Genre: Romance, Comedy
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Reviewer: Ulysses
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About The Book
Bring a little joy to the world? Not today, Santa.
Matthew Prince is young, wealthy, and notorious for living life like it’s one big party — until a PR disaster lands him in forced holiday exile. Now stuck in a picturesque town that feels like the North Pole’s forgotten outpost, Matthew is determined to count down the days until his return to the city. But sharing close quarters with Hector Martinez — the grumpy, gorgeous local who sees right through him — changes everything. As sparks fly and a charity gala spirals toward disaster, Matthew must decide: will he cling to the person he was, or risk opening his heart to something real?
If you love Red, White & Royal Blue or Schitt’s Creek, You’re a Mean One, Matthew Prince delivers a laugh-out-loud, heart-squeezing holiday romance filled with snark, sweetness, and slow-burn chemistry. This festive LGBTQ+ romcom will charm fans of gay Christmas romance, small town holiday fiction, and feel-good love stories.
Make this holiday season unforgettable with a romance that will make your heart grow three sizes.
While part of a series, this book stands alone.
The Review
Family, ethnic prejudice, socio-economic class, mental health, and the dangers of a life lived through social media are all part of this clever, smart, and ultimately truly moving story. There’s even a strong The Prince & The Pauper motif, in the two central figures of the spoiled rich boy (Matthew Prince—duh!) and the virtuous poor boy (Hector Martinez). Timothy Janovsky knows what he’s doing; but the familiar path down which he leads his readers is strewn with surprises and some serious ideas.
This is an absolute model m/m romance. The sly reference in the title (for those of us who know the cartoon version made for television when I was a kid) is made obvious in the book, when Hector Martinez calls Matthew Prince a Grinch. Moreover, right there on the page the two principals, Hector and Matthew, tease each other about using a Lifetime Movie taglines and being in a Hallmark Movie.
As with the best stories like this (is it YA? The protagonists are both college-age, but there is very little sex), the characters are fully developed and (eventually) they appeal to you. What makes this particularly good is that the adults in the story are important to the story. Being gay is not the point, not for either Matthew or Hector. If there is an obvious dichotomy, it’s the clash between selfishness versus a generous spirit. Built and shame are at work here, but in a generally healthy way. Both Hector and Matthew are ashamed of things in their lives, but not for anything that is, ultimately, their fault. Matthew, more than Hector, has made mistakes and bad choices; but his reasons neither simple nor, in the end, blameworthy.
I always like books such as this, especially when I see a gay man writing them. This brings a kind of lived experience to the narrative that neither Lifetime or Hallmark does. I love many women writers who do m/m; but confess that there is something different in these same stories seen through the eyes of a boy who grew up gay in a world that is still hostile.
The Reviewer
Ulysses Grant Dietz grew up in Syracuse, New York, where his Leave It to Beaver life was enlivened by his fascination with vampires, from Bela Lugosi to Barnabas Collins. He studied French at Yale, and was trained to be a museum curator at the University of Delaware. A curator since 1980, Ulysses has never stopped writing fiction for the sheer pleasure of it. He created the character of Desmond Beckwith in 1988 as his personal response to Anne Rice’s landmark novels. Alyson Books released his first novel, Desmond, in 1998. Vampire in Suburbia, the sequel to Desmond, is his second novel.
Ulysses lives in suburban New Jersey with his husband of over 41 years and their two almost-grown children.
By the way, the name Ulysses was not his parents’ idea of a joke: he is a great-great grandson of Ulysses S. Grant, and his mother was the President’s last living great-grandchild. Every year on April 27 he gives a speech at Grant’s Tomb in New York City.
