The NorthStar by Elle Keaton

The holiday season can’t be over soon enough for John Hall. His ex-boyfriend emptied the bank accounts and ran off with his personal trainer months earlier leaving John unable to pay his creditors. Now he’s forced to close the independent movie theater he runs, a bad end to a bad year. Gay, single and closer to fifty than forty, John doesn’t see a lot of hope in his future. In the dark of night he wonders if staying afloat is worth the effort.

Chance Allsop made a promise to his dying mother he hopes he doesn’t regret. Ten months after her death he’s finally in Skagit Washington, visiting the old movie theater where his parents met and fell in love decades ago. The whole thing seems like a lark until he lays eyes on the handsome owner. With his mother’s spirit at his back Chance fully intends to win John Hall’s heart.

Book 7.5
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John was back on his knees—a position he historically enjoyed, but not in this scenario, checking under Dumpsters in foul weather. An unfamiliar voice startled him from his brooding. The sound came from the other side of the container, near the alley door John had left propped open. Focused as he was on searching for the kitten John hadn’t heard any approaching footsteps.

Dammit, he’d hoped the kitten would come inside on its own a human person was more than he wanted to deal with. Without the marquee turned on it seemed pretty obvious, to John at least, that the theater was closed, and why would anyone but him be back here in the alley? A chill ran down his spine. Was he about to get jumped? A bit hysterically, he wondered if his boxers were clean like his mother had always warned him they should be, just in case. But what hoodlum would call out a hello first? He was such an idiot.

After unsuccessfully searching the hallway and places the kitten could have gotten to inside, he’d come back outside to look more diligently, thinking he couldn’t see it because it was hiding under the other side of the container or it had found a box or something.

“Hello?” the voice repeated coming closer. “Are you all right then?”

A distinctly English accent, asking if he was okay—so he wasn’t about to be mugged and left for dead in a dark alley.

Carefully, John stood back from the trash container and turned to look over the top of it. It proved impossible for him not to stare at the handsome man waiting where he shouldn’t be. And, thankfully, he remembered taking a shower before leaving the house and putting on entirely clean clothing, including underwear, so he was good.

The stranger was backlit by security lights mounted on the opposite building, and John was standing a few feet away from him, but a trick of the light meant John could see his features clear as a sunny day. If he hadn’t been recovering from a terrible breakup and off men almost entirely, he might have thought an angel had decided John deserved a gift.

“Is there something you need?” he asked, attempting to shove aside his immediate attraction to the dark-haired man standing in his alley.

The man contemplated John for a moment before replying, “No, I think I’ve found it. I may have something of yours, however.”

Lord save him, the man had a smooth, deep voice and an English accent.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Veronica – ☆☆☆
A promise to his dying mother sees Chance travelling at Christmas from his home to London to Skagit to visit the NorthStar movie theatre where his parents met. When Chance arrives, he meets John, the theatre owner, who is in the process of shutting the place down so the bank can take it.

Chance and John’s romance is a story of insta-love which didn’t initially work for me. It felt a little too forced too quickly. But once they moved past their first night together, it started to feel more natural and I really started to enjoy the story. I particularly liked that Chance was so confident that John was the right man for him and the way he came in and pushed John in the direction he needed to go.

In the end, The NorthStar is a charming story, a little predicable, but I was left feeling good, which is just what I want from a Christmas story.

Also Available in the Accidental Roots Series

Book 1
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For reviews & more info, check out our Storm Season post.

Book 2
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For reviews & more info, check out our No Pressure post.

Book 3
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For reviews & more info, check out our Spring Break post.

Book 4
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For reviews & more info, check out our As Sure as the Sun post.

Book 5
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For reviews & more info, check out our stop on the River Home Blog Tour.

Book 6
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For reviews & more info, check out our Unforgivable post.

Book 7
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B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo

For reviews & more info, check out our His Best Man post.

Author, photographer, rare Pacific Northwest Native, Elle grew up in Seattle, WA., with the Cascade Mountain range to the east and Olympics to the west. Less than two hours northwest lie the majestic San Juan Islands. To the northeast is the Methow Valley and the scrub deserts of Eastern Washington. Geography ripe with material.

A graduate of Western Washington University, Elle has a BS in biology which taught her to be tenacious. The closest she has come to biology since then is having two kids. Like an experiment or something. She’s lived in four states (none of which were gaseous), London England, and Hong Kong; always knows what time it is, and has no problem finding parking even in the most difficult places. Cannot balance a checking account.

Elle's series Accidental Roots, mostly set in the Skagit Valley of Western Washington, will make its debut spring of 2017. Storm Season is tender, sometimes irreverent, full of nosy neighbors and help when the hero didn’t think he needed it. Writing has always been a passion but not something she was able to take seriously until recently. Now her head is full of ideas and not enough time in each day.

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of The NorthStar (Accidental Roots #7.5) by Elle Keaton to read and review.