An Improper Holiday

by K.A. Mitchell

December 1, 2009 · Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

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An Improper Holiday is a m/m romance novella set during the Regency period. Regency people weren’t all that big on the actual day of Christmas (this was post-mistletoe, but pre-Christmas trees, cards, and presents). However, Regency people loved to party, and they kicked off their festivities on Christmas night and carried on for twelve days. Apparently there was some controversy over exactly when the twelve nights actually started and stopped. I like to imagine that the answer to the latter was resolved with “We’ll stop when we run out of booze.”

In this book, set in 1814, lovers Ian and Nicky carry on a torrid affair during a Twelfth Night house party at Nicky’s estate. Ian and Nicky were lovers in their youth, but Ian joined the military at his father’s request. While at war, Ian stopped writing to Nicky, believing that it was time for both of them to concentrate on their duty to their families. Ian left the war with PTSD and a missing arm. After leaving the army, Ian is asked to accompany his sister to Nicky’s house party. Always driven by duty, Ian agrees to go, only to realize that the passion that he and Nicky feel for one another is as gripping as ever.

A large percentage of the story is given over to explicit sex scenes. That’s at least somewhat because Ian and Nicky are people who communicate through sex. Although they do talk to each other, most of the time they work through their feelings in bed. For someone who is having multiple orgasms a night, Ian is awfully angsty, but he has real concerns. He and Nicky are both expected to produce children for their families, and if he and Nicky are caught in flagrante they can be imprisoned or executed. Nicky shares these concerns but has more of a “seize the day” attitude and is generally a more confident and optimistic person.

One thing I liked about the story is that it is very upfront about the problems Nicky and Ian face in having a relationship. The resolution is based on a rather delightful and clever twist that will allow the lovers to stay in each other’s lives, but it’s a given that they will never be able to be open about their relationship. It’s an As Happy As Possible Given The Circumstances ending. I liked the flashes of humor. Periodically a steamy scene will be interrupted by Nicky laughing at something particularly pedantic or broody from Ian, and those moments are adorable. I liked the matter-of-fact way that Nicky treats Ian’s missing arm, and I also liked the ending.

I liked the way the characters expressed themselves through physical contact, but I wanted more story outside the bedroom. Ian’s PTSD is brought up at the beginning of the story but it’s not followed through. We never learn why Ian, even before the war, was so much more focused on family duty and harbored so much more general guilt than Nicky. Ian’s sister and her friend Ellen seem to be fascinating people but we never get to spend any time with them.  A character is introduced as a possible villain and then fades from view.

I found the story and the characters to be barely sketched in. The ending was lovely but would have been much, much lovelier had certain characters been more fleshed out. If you like explicitly erotic scenes between men, and you like Regency stories, this should be a fun quick holiday read, but to achieve a higher grade I would have needed it to expand more, especially since so many of the story elements (intriguing back stories and intriguing secondary characters) are so tantalizing.