The Santa Duet #1

ARC provided by author

(Beta Read)

Author: Erin Mallon

Thanks, @mallonerin for the ARC!

Penny has been working at the department store for years, ever since she quit her career as a ‘kickette’. Things were becoming toxic and she had to leave. Now, all she wants is to save enough to make her dreams come true: open a dance studio where the kids can just enjoy dancing.

She’s horrified when the store, wanting to boost up the sales of exercise equipment, decides to hold the ‘World’s Fittest Santa’ contest. They’ll hire the winner to be the store Santa. Oh, for the love of Father Christmas, this has to be a joke, because the last thing she wants around her is someone obsessed with calorie counts and exercise routines,. Things get worse when she is assigned to be ‘Santa’s handler’! Good Lord, now she has to watch the mall shoppers sit on this gorgeous Santa’s lap… Wait a minute… Did she say gorgeous? Oooops…

Matt could use the money for the contest. Not only for the new gym he just opened with his best friend Gene but also to help cover the expenses of the memory care facility where his mom is living. Ever the optimist, he decides to try. He’s got nothing to lose. And when he wins it’s a triple whammy because he also gets Penny, the woman he can’t get off his mind. 

Pretty soon they realize that this might be their best Christmas ever after all…

OMG, I loved this one! Holiday romances can fall easily into cliches but if there is one thing you can count on from an Erin Mallon book is originality. It was a delight seeing Penny and Matt fall in love in the weirdest of circumstances. The awkward moments in gym equipment demonstrations, the tree decorating, the sweet getting to know each other moments are all there and they are all very ‘Erin’. 

As usual as in all her rom coms, Erin tackles some sensitive subjects such as body image, disordered eating and having a parent with a mentally incapacitating disease. Rest assured that they are not used just to move the plot but integral to it and are dealt with care and respect.

If you want a heartwarming, fun, LOL holiday romance, Santa has a Six Pack delivers all the goods! 
I can’t wait for Keira and Gene’s story!

Content notes: toxic relationship with a family member, cheating (not MCs), dealing with an ailing parent with a mentally debilitating disease