The Merriest Misters
Timothy Janovsky, 2024
This year, I'm looking at a handful of interesting retellings of holiday classics. This romantic spin on The Santa Clause makes for some real holiday magic.
Premise: Patrick and Quinn met, fell in love, got married, moved into their own house. Everything you're "supposed" to do. But their marriage is cracking under the pressure of family expectations, unspoken resentments, and unfulfilling careers. That's when Patrick unexpectedly gets a most unusual opportunity, and Quinn's along for a wild ride all the way to the North Pole.
Well, the library gods were kind to me and provided this last-minute holiday gift! This might be my favorite Christmas read of the season.
Think The Santa Clause, except instead of a guy killing Santa, becoming Santa, and fixing his relationship with his son, Patrick injures Santa (who unexpectedly quits), becomes Santa, and fixes his relationship with his husband.
Santa is magic in this, but also a job that you can retire from (several previous Santas stay on at the North Pole and advise newcomers). Also, the magic is tied to love, primarily the love between Santa and his wife spouse. So the strain and miscommunications between Patrick and Quinn have bigger ramifications than just their own relationship. No pressure, guys.
I thought the North Pole was a lot of fun in this, and the story painted a lovely picture of the holiday wonderland without getting too bogged down in details. However, like the other book by this author, what really sold this for me was two things: the quality of the secondary characters (I can easily visualize everyone), and the realism of the main characters and their problems.
Patrick feels pressure from his family to succeed at any cost, to make them proud somehow, after he didn't follow their expected path in so many ways. This is making him commit to things before he's ready and double-down on a job that makes him miserable because needing to step back or refocus would mean he failed.
Meanwhile, Quinn has willingly let other's expectations crush his uniqueness in favor of being "average" enough for the parents and administration at his teaching job and "a good partner" in the way his in-laws expect and his own mother rejects.
They desperately need to be honest with each other, but their problems feel so relatable. You make one decision because it seems right at the time and other people are telling you it's right and before you know it you're trapped on a treadmill you never meant to get onto. How do you be true to yourself and a good partner in a healthy way?
It helps Quinn and Patrick that they have some literal magic elves rooting for them, but their non-magical friends and family connections turn out to be just as important. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and I'll definitely be on the lookout for more from the author.
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