Naughty and Nice is the first book in the ‘Holiday Storybook’ series. This stars Rorik who also goes by the name of Santa, and Boden, an Elf with no magical ability. It’s told in first person from both Rorik and Boden’s pov, plus a short third person pov.



The blurb gives the basic idea of what happens in this short story/novella so I won’t go into it. I’ll start my review with the cover. Covers are part of the presentation of a book. I therefore think that they should match the atmosphere of the story and the models should look like the characters. The cover is in brown or autumnal colors. The story takes place shortly before Christmas which is winter. The brown color makes me think of a Western rather than a holiday story with Santa. It would’ve been better to have it in cool tones, like blues, whites, and greens. But the colors don’t work. I’m guessing the model in the t-shirt is Boden. Rorik describes Boden as being very blond. The model isn’t blond at all. So, I would say the cover doesn’t match the story or the characters.

I liked the world-building the author created, however it wasn’t deep. The author didn’t go into the world much except some facts and that Santa was a ‘Holder’, as were the various other holiday beings, for instance the Easter Bunny. He seems like an interesting character and I wouldn’t mind reading more about him.

The story starts from Lars’ pov, who owns the bar where the story begins, and who is also Boden’s relative. The pov is odd. It’s not first person, but sounds like third person present tense. I almost didn’t read further because it was annoying and uncomfortable reading that pov. The only thing that kept me reading were the character voices. The author did a great job of creating unique and distinctive voices for the characters that were carried throughout the story. I would say that that was the best part of the book.

The way Santa is written, I would call him a player and a jerk. Because he is Santa, and because he’s very attractive, he can get anyone, human or elf, to be his for as long or short as he wants. Rorik aka Santa, has a huge reputation and that is continually mentioned in the story. Boden is Lar’s cousin and is a computer genius. Rorik is having problems with the computer server and he’s desperately in need of someone who can fix it. The elf who normally works on it doesn’t know what he’s doing and has quit again. So, in comes Boden. . Boden is a computer genius, but born without magic into a magical family of elves on the poor side of town. Because of his lack of magic, he’s been picked on and looked down upon. He’s very insecure and this comes into play during his relationship with Rorik. Boden’s not immune to Rorik’s charms, but Lars made Rorik promise not to go after Boden. That promise is kept for about one day. There’s a time jump, but the two pretty much are staying at each other’s homes after they get together. Unfortunately, I couldn’t believe these two as a couple. I think part of the problem was that the story was too short to resolve the fact that Rorik was a player and somehow he developed feelings for Boden way too fast, and was willing to give up his playboy lifestyle. I also didn’t care for Rorik continuing to call Boden ‘Small One’ when Boden told him to stop it, but Rorik insisted that Boden liked it. I never got the impression Boden did. It was like Rorik was overriding Boden’s wishes and gaslighting him. That’s one of the reasons why Rorik was a jerk and why I didn’t find Rorik to be a likeable character. Readers weren’t given any big scenes of Boden and Rorik getting to know each other to see them grow closer. It was instant attraction, sex, and then they’re in love. I didn’t feel the connection between the two so I didn’t believe in them.

Even thought I liked the world building in Naughty and Nice, it was too shallow. I liked the distinct character voices, even though Rorik was a jerk, and I couldn’t believe in Rorik and Boden as a couple. Which was probably due to the story being too short. The story was still interesting, but I feel like it didn’t fulfill the promise of what it could have been. The following books in the series sound interesting however, and if they go on sale, I might continue on with the series in the hope that the following books are better than this one. I give this story, 3 Stars.

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