Rating: 4🌈
There’s so many great things to like about K.L. Hiers’ Twelve Days of Squidmas, one of the Winter Tentacle Holiday collection. It’s got a truly poignant storyline about loss and the damage that years of family abuse does to a person. It talks about someone who’s watched and been a caregiver for someone dying of cancer. Then the reader is there, as the funeral is over, the grandmother’s death so deeply devastating that her grandson is having trouble moving forward, and his family is descending like vultures.
Bright and happy a start this is not.
But Hiers brings into this realistically portrayed scenario of a grief stricken young man alone with his loss and house, a new wild card that upsets everything Jack Marsh thought he knew about his grandmother. Jack summons Xorvash, an interdimensional tentacle creature who was his grandmother’s best friend.
Hiers has such fun and does a fantastic job capturing both the essence and power of the demon Xorvash, especially his impact on “Cuddles “. While there’s an amazing effervescent energy and joy that comes from this character and his scenes, Hiers still manages to bring in the smallest detail of Jack’s painful background and the emotional damage he’s suffered in ways that are fleeting but powerful. Then it’s onto a scene that’s familiarly funny and satisfying for the season.
I enjoyed the many side characters and storylines, especially the next door neighbors. I wish that aspect could have been more developed as a few details were left unexplored.
Same went for the ending. It wasn’t exactly satisfying. Jack and Horvash go to all that trouble to boot the family out of the house and then what? They leave and what happens to the house? That was an important narrative loose end that was left flapping around. And it should have been a simple one to explain or tie up.
Things like this make me wonder why, when the rest of the piece is so well written and emotionally balanced.
I’m recommending Twelve Days of Squidmas: A Winter Holiday MM Tentacle Romance by K.L. Hiers because even with these quibbles it’s a pleasure to read.
Tinsel and Tentacles (11 books)
◦ Jingle Bells and Elder Gods by Kiernan Kelly
✓ All I Want for Christmas is Tentacles by Chloe Archer ❤️🫶
◦ Tentacles and Other Stocking Stuffers by Delaney Rain
◦ Tentacles Rock by K.C. Carmine
✓ A Sucker for Christmas by J.P. Sayle
✓ Kraken Klaus by Charlotte Brice
✓ Twelve Days of Squidmas by H.L. Hiers ❤️
✓ It’s a Tenta-ful Life by Amanda Muewissen
✓ Rebel without a Claus by L Eveland
✓ Cthulhu for Christmas by Meghan Maslow ❤️🫶
◦ Tentacle Wonderland by Reese Morrison
Buy Link:
Twelve Days of Squidmas: A Winter Holiday MM Tentacle Romance
Blurb:
Jack Marsh has twelve days to pull off the perfect Christmas.
Even though his beloved grandmother has just passed, his rotten family is expecting him to host in her place. He already hated this time of year, and now he has to decorate, bake cookies, wrap presents, and create a delicious holiday feast.
Enter Xorvash, an interdimensional tentacle creature from another plane of existence. Thanks to a minor kitchen mishap, Xorvash comes crashing into Jack’s life and promises to do the impossible. Jack suspects Xorvash’s interest in him goes far beyond merely wanting to help him deck the halls, and he’s having trouble resisting Xorvash’s unique charms. With some luck and a sprinkle of holiday magic, Jack might get some sweet tentacle romance for Christmas—plus a little miracle or two.
Twelve Days of Squidmas is part of the Tinsel and Tentacles multi-author collaboration and a complete standalone. Expect to find a grumpy human and a sunshine tentacle creature, lots of silly snark, smexy tentacle times, and a magical happily ever after. Want more tantalizingly tentacular winter holiday romances? Grab the whole series!
• Publisher: (December 15, 2023)
• Publication date: December 15, 2023
• Print length: 167 pages
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 