Winter Break by Steve Milton

"Stanley is way out of my league -- and anyway, I'm straight."

Stanley, a good-looking and openly gay jock, is happy to be friends with anybody, even a straight and nerdy guy like Ben.

"They don't know the real me. They think they can throw me away."

Stanley is tired of guys who see him as a sex object or think a handsome guy doesn't have feelings. He wants to be loved, and being seen as a jock doesn't help at all.

Winter break leaves Ben and Stanley alone in the dorm, discovering each other anew. Between the snow, the movies, the pizza, and the Christmas carols – things happen, discoveries are made, and it's Stanley who feels unsure.

Winter Break is a standalone straight-to-gay/gay-for-you Christmas college romance with hot freshman love and a feel-good HEA.

Book 1
Buy Links

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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆
Winter Break features only two characters, Ben and Stanley, told from Ben's perspective. Both are first-year college students who are staying on campus for the holiday season. Ben's socially awkward, a physics major, and Stanley is the all-American male. Ben is intimated by both Stanley's looks and his caring and compassionate personality.

The short novella is a full story, finishing with an open-ended happily ever after. It's definitely on the sweet side, with Ben being naive and Stanley understanding. The believablity factor must be suspended, as this is more fantasy than reality. Some of the language and inner monologue sounded several decades older than a teenager would use, and I don't mean by intelligence or maturity – words my own parents/grandparents would use – I'm 38 – and it was during between-the-sheets moments.

I need to point out that 75% of the book is told in storytelling-mode, meaning it's told, not shown. The other 25% are dialogue and physical scenes between the two men, but a lot of fast-forwarding through events via 'telling.'

While I'm on the fence with reading more by this author, I'm willing to give the second of the series another try, as the story being told was a sweet one.

Steve Milton writes gay romances with sweet love, good humor, and hot sex. His stories tend toward the sweet and sexy, with not much angst and definitely no downers. Steve crafts feel-good stories with complex characters and interesting settings. He is a South Florida native, and when he's not writing, he likes cats, cars, music, and coffee.

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Winter Break (College Try #1) by Steve Milton to read and review.