Review: Better Not Pout by Annabeth Albert

Expected publication: November 12th 2018 by Carina Press
Genre: M/M, Romance, Holiday

Synopsis from Goodreads:

One hard-nosed military police officer.

One overly enthusiastic elf.

One poorly timed snowstorm.

Is it a recipe for disaster? Or a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for holiday romance?

Teddy MacNally loves Christmas and everything that goes along with it. When he plays an elf for his charity’s events, he never expects to be paired with a Scrooge masquerading as Santa Claus. His new mission: make the holiday-hating soldier believe he was born to say ho-ho-ho.

Sergeant Major Nicholas Nowicki doesn’t do Santa, but he’s army to his blood. When his CO asks an unusual favor, Nick of course obliges. The elf to his Kris Kringle? Tempting. Too tempting—Nick’s only in town for another month, and Teddy’s too young, too cheerful and too nice for a one-night stand.

The slow, sexy make-out sessions while Teddy and Nick are alone and snowbound, though, feel like anything but a quick hookup. As a stress-free holiday fling turns into Christmas all year round, Teddy can’t imagine his life without Nick. And Nick’s days on the base may be coming to a close, but he doesn’t plan on leaving anything, or anyone, behind.


I had a good time reading this light, and mostly angst free, Christmas story. Teddy and Nick are likeable enough - one is a grumpy pants and the other an eternal optimist. I liked that they complimented each other so well. They were each able to bring that special something to the relationship that the other was lacking.

Overall, the really good writing, the lovely setting, and great secondary characters made this close to 4 stars for me. A lovely story just perfect to curl up with at Christmastime.

Spoiler below!


An ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.


My Rating: 4 Stars

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