It’s Christmas Everywhere But Here

Title:  It’s Christmas Everywhere But Here

Author:  Liam Grey

Publisher:  Dreamspinner Press

Length:  94 pages

Rating:  B+

Quad Shot of Love

Blurb:  Christmas brings dreams of peace, love, and family time for most. Sadly, Russell Moore isn’t so blessed. Since his coming out and marriage prompted a less-than-joyful reaction from his religious parents, Russ has kept his distance to avoid their conservative disapproval. With his husband David deployed overseas for the second Christmas in a row, Russ gives in to the loneliness and takes his stepchildren to meet his parents for the first time, hoping the “goodwill toward men” spirit will overcome his mother’s zealotry. 

But Russ’s Christmas joy is too quickly deflated by his mother’s unmet expectations, leaving Russ to ponder if peace, love, and perhaps matricide go hand in hand.

 

Review:  You don’t have to be part of a military family to feel the heartbreak of being separated during the holiday season. Not with the poignant and beautiful way that Liam Grey tells this story.

Russ is amazing. He’s such a good parent and an excellent partner to a man whose profession has demanded he spend far too much time away from his family. While at times Russ feels the ache of the hole David’s absence causes in their lives he never wavers in his devotion or considers any life other than the one he creates every day with his family. 

Russ’s mother is a terror. (I really hated her, a lot.) It’s sad when a child’s love and need for acceptance with their parent becomes a suffocating burden. Thankfully he has a good dad and a pretty fun and fantastic, in his own way, brother to help him get through the holiday. 

Russ’s children are complicated and take a lot of work, but are also his greatest joy. Russ is an excellent parent. He stands his ground and has developed a good routine for his family. I enjoyed the interactions and the love that was so apparent between them. 

While this love story is bittersweet the sweet is beautiful and rewarding enough to make it worth whatever complications and aches the bitter may bring. 

I loved this holiday story of family, hope, love, getting through the holidays with your sanity intact, and maybe a Christmas miracle or three. I know I’ll be reading it again for many years to come.

Reviewed by Nina