R.J. Scott has outdone herself once again with this newest book. Zach Weston is a 17 year old throwaway, beaten severely by his homophobic father and kicked out of his home at gun point when he refused to join the army. Alone, starving and cold, Zach is rustled out of a beautiful Christmas dream while sleeping on a snow covered bench by Officer Ben Hamilton. It's Christmas Eve and Ben takes pity on the poor boy by taking him home for hot food and a warm bed instead of to jail. Zach's life will never be the same after Momma Hamilton embraces him. But what can Ben do for this boy?
This book surpasses even my favorite R.J. Scott book Oracle. Anyone interested in The Trevor Project needs to read this amazing and heart warming book of love, acceptance and compassion. I whole heartedly recommend this book to every member of the Goodreads family, you won't be disappointed. ( )

3,5 stars ( )

This (144 page) novella takes place over a two- year time period that packs lot of heart into its short self. Zach is 17 years old...soon to be 18 just before Christmas. He's been thrown out of his home because of his sexuality and also has suffered almost daily beatings from his father. Zach was turned out of his parents' home with just a small amount of money in his pocket and no clothing that was fit for winter's cold and snow. Ben, a cop, finds Zach on Christmas Eve sleeping on a church bench. This young man's life is about to change for the better if he can only find it in himself to simply trust Ben and Ben's big, warm family. When Ben takes him home to his mother...the entire family comes together on Christmas Eve to show Zack that he is worthy, and that there are so many options that can be opened for him to explore, including justice for the way he was treated at home. Ben is more than willing to help him find everything that he deserves...which he is starting to hope will also include himself being a part of that bargain. The book, as I said is short, but it's a fantastic stunningly crafted tale of humanity, hope, and love. A perfect little offering for the Christmas season. On a more somber note...if you are reading this, please be aware that even though this is a book it doesn't change the fact that the world is full of "throwaways"...some much younger than Zach, and not all of them are lucky enough to find someone like Ben and his family. ( )

This wasn't a horrible book but it certainly doesn't rate as one of my favorites. Despite it being 166 pages (as it states on the Goodreads page), the book seemed to be very short and wasn't long enough to really capture everything for me. The book spun through time way too quickly with little explanation of why things occurred the way they did. I would be reading about what is going on and the next page, we have skipped 6 months. While I am fine with skipping ahead, I felt this was done a bit choppy and I felt like I didn't truly grasp why things were the way they were 6 months later. I didn't feel like I was watching the relationship progress--just felt like i was watching the photo album after the fact.

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Too sweet of a story for my taste.

Apart from being thrown away and spending a week on his own everything goes oh-so-well for Zach. Everybody is nice to each other, everyone's helpful and understanding, except a couple of paragraphs with Ben's brother Jamie.

I am happy for both Zach and Ben, a police officer, who saved Zach, but it doesn't make much of a story. There is more of Ben's mother and sister and Ben's friend's wife than of Ben himself and an m/m romance part you expect in a good m-m story starts around page 120 (there are 160 pages in the version I bought).

Meh with an unhealthy dose of sugar on top.

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