Review: "The Merriest Misters" by Timothy Janovsky

 Title: The Merriest Misters
Author: Timothy Janovsky
Published: October 2024
Genre: Romance
Rating: ★ ★ ★ 

    Brief synopsis: Patrick and Quinn are 6 months into their first year of marriage and already having problems. When they accidentally hit Santa Claus over the head with a frying pan, they have to take on the roles of Santa and his jovial spouse. Will a year in the North Pole help them rekindle their romance and find what's truly important? Or is it all just a magical holiday that will melt away when real life problems come back into the fold? 

    The Merriest Misters by Timothy Janovsky was the December pick for my romance book club, and I'm kind of dreading the discussion on Monday. I have... so many thoughts about it, and it is not a rave, so we'll try to get them out in a coherent way. First off, there are a lot of things that this book does right or interesting. The diversity is amazing, especially gender and sexuality diversity... it's not just all white gay men, which I think is important. (Sorry, but white gay men can have their own issues in communities centered around them.) There's a nonbinary elf who is never stated in the text, "I identify as nonbinary," but the text just goes right into describing them as such and using they/them pronouns, and it's so refreshing to see their existence validated in this way. The premise of an already married couple is an unusual angle for the romance genre (usually it's all about "how will they get together?" but they're already together), but I appreciated the realistic approach. And the bulk of the book is just a winter wonderland of magic, cute and fun and definitely a life I would want to live. For a short time, at least (how would I garden? I'd miss the beach after a while. And I'd miss my family and friends!).

    Based on the premise, I was really excited for this book. A queer version of The Santa Clause? Christmas magic? Cozy vignettes of living at the North Pole? Sign me up! Unfortunately, for me, it didn't live up to the hype. My issues with this book are in the execution. With the very beginning, the couple are having issues, but that's all "resolved" as they're whisked away to the North Pole to live a carefree life with no debt, bills, or nagging in-laws. Everything is just... magically fixed, without any effort, and instead of enjoying the bulk of the book of Christmas magic, I found myself yelling, "WHERE IS THE CONFLICT?? WHERE IS THE WORK IN THE RELATIONSHIP?" Okay, maybe this is the point where I say once again that I'm not primarily a romance reader, although I'm not opposed to one sweeping me off my feet once in a while, but this one definitely did not do that.

    But this book's whole premise was that they had to fix the problems in their marriage, and they just... didn't, because "Christmas magic". They never actually talked about anything, the problems were just whisked away as soon as they didn't have to live in the real world. Suddenly, Quinn realized he could be himself in this magical place (yes!) and dress how he felt comfortable (YES!), but he never talked to his husband about how Patrick's family had made him feel like he had to tone down who he was over the years. Patrick had felt frustrated and inadequate in his job in New Jersey, but found his true calling in being Santa and reveled in it... but didn't talk to Quinn about how he had felt in his old job, and how he felt now.

    Well, until the last 20%. Finally, the conflict came up again, because... they didn't talk. They both just assumed the other was on the same page, but how could that be as neither of them ever communicated? And, okay, lack of communication/miscommunication is one of my least favorite tropes. Probably because I'm so bad at it myself! But it's one thing if the characters acknowledge it and grow from it, or at least try... but they never do. So that was very frustrating for me to read. (The book is peppered with flashbacks of the start of their relationship and you can see right from the beginning that communication has always been an issue.)

HERE BE SPOILERS

    The "resolution" to the conflict (Patrick wants to stay in the North Pole to continue being Santa, Quinn wants to go back to real life and find his purpose) is to separate indefinitely while still being married. They write letters to each other, which is cute in theory, but they still never work through conflicts. Quinn works on his own things, Patrick does his stuff, and they tell each other about problems after they've been resolved, but... there's no sense of them being a long-term successful relationship. Because, even though they talk (write) finally, they still don't communicate as a couple.

HERE END SPOILERS

    I did find most of this book cute to read, but the ending was very unsatisfying and did not feel like a "happily ever after" to me (which would be fine if it wasn't, I love a tragic romance, but it was set up and written as HEA... look, I'm learning romance acronyms!). I'm fine with chalking up some romance books to "not all romance is for me" (it's definitely not), but I don't even feel like that's the case here. I loved the time in the North Pole (aside from waiting for the other shoe to drop re: conflict), and it could have just been a fluff novel if they focused on that, but the premise set it up to be more on the serious side of marriage conflicts, and it felt flat in that resolution and really selling the "happily ever after" that the genre promises. I think, if I were to re-read it (I won't), I'd just read the cozy North Pole bulk to immerse myself in the Christmas magic, and then stop.