around on golden beaches with his best friend, Fitch. Shaun wants more than friendship, however, but has no clue how to get the man of his dreams to see him as more than a friend. Enter Mandy, Shaun’s sister, and Christmas is all set to become an adventure with hilarious consequences.

Fitch and Shaun are about to find out how to deal with the discovery that true love comes with suckers.

A Sucker for Christmas: A Winter Holiday MM Tentacle Romance is part of the Tinsel and Tentacles multi-author collaboration and a complete standalone. Expect to find steam worthy of an Olympian swimmer and laugh out loud moments that will make your ribs ache. Want more tantalizingly tentacular winter holiday romances? Grab the whole series!

Molly Otto's Review:

This is just one of those happy friends to lovers of two men who belong together but need some help to take that leap. Mandy is a meddlesome genius who gives Shaun and Fitch courage in the most/least helpful way.  

The banter between these two on point and has you cackling with their antics. 

For me, it took a minute to be engrossed with the story, the only reason I couldn't give a full 5 stars. Will way once it picked up, it did beautifully just take a bit for me.

Overall, it has been a great contribution to this combined universe. It has been fun to see what way each of these authors takes on the Tinsel & Tentacles idea! I'm looking forward to seeing where the other authors go for it!

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Jacqueleen the Reading Queen's Review:

"He'd been there nearly my whole life. The one I shared all my highs and lows with. He was my person."

This was just absolutely adorable. I know it's a tentacle romance, but I swear to you it was so freaking cute!! Fitch and Shaun meet when they are 4 years old and have been best friends ever since. Fitch has known since that fateful day they met that Shaun was his, but it wasn't until he became a teenager, and the feelings of friendship began to morph into feelings of something else, that he finds out why. As an Octopus shifter, Fitch has a fated soulmate out there just for him, and it turns out that person is Shaun.

Shaun is a human. He has no idea that octopus shifters or soulmates even exist. He just knows Fitch is his person. The one he wants to share his life with. Now that he's finished with college and moving closer to Fitch, it seems it might be the time to finally tell the man how he feels. Sadly, these two have been dancing around their feelings for one another for way too long and they've kind of gotten stuck.

"My whole life he'd been there, being Fitch. Waiting for me to see him."

I loved when Fitch and Shaun finally stopped fighting their insecurities and went for it. These men were made for one another. They spent way too much time worrying about how the other felt and too little time considering their own emotions. It actually takes Shaun's meddling twin sister to get them to finally start heading in the right direction. She's a menace, but a lovable one.

Their HEA was just so sweet. I loved the whole bonding discussion and Shaun's reaction to hearing he had to be bitten by an octopus. It made me laugh so hard. Their families were just lovely, too. This was an all around fun holiday read for all the tentacle romance lovers out there like me!

Rating: 5 Stars

Angel's Review:

I've read quite a few books by JP Sayle before and I was excited to see their contribution to this tentacular series. 

I thought the premise of the story was great; I appreciated how there was almost that painful slow burn that occurred. The one where you want to shout at the characters to just talk to each other and then them how they feel, you know what I mean? The buildup was done well. I adored Mandy's character. While she did love to cause mischief for her brothers, she did genuinely want to help them realize what they feel for one another, and to help them tell each other how they feel. 

Fitch and Shaun's character, I thought, worked well together. I loved the scene where Fitch fully shifted and showed Shaun his full animal spirit form. It broke me a bit to read how Shaun once said that Octopuses are weird creatures, cause Fitch took that to heart. But! They were able to work through that, and once Shaun knew the truth about Fitch, he accepted who, and what, he was. 

Overall, a good story. My only note is that I kept getting thrown out of the story with all the UK references and terms? Like it would mention some item, and I would have no idea what it was referring to. So, I think if there was a glossary of sorts explaining what everything was; I think that would've helped.  

Rating: 4 Stars

A Sucker for Christmas is available to buy as an ebook, paperback, or to read with Kindle Unlimited subscription.